A Major Transition

 Genesis 11:1-12:9

            Today’s reading encompasses one of the major transitions of the Bible’s story. As our reading opens, we are treated to the story of the tower of Babel, a neat little play on words because in Hebrew it sounds like both the words for ‘Babylon,’ one of Israel’s most prominent enemies, and also the word for ‘confusion.’ The confusion is not just a reference the languages, but a reminder of the consequences of sin.

            Sin and its effects are a major point of the story. Just as Adam and Eve had wanted to ‘be like God’ in Genesis 3, so here in Genesis 11 humanity wants to build a tower to the heavens. That is to say, they want to live in God’s place: they still want to be like God. Humanity is on the same path that had led to the flood, so the Lord slows them down by confusing their languages and scattering them.

            Because humanity cannot be trusted to keep it together long enough for the Lord to fulfill His promise of a Savior (Gen. 3), the Lord settles on a new strategy: He entrusts His promise to a single family of the earth, the family of Abram, who is in the line of faithful Shem. This family will grow to become the people of Israel, and this transition is our first opportunity to understand the role that Israel plays in the Lord’s plans.

            Israel is like a greenhouse. The Lord has a seed to cultivate and grow, the promise of a Savior. The conditions outside are wild and unconducive to the plant’s growth. Therefore, the Lord brings it inside, into the greenhouse, where He can more easily control the conditions for the plant’s flourishing.

            Now, this is not really a new strategy. The strategy has always been to restore the full human race to its place as God’s image-bearers. This is just a different way of achieving that end. That the Lord’s goal is the same is shown in the promise to Abram in Genesis 12:2-3. The promise is a poem of seven lines: 1) “I will make you into a great nation, 2) and I will bless you; 3) I will make your name great, 4) and you will be a blessing. 5) I will bless those who bless you, 6) and whoever curses you I will curse; 7) and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” In Hebrew seven is the number of the Lord, and any Hebrew speaker would see that the seventh line is the climactic line. The goal of the Lord’s plans with Israel is to bless all the peoples on earth—through Abram, that is, through His descendant, ultimately Jesus.

            The rest of the Old Testament—1600 more pages in my Bible, 73 more weeks in our reading plan—is the story of Israel. In order to understand it, in order to understand, for example, the laws that the Lord will give on Sinai, the command to exterminate Israel’s enemies, the Lord’s fierce wrath over Israel’s idolatry: in order to understand all of that, we must keep Israel’s purpose in mind. All of that serves the larger purpose of bringing forth Jesus, at just the right time, so that He could redeem humanity from its sin by His death and resurrection.