The Building of the Tower of Babel by Marten van Valckenborch
Marten van Valckenborch (1535-1612), was a Flemish Renaissance painter, primarily known for his landscapes with religious or allegorical themes and agricultural or mining scenes. Later in his career, he developed towards a Mannerist idiom (landscapes characterized by dramatically agitated clouds and large mountains) as is scene in “The Building of the Tower of Babel.”
Unlike most artists, van Valckenborch accurately portrays the Tower of Babel as a ziggurat (a square or rectangular temple with multiple tiers and outside staircases.) The pyramid structure typically included a shrine on the top. This painting also depicts a kiln (on the lower left) for manufacturing bricks and a cave (on the lower right) for mining bitumen or asphalt to make mortar. The artist gives us a sense of the size and scope of the project and manpower it took to create such a monument.
Call to Worship – Matthew 21:1-11
21 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.”
4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
5 “Say to Daughter Zion,
‘See, your king comes to you,
gentle and riding on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’”
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. 8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted,
“Hosanna to the Son of David!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?”
11 The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”
Hosanna, Loud Hosanna
Hosanna, loud hosanna the little children sang;
Through pillared court and temple the lovely anthem rang.
To Jesus, who had blessed them, close folded to his breast,
The children sang their praises, the simplest and the best.
From Olivet they followed mid an exultant crowd,
The victory palm branch waving, and chanting clear and loud.
The Lord of earth and heaven rode on in lowly state,
Nor scorned that little children should on his bidding wait.
“Hosanna in the highest!” That ancient song we sing,
For Christ is our Redeemer, the Lord of heaven, our King.
O may we ever praise him with heart and life and voice,
And in his blissful presence eternally rejoice.
Words: Jennette Threlfall (1821-1880)
Music: Gesangbuch der H. W. K. Hofkapelle
Children’s Sermon
Prayer and Intercession
Let us pray:
Creator, Upholder and Proprietor of all things,
We cannot escape from your presence and control,
nor do we desire to do so.
Our privilege is to be under the agency of your omnipotence,
righteousness, wisdom, patience, mercy and grace;
For you are Love with more than parental affection.
We admire your goodness,
stand in awe of your power,
abase ourselves before your purity.
It is the discovery of your goodness alone that
can banish our fear
allure us into your presence,
help us to bewail and confess our sins.
We review our past guilt
and are conscious of present unworthiness.
We bless you that your steadfast love and attributes
are essential to our happiness and hope;
You have witnessed to us your grace and mercy
in the bounties of nature,
in the fullness of your providence,
in the revelations of Scripture,
in the gift of your Son,
in the proclamation of the gospel.
Make us willing to be saved in your own way,
perceiving nothing in ourselves but all in Jesus.
Help us not only to receive him but to
walk in him,
depend upon him,
commune with him,
follow him as dear children,
imperfect, but still pressing forward,
not complaining of labour, but valuing rest,
not murmuring under trials, but thankful for our state.
And by so doing let us silence the ignorance
of foolish men.
The Giver from The Valley of Vision
Please take a few moments to pray for:
- Brad Paradee and Pam & Howard Deuso, who have COVID-19
- Donna Waguespack, our missionary in Mexico
- Healthcare workers
- Other personal concerns
Scripture Reading – Genesis 11
The Tower of Babel
11 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
From Shem to Abram
10 This is the account of Shem.
Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad. 11 And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. 13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters
14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. 15 And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.
16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. 17 And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters.
18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. 19 And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters.
20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. 21 And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters.
22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. 23 And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters.
24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. 25 And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
26 After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.
Abram’s Family
27 This is the account of Terah.
Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 28 While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. 29 Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milkah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milkah and Iskah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no children.
31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.
32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.
Sermon
Rebuilding the Tower of Babel by Dr. Jason R. McConnell
(Printed sermon is below the final song)
What the Lord Has Done in Me
Let the weak say, “I am strong.” Let the poor say, “I am rich.”
Let the blind say, “I can see; It’s what the Lord has done in me.”
Let the weak say, “I am strong.” Let the poor say, “I am rich.”
Let the blind say, “I can see; It’s what the Lord has done in me.”
Hosanna, Hosanna! To the Lamb that was slain.
Hosanna, Hosanna! Jesus died and rose again.
Into the river I will wade. There my sins are washed away.
From the heavens mercy streams Of the Savior’s love for me.
Hosanna, Hosanna! To the Lamb that was slain.
Hosanna, Hosanna! Jesus died and rose again.
I will rise from waters deep Into the saving arms of God.
I will sing salvation songs; Jesus Christ has set me free!
Hosanna, Hosanna! To the Lamb that was slain.
Hosanna, Hosanna! Jesus died and rose again.
Hosanna, Hosanna! To the Lamb that was slain.
Hosanna, Hosanna! Jesus died and rose again.
Jesus died and rose again, Jesus died and rose again.
Words and music by Reuben Morgan
CCLI# 2487144
Rebuilding the Tower of Babel (sermon manuscript)
So far, the Book of Genesis has told us the story of how God, the original artist, created the earth and everything in it. He formed the skies and seas. He fashioned the forests and flower-filled meadows. He flung birds into the sky and splashed fish into the sea, and he made beasts to roam the land. But he unveiled his greatest masterpiece when he sculpted the human race from the dust of the earth and breathed into man the breath of life. He molded mankind in his own image—with body, mind, and soul—with the ability to love and be loved—and with the capacity to create and procreate. God planted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, where they experienced peace with nature, abundant beauty, and a perfect relationship with God and each other. And all was well with the world!
Then, sin stained God’s glorious masterpiece when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. The fields that once flourished with flowers and food would now be overrun by thorns and thistles. Humanity’s perfect fellowship with God would now be tainted by distrust and separation. And human relationships would now be marked by manipulation and malice, blaming and backstabbing, selfish ambition and sexual exploitation. As the generations multiplied, so did sin. He gave mankind so many opportunities to repent, but they refused. The human race became so wicked that God regretted creating the earth.
So, God decided to scrap the world and start over again. But before he burst open the underground springs and accumulated the rainclouds, he found one righteous man named Noah and commissioned him to build an ark that could withstand the Great Flood. Then, Noah and his family, along with the animals, socially distanced themselves from the rest of society by quarantining themselves on the ark for 370 days. (Can you even imagine? We’re only two weeks into Corona-quarantine, and it’s already driving us crazy!) But when the floodwaters finally receded, and the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat, Noah disembarked and began a new life.
Even though Noah stepped into a newly created world with no outward signs of sin, the seeds of iniquity were already sown deep in the human heart, and it would be just a matter of time before they sprung into full-blown transgression. Righteous Noah fell into sin when he became drunk and exposed from knocking back too much homemade wine. Then, Noah’s youngest son, Ham, followed his father’s sinful footsteps into sexual indiscretion. And thus, sin became fruitful and multiplied throughout the human race.
So far, Genesis has taught us about the origins of the earth, humanity, and sin. Genesis is a twisted tale of triumph and tragedy—it’s a book of beauty and brokenness—a romance between rebellion and redemption. On every page of the first ten chapters, we have watched God’s faithfulness overcome human failure. And I wonder: Have you seen God’s faithfulness overcome your failures? How have you experienced God’s mercy in the midst of your mistakes?
Genesis is really the gospel story—the story of how God loves us despite our sins and trespasses. When we deserve his judgment and wrath, he gives us his grace and forgiveness. God would one day prove his love by sending his son Jesus to ride a donkey into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and die for our sins on the cross on Good Friday. But we see the gospel right here in Genesis—in the generations from Adam to Noah and beyond.
This brings us to today’s saga about the Tower of Babel. Even though God gave the world a fresh start after the Great Flood, humanity quickly descended back into decadence and debauchery. In just a few generations, the world would once again be consumed by corruption and conceit. The Tower of Babel is the epitome of human arrogance. Here’s how the story goes!
The Migration to Mesopotamia (1-2)
As Noah’s family expanded on the foothills of Ararat, they eventually decided to migrate eastward, to the plain of Shinar in Mesopotamia’s fertile crescent, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Today, this region is commonly called “The Cradle of Civilization.” Eastward movement is an ominous sign in Genesis. God placed the cherubim and flaming sword on the “east side” of the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve were evicted? (Gen. 3:24) After Cain murdered his brother Abel, he settled in the land of Nod, “east of Eden?” (Gen. 4:16) Now we find Noah’s descendants moving east, which casts a dark shadow over the whole scene.
In those days, everyone spoke the same language. We don’t know what language it was, but we do know that it unified the human race and made communication relatively easy. The Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 chronologically precedes the Table of Nations in Genesis 10. As we will soon discover, it was the Tower of Babel instigated God to divide Noah’s descendants into clans, languages, lands, and nations and scatter them across the face of the earth.
Pause and consider this for a moment! Can you imagine what it would be like to live in a world where everyone spoke the same language? Students wouldn’t have to take a foreign language in school! Instruction manuals would a lot thinner! We could travel to foreign countries read the road signs, order from menus, and carry on conversations without a translator. Husbands would even be able to understand their wives’ emotional tirades! (Relax, I’m just joking! Even a common tongue couldn’t help with that!) But seriously, what a different world it must have been with only one language.
The Presumptuous Project (3-4)
After the human race settled on the plain of Shinar, they launched into a two-stage process of tower building. First, they said to themselves, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” Since Mesopotamia didn’t have stone available, they took it upon themselves to manufacture their own building materials. With incredible human ingenuity, they created kilns to bake bricks and they mined bitumen (asphalt) to make mortar. This new technology made for waterproof buildings as sturdy as stone.
Now with the proper materials in place, the people moved to phase two of their presumptuous project—building a city with a massive tower. At this stage in human history, cities were not intended to house the private sector; they built for public and religious purposes. They usually comprised of public buildings like administrative edifices, granaries, and a temple. The whole city was essentially a temple structure.
The infamous Tower of Babel was not a simple defense tower or watchtower, it was a monstrous ziggurat designed to make a statement to the watching world. As depicted in Marten van Valckenborch’s painting, a ziggurat was a square or rectangular structure engineered with multiple tiers and staircases and a shrine on the top. It was a man-made mountain and served the dual purpose of national pride and pagan worship. With its foundation on the earth and lofty peak in the clouds, it supposedly gave humans access to heaven and provided a convenient stairway for the gods to come down and bless the city.
Now that we know something about the materials, let’s examine the motive behind building the Tower of Babel. Verse 4 tells us that the people’s purpose was to “make a name for ourselves and not be scattered all over the earth.” These city builders were attempting to achieve fame and eternal glory for themselves. They futilely sought significance and immortality through their own achievements. They arrogantly believed that they could make their own way to heaven, independent from God. They put their faith in their own ingenuity rather than trusting God to take care of them. They were trying to consolidate their power and protect themselves by urbanizing, rather than scattering over the earth, as God desired. The people were no longer trying to be like God, but more insidiously, they were trying to bring God down and manipulate him to be more like them. This whole presumptuous project reeks of human hubris.
Unfortunately, we are all still susceptible to the spirit of Babel today. There is nothing inherently wrong with city building, civil engineering, architectural design, technological development, human ingenuity, or urbanization. But like all endeavors, it comes down to the motivation of the heart.
Every time we engage in the arrogant acts of trying to make a name for ourselves, we are rebuilding the Tower of Babel. Every time we seek significance and security from our human achievements, we are rebuilding the Tower of Babel. Every time we try to earn our way to heaven by doing good deeds, we are rebuilding the tower of Babel. Every time we put our trust in human technology instead of God, we are rebuilding the tower of Babel. Every time we “pray in Jesus’ name” to achieve our selfish ambitions, we are rebuilding the tower of Babel. Every time we hoard our resources for ourselves rather than give to the needy, we are rebuilding the Tower of Babel. Every time we try to manipulate God into giving us what we want, we are rebuilding the tower of Babel. Every time we rail against God for the suffering in the world and act like we know better than him, we are rebuilding the tower of Babel. Every time we act out in anger because we feel like something wasn’t fair, we are rebuilding the Tower of Babel. Every time we turn our backs on God because a loved one died; we are rebuilding the tower of Babel! (Walton 383)
God is not a child who can be cajoled, a tyrant who can be appeased, or a servant who can be managed. He is the holy and sovereign Creator of the universe! We must conform our character and expectations to God instead of trying to make God like us! The crowd that lined the streets and waved their palm branches and shouted “Hosanna” on Palm Sunday was trying to manipulate Jesus into being their earthly king and overthrow the Roman Empire. But Jesus would have none of it! He chose a donkey instead of a stallion! He chose the path of suffering over the path of glory! He chose a cross instead of a crown! He chose humility over hubris!
As the builders of Babel would soon discover, we cannot control God! Every day we are faced with a choice! Will we try to rebuild the Tower of Babel or will we submit to the will of God? Will we choose the path of presumptuous self-promotion or will we choose to follow Christ to the cross?
The Inspection, Confusion, and Dispersion (5-9)
The tale of the tower takes an ironic turn in verse 5. The author highlights the humor in the scene when he says, “But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.” No matter how high the people built the tower, it was still so tiny that the Lord had to descend to see it. As the Sovereign Lord inspected their work, you can almost hear the sarcasm dripping from his lips. The biblical text doesn’t reveal God’s initial reaction, but I imagine he something like this: “Wow! What a big toy tower you have built! Oooh, fire-bricks and asphalt mortar! How impressive!” To the Creator of the universe, this tower was nothing more than a few Lego blocks strewn together.
We hear a hint of God’s actual sarcasm in verse 6, when he says, “If as one people speaking the same language, they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.” Since many things are humanly impossible, God is obviously joking. Nonetheless, he decides to humble humanity and remind them who is really in control. He thwarts their presumptuous project by confusing their language and dispersing the human race across the earth.
The story concludes with a poignant note of poetic justice. This great city/tower was given the name “Babel” which is a wordplay on the ancient Akkadian word meaning “gate of god” and the Hebrew word meaning “confusion.” What started as a stairway to heaven ended as a crosswalk of chaos and confusion. What was going to be a massive monument to the glory of man ended in an unfinished scaffolding of scorn.
These verses remind us of God’s omnipotence and sovereignty—that is, his power and control over everything that happens in the world. If God can descend to the earth to inspect the teeny tiny Tower of Babel, he is certainly aware of all of our fears and frustrations! If God has the ability to confuse language and scatter people across the earth, he is certainly in control of the Covid-19 pandemic. He is in control of our health! He is in control of our family! He is in control of our economy! He is in control of our future!
With the human race still hopelessly lost because of sin, God steps in once again and offers a glimmer of hope. He does this in verses 10-32 by showcasing the genealogy of Shem down to Abram, the man with whom God chose to make his covenant to bless all the nations of the world and carry out his plan of redemption. We’ll be learning more about him after Easter!
But for now, let us learn from the mistakes of our ancestors, who tried to make a name for themselves by building the Tower of Babel. May we avoid the pitfalls of presumption and attitudes of arrogance. Instead of rebuilding the Tower of Babel, let us follow Jesus Christ all the way to the cross!