Breaching Boundaries
God will hold us accountable for breaching His boundaries.
Genesis(23) (Part of the Origins(23) series)
by Stuart Johns(25) on October 20, 2024 (Sunday Morning(32))
All-Knowing (Omniscient)(1), All-Powerful (Omnipotent)(3), Confession(3), Grace(4), Pride(2)
Origins
Breaching Boundaries
(Genesis 11:1-9)
INTRODUCTION
“During the Great Awakening, when the Spirit of God revived much of our nation's early faith, Jonathan Edwards was presiding over a massive prayer meeting. Eight hundred men prayed with him.
Into that meeting a woman sent a message asking the men to pray for her husband. The note described a man who had become unloving, prideful, and difficult.
Edwards read the message in private and then, thinking that perhaps the man described was present, made a bold request. Edwards read the note to the 800 men. Then he asked if the man who had been described would raise his hand, so that the whole assembly could pray for him. Three hundred men raised their hands.”
Source: Bryan Chapell, Holiness By Grace, (Crossway, 2001), p. 80. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois.
[https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2001/october/13342.html]
How many of us would raise our hand, agreeing that we are unloving, prideful, and difficult?
BODY
ME
Struggling with pride
Pride is one area that I have to continually battle with
It may not be outwardly evident to others, but I know what is going on in my heart
After reading my devotions one morning I was struck by what the writer had said about pride
They shared a prayer I could pray, so I added that prayer to the “My Walk With God” list on the prayer app I use (PrayerMate)
Here is the prayer – “Lord, help me to keep my eyes on You and not on what other people are doing or saying. My worth, identity and direction come from You and no one else. I desire true humility and a heart that pleases and honors You. Show me areas of my life that I’m leaning too far in pride or insecurity and bring me back into alignment with You.”
Humility [AI overview of Google search for “when I comment about humble I am not humble”]
“When you comment about being ‘humble,’ you are likely not being humble because the act of drawing attention to your own humility often contradicts the very essence of being humble, which is to be modest and self-effacing without needing to explicitly state it; essentially, it can come across as bragging about your humility, which is paradoxical.”
“A truly humble person doesn’t need to announce their humility, their actions and attitude naturally reflect it.”
“If you find yourself constantly talking about how humble you are, it might be a sign that you are actually not as humble as you think.”
WE
How many of us struggle with pride, whether publicly or privately?
As we look at Genesis 11:1-9, we will see that the post-Flood people struggled with pride and disobedience. They strived to breach a boundary that the Lord had established. In their pride, they were trying to bring God down to their level by providing a place for Him to dwell. God recognized their desire to breach this boundary between heaven and earth and held them accountable for it. He does the same for you and me. What the author wants us to understand from this passage is . . .
BIG IDEA – God will hold us accountable for breaching His boundaries.
Let’s pray
GOD (Genesis 11:1-9)
Structure
Throughout Scripture we find various literary structures that were probably used in ancient times because of oral tradition instead of written tradition
One of those literary structures is called a chiasm (chiastic structure)
It’s shaped like the “greater than” symbol (>) in mathematics
Each matching unit points to the single middle unit which is the main point of the passage
Genesis 11:1-9 has a chiastic structure [Dorsey, The Literary Structure of the Old Testament: A Commentary on Genesis-Malachi, 53]
A – Introduction: all the earth (kol-hāʾāreṣ) had one language [11:1]
B – People settle together in Shinar [11:2]
C – Resolution of the people: “come (hāḇâ), let us…” [11:3-4]
D – CENTER: Yahweh discovers the plot [11:5]
C’ – Resolution of Yahweh: “come (hāḇâ), let us…” [11:6-7]
B’ – People disperse from Shinar [11:8]
A’ – Conclusion: all the earth (kol-hāʾāreṣ) now has many languages [11:9]
Let’s take a look at this rather familiar historical narrative and see what we can learn from it
Common (vv. 1-2)
One language and a common speech
The Hebrew for “language” is literally “a lip, tongue, dialect”
The Hebrew for “speech” is literally “words”
“They are entirely unified by language and vocabulary.” [Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary, 178]
Moving eastward
Noah’s descendants moved eastward and found a great place to settle in the plain of Shinar [show map], which is modern day Iraq
Shinar was in southern Mesopotamia
This “territory was first called Sumer, then Sumer and Akkad, and then Babylonia.” [Hamilton, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-17, 351]
It was associated with Babylon in the Babylonian Region [show map]
Moving eastward is significant in Biblical accounts
“. . . the language ‘east(ward)’ marks events of separation in Genesis. By this spatial term the narrative also conveys a metaphorical sphere, meaning the Babelites are outside God’s blessing.” [Mathews, The New American Commentary, Vol. 1A, Genesis 1-11:26, 478]
Examples of separation in Genesis
The garden is described as “east in Eden” (Gen. 2:8)
The cherubim are stationed on the east side of the garden, so that no one would enter it (Gen. 3:24)
Cain is sent away to the land of Nod, which is said to be east of Eden (Gen. 4:16)
Shem’s descendants live in the eastern hill country (Gen. 10:30)
Lot separates from Abraham and heads eastward (Gen. 13:10-12)
Abraham’s sons born to him by Keturah were sent away to the land of the east (Gen. 25:6)
Jacob fled from his homeland, after deceiving his brother and father, and came to the land of the eastern people (Gen. 29:1)
As we will see, the Babelites did not want to fill the earth as God had instructed them, but wanted to stay together in one place – they were outside of God’s plan and purpose
The group that settled in the plain of Shinar had a common language and vocabulary, but they also had a common purpose
Construct (vv. 3-4)
Their common purpose was twofold (both begin with the phrase “Come let us”)
Make bricks
Moses explained the building materials to the first hearers, the Israelites, because the materials were different than what they used in Jerusalem and the land of Canaan
In Judah and Canaan, the people used stones and rocks to make their buildings/temples
Rocks and stones were plentiful in Canaan, but not in Mesopotamia
1 Kings 6:7, In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built.
Tar was readily available in Mesopotamia, which is why they used it instead of mortar
Two Tautologies (something that is needlessly repetitive or redundant) – a wordplay [show Hebrew words]
“‘Make bricks’ and ‘bake them thoroughly’ is the idiomatic rendering of the ponderous Hebrew ‘let us brick bricks [nilbĕnâ lĕbēnîm]’ and ‘bake [them] baking [niśrĕpâ liśrēpâ]’” [Mathews, 480]
“If this were not enough, the verse closes with yet another verbal tautology, ‘tar [ḥēmar] for mortar [ḥōmer].’” [Mathews, 480]
They were obviously making bricks and using tar for mortar, so they could build a city with a tower
Build a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens
The city was not being built so the people could live there, rather cities in the ancient Near East were designed and built for religious and public purposes [Waltke, 179]
The city had administrative buildings and storehouses for grain – all connected to the temple – one large complex [Walton, The NIV Application Commentary, Genesis, 372]
Ziggurats
Ziggurats were very common in early Mesopotamian cities
Most scholars believe that the tower of Babel was probably a ziggurat
Joel Kramer in his YouTube video, “Search for the Tower of Babel,” explains that an ancient tablet has the dimensions of the Babylon ziggurat preserved
Each side of the base of the ziggurat was 90 meters long (almost 300 feet; the base would be nearly 90,000 square feet)
The height of the tower was 90 meters (nearly 300 feet) [show picture of building heights]
Joel Kramer says that the ziggurat gets three things wrong
Who God is
Who man is
The link between the two, how the two can be connected
“It brings God down and it elevates man up.” [Joel Kramer]
It breaches the boundary that God established
Differences between the ancient Mesopotamian ziggurats and the Egyptian pyramids
The ziggurat did not have an inside, because the brick structure was filled with dirt, while the pyramids have tunnels and chambers on the inside
The ziggurat had a stairway on the outside to allow the gods to travel from the heavenly realm to the earthly realm, while the pyramids do not have a stairway on the outside
At the top of the stairway was an enclosed structure that was called the “gate of the gods”
At the bottom of the stairway was a temple “where hopefully the god would descend to receive gifts and worship from his people.” [Walton, 374]
The ziggurat was used for worship of a deity, while the pyramids were used as a burial chamber/tomb for kings
The building of the tower that reaches to the heavens was their attempt to bring God down to their level
Breaching God’s boundaries
They were trying to breach a boundary that God had established
The Babelites were looking for meaning and fame by “transgressing into the dwelling place of God.” [Waltke, 177]
“God-given boundaries are being crossed; human beings are trying to grasp at what does not belong to them and to assert that no longer are they bound by the limits which God has set.” [Atkinson, The Bible Speaks Today: The Message of Genesis 1-11, 178]
This was not the first time that human beings had breached God’s boundaries
Adam and Eve breached the boundaries of human wisdom by eating the forbidden fruit to be like God (Gen. 3:22)
Cain and Lamech breached the boundary of taking a life, which only belongs to God (Gen. 4:8, 23-24)
The sons of God breached the boundaries of marriage that God had established (Gen. 6:1-2, 4)
God held all of those individuals accountable for breaching His boundaries
We have done the same thing today
As humanity we have breached some of God’s boundaries
Giving and taking life (cloning, abortion, euthanasia, etc.)
Creating and assigning gender (transgender, child mutilation through gender reassignment, etc.)
Defining marriage and family (same-sex marriage, premarital sex, etc.)
Failing to recognize that God is God (moving ahead of his plan, purpose, timing, and will, “working” our way to heaven, finding significance in the things of this world, etc.)
God will hold us accountable for breaching His boundaries.
Where are you today?
Have you breached one of God’s boundaries?
You can seek His forgiveness today
So, a group of Noah’s descendants settled in the plain of Shinar and began the construction of a temple complex to worship God or a god?
The narrator gave us the reason why they wanted to build this temple complex
Reasons behind their common purpose
Make a name for ourselves
They were looking for significance and immortality based on their abilities and achievements instead of depending on God for their significance and immortality
They were declaring war on God
Psalm 2:1-4, Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. “Let us break their chains,” they say, “and throw off their fetters.” The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.
I think this is probably true of every human being
We want people to remember us
“Tombstones are getting updated, at least in Hollywood. At Hollywood Forever, a 64-acre cemetery next to Paramount Studios, they produce multimedia narratives that can be viewed on the cemetery’s website. The narratives feature still-photographs of the deceased, interviews with friends, and film clips. A visitor can see the mini-biographies of Rudolph Valentino, Cecil B. DeMille, Douglas Fairbanks, and 1,500 others buried there. The owners want to begin producing these multimedia narratives not just for Hollywood stars, but for anyone buried there.
A visit to any cemetery shows how desperate we are to be remembered after our deaths. But the memorials we can leave in this life are nothing compared to the glory that awaits Christians in the next.”
Source: "The Hollywood Forever Way of Death" The Atlantic Monthly (March 2001).
[https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2001/july/13166.html]We strive to find significance through our job, our children, our hobbies, etc.
We fear death, poverty, loneliness, chaos, etc.
We try to prepare for the future through our retirement plans
We try to prepare for an economic, political, or social collapse by storing away food, water, weapons and ammunition, and other survival items
Temporal
All of those things are temporal
They will not last
Forrest Frank is a Christian artist who recently won two Dove Awards
I happened to catch his acceptance speech for one of those awards and I was blessed to hear it
“I just want to say, I feel so undeserving, because this is just all for Him, and everything I do is for the Lord. And, for whatever reason, He’s chosen to give me some songs that have related to some people. And, if He shuts it off and doesn’t, you know, give me any more songs, that’s cool. If He continues to bless it, that’s great. But I’m just so thankful to be here, and I want to continue to give Jesus glory because my name will fade away, just like all of ours one day. But at the end of time, and for all of eternity, one name will remain. And that’s the name of Jesus Christ. Thank you all so much. God bless.”
It appears as though Forrest Frank is not intentionally trying to make a name for himself, but pointing others to Jesus
That should be our goal, too
The tower builders wanted to make a name for themselves
Their pride drove them to build the city and tower, so they could remain together in one place
Not be scattered over the face of the whole earth
We are not told why they did not want to be scattered over the face of the whole earth
Perhaps it was fear of the unknown
How many of us would admit that we fear the unknown
Instead of forging out into something new, we stay close to home, because it is comfortable and familiar
Whatever the reason, we know from this narrative and Genesis 9:1, 7 that God’s will was for them to be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth
Choosing to remain in one place was not God’s will for them
In pride, the tower builders wanted to be remembered and have others join them in Babylon, but that was not God’s will
Their pride was keeping them from obeying God’s will to fill the earth
PRINCIPLE #1 – Pride will keep us from following God’s will.
Pride
Pride says look at me!
Pride says we can be like God or be our own god
Pride says we don’t need God as long as we work together in unity
Pride says we know better than God about how to deal with the current social issues
Pride keeps us from looking into God’s Word for His wisdom and truths
Pride and fear will keep us from following God’s will for our life, family, church, community, nation, and world
Paganism
“Every generation builds its own towers.” [Naomi H. Rosenblatt, cited by Wiersbe, 63]
“At the heart of the city of man is love for self and hatred of God. The city reveals that the human spirit will not stop at anything short of usurping God’s throne in heaven.” [Waltke, 183]
What does paganism look like? [Walton, 382]
Viewing God as limited
Trying to get God to respond to us on our terms
Thinking that God needs us or our abilities
Trying to make God do what we want Him to when we want him to
“We’re not here to build the arrogant towers of men; we’re here to help build the church of Jesus Christ.” [Wiersbe, 63]
God will hold us accountable for breaching His boundaries.
That includes being prideful instead of humble
Luke 1:51-52, He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.
Isaiah 14:13-15, You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.”
Proverbs 16:18, Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
#1 – My Next Step Today Is To: Confess my pride and humbly follow God’s will.
The Babelites pride caused them to think that they could bring God down to their level and their prided caused them to think they knew better than God about His will for them
“Babel’s conceited ‘Let’s go up!’ was answered by heaven’s calm ‘Let’s go down!’” [Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, Old Testament, Genesis-Deuteronomy, 62]
Check Out (v. 5)
We obviously know that God did not have to come down to know what was happening, because He is omniscient (all-knowing)
PRINCIPLE #2 – God is omniscient (all-knowing).
Because He is concerned about and cares for His creation, He came down to refocus them, so His will is accomplished
“. . . the transcendent God is also the imminent God who responds to man’s actions.” [Gangel & Bramer, Holman Old Testament Commentary, Genesis, 109]
We see God’s sovereignty at work here also (He has the right the rule and He rules rightly)
God knows everything about you, the thoughts and attitudes of your heart, and He is concerned about you and cares for you
He will help you with your pride and reluctance to move
In His sovereign wisdom He will refocus you, so His will can be accomplished in and through you
God’s purpose for coming down was not to gain insight and information, but to refocus the Babelites, so His will would be accomplished
Confuse (vv. 6-7)
God recognized the power of unity that humanity had with one language and a common speech
“God clearly exposes that humanity’s sin in building the tower is its refusal to live within God-given boundaries.” [Waltke, 180]
God will hold us accountable for breaching His boundaries.
God could have simply toppled the tower, but that would have only been a temporary fix to a permanent problem – they could simply rebuild the city and the tower
He eliminated the one thing that enabled them to build the city and the tower – one common international language
PRINCIPLE #3 – God is omnipotent (all-powerful)!
I’m not sure exactly how God did it, but He confused the language of the Babelites
Perhaps He caused extended family units to begin speaking another language
Maybe it was neighbors who lived close to each other who all began speaking the same language
Ethnologue’s website lists 7,164 languages in the world today, but that number is constantly in flux [https://www.ethnologue.com/]
God is certainly all-powerful, if He created 7,000+ languages all at once – it also shows His creativity
We can trust in God’s omnipotence and creativity in our lives also
I don’t think He will cause you and your neighbors to start speaking another language, so you will obey His will for your life
What He does creatively and powerfully in your life will be different for each person and family
#2 – My Next Step Today Is To: Embrace God’s creativity and power in my life, so I can accomplish His will for me.
God recognized humanities power to do anything, because of one language, so in His great power He confused their language
He not only confused their language, but He also scattered them so they would not continue to build the city and tower
Cease (vv. 8-9)
The Lord scattered the people from the city over all the earth
They stopped building the city
Name of the city
Babel sounds like the Hebrew for confused
“The narrator parodies Akkadian bāḇ-ilu, meaning ‘gate of god,’ with its Hebrew phonological equivalent bāḇel, meaning ‘confusion.’” [Waltke, 181]
“Because of God’s judgment, the ‘gate of the gods’ became ‘the door to confusion.’” [Wiersbe, 62]
It is repeated again that the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth
Application
PRINCIPLE #4 – God provides grace through discipline.
“There is not only judgment in this divine action. There is also preservation.” [Atkinson, 182]
God’s grace
Grace is an incredible attribute of God
Grace is getting something we don’t deserve
God extends grace time and time again
Adam and Eve suffered the consequences of their sin by being sent out of the Garden, but that punishment was also God’s divine grace – it protected them from eating from the tree of life and living forever in their sin
Cain was sent away after killing Abel, but God showed him grace by placing a mark on him, so no one would kill him
God punished all of humanity through the Flood, but extended grace to Noah and his family
God continues to preserve us by extending grace even when we sin and breach His boundaries
We will certainly have to suffer the consequences of our sin, but we can receive forgiveness for our sins
Ephesians 1:7-8, In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
Hebrews 4:16, Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
#3 – My Next Step Today Is To: Thank God for extending grace to me through ______________.
YOU
Are you ready to confess your pride and humbly follow God’s will?
Will you embrace God’s creativity and power in your life, so you can accomplish His will for you?
Through what circumstance do you need to thank God for extending His grace to you?
WE
Are we ready to confess our pride and humbly follow God’s will?
Will we embrace God’s creativity and power in the life of the church, so we can accomplish His will for us?
Through what circumstances do we need to thank God for extending His grace to us?
CONCLUSION
“When Napoleon set out to conquer Russia at the head of the Grand Army of Europe, someone reminded him that ‘man proposed but God disposes.’ The conqueror of Europe replied, ‘I am he that both proposed and disposes.’ Napoleon would have fit right in as the leader of the people at Babel. But God has always resisted the proud and given grace to the humble.
C.S. Lewis wrote:
The essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, greed, drunkenness, and all that are mere flea biters in comparison; it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: It is the complete anti-God state of mind. . . . As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you (Lewis, 94, 96).
As we find ourselves in the midst of ‘the Great American dream,’ we must not develop the attitude of those whom God found so despicable at Babel. An ungodly, independent attitude, a rejection of God’s mandates for humanity, a desire for earthly immortality—all these are signs that we are descendants of Babel. As we hear the languages of the world being spoken around us, we should be motivated to stay humble and true to the Lord.”
[Gangel & Bramer, 113]
