Through Genesisنموونە

UNITED & DIVIDED

Another list of names. This time it’s Noah's descendants. It’s recorded to show how God covered the earth with people from the three sons of Noah.

The Tower of Babel bringing to light the history of languages is the highlight of today's reading. What catches our mind here is the importance of teamwork. Any job we do today involves teamwork. The team may be a close-knit team working on a single task or it may be a group of individuals who need the help of others to succeed in their task. The task in today's passage was to build a tower. They had a plan which was detailed. They were smart, as they knew how to make bricks even in those days, unlike the idea we generally tend to have about our ancestors. Maybe they were inspired by their ancestor, Noah, who built project ‘Ark’ and they were working on project ‘Tower.’

The phrase that got my attention was ‘If as one people speaking the same language.’ For any team to succeed, this is very important. It’s not just the dialect or language of speech, but it also means being on the same page. The passage says that if they work together like this, ‘nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.’

When they did everything right, why did God bring about division? The purpose for which they joined together was not of the Lord; it was about themselves. This passage gives a sneak peek of God’s jealous nature and His sovereign nature and He will not give his glory to another.

What a promise to take that God grants a spirit of unity when we do things according to His will (seen in Noah’s family and the building of the ark) and He is a God who brings about division when things are against Him. If we are on the Lord's side, our enemies will experience division. On our part, we need to make sure we do what God wants us to do.