In the back of my mind, in my oldest childhood memories, I remember sitting in the Hebrew school classroom and reading books we borrowed from the synagogue library. My favorites were always the pop-up books. There were books about Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob, and Leah and Rachel (as well as all of their children). Those books were impactful because they told the history of my faith family, and how Israel came to be. There were other books such as David and Goliath, Noah and the Flood, and Samson and the Philistines. Each of those books had a clear hero and clear villain of villains. There was one book that I read that told about an event that clearly was important and was a past of man’s history, but unlike the stories listed above, this book didn’t have a human hero, and the villains were not really named outright. That was the story of Babel.
In the Children’s pop-up book, the story focused on a group of people who in response to G-D destroying the world with the great flood decided that they were going to build a tower so tall that G-D would never again be able to destroy them with a flood. I will never forget opening that book and seeing the tower pop-up out of the page. The book went on to say that when G-D saw what they were doing and because all of the people on the Earth only spoke one language, he decided to cause them to speak many different languages to stop them from building the tower, scattering them around the world.
Unfortunately, while that narrative provided in that children’s book was entertaining and colorful, it was not quite accurate to what the Bible actually says. When you read what is happening in Genesis 11:4, you see these words:
Genesis 11:4 Then they said, “Come! Let’s build ourselves a city, with a tower whose top reaches into heaven. So let’s make a name for ourselves, or else we will be scattered over the face of the whole land.”
In this verse the Bible provides the actual reason why the people of Babel said they were building “a city with a tower.” Notice it isn’t just a tower they were building, and they were not building so they could survive a future possible flood. They were building so they could make a name for themselves or else they will be scattered over the face of the whole land.
G-D stops them from completing their plan by confusing their language and scattering them over the whole land. I know you may be wondering what difference does it make whether they were making a tower or a city? You may also be wondering what difference it makes if they were building a tower to survive a flood or if they were building a tower and a city to make a name for themselves? The truth is that it makes a large difference. If G-D chose to include the actual reason in the Bible, then the reason was included because it was and is important. In this case, the statement “make a name for ourselves” is very powerful and important. It is a statement that we don’t get a full understanding of until we read G-D’s prophetic promises found in Revelation chapter 2 and 3.
Revelation 2:17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Ruach is saying to Messiah’s communities. To the one who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna , and I will give him a white stone—and written on the stone a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.”
And Revelation 3:12 The one who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the Temple of My God, and he will never leave it. And on him I will write the name of My God and the name of the city of My God—the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God—and My own new Name.
When we read the statement of the people of Babel in light of the prophetic promises of G-D throughout the Bible which come to completion with the book of Revelation, we see just how significant the statements we will build a city, and make a name for ourselves are. As with most of G-D’s promises, our adversary has a cheap imitation or counterfeit replacement with which he attempts to use to lure us away from G-D.
Notice the promises of a new name and a new city were given to those who would overcome. We read in Revelation 12:11 how to overcome:
They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives even in the face of death.
You see ever since the time of Babel mankind, under the leadership of the adversary Satan, have been trying to do for themselves what G-D has promised to do for them. In this case, the adversary convinced them that they could build a city and make a name for themselves without overcoming. In the Garden, Satan told Adam and Eve that if they ate the fruit they would become like G-D. Later, in 1 John 3:2 we learn that G-D already planned that we would be like Him:
Loved ones, now we are God’s children; and it has not yet been revealed what we will be. But we do know that when it’s revealed, we shall be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.
You see Satan’s plan and pattern has never changed. He consistently offers mankind the things G-D has already promised them, but he tells them they can have those things without overcoming, without faith, and that they can do it themselves.
The key for us as believers is to remember that every time mankind has attempted to achieve for themselves the things that G-D has already promised them, they not only failed miserably, but they also made things worse for themselves. If we want the many blessings that G-D has promised to provide for us, the way to receive them is to trust in G-D. Another way to describe our trust in G-D is to be an overcomer.
What exactly is it that we overcome through the Blood of the Lamb? Many times it is simply our desire to do for ourselves the things G-D has promised to do for us. When we are willing and able to overcome, we gain the word of our testimony. A testimony of how G-D fulfills His promises to His people.
Rabbi Eric Tokajer
