Making a name

“Let’s make bricks,” they said to one another. That wasn’t their downfall but a window into their hearts.

These were the men of Nimrod, men who had followed his kingdom march eastward to Babylon. Nimrod was known as a mighty warrior. He built many cities and established an emperor in his day.

These men had shown the prowess of their weapons and experienced victory at every turn. It was time to settle down.

It’s an strange thing: their desire to build a tower to make a name for themselves. They had a name, given to them by God. That apparently didn’t satisfy them. They didn’t want his name or his help.

They didn’t choose stones to erect this tower. They chose building material of their own design, plans of their own purpose. Instead of the stone and mortar commonly used in their day, they selected bricks and tar. Even today we know that bricks and tar will never hold like stone and mortar.

Their odd choice revealed their intentions: this tower was not to illustrate God’s creation (by using stones) but their own. They baked the bricks; they stirred the tar. They thought this tower would illustrate their own might.

Instead, they were reduced to a confused sodden group, their weapons wilting in the mish-mash of languages. They were scattered throughout the world because they could no longer communicate.

Our hearts, like theirs, long for a name, for recognition. Do we rush to our own creation? Do we devise our own strategies? Do we bake up our own plans like these men baked bricks?

These men, unfortunately, did make a name for themselves. But we don't call them powerful and strong. We call them foolish.

That is why it was called Babel --because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Gen 11:9