Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9)

We often imagine God as naturally preferring homogeny. God created one people with one language, the thinking goes, and God was good with that from the start. This thinking, as our story from Genesis 11 shows, is overly simplistic.

God does want unity, as in community. But homogeny and unity are not the same thing. The Tower of Babel story points to a reality beyond homogeny. God prefers unity in diversity, not homogeny.

As we come to Genesis 11, we see one people with one language living together. The chapter begins by describing the reality in the wake of the earth’s beginnings. The whole earth had one language (11:1) and there was one people (11:6). They lived and moved together. Verse 2 indicates this people migrated west to “the land of Sinar and settled there.” Together, they built a city with a tower reaching into the sky.

Despite their success and diligence, there seems to be some anxiety surrounding what will occur. They feel the need to “make a name for themselves” – they literally have no name – and they are concerned about being “scattered abroad.”

(Yes, the story of Babel is believed to have been written by a Jewish exile during the Babylonian empire. Hence the name Babel, as in “Babelonian.”)

It makes sense that a homogenous society would fear the end of their homogeny. Throughout history, homogenous people prefer it that way. They prefer staying together and staying put. Being dispersed and exiled from one another and from one’s homeplace is a depressing thought, especially when it’s all one knows.

From the outside looking in, the picture presented at the beginning of Genesis 11 appears promising and positive. We have a united people working hard to build a place all can be proud of. We have a people who want to stay together and don’t want to be separated from one another. They move together and settle together. We have a people united in possibility.

Yet God has a different idea. God doesn’t seem to like all this homogeny. God seems to be saying no to one language, one culture, one race of people.

Why? What’s behind God’s rejection of homogeny? Verse 6 hints at the answer.

This people's sameness makes things too easy! With one language and one race of people success seems more of a given. And if such success is more of a given, human ambition, tainted by the Fall, will be impossible to halt. The danger becomes this: a homogenous people likely get what they want, even if what they want is not good for them or anyone else.

For God, and this is key, limitless human ambition on this side of Eden is not a good thing and cannot stand.

The Manhattan Project, which resulted in the systematic construction of nuclear weapons, comes to mind. It’s a great example of the limits of human ambition. A large group of people, likely more populous than the settled people in Sinar, joined together with a singular cause to win a vicious world war. In particular, the common cause was to defeat Fascism. Considering the evil of the Holocaust, this was a good and necessary cause. 

However, the Manhattan Project’s unique brand of homogeny eventually led to disaster – nuclear weapons, their use, and the nuclear race. The Manhattan Project’s legacy is the prospect of global annihilation!

Even if there is good in homogeny, the dangers of it must be confronted.

So, God ends homogeny in our story and introduces the reality of diversity.

Let me say a few things about diversity. Because it is such a given to us, we don’t often consider the implicit benefits it brings. Here are some benefits off the top of my head:

1.)  Diversity offers a natural check on single-minded groupthink. If a group includes diverse minds and voices, it is less likely to go with an idea sans questions and other considerations. A diversity of questions and considerations are integral to good choices.

2.)  When diversity is real, positive communication must be given more attention. If different languages are brought to the table, easy lazy communication is not an option. Discerning body language, acknowledging nuance, bringing in the mediation that comes with translation – all of these things, and more, benefit a community.

3.)  Amid diversity, a profound search for commonalities occurs. Finding commonality and common ground is key for any group’s success. Because it is so important, diverse groups tend to be more effective in establishing commonality.

4.)  “Products” born of a diverse group tend to be more failproof. Why? Because not only are more eyes looking at the process, but different eyes with different insights and approaches are part of the process.

Maybe the above benefits have something to do with why God prefers diversity. 

That the city of Babel and the earth as a whole became multilingual is clear. God preferred it that way. God doesn’t provide any rationale for his preference. God simply ends the homogeny of the first peoples and disperses diversity into the world.

I for one am grateful. Diversity to me is beautiful!

Lastly, I’d like to point out what this dispersal gives way to. God’s dispersing of the city of Babel means human immigration. Indeed, the scattering of Babel makes immigrants. 

Immigrants are part of God’s plan. Maybe that’s why God later ordains rules for treating immigrants with mercy and hospitality (Ex. 23:9; Lev. 19:34; Deut. 14:28­­–29; etc.)