DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS

Genesis 10:32-11:9    (4/3)    1st Reading at Vespers on Thursday, 4th Week of the Great Fast

 

After the Flood IV ~ The Tower of Pride: Genesis 10:32-11:9, especially vs. 4: “And they said, Come, let us build to ourselves a city and tower, whose top shall be to heaven, and let us make to ourselves a name....”  The vision, ingenuity, and vanity of men manifest themselves in grand projects.  A group migrates from the east, finds a spacious plain in the land of Sendar, and dwells there (vs. 2).  With no sense of debt to God, they think to exalt themselves to heaven, build their own way of life, and make to themselves a name (vs. 4).  God intervenes and disrupts the plan.  It is Divine grace that awakens the need for God, teaches humility, and restores the word of the Lord to its rightful and natural rule above finite, human thought.

            A man says to his neighbor, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them with fire” (vs. 3).  The neighbor embraces the vision.  He joins the endeavor.  They say to one another, “Come, let us build to ourselves a city and tower” (vs. 4).  Where is God in all of this?  These men are descendants of Noah.  They ought to know that their life and breath is from God.  To the contrary, they act as if God does not exist.  They build a secular city on “God-less-ness.”  Such is elementary humanism: to act as if God were not, to give Him no place as one imagines, sets goals, and carries out projects.  “The sinner praiseth himself in the lusts of his soul, and the unrighteous man likewise blesseth himself therein....God is not before him” (Ps. 9:23,24).

The Lord perceives that “now nothing shall fail from them of all that they may have undertaken to do” (Gen. 11:6).  Silenced is the inborn imperative for a creature to accept created, natural boundaries.  But, life apart from God leads to confusion.  St. Theophan reminds us to “feel with our whole heart that we have no one to rely on except God, and that from Him and Him alone can we expect every kind of good, every manner of help, and victory.”

Observe: out of pride our blood ancestors presumed, not just to build a city and a tower, but to erect a city and a tower “whose top shall be to heaven” (vs. 4).  It is the devil's lie to Eve once again: “ye would be as gods” (Gen. 3:6).  Lucifer ever prompts the exaltation of self.  He lurks at the doorstep of us all: “I will go up to heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven....I will go up above the clouds; I will be like the Most High” (Is. 14:13,14).

Notice what God answers Satan and those who heed him: “But now thou shalt go down to hell, even to the foundations of the earth” (Is. 14:15).  And likewise, the Lord God confounded the tongues of the godless men on the plain of Shinar and scattered them “over the face of all the earth” (Gen. 11:8).  The Lord Jesus plainly warns against all self-exaltation: “For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Lk. 14:11).

In Hebrew, the place where the tower was built is called “Babel,” which means “Gate of God.”  It is noteworthy that the word also is a homonym of the Hebrew verb to produce confusion, “balal.”  Even when there is initial success, as long as we rely on our wisdom, ignore the guiding word of God, and fail to seek His way, confusion and scattering will certainly follow.  The Lord gives men dominion: “Thou hast set [us] over the works of Thy hands” (Ps. 8:5), yet we prefer wisdom of our devising: “Let us make to ourselves a name” (Gen. 11:4).

Beloved, “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:25).  May He deliver us from simple, godless, self-assured reasoning!  “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the counsel of the saints is understanding: for to know the law is the character of a sound mind.” (Prov. 9:10).

Illumine our hearts, O Master Who loveth mankind, with the pure light of Thy divine knowledge, and open the eyes of our mind to the understanding of Thy Gospel teachings.

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