1 Now the LORD had said to Abram, "Get you out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father's house, to a 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; and you shall be a blessing: 3 and I will bless them that bless you, and curse him that curses you: and in you shall all families of the earth be blessed."

Within four generations (about 100 years) after the Flood the people of the earth had separated again into the two factions. This time the argument was over families versus nations. Those groups who wandered around "in the east" had grown large enough to have the ability to build a house for their gods and kings that would "reach unto heaven" and prevent such a disaster occurring again. Kings were their answer to the patriarchs that God intended.

What most did not see (although some did) was that to elevate one of their equals (all men are brothers) and make him "Boss for life" was to create a state where others could disagree and attempt to take over violently. It was a situation where "might is right" and which would inevitably lead to wars. This is what Satan wants in his territory to ensure that he always remains on top.

This could not happen in God’s kingdom because the position of "father" is there by right of paternity, and not choice. Those who are children can never be equal with the parent. The two systems are diagrammatically opposite and can never be harmonised.

However, the rebels commenced to build the city to contain the Tower of Babel (aka The Temple of Babylon). All this came about from a suggestion by one of Ham’s descendants, the son of Cush, named Nimrod. We can see his character in the following verses.

Genesis 10:

At first they built the walls as protection against the wild animals that reproduced much more quickly than men and therefore became a problem. Being hunted by Nimrod and his companions soon made the animals retaliate against those they could. The followers of force refused God’s protection and preferred to build their own in the shape of walled areas, and in this they honoured Nimrod as a god of force above the God of heaven. (God promised His people when they left Egypt under Moses that He would not allow the animals to take over, and they rested in that, for they were going to be farmers. Exodus 23:29-30.)

Then Nimrod used that self-made protection to begin wars against his neighbours and built city/forts to control them. It was in this way that the politics of nations, and religions, began. Nimrod was the Hitler of that day and many perished under his politics. The ages of death began to drop dramatically in the fifth generation after Peleg  was born, "for in his days was the earth divided." Genesis 10:25. Because the people of God reacted too strongly to these events there was great religious persecution for a while and the opposition went underground. However, within a generation or two it came back out again in what is commonly called "Paganism" and succeeded in convincing many that its way was the best for the world. And so today we have it as a normal way of life!

Egypt, a great civilisation, is often used in the Bible as a symbol of the world and its ways.

So what did God do about the problem?

Genesis 11:

All this was done under Satan’s leading. Natural men and women cherished the desire to beat God and stop Him from causing another Flood, for they blamed Him for the result of their own behaviour. (The Flood really was caused by the evil ways of men!) He had tried to save them from those results by sending warnings through Noah and giving them 120 years to make up their minds and be saved in the ark, but they had rejected that idea.

So it is written:

Genesis 11:

5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6 And the LORD said, "Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."

The Son of God always takes the blame upon Himself (that’s what Calvary is all about), but we should see that again it was their own (mis)behaviour that caused the problem. As the tower rose in height they had to relay messages from the builders on the top to the suppliers on the bottom. As every one knows, when messages are passed from ear to ear they tend to get muddled. In this way, wrong materials often reached the top and the builders began to get annoyed. Distance from the God of peace, and wrong ways of eating and behaving took their toll and the anger increased every day. Eventually the discord became so great that various groups broke off and went their own way, the same as church groups have continually split over doctrinal points.  In the case of the tower-builders, to emphasise their differences they used dialects as many still do today.

Tradition tells us that some time after that the high tower attracted lightning which broke off the top and gave men another reason for blaming God for its destruction.

Genesis 11:

Their answer to God’s "families" was to produce royal ones called "nations", and then, to add insult to injury, they began to look upon the kings and queens of those nations as gods. To give strength to their way of life they needed to keep people together and give them a "faith", so countries and patriotism came into existence, based on geography and not relationships. In this way, Satan created his own little kingdom here on earth in opposition to God’s in the universe. Since then, our heavenly Father has had to wait until angels and men have seen the difference and chosen permanently, one way or the other.

It is because so many do not have this knowledge that the controversy drags on and on. So we can "hasten the day" by spreading this knowledge amongst those we meet. See 2 Peter 3:11-12.

2 Corinthians 4:

3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine to them.

He said, "After this manner therefore pray you: Our Father which art in heaven . . . " Matthew 6:9.

The great controversy began over the question of whether God is a "Boss" or a "Father." Jesus came to this world to acquaint us with the fact that He considers Him to be a "Father" and not some awesome high and mighty "God Boss." We can help Him in settling the question by our behaviour and attitude, and one day all will bow before the Father and acknowledge the truth.

oooOooo

Genesis 12:

As an add-on to last month's query, we now have the question as to why God said to Abraham, "I will make of you a great nation."   What did He mean by that?