dar334

First of all, what is babel?  My dear friend Mr. Webster defines it in a couple of ways:

1. a city in Shinar where the building of a tower is held in Genesis to have been halted by the confusion of tongues
2. a : a confusion of sounds or voices, b : a scene of noise or confusion

Sadly enough, I find it safe to say most of us, upon hearing the word babel, would go to the second definition.  We’ve all been in the company of someone that would be found listed in the “babbling” column.  And yes, my name is listed in that column more times than I care to admit.  Some would think of the sounds from a baby when it first realizes it can make a noise.  And the baby’s delight is compounded by the fact that we lead that young one to think we can actually understand their babels!  “Is that right?”  “Do you really think so?”  “Grammy loves you too!”

Now for your Biblical lesson, and most likely the reason Mr. Webster put that word in the spot of honor in his dictionary, the spot where the #1 choice is generally located.  The main choice, the most important choice, choice a.  The other choices are simply created by the secular class, and put in the dictionary to please them.  (Now this is where I emphasize the fact that God did not change them or add to them, God does not evolve with mankind, God’s choice should always be first and foremost.  Lord help me remember that.  Case closed.)

In the book of Genesis, in chapter 11 is where we find the tower, of Babel.  God had finished creating the world, Eve had disobeyed by eating the forbidden fruit, Cain killed his brother Abel in a fit of rage, a whole bunch of people were born, God regretted making them because they were so evil, he had a guy make a boat, and then He flooded the earth and wiped out everybody and everything, then the guy’s family that built the boat repopulated the earth, and there was a rainbow, and then we arrive in chapter 11.  The tower of Babel.

As the population grew, they all spoke the same language.  They began moving eastward and found a plain in Shinar and settled there.  They decided to build a city and a tower that would reach the heavens as a monument to their own greatness.  When we build monuments to ourselves, it’s calling attention to our own achievements and these man-made things are taking the place of God in our lives.  That makes God pretty angry with us.  So he decided to go down and confuse the language of the people so they couldn’t understand each other, thus scattering them over the face of the earth, and the building of “The Tower of Babel” ceased.

A recent situation occurred, and occurs often, (when I was dictating this in my head I didn’t verbalize the ‘t’ in often Tonya!), where I’m on the listening end of someone else’s “babel”, and as my Dad would have said, “put me in the mind of” the origin of the word “babel”, thus rendering this ponder.

So in closing, if I have time to babel, I may as well babel about something constructive.  Can I get an “Amen”?

I will more than likely babel more later,

-dar