Genesis 11:4-7 - A Great Name

Making a Name for Yourself

4 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.”  5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.  6 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.  7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” - Genesis 11:4-7 (ESV)

2  And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  3  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” - Genesis 12:2-3 (ESV)

The command of God to Noah and his family after the flood was two-fold. In Genesis 9:1 we read:

1  And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. - Genesis 9:1 (ESV)

Years have passed and Noah’s descendants are certainly multiplying. In fact as Genesis 11 begins we see them also filling the earth:

2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there - Genesis 11:2 (ESV)

It appears that the two-fold command of God to Noah, to be fruitful and fill the earth was being fulfilled. But then something happened in the land of Shinar. There in that comfortable, and fertile plain, they felt the urge to settle down. It appears that they liked Shinar so much that they decided to build themselves a city and settle there for good:

4         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.” - Genesis 11:4 (ESV)

According to Genesis 11:4 these settlers of Shinar determined to make a name for themselves. For that to become a reality, two things needed to be in place.

First, they would build a city like none other. There would be a tower in that city taller than any ever built.

Second, they needed to encourage people to settle in the city and keep them from filling the earth as God commanded. The city  required a population base to make it large and prosperous. They believed that these two things would make them a great name and set them apart as a great people.

It appears that their leaders were quite convincing and the people rallied behind them. They successfully built their dream city with its tower. In fact, Genesis 11:5 tells us that God came down to see what they had accomplished:

5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. - Genesis 11:5 ESV

The people of that day were making a name for themselves. Notice, what the Lord said about them in Genesis 11:6:

6 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. - Genesis 11:6 ESV

“This is only the beginning of what they will do,” God said. “Nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.” The people had distinguished themselves. They had accomplished a great engineering feat and proven the genius of the human mind. They would go on to bigger and better things, accomplishing what seemed to be impossible. Their passion to make a name for themselves would have become a reality except for one thing –they failed to take into account the purpose of God.

It would be all too easy for these migrants from the east to see themselves as gods. They had demonstrated their skills and ability in the city they had constructed with its tower reaching up into heaven. This was only the beginning of what they would accomplish. They would go on to bigger and better things.  Just because you can do something, however, doesn’t mean that you should. There are higher principles at work in the universe. Human ability is not the standard by which all actions must be determined. God is that standard. Human ability must be placed in submission to His purpose for He is the measure of what is right.

What has always struck me in this passage is that God was not threatened by human ability and skill. Notice what God does here:

7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.”  8 So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.  9 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. - Genesis 11:7-9 ESV

The great wisdom and genius of humanity was confused by a simple gesture from God. In confusing their languages, the Lord dispersed them over the face of the earth. This was God’s purpose in Genesis 9:1. The great city with a tower that reached into the heavens was abandoned. It would become a testimony to the frailty of human genius and the greater purpose of God.

What is striking in this section of Genesis is what takes place in the very next chapter.

1 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  2  And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  - Genesis 12:1-2 ESV

The God who dispersed those who wanted to make a name for themselves in Shinar now reaches out to Abram and tells him that He would make him a great nation and give him a great name.

Abram was a simple man. There does not seem to be any particular reason why God chose to give him a great name. Unlike the people of Shinar, he had not constructed a great tower or built a city. In the seventy-five years of his life, to our knowledge, he had not distinguished himself by any feat of human strength, skill or intelligence. God, however, had a purpose for his life and that purpose was to lift him up, bless him and make his descendants into a great nation. His great name did not come from the fact that he was better than anyone else but because of God’s purpose for him.

Abraham would become the father of the Jewish nation. That nation would in turn give birth to the Messiah who would save His people from sin through His sacrifice on the cross of Calvary and victory over sin and the grave.

The people of Shinar with all their brilliance and achievements have come and gone. Their tower has crumbled and disappeared. We hear nothing more of them. Abraham’s name remains. The father of a great nation, a simple man whose greatness did not come from himself but from the purpose of God. Remove God and you remove Abraham’s great name.

A great name comes from a great purpose and there is no greater purpose than the purpose of a great God achieved through ordinary people.