the tower of babel: the first global village

it has taken me longer to work through these opening chapters of genesis than i had expected. finally, the day of the tower of babel has fully come. i am writing this chapter, appropriately, on one of the last days of the pentecost, which will fully come next sunday. the melody of the tower of babel, inverted, will be the melody of pentecost.

"and the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. and it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of shinar; and they dwelt there. and they said one to another, go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. and they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. and they said, go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. and the lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. and the lord said, behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one anothers speech. so the lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
therefore is the name of it called babel; because the lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." (genesis 11:1-9)

the story of babel is that of the global village, built with brick for stone and slime for morter, making a name for ourselves. it will reappear again and again with our currently modern technology, our currently modern name. again and again the towers will fall, whether they be in angor wat or in new york city.

again, as before the flood, "every imagination of the thoughts of [man's] heart was only evil continually."

as much as we might wish otherwise, the bible will recognize no quick fix for our evil. but salvation will come, not by men pretending to towering godliness but by god's assuming lowly humanity. the curtain is about to go up on the story of how that happens.