The great flood of Genesis 9 wiped out all the people in the area and everything that they had built, planted, and created. Now in Genesis 11, the people have migrated eastward and settled on a plain in Shinar. In the process of rebuilding, some of the people decided to unite their efforts and build a grandiose tower.
As any leader knows, unity is an important concept in ministry, missions, and in relationships in general because unified efforts can produce strategic and promising results. However, unified efforts, as we see here can also produce devastating results. Therefore we have to ask ourselves some very important questions concerning the motives of the people of Shinar.
Why did the people of Shinar unite and decide to build a tower?
What were their true intentions?
Were they noble, God-directed, and for the benefit of the populace?
Were they noble, God-directed, and for the benefit of the populace?
Well verse 4 of Genesis 11 gives us our answer. The people of Shinar desired to build a tower so that #1 they could be famous or make a name for themselves and #2 so that every one would remain in their city and no one would scatter.
Unified they may have been but they were also self-serving. Let's consider their true intentions a little more carefully because as it turns out, their motives also contradicted God’s stated purpose and divine intentions for humankind.
In Genesis 1:28, God gave specific instructions to Adam and Eve. These instructions clarified his divine intentions for them and for the human race: God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.”
Fill the earth or in other words, don’t stay in one place.
Those who built the tower on the plain of Shinar resisted God’s divine directive. In their efforts to build this towering edifice, what they really wanted was to build a name for themselves and to keep everyone under their sphere of influence or dominion. The men of Shinar united for an ungodly purpose. In their self-centered efforts, they purposed to dominate the people and usurp God’s intentions. In essence, they were taking their destiny into their own hands.
No doubt, unity is a desirable and powerful tool. When the people of Shinar united they had the ability to build a great tower, to build a great name, and to build a strong sphere of influence. People can accomplish much when they are united. However, the story of the men of Shinar teaches us a worthy lesson: unity without obedience to the truth of God's word produces Babel towers.
Next time: God's response.
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