Pentecost: First Reading, Genesis 11:1-9                                    

Genesis 11:1-9

Genesis chapter 11 is one of those hallmark chapters of the Old Testament. Things have progressed, or better, regressed from the Creation and the stage is being set, post-flood, for the establishment of nations and tongues that would cause “confusion” among those God had created. At the beginning of our text we are told, “the whole earth had one language and one speech” (11:1). That’s one mode of communication and one dialect. Everyone understood everyone else.

But pride goes before a fall. I know I’ve read that somewhere. And in the rush to rebuild the world after the flood, the vacuum opened the doors for mankind’s push to the top. Of everything. While the very survival of the human race was due completely to the mercy of God, those lingering humans decided they knew best once again and were determined to find their own way to the presence of God. Never, ever a good idea.

So God operates in grace and mercy once again by breaking the population apart, establishing unique and different languages and the cultures that would arise from new and changing communication. This is God’s argument for nationalism and against the evils of a one-world system. Centralized power in the hands of sinners never ends well. Babel is a great illustration.

The breaking apart, the scattering occurs and in the short term, (we’re still in the short term), this all seems to be a stumbling block to the world’s peace and happiness. It is. Man always looks for those things in the wrong places. So God placed the obstacle in the way so that “[the nations] should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one  of us” (Acts 17:27).

The stage is set. Not only or even primarily for the pursuit of peace. But rather for the coming of the Prince of Peace. More to come.