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What do people do to make a name for themselves today? Go viral. Win a medal. Get rich. Build something huge. Get thousands of followers. Wanting to be known isn't always bad, but when does it go wrong? And if your name could be on one thing for ever, what would it be?
In this lesson we meet two very different ways to get a great name. One is grabbing it. The other is receiving it as a gift. We've reached Babel, the last of the four big events in Genesis 1–11. Then the camera zooms in on one man and his family, and the second half of Genesis begins.
What you'll learn
- What the people of Babel wanted, and why it was a problem
- How God's call of Abram is the opposite of Babel
- How Jesus and Pentecost reverse Babel
Babel: the tower to heaven
After the flood, God told Noah's family to spread out and fill the earth (9:1). But a few generations later, people had other ideas:
"‘Come,’ they said, ‘let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.’" (Genesis 11:4)
They wanted three things:
- To make a name for themselves: glory for themselves, not for God.
- To build a tower reaching to the heavens: to climb up to God's level, just like the serpent's offer back in Genesis 3:5.
- Not to be scattered: to stay put and refuse God's command to fill the earth (1:28; 9:1).
Now notice a funny detail. The people build a tower to reach heaven, but God has to come down just to see it (11:5)! Their mighty tower is tiny to him.
God confuses their language and scatters them across the earth (11:7–9). This is judgement, but it's also grace: it stops human pride from snowballing even further (11:6). The name Babel sounds like the Hebrew word for "confused". Later in the Bible, Babylon becomes a picture of a proud city that sets itself against God.
A dead end?
At the end of Genesis 11 there's a family tree. It runs to a man called Terah and his son Abram. Then comes a sad little detail:
"But Sarai was barren; she had no children." (Genesis 11:30)
Remember, God promised back in Genesis 3:15 that a rescuer would come from the woman's family line. If the rescuer has to come through a family, and this family can't have children, it looks like a dead end.
The call of Abram
But then God speaks. He tells Abram to leave his country, his relatives and his father's house, and go to a land God will show him. And he makes a promise:
"I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing." (Genesis 12:2)
Count how many times the word "bless" (or "blessing" or "blessed") appears in Genesis 12:2–3. Five times! Since Genesis 3, the word curse kept showing up (3:14, 3:17, 4:11). Now God's answer to the curse is a flood of blessing.
Put Babel and Abram side by side, and they're opposites:
| At Babel | With Abram |
|---|---|
| People want to make a name for themselves (11:4) | God promises to make Abram's name great (12:2) |
| They refuse to be scattered and stay put (11:4) | Abram leaves his country and goes where God sends him (12:1, 4) |
| They build a tower to reach heaven (11:4) | Abram builds altars and calls on the name of the LORD (12:7–8) |
| They want greatness for themselves | Abram is blessed so that he can be a blessing to all families (12:2–3) |
| It ends in confusion and scattering | It begins a plan to bless every nation |
And look at Genesis 12:4. Abram is 75 years old, and he goes. He doesn't have the whole map. He just has God's promise. That's what faith looks like.
Where's the grace?
God scatters human pride before it can do more damage. Then he chooses an old man with no children, and promises to bless every family on earth through him.
Key words
- Babel: the city where people built a tower to make a name for themselves; it sounds like "confused".
- Pride: thinking you are more important than you are, or that you don't need God.
- Blessing: God's good gifts and favour.
- Barren: unable to have children.
- Faith: trusting God's promise, even when you can't see how it will happen.
How this points to Jesus
Babel tried to climb up and grab a great name, and lost it. Jesus did the opposite. Though he was God, he didn't grab at greatness. He came down and humbled himself, all the way to death on a cross (Philippians 2:5–8). And so:
"Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above all names." (Philippians 2:9)
There's another reversal too. At Babel, languages divided people. But at Pentecost (Acts 2), God's Spirit came and people from many nations heard about God's great works in their own languages. The good news about Jesus started to reach every language on earth. That's the blessing to all families that God promised Abram, coming true through Jesus (Galatians 3:8).
Think about it
Babel tried to grab a great name. Abram received one. What's the difference?Show answer
Grabbing a name is about making yourself great without God. Receiving it means trusting God and letting him give you what he chooses, which leads to blessing others, not just yourself.
How was scattering the people at Babel both judgement and grace?Show answer
It was judgement because God stopped their proud plan. It was grace because it stopped their pride from growing even worse, and it pushed them to fill the earth as God intended.
Why do you think God chose an old man with a wife who couldn't have children?Show answer
So it would be clear that the promise came true because of God's power, not human strength. Only God could make a great nation from a couple who couldn't have children.
Take it further
God blessed Abram so that he could be a blessing to others. What is one gift God has given you, such as a talent, a skill or a kind word, that you could use to bless someone this week? Your worksheet helps you compare Babel and Abram side by side.
If you'd like to, you could pray: God, thank you that you came down to us. Forgive me when I try to make a name for myself. Help me to trust you like Abram did, and to use what you give me to bless others. Thank you for Jesus, whose name is above every name. Amen.