In
the Bible study curriculum “The Story” developed by Max Lucado and Randy
Frazee, there are two perspectives of the Biblical narrative. There is God’s perspective, what they refer
to as the “upper story”, and there is the human perspective, which is referred
to as the “lower story”. Ideally, these
two should come together as a unified way of seeing the world, but humanity
insists on its own agenda, so the two perspectives remain. Theologians would refer to them as the
“transcendent” perspective, and the “immanent” perspective. The Apostle Paul at times would refer to it
as living according to the “Spirit”, or the “flesh”. We find in the specific incident of the tower
of Babel, a microcosm of the continuing battle between these two points of
view.
The
human perspective in the story is revealed by the words “come let us…” Humanity has its own agenda, apart from and
sometimes in competition with God’s.
Humanity desires unity, the type that can be found in large cities, and
in shared language. The city of Babylon
is believed to be the site of the tower of Babel. One of its landmarks was a huge ziggurat,
whose name Etemenanki, suggested the
linking of heaven and earth. But for all
the effort on the part of the Babylonians to demonstrate humanity’s advancement
through its own glory, we are also told that there is a dark side to
Babylon. It might be a great city, but
it is also a city of persecutions (Daniel 3); hedonism (Isaiah 47:8-13); and
wealth that leads to eventual destruction (Revelation 17-18). While the Babylonians thought they could
build a tower to reach the heavens, the only thing that actually makes it that
far is the knowledge of their sin and corruption. We are unsure if they only had one language,
or if they had many languages but were all fluent in one language that brought
them together, a lingua franca of the
ancient world. It was the first
documented case of globalization, except instead of removing barriers to bring
humanity closer together; humanity brought itself into conflict with God
because of its ambition. What was
motivating this ambition? It was fame,
glory, and a desire to be remembered.
They said, “let us make a name for ourselves”. No human project undertaken for the sake of
human glory, whether it is an individual’s or ours collectively, can be
trusted. Interestingly enough, God in
his justice gives them a name that becomes famous, but the name of the
Babelites will not mean “glory”, but “confusion”. F. S. Frick would say that the story is an
example of “man’s futile attempt to gain security apart from God through
city-building.” Despite God’s commission
to be fruitful and multiply, and fill the
earth, man chooses to settle. It is
no coincidence that just a chapter after the story of Babel, we have the
beginning of Abraham’s story, a man who is willing to leave the safety of
numbers and venture out in faith. When summarizing the Babel account,
theologian Walter Brueggemann would say that “the narrative then is a protest
against every effort at oneness derived from human self-sufficiency and
autonomy.”
The
divine perspective is also revealed through speech, specifically the words
“come let us…” However we see the truth
in that God is not portrayed as a rival, but a concerned Father and creator. Humanity thinks that all their problems will
be solved if they speak the same language.
However, it is not simply that they do not understand one another, it is
that they do not listen. The
Hebrew word used to refer to such successful communication, or lack thereof, is
shema. It is familiar to the faithful Jew as it is
the name of one of Judaism’s most famous prayers:
“Hear (shema), O
Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart and with
all your soul and with all your might. And these
words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You
shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you
sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and
when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and
they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your
house and on your gates.”
- Deuteronomy 6:4-9
John
Calvin understood what those at Babel did not.
It is more important that we hear and understand God, than that we hear
and understand each other. When speaking
of different Christians from around the world, he would say that “although
their language may differ in sound, they all speak the same thing, while they
cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” In other words we
are unified, even when we don’t speak the same language, if we are conversing
with the same God. In a fitting finale
to the Babel story, Genesis tells us that “the Lord scattered them there”,
reversing their intention when “they settled there.” (11:2)
The
scattering is seen as punishment, but in fact it is a fulfilling of God’s
original intention for mankind to fill the earth. God is pushing humanity out of the
metaphorical nest. You see, God is
against human unity only when we seek that unity on our own terms. If we fast-forward to the New Testament, we
see God bringing people together and enabling them to communicate in ways much
like what humanity envisioned at the tower of Babel. Consider the description of Pentecost in the
book of Acts. The connection between the
events at the Tower of Babel, and those at Pentecost are emphasized by words like
hear, heard, or ear:
“And at
this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each
one was hearing them speak in his
own language…And how is it that we hear,
each of us in his own native language?... both
Jews and proselytes, Cretans and
Arabians—we hear them telling in our
own tongues the mighty works of God… But
Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men
of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words…Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the
rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what
shall we do?” (Acts 2: 6, 8, 11, 14, 37)
God’s
Spirit is again moving in humanity, bringing about unity through a shared
understanding of God’s redemptive purpose in our world. The Spirit again blows over the chaos,
bringing a renewed capacity to listen.
The difference is not just that the unity of Pentecost was initiated by
God, but is also seen in humanity’s response.
As formative as that day in Jerusalem was, they are content to remain
scattered, not imposing a false unity.
In other words, all those people from all those places go home, to houses and villages far and
wide to live out God’s vision of inhabiting the earth, and joining in the work
of building God’s kingdom here. The
Christians on Pentecost understood something we desperately need to hear as a
church today, and that is that we cannot live in the church, but we can live as the church.
No comments:
Post a Comment