January 5: Genesis 11-12 Tower of Babel - Too Much Technology?

           

I ran some interesting number in the first few chapters of Genesis. According to the genealogies and the ages at which the men listed had kids, Adam was 874 years old when Lamech born. Lamech would have been 56 years old when Adam died. He would have heard about the creation directly from Adam. Lamech 182 years old when Noah was born. That means the account of the creation, the fall, and all that happened between those times was only one generation away from Noah. The oral history would have been very accurate when retold to Noah.

            According to the ages of Noah and his descendants when they were born, Noah would have been 890 years old when Abram (Abraham) was born. Abram would have been 60 years old when Noah died.

            A lot happened between the ending of the flood and Abram’s call from God to go to Canaan. The biggest event was the building of the city and tower of Babel. Remember, these people had heard not only God’s command to be fruitful and fill the earth given to Adam but also to Noah. They would have been able to hear it directly from Noah. But what did they do? They purposely decided to build a city big enough and high enough so that it could be seen from a long distance and therefore keep people from being dispersed over the earth (Gen 11:4).

            Disobedience! Not only that, but God could see that nothing good would come of their desire to stick together. With long life spans and being close together, they could easily develop technology much faster than when separated and having different languages. We look at the technology advances of the past 200 years and we are amazed. But a big reason for the exponential advance in technology is our ability to communicate globally and have good records so that people don’t have to keep reinventing the wheel.

            God must have seen that their ability to advance rapidly would interfere with his time-line for bringing the Messiah, Jesus, and saving us from our sins. He therefore confused their languages and they stopped the building. But each group took with them the story of creation and the flood. These stories are almost universal around the world in each culture. However, time has corrupted those except the one brought through Abraham who heard the most accurate one from Noah.

            That is the human aspect of the story, but we also know that all Scripture is directed and inspired by God (2 Peter 1:20-21). That is how we know that what we read in these chapters is an accurate presentation of the event. Since they all point to our sinfulness and a need for a Savior, we should pay attention and turn to Jesus for our salvation as well as our direction in life. We don’t want to hear the story and then act in disobedience as did the builders of Babel.