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For the week of October 17, 2026 / 6 Heshvan 5787

No’ach
Torah: B’reshit/Genesis 6:9 – 11:32
Haftarah: Isaiah 54:1 – 55:5
Originally posted the week of October 13, 2018 / 4 Heshvan 5779 (updated)

So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 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. (B’reshit/Genesis 11:8-9; ESV)

According to this story, which takes place early within the Torah’s timeline, the people of the earth originally lived in the same geographical vicinity. The motive behind the Babel project was not what I was told as a child back when Bible stories were still read in public school. I was led to believe the people wanted a high tower to keep them safe in case another flood like Noah’s occurred. The biblical text records nothing like that. The text clearly states their reason: “lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth” (B’reshit/Genesis 11:4). This directly opposed God’s earlier directive to “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it” (see B’reshit/Genesis 1:28).

The people also sought identity and corporate security through their building project. What they thought would be to their benefit, God regarded as destructive. And so, he deemed it necessary to intervene for their good and that of future generations. He, therefore, disrupted their ability to communicate. Until then, all people of the earth spoke the same language. The resulting confusion led the people to gather in separate communities that eventually migrated to various geographical regions. This is how the world’s people groups came to be.

The circumstances behind the development of ethnicities may lead some to conclude that differences in language and culture between peoples is a negative thing. Clearly, the steps people took toward this disparity began with overt disobedience to God. Moreover, since that time, language and cultural differences have certainly contributed to conflict between peoples. But is that peoplehood diversity is bad in and of itself? Consider what would have happened if people had “filled the earth” without the God-imposed confusion. Is it reasonable to assume that people would have retained the one original language forever? As communities formed in various regions of Earth, accents and dialects would have developed naturally. Moreover, diverse geographical regions demand unique vocabularies. For example, seafaring peoples create tools unknown to mountainfolk and vice versa. Clothing common to one climate is often unheard of in another. Language differences emerging from such contrasting needs and challenges are foundational to the formalization of culture and peoplehood. Therefore, diversity would have developed without the Babel project.

The complex mosaic of cultures was destined to occur under God’s providence with or without our ancestors’ cooperation. That the development of people groups over time is part of God’s design does not mean that every aspect of every culture is altogether good. God’s cursing the ground due to Adam’s disobedience (see B’reshit/Genesis 17–19) has tainted the creation, including culture. Yet, despite this corruption, national diversity remains part of God’s design.

False notions about what the Bible calls the “age to come” (see Mark 10:30, Hebrews 6:5) have also undermined our appreciation of the global mosaic. Imagining the human story as moving toward the re-establishment of a unified nation of one language and culture creates an ideal that is contrary to God’s expressed purpose for people. In the Bible’s version of the age to come, following the Messiah’s return, the resurrection, and the final judgment, when sin and death are no more and global peace is permanently established, nationalities continue. The description of the New Jerusalem includes: “By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it” (Revelation 21:24; ESV). These are not individuals from former people groups or kings who once belonged to distinct nations. God’s development of nationalities throughout history is retained.

This is not to say that there is no room for the mingling of nations. From economic trade and cooperation to intermarriage, Scripture gives no indication that national distinctions should be closed and outsiders kept out. At the same time, cooperative ventures should show respect for cultural differences of all parties.

Beware therefore, of noble-sounding global unity movements, faith-based or not. Any attempt by church or state to homogenize people groups undermines God’s will and robs the complex, diverse human family of our distinctives and the unique contributions we are called to share with the rest of the world.

Scriptures taken from the English Standard Version