Week 1 (In the Beginning) – Day 5: Tower of Babel

Day 5 – Tower of Babel - Genesis 11:1-9

We have not really talked about literary genre.  Literary genre refers to the category of the written piece.  In other words, we have different expectations when we read a novel versus reading a biography.  Reading something as a different genre than the author’s expectations immediately leads to many potential misunderstandings for the reader.  Imagine reading the comic section of the paper as though you were reading the front page.  That could lead to trouble!  Determining the genre of various parts of Scripture is a critical aspect of studying the Bible.

The Tower of Babel passage is a very special genre known as etiology, or providing an explanation for the origin of a basic phenomenon.  In this case, the passage explains the existence of multiple languages.  For us, this aspect is not as important as the theological issue at the heart of the story.  This issue is humanity’s pride in our very selves.  We replace God.  We are our favorite idol.  Idolatry lives very, very, very close to home. 

This passage’s imagery likely based on actual towers built in the land we know today as Iraq.  Tall structures are a common feature of many ancient civilizations, usually relating to some aspect of religion.  Do we not take our own pride in skyscrapers?  There is something about using technology to climb into “heaven”. 

Think about your personal life.  Does pride interfere with your relationship with God?  How does pride interfere with your relationship with people?

Take a break as we reach the end of the first week.  I hope you have enjoyed this as much as I have!

In Christ,

Pastor Randy