This Biblical pericope is brief account of humanity unifying for the purpose of "making a name for themselves." More specifically, these people desired to thwart the sovereignty of the One True God by establishing themselves as supreme rulers of their own lives. Contrary to God's specific command for humanity to fill the earth (i.e. expand outwardly and settle throughout all regions of the earth [see Genesis 1:28]), the people collectively settled in the plain of Shinar (Babylonia). They were unwilling to listen to the will of God; instead, they determined that they would be in control of their own lives and would do whatever their own hearts desired.
Brazenly, the people determined to set up a towering edifice that would reach into the heavens toward God. In effect, these recalcitrant people were saying, "God, we've decided that you're not going to be supreme anymore in our lives. We're going to show you that we can be our own gods, and we can effectively challenge your right to be the supreme ruler of the world. We're going to build a tower up to your throne and prove that we are capable of challenging your claim to Lordship over us."
As these Babylonians began to build their tower, they swelled with prideful arrogance. They were impressed with their own coordinated accomplishments and said, "Look at us . . . . We're making a name for ourselves . . . nothing now is impossible for us. We are as powerful and able as God Himself; in fact, we are becoming like God ourselves. We now challenge God's command to fill the earth, and we now will be unified in purpose here in the land of Babel."
The Triune God would not permit this rebellion to continue; He saw that the people's unification and collective accomplishments were building within them a pompous attitude of defiance against His Holiness. God was able to see that these people swelled with the pride that they had made a name for themselves and determined in their hearts to assert themselves as co-equal with divinity. In response, God went down to the tower that they were building and confused the people's language. Suddenly the people could not understand each other, for each of them were speaking in strange, undiscernable tongues.
Although the people thought that they would vanquish their Divine foe, the Sovereign God would not be mocked. His purposes would be accomplished whether the people were responsive to His will or not; thus, God confused their language and "scattered them over the face of the whole earth." The construction of the brazen tower came to an abrupt halt, and the land was called "Babel," which sounds like the Hebraic word for "confusion."
There is a good word for us in this passage, namely that God has a divine purpose for us to be surrendered to Him as Lord and to follow His will willingly and obediently. Sadly, we are seeing in our culture a people not unlike the Babylonians of Genesis 11 . . . a people who desire to make a name for themselves and desire to assert their own quest for lordship over the One True God.
We can be assured that God is a God of constancy; just as He did not tolerate the rebellion of these Babylonians, so too He will not be mocked by the rebellion of people today (see Galatians 6:7). Anyone who determines to assert his own quest for divinity over the Lord will find himself scattered by the will of the Lord of Hosts! Proverbs 16:18 tells us that "Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall." Let us renounce any desires to assert our own lordship and rather submit to the Lord through repentance and obedience. We will find that the Lord will bless our surrender to Him and will bless us for our faithfulness to Him
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