The Discovery of Genesis (71 page)

So the work on the tower began, but God was displeased at their rebellious attitude and decided to put an end to their scheme with a very clever plan of His own. “And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons
of
men 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
, that they may not understand one another’s speech’” (Genesis 11:5–7). He proceeded to do just that, and as a result of the confounded language there was nothing else to do but to stop work on the uncompleted tower, for no one could understand the other’s orders or requests, and all was in great turmoil.

Again the Chinese have a word which amazingly means not only
confusion
but also
rebellion
. This succinctly tells the story in just two pictures. The
tongue
was confused when God changed the language of the rebels. “And the Lord said, ‘Behold they are one people, and they have all one language. … Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech’” (Genesis 11:6,7). The right hand part of the character portrays the
right leg
³
extended for walking. It will be seen that this is half of the radical for
man
. Since their
tongues
⁴
were speaking new languages, there was nothing left to do in this frustrating situation, but to
strike out and journey
to a new place of their own.

As Moses put it: “Therefore its name was called Babel. because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth” (Genesis 11:9).

The natural result of the confusion of the language was exactly what they had hoped would never happen! They left the city in small bands of people who could understand each other, probably by families, as delineated in Genesis 10 and 11. In this way, Babel got its name meaning “confusion,” since it was here that the Lord mixed up the language. It was thus that the great dispersion of people began and the various ethnic divisions of mankind developed. Surely it was a tremendously historical milestone to warrant giving a newborn son the name “Peleg”
“Division.” Recall the character meaning
div ision
, which contained the
eight
ancestors and a
knife
, a symbolic instrument for “dividing.” Here it is clear that from the
eight
stem the diversified future world population, at the time of the
Division
.