In an earlier study (The Descendants of Ham), I suggested that Nimrod wasn’t a literal figure. That is, he wasn’t one of Cush’s sons (Genesis 10:7-8). Rather, I proposed that Cush comprised Nimrod, whose name means rebellion or we shall rebel, vis-à-vis Cush was the first to reproduce rebellion after the Flood! The end of this rebellion was to be a mighty (H1368) hunter (H6718) “before the Lord” (Genesis 10:9), meaning he didn’t try to hide his efforts. He knew that what he did was before or in the presence of the Lord. However, this has nothing to do with world empires. A hunter offers a provision (same Hebrew word in Psalm 132:5, cp. Joshua 9:5; see also Job 38:41 & Nehemiah 13:15), and that provision (H6718) was attractive to and influenced a number of cities in the land of Shinar and others toward the area of Assyria (Genesis 10:10-11).
The fact that this rebellion was against God makes it religious in nature. It is interesting, at least to me, that very ancient societies/nations sought to understand their beginnings or the creation of mankind, and, secondly, they sought to answer questions they had concerning God’s judgment upon the earliest civilization, the antediluvian people, vis-à-vis with the great Flood. Certainly, Moses, also had this in mind, as he composed the Book of Genesis from aforementioned family records (cp. Genesis 1:1; 2:4; 5:1; 6:9; 10:1). In other words, he wanted to connect the God of Israel with the Creator. Similarly, but from a defiant perspective, Cush and those allied with him sought to do the same, and his efforts are described in more detail here, in Genesis 11.
According to Genesis 11:1, “the whole earth was one language, and of one speech.” Consider for a moment the impact of this statement. At least one nation of Ham’s line was in the west and settling Egypt. Moreover, at least one tribe of the line of Japheth was settling lands to the north. If the whole earth was one language, this would be the miracle (cp. Acts 2:4-8), not the confusing of the tongues! Distance and the lack of communication will naturally produce differences in speech. Remember, according to Genesis 10:5, 20 & 31, the descendants of the sons of Noah settled in their respective lands “after their tongues.” There is no mention of the whole world being one language, until we get to Genesis 11:1. So, what does this mean?
It seems evident that all men knew God at this time. Of the ten patriarchs in Shem’s line, only one (Eber) lived longer than Shem. No doubt something similar might be said of Japheth and Ham. Noah missed the birth of Abram by only two years, born 352 years after the Flood (Genesis 9:28). Nevertheless, the text says:
“When they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations… Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things” (Romans 1:21-23).
The whole earth was of one language or lip (H8193). The Septuagint translates this to cheilos (G5491) in the Greek. Jesus uses this word to say:
“This people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips (G5491) but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines and commandments of men” (Matthew 15:8-9; cp. Isaiah 29:13, Jesus’ source; it’s the same Hebrew word – H8193).
In this context, the whole world was of one knowledge of God, they had one way of talking to him. According to Romans 1:21-23, they corrupted that one way through idolatry, which, according to Jesus, concerns vain traditions of men, which honors God with one’s “lips” but not with one’s heart.
Notice that they journeyed “from” the east (Genesis 11:2), but the land of Shinar is southeast of Ararat. “From the east…” demands going west! How should we solve this apparent contradiction? The Temple at Jerusalem faced east to receive the light of God. These folks may have journeyed southeast of Ararat, but, spiritually, they were walking away from God’s light.
“Go to…” is an expletive, like “Damn it!” (Genesis 11:3-4) and they set their minds to making brick (a product of man’s labor) for stone (a creation of God). The sense has far less to do with the products they used in building physical structures, as it does to make a spiritual point. The spiritual sense is that they traded in the word of God (stone) for the doctrines of men (brick). They wished to build a city and a tower (temple), whose top was open to the heavens. This is presented in contrast to Jerusalem and the Temple, which would come later (cp. Psalm 46:4; 87:3). Still later, this city of God has become the faithful in Christ (Revelation 3:12; 21:2-23), and the faithful are its Temple (1Peter 2:5; 1Corinthians 3:16; 5:19; 2Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:20-22). The ancients, the followers of Cush, were the city and their priests were its temple.
The Lord responded by considering what the people were doing (Genesis 11:5), saying “this they begin to do, and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do” (Genesis 11:6). In other words, the Lord had in mind what occurred during the antediluvian era. Idolatry (Genesis 4:26) led to the corruption of the whole earth, filling it with violence (Genesis 6:11). If left to themselves nothing would keep them from becoming just as antediluvians were. Therefore, the Lord had to judge their behavior to keep mankind from becoming too corrupt (cp. Genesis 9:11-12). So, the Lord confused their talk (H8193) so they couldn’t understand one another (Genesis 11:7).
Keep in mind that this has less to do with a literal city they were building, as it did a new religious institution. The confusion the Lord brought them brought failure to come to an agreement over this city (people) of god, which involved a dark spirituality that would keep them together. It involved having a name they would all share, which would mark them as a people throughout the world.
Ultimately, they had to scatter, but failure to agree on the city or people of god brought disunity and confusion (Genesis 11:8-9).[1] Contrarily, the church of God has scattered itself throughout the world in obedience to God, and we share a common tongue or faith in God, and are able to communicate with one another through good works, no matter what the human language we speak!
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[1] This is similar to Christian denominations today, which tend to divide the city of God instead of drawing nearer, which men’s ideas or traditions were intended to do by their authors (cp. Galatians 5:19-21), note heresies (G138) meaning choice, a party or sect.
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