Genesis Chapters 9-11: When Ambition Becomes Tyranny

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Introduction

Welcome to PRS.work, a video series that helps us hear the Bible together at work. In this video you'll hear a brief introduction, a Psalm read as an opening prayer, a long passage from the Bible, and a commentary about what this means for work, workers, and the workplace. When the video ends you can discuss how this applies to your work.

Today’s Public Reading of Scripture begins after the flood, which gave humanity a fresh start on earth. As He did at the beginning of Genesis, God again blesses humanity to prosper and fill the earth. Noah’s family grows accordingly, and Genesis recounts Noah’s many descendants.

The people share a common language, until they again run afoul of God. When they settle in Babylonia, the people plan a massive building project that will result in a tower stretching to heaven. In their minds, the tower would protect them from being scattered over the face of the earth. This is the opposite of what God had asked them to do when he gave them his blessing to fill the earth and subdue it. To protect his plan for humanity, God confuses their language and scatters them far and wide.

Before reading along to a dramatic recording of Genesis chapters 9-11, we will open with Psalm 137 in prayer.

Psalm 137

By the rivers of Babylon,
There we sat down, yea, we wept
When we remembered Zion.
² We hung our harps
Upon the willows in the midst of it.
³ For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song,
And those who plundered us requested mirth,
Saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

⁴ How shall we sing the Lord’s song
In a foreign land?
⁵ If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
Let my right hand forget its skill!
⁶ If I do not remember you,
Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth—
If I do not exalt Jerusalem
Above my chief joy.

⁷ Remember, O Lord, against the sons of Edom
The day of Jerusalem,
Who said, “Raze it, raze it,
To its very foundation!”

⁸ O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed,
Happy the one who repays you as you have served us!
⁹ Happy the one who takes and dashes
Your little ones against the rock!

Genesis 9

So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. ² And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. ³ Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. ⁴ But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. ⁵ Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man.

⁶ “Whoever sheds man’s blood,
By man his blood shall be shed;
For in the image of God
He made man.
⁷ And as for you, be fruitful and multiply;
Bring forth abundantly in the earth
And multiply in it.”

⁸ Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: ⁹ “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, ¹⁰ and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth. ¹¹ Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

¹² And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: ¹³ I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. ¹⁴ It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; ¹⁵ and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶ The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” ¹⁷ And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.”

¹⁸ Now the sons of Noah who went out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And Ham was the father of Canaan. ¹⁹ These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.

²⁰ And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. ²¹ Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. ²² And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. ²³ But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.

²⁴ So Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done to him. ²⁵ Then he said:

“Cursed be Canaan;
A servant of servants
He shall be to his brethren.”

²⁶ And he said:

“Blessed be the Lord,
The God of Shem,
And may Canaan be his servant.
²⁷ May God enlarge Japheth,
And may he dwell in the tents of Shem;
And may Canaan be his servant.”

²⁸ And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. ²⁹ So all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years; and he died.

Genesis 10

Now this is the genealogy of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood.

² The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. ³ The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah. ⁴ The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. ⁵ From these the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into their lands, everyone according to his language, according to their families, into their nations.

⁶ The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. ⁷ The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabtechah; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.

⁸ Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. ⁹ He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.” ¹⁰ And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. ¹¹ From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, ¹² and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city).

¹³ Mizraim begot Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, ¹⁴ Pathrusim, and Casluhim (from whom came the Philistines and Caphtorim).

¹⁵ Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Heth; ¹⁶ the Jebusite, the Amorite, and the Girgashite; ¹⁷ the Hivite, the Arkite, and the Sinite; ¹⁸ the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. Afterward the families of the Canaanites were dispersed. ¹⁹ And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; then as you go toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. ²⁰ These were the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands and in their nations.

²¹ And children were born also to Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder. ²² The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram. ²³ The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash. ²⁴ Arphaxad begot Salah, and Salah begot Eber. ²⁵ To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan. ²⁶ Joktan begot Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, ²⁷ Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, ²⁸ Obal, Abimael, Sheba, ²⁹ Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. ³⁰ And their dwelling place was from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the mountain of the east. ³¹ These were the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, according to their nations.

³² These were the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations; and from these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood.

Genesis 11

Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. ² 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. ³ Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. ⁴ And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

⁵ But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. ⁶ And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. ⁷ Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” ⁸ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. ⁹ Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

¹⁰ This is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood. ¹¹ After he begot Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

¹² Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Salah. ¹³ After he begot Salah, Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.

¹⁴ Salah lived thirty years, and begot Eber. ¹⁵ After he begot Eber, Salah lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.

¹⁶ Eber lived thirty-four years, and begot Peleg. ¹⁷ After he begot Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters.

¹⁸ Peleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu. ¹⁹ After he begot Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters.

²⁰ Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Serug. ²¹ After he begot Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.

²² Serug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor. ²³ After he begot Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

²⁴ Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and begot Terah. ²⁵ After he begot Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters.

²⁶ Now Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷ This is the genealogy of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran begot Lot. ²⁸ And Haran died before his father Terah in his native land, in Ur of the Chaldeans. ²⁹ Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah. ³⁰ But Sarai was barren; she had no child.

³¹ And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. ³² So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.

Pause for Reflection

Now we'll take a moment to reflect silently on what we have just read and heard in Scripture.

When Ambition Becomes Tyranny

From the Theology of Work Bible Commentary on Genesis

Genesis 10 traces Noah’s family after the flood in what is often called the Table of Nations. First the descendants of Japheth, then the descendants of Ham, and finally the descendants of Shem are listed. Among them, Ham’s grandson Nimrod stands out as a mighty hunter, a tyrant, and a city builder who founded an empire of naked aggression based in Babylon.

With Nimrod fresh in our memory, we come to the building of the tower of Babel in Genesis 11:1-9. Like many cities in the ancient Near East, Babel is designed as a walled enclosure around a great temple or ziggurat. The mud-brick stair tower was intended to reach to the realm of the gods. With such a tower, people could ascend to the gods, and the gods could descend to earth. Although God does not condemn this drive to reach the heavens, he questions people’s motives behind the project. In their own pride and self-aggrandizing ambition, the people want to "make a name for ourselves " (Genesis 11:4). They also act out of fear – the fear of being scattered throughout the world.

God’s objection to the tower is that it will give people the expectation that “nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them" (Genesis 11:6). Like Adam and Eve before them, the builders of Babel intend to use their God-given creative powers to act against God’s purposes. They plan to do the opposite of what God commanded in the cultural mandate. Instead of filling the earth, they intend to concentrate themselves in one location. Instead of exploring the fullness of the name God gave them, they decide to make a name for themselves.

We might be tempted to conclude from this story that cities are inherently bad, but this is not so. God gave Israel their capital city of Jerusalem, and the ultimate abode of God’s people is a holy city coming down from heaven. The concept of city is not evil, but the pride that we may come to attach to cities is what displeases God. We sin when we look to civic triumph and culture, in place of God, as our source of meaning and direction.

While it might appear that God’s scattering of the peoples is a punishment, in fact it is a means of redemption. From the beginning, God intended people to disperse across the world. By scattering people again, God put humanity back on its intended path, resulting in the beautiful array of cultures we see today.

The Tower of Babel reminds us to honor diversity in our work today. The specific offense the builders committed was centralizing their culture, language, and institutions. In their ambition to do one great thing, i.e. to make a name for themselves, they stifled the breadth of endeavor that ought to come with the varieties of gifts, services, activities, and functions with which God endows people.

In many cases Christian leaders and institutions have sought the same kind of concentration of power that tyrants and authoritarians seek, albeit with more benevolent goals. Christian legislators seek control over the populace, with the object of enforcing piety. Christian educators seek to enforce morality through authoritarian control over freedom of thought. Christian business people seek oligopoly to spread a Christian model of doing business.

As laudable as all these goals are, the events of the Tower of Babel suggest they are often dangerously misguided. In a world where even those in Christ still struggle with sin, God’s idea of good dominion seems to be to disperse people, power, authority, and capabilities, rather than concentrating power in one person, institution, party, or movement. Of course, some situations demand decisiveness – a pilot would be foolish to take a passenger vote about which runway to land on. But it could be that more often than we realize, when we are in positions of power, God is calling us to disperse, delegate, authorize, and train others, rather than exercising all the power ourselves. Doing so is messy, inefficient, hard to measure, and anxiety-inducing, but it may be exactly what God is calling Christian leaders to do.

How does this apply to your work?