Genesis 11:1–9 (ESV)

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.” So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

This happened during the life of Peleg, not after all the events of Chapter 10.

To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother's name was Joktan. — Genesis 10:25 (ESV)

When they said, “and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth,” they were directly defying God’s desire that they be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it (Genesis 9:7b, ESV).

This is a perfect portrait of sin. They wanted to resist God’s command by making a name for themselves. They think that if their reputation is big enough, they can break away from God and run their own lives. Fat chance.

These are the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, in their nations, and from these the nations spread abroad on the earth after the flood. — Genesis 10:32 (ESV)

This is the same as what Adam and Eve did. Sin is about denying the Lordship of God and going off independently. Conversely, being a Christian is all about embracing that Lordship.

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. — Romans 10:9b (ESV)

Continuing our discussion of humility—CS Lewis describes humility, not as thinking less of oneself, but as not thinking of oneself at all. (Mere Christianity, p112) In letter 14 of The Screwtape Letters, he writes:

“[God] wants to bring the man to a state of mind where he could design the best cathedral in the world, and know it to be the best, and rejoice in the fact, without being any more (or less) or otherwise glad at having done it than he would be if it had been done by another.”

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These weekday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. Saturdays' by Matt Richardson. Subscribe here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NASB stands for the New American Standard Bible. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.