Martin Luther said that the punishment that God meted out on the people who dwelt in the plain of Shinar was much worse than the punishment of the flood. At first we might balk at such a statement. What could be worse than all of the world’s population, minus eight, being killed in a worldwide flood?
But Luther points out that the flood only affected one generation, and God promised that a worldwide flood never happen again. The punishment on the people building that tower in Shinar, however, affects us even today. How much suspicion, confusion, and hatred still exists because we can’t understand everyone?
We still see the ramifications of the sins of those people thousands of years ago, but the Lord is not holding a grudge. Jesus died for the sins of our ancestors, just as He died for ours, and the Father remembers the sin no more. Yet there is much we can learn from the Tower of Babel, and we should learn from it lest we fall to the same sin and incur God’s wrath.
Take some time today to consider what exactly the people in Shinar did that was sinful. I doubt anyone reading this has plans to build a tower into the heavens, yet no one is exempt from the warning and lesson of God’s Word in Genesis 11:1-9. |
