Bible Study: Genesis

Lesson 8: Genesis 10 And 11: Tower Of Babel

Final Thoughts

Having gone through much of Genesis 1-11 in somewhat detailed fashion, it may be good to finish by stepping back to get the big picture. What might we learn from looking at the whole scope of the primeval history and the trajectory of the stories contained within it.

In the most basic of terms the story of Creation and Fall. Genesis one through three, whatever we might conclude about its more controversial aspects, teaches that God is the sole Creator of all things and that the pinnacle of that creation was mankind. Furthermore, the created order was one of blessing and goodness. And the hope of perpetual enjoyment of that blessing and goodness was held out to mankind on the condition of obedience and dependence on God. Yet it was at this crucial point that mankind failed rebelling against their Creator and subjecting themselves and the creation to the absence of God's presence and the death and suffering that result.

The remainder of the primeval history, Genesis 4-11, may be summarized as a confirmation of mankind's rebellious tendency and the attendant curse of God upon humanity. The narrative of Cain and Abel demonstrates the radical way in which disobedience and rejection of God fractures families and communities and results in death and alienation. The Flood account demonstrates the depth to which mankind would sink apart from the restraining grace of God as well as the depth of God's displeasure with the violence and corruption that plagued humanity. But when given a chance to begin anew, arising from a sort of recreation, mankind again perpetuates his alienation and rebellion beginning with Noah himself and culminating in the Tower of Babel.

Yet Genesis 1-11 is not the whole story -- it is only the background. It establishes the dire straights upon which mankind finds itself and encourages us to look for outside of ourselves for peace, forgiveness, meaning and purpose.

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