May the mumbling commence!
When we build our lives, who do we
build around? Do we look to glorify
ourselves… or someone else… or do we seek to be obedient to God and glorify the
Lord? No more towers to the clouds! No more bridges to nowhere! Read from Peterson’s The Message:
At one time, the whole Earth spoke the same language. It so happened that as
they moved out of the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled down. They said to one
another, “Come, let’s make bricks and fire them
well.” They
used brick for stone and tar for mortar.
Then
they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower that reaches Heaven. Let’s make ourselves
famous so we won’t be scattered here and there
across the whole Earth.”
God came down to look over
the city and the tower those people had built.
God took one look and said,
“One people, one language; why, this is only a first step. No telling what they’ll come up with next –
they’ll stop at nothing! Come, we’ll go down and garble
their speech so they won’t understand each
other.” Then
God scattered them from there all over the world. And they had to
quit building the city. That’s how it came to be called Babel, because there God turned
their language into “babble.” From there God
scattered them all over the world. (Genesis 11:1-9)
Now read the same passage from the
NIV translation:
Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward,
they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 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."
But the Lord
came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 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. Come, let us go down and confuse
their language so they will not understand
each other."
So the Lord
scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 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. (Genesis 11:1-9)
Remember that the Lord had
commanded them to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. By gathering, the people were directly
disobeying the Word of the Lord for them.
They moved eastward, the direction of Cain. East is important in the Hebrew
Scriptures. It’s movement away from the
Lord. As a team, they accomplished more. Yes, it’s true. But sometimes those great accomplishments are
unjust and ungodly.
There are numerous differences in
style between the NIV and Peterson. I would
like to focus on a couple of them.
First, I find it interesting that Peterson assumes that the people of
Babel completed their project of their tower and city. In the NIV, the work was still in
progress. It was never completed. God stepped in before the disaster happened.
The second thing that I want to
address is the differences between speech and language. Speech is the oral part of our
communication. Language is broader. It includes customs and body language and tone. I don’t think they should be used interchangeably. More happened than garbled speech. Indeed, even when people that speak the same
heart language, it’s a near miracle when effective communication happens.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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