Genesis 11
The Dark Backdrop

Genesis 11

Universal Language, Babel, Confusion

1 Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. 2 It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. 4 They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” 5 The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 The LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing they purpose to do will be impossible. 7 “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.

Descendants of Shem

10 These are the records of the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old, and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood; 11 and Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and he had other sons and daughters.

12 Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, and became the father of Shelah; 13 and Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years after he became the father of Shelah, and he had other sons and daughters.

14 Shelah lived thirty years, and became the father of Eber; 15 and Shelah lived four hundred and three years after he became the father of Eber, and he had other sons and daughters.

16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and became the father of Peleg; 17 and Eber lived four hundred and thirty years after he became the father of Peleg, and he had other sons and daughters.

18 Peleg lived thirty years, and became the father of Reu; 19 and Peleg lived two hundred and nine years after he became the father of Reu, and he had other sons and daughters.

20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and became the father of Serug; 21 and Reu lived two hundred and seven years after he became the father of Serug, and he had other sons and daughters.

22 Serug lived thirty years, and became the father of Nahor; 23 and Serug lived two hundred years after he became the father of Nahor, and he had other sons and daughters.

24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of Terah; 25 and Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years after he became the father of Terah, and he had other sons and daughters.

26 Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.

27 Now these are the records of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran; and Haran became the father of Lot. 28 Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. 29 Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 Sarai was barren; she had no child.

31 Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there. 32 The days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.

Unpacking Genesis 11

If you have ever bought a diamond ring or an expensive piece of jewelry at a jewelry store, the salesperson probably showed it to you by placing it on a piece of black velvet. Why? Because the dark velvet highlights the beauty of the jewel. That’s a lot like what’s happening in today’s study of Genesis 11.

So far, we have been going through the Book of Genesis and have seen that this book is about origins. In this study of Genesis 11, we’ll see the origin of the nations and, more importantly, the origin of the one nation of people who were in covenant with God to obey Him!

If you’ve just read Genesis 11, it might seem like an odd passage about disobedience and dispersion. However, Genesis 11 is fundamentally a darkened backdrop that highlights the glory of the salvation given to us by God. In fact, Genesis 11 is a hinge to the rest of the Bible. From Genesis 3 to 11, we see the outworking and consequences of man’s sin. From Genesis 12 to Revelation 22, we see the outworking and glory of the salvation provided by God.

To understand Genesis 11, let’s briefly review what has gotten us here. So far, we’ve seen that God created everything good and perfect, but in Genesis 3, man sinned and rebelled against the Lord. We began to see what this rebellion looked like with Cain and Abel. Not only did Cain kill his brother, but he went on to establish a civilization that followed the “way of Cain” rather than the way of God. The results were disastrous.

This godless civilization got so bad that the Lord brought a global flood that destroyed all breath except for Noah and his family. Even then, rather than arriving at a condition where everyone finally obeys God, Chapter 9 records how Noah’s son named Ham, and ultimately Ham’s descendants, continued a course of sin and rebellion. Genesis 11 shows us that this rebellion was conducted not only by Ham's descendants but by everyone. Thus, despite the flood, mankind was (and is) still bent on sin.

Yet, amid man’s sin, rebellion, and judgment, there has also been the underlying thread of grace, redemption, and salvation. We’ve seen repeatedly that even when the Lord brings judgment, He is also merciful. Back in Genesis 3:15, the Lord promised to provide a Savior. In Genesis 3:21, He made clothes of animal skins for Adam and Eve. In Genesis 4, we saw His mercy in His dealing with Cain. Likewise, we saw His mercy when He provided salvation for Noah and His family. We will continue to see God’s mercy and provision of salvation with Abraham and his descendants beginning in Genesis 12.

However, before we get to the ray of hope in Genesis 12, we must look at this black velvet of Genesis 11 that will serve as the backdrop to highlight the jewel of salvation that God reveals in Genesis 12.

As we turn to Genesis 11, this chapter contains two key blocks of information: verses 1 through 9 give us the account of the Tower of Babel, and verses 10 through 30 tell us the genealogy of Abraham. Both are vital to our understanding of God’s message of salvation.

So, let’s begin back in verse 1 and discuss the infamous Tower of Babel and how it leads us to the new direction that God is taking to bring about the salvation of His people.

Genesis 11 opens with an undefined period having passed since the flood.[1] Starting in verse 1, everyone still spoke the same language because everyone was a direct descendant of Noah. Whatever language Noah spoke is the language they spoke too. This changes in Genesis 11.

Verse 2 explains that as the people moved eastward, they came to a large plain in southern Mesopotamia in the land of Shinar. This was probably somewhere in the southern part of modern-day Iraq.

They liked Shinar and decided to settle there. Settling there is not a problem; it’s what would happen if they settled there that’s the problem. We see their reason for staying there in verse 4. They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

This might not seem like a big deal to us. After all, maybe they liked the view! Or they saw this region had natural resources they thought they needed. No matter their reason, if they stayed in this valley, they would directly violate God’s command to Adam in Genesis 1:28 and Noah in Genesis 9:1 to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. They would not be walking in faith in God’s provision but trusting in themselves and man's ways.

We discussed why God gave the command “to fill the earth” in our studies of Genesis 1 and 9. We explained that God gave this command to Adam and later to Noah as one means by which they would bring glory to God throughout the whole world. They would worship Him in every corner of the world as image bearers, bringing Him glory as they enjoyed all the blessings He has given them to discover! Staying in one place would stop that from happening.

Here we see that although the Lord gave mankind so many blessings and provisions, mankind used those very blessings to justify their disobedience to the Lord. So, in verse 5, it says, “The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.”

Now, this might sound strange to us. Why would the almighty God, who is omniscient and omnipresent, why would He need to come down to see this tower? Well, He needed to come down in the sense that the grand edifice they thought was so mighty was a small, insignificant blip hardly noticeable in the world.

What’s worse, mankind was directly rebelling against God over something so small and insignificant. Mankind’s greatest works, when done in a manner that was separated from God and done for man’s own glory, are truly vapid and worthless. That’s a sobering thought.

For many reasons, things could not stay this way, so in verse 7, the Lord miraculously confused their language. Overnight, they went from speaking one language to speaking many. You can imagine how bizarre this would have been to wake up one day and go to work on the Tower of Babel. Two guys are looking down at the same construction plans, but neither one knows what the other is saying. Two people are trying to push a load up a ramp but can’t understand each other about when to push, pull and stop.

All that confusion and frustration halted the construction of the tower. It created such a division among the people that they were forced to separate into groups who understood each other. These groups eventually disperse.

Verse 8 says that the Lord scattered them across the face of the entire earth. Hence, they scattered around the world and formed the people groups (or the origin of them) that we see today. God stopped them from continuing their sin, and they would now accomplish His will, even if their heart had not changed. Thus, we see the principle that sometimes the hand of God brings adversity into our lives to lead us to greater obedience to His Word (see also Psalm 119:67, Hebrews 12:5-11).

It is tempting to stop here, but we can’t. Rather than getting distracted by what kind of tower they were building or where, we need to recognize that this chapter summarizes the spiritual condition of the nations of mankind.

Mankind is universally united in rebelling against the Lord and wanting to do things their own way rather than God’s way. This is why Genesis 11 is a hinge for the rest of the Bible. From here on out, God will now establish a new nation of people committed to obeying Him. Through these people, He will bring the Savior. This Savior will be the king of this people and establish a new, eternal kingdom of God’s people.

Before we leave these opening verses, let’s tie this into our lives. This passage shows us the origins of nations, languages, and people groups. It also helps us understand why there are differences in physical and cultural characteristics. But this chapter also shows us that all people have a common ancestry. We are all of one race: the race of Adam, through the line of Seth, through the line of Noah.

Furthermore, Genesis 11 shows us that the universal disposition of mankind is to rebel against God’s design. Even today, if you stopped the average person on the street and explained that there was a time when God judged mankind because man wanted to stay in one place, most people would scoff at the idea. Many people would say, “I would never worship a God like that! I don’t want anyone telling me what to do! I decide my fate! I decide how I’m going to live!” That answer shows how this same heart of rebellion is still common today.

So, Genesis 11 is the black velvet backdrop for the rest of the Bible. It is not until Genesis 12 that there is any hope of a group of people committing to obeying God. That hope begins in the final passage of Genesis 11, which introduces us to a man named “Abram” (whom we know as “Abraham”).

If you look in the Bible passage included in this guide, verses 10 to 32 are listed under the heading “Descendants of Shem.” That may not be a topic that normally gets you out of bed in the morning, but it is super important to making sense of the rest of the Bible. The “Descendants of Shem” are the people who will produce the nation of Israel, the only nation chosen by God to be in covenant with Him as His people who will specifically obey Him.

Verse 10 starts out by saying, “These are the records of the generations of Shem.” Remember who Shem is. Shem is the firstborn son of Noah. More importantly, he was not in the cursed line of Ham that we read about in Genesis 9.

This account of Shem includes several important names. For instance, verse 14 says, “Shelah lived thirty years and became the father of Eber.” Who is Eber? Well, if you pronounce Eber’s name slightly differently and then talk about the people descended from him, you have here the first reference of what will become the term for “Hebrews.” Hebrew people are the descendants of Eber, who descended from Shem. Thus, Hebrews are also “Shemites” or, as we say today, “Semites.”

If you follow the lineage of Eber, you will come to verse 24 and find a man named Terah. You might be half expecting me to say that “Terites” are also known as Pterodactyls, but I won’t because they’re not. Terah is important because verse 26 says that he was the father of Abram. We know Abram as “Abraham,” which is the name given to him by the Lord in Genesis 17:5 to highlight the Lord’s promise that he, Abraham, would be the father of nations. “Abraham” means “Father of a Great Multitude.”

This introduces us to one of the most important men in history: Abraham. We’ll learn much more about Abraham as we turn to Genesis 12, but for now, we need to see that Abram started as just another person among the nations. We’ll see that in Genesis 12, God hand-picked Abram to form a new nation that would be unlike the rebellious nations of the world in Genesis 11. God specifically chose Abram to establish a nation of people who would covenant with God to obey Him.

So, here we finally meet the man who will be the father of a nation of people (and ultimately, many nations of people) who will obey the Lord and follow His ways rather than their own hearts, opinions, and culture.

From here on out, the Bible will show us what it looks like to be a physical descendant of Abraham (as in the Jews) and a spiritual descendant of Abraham (as in the born-again children of God). We’ll also see how these people were, and are, supposed to live in submission to God amid a world in rebellion to Him.

So, now we see why this chapter is a key chapter of the Bible! Not because of the Tower of Babel but because it shows us that all the nations were united in rebellion against God. God, in an act of divine mercy, chose one man from among these nations to establish a new nation of “God-obeyers.” This nation would give the world the Messiah, who Himself has started a spiritual nation of people called out of this world to obey God. If you are in Christ, you are part of this new nation of people who have covenanted with God to obey Him in this world. So, with that in mind, let’s make some applications in the following study and discussion questions.

Study and Discussion Questions

Listening to the Key Chapters Podcast on this chapter provides further insights into the following questions.

1. Read through Genesis 11 and place a box around words or phrases that speak of man’s unity. Place a triangle around words or phrases that speak of man’s disunity. How does man’s inability to communicate contribute to disharmony among people?

2. Read through Genesis 11 and circle the names Shem (in verse 10), Eber (in verse 14), Terah (in verse 24), and Abram (in verse 26). Then draw a line that connects them all, starting with Shem and ending with Abram. What is the significance of these connections?

3. How did the study suggest that Genesis 11 serves as a dark backdrop to the rest of the Bible? What is so dark in this chapter? What is the diamond at the end of it?

4. In verse 4, what reason did the people give for wanting to stay in the land of Shinar? What command was this in direct disobedience to? What was the purpose of that command?

5. Looking at how the people were reasoning in verses 3 and 4, would you say they were considering God’s instructions or disregarding them? Why do you think they had this mindset?

6. In verse 4, was their sin “building the tower” or something else? How is that significant to the plan of God given in Genesis 1:28 and 9:1?

7. The people used God’s blessings to sin against Him. How might a person still use their God-given blessings to sin against Him? What, instead, should we do with God’s blessings?

8. How did God’s judgment redirect the people to obey His commands? What does this tell us about one of the purposes of God’s judgment?

9. Who is the key person mentioned in verse 26? According to Genesis 17:5, what was his name later changed to? What did this new name mean?

10. The people who settled in the Plain of Shinar did what seemed good to them, but they completely disregarded God’s commands. When you look at your approach to life, how do you make decisions? Do most of your decisions simply reflect what you think is best? Do you normally consult God’s Word for what He says on that matter? Why or why not?

11. Would the people who know you describe you as a person who is actively seeking to live according to God’s way? Are you seeking to please God, obey Him, and glorify Him? Why or why not?

12. What implication does the meaning of “Abraham” have for the kind of nation Abraham was to be the father of? What does the study tell us about God’s plan for choosing Abram from among the nations?

13. Although we ought to obey God, none of us do perfectly. None of us can fully obey Him in our own strength. As we end our study in Genesis 11, take a moment to seek God’s transforming grace so that He might transform your heart, mind, will, and actions to conform to His holy standard in submission to His Son, who is our Lord and God and King?

[1] Technically speaking, the event known as “The Tower of Babel” occurred midway through the genealogy of Noah in Genesis 10.