Genesis 11:5

3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and¹ bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.

4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower ^awhose top is in the heavens; let us make a ^bname for ourselves, lest we ^cbe scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

5 ^aBut the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.

6 And the Lord said, “Indeed ^athe people are one and they all have ^bone language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they ^cpropose to do will be withheld from them.

7 Come, ^alet Us go down and there ^bconfuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

8 So ^athe Lord scattered them abroad from there ^bover the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.

Commentaries:

Forerunner Commentary
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What Does Genesis 11:5 Mean?

Genesis 11:4-6

How technologically developed the people were at this time is sketchy. The Great Pyramid of Giza, whether built before or after the Flood, is evidence of a high degree of technology. Whatever the case, God's statement that "nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them" implies the builders of Babel were at least on the verge of great technological leaps. How much can a person discover and develop in a seventy-year life span? Yet these people lived hundreds of years! Since knowledge accumulates from generation to generation, imagine how it would build in a person over 500 years!

Consider what man has accomplished in the last 150 years. He has learned how to harness the power of mighty rivers by building dams to produce electricity. He has built soaring bridges across great chasms. He has drilled deeply into the earth to tap its stores of oil and gas to transport ourselves from place to place, heat our homes, and fuel our factories. Man has put satellites hundreds of miles into the heavens and placed men on the moon. We can watch the astronauts on television though they are 240,000 miles away!

The list of our technological accomplishments seems endless. Technology, though, is not the answer to mankind's problems. By the time the Millennium begins, the world will have realized that knowledge of physical things cannot solve our problems, especially those of the spirit. Each new technological stride merely titillates us for a while, failing miserably to give a sense of meaning to our lives. Technology cannot rid us of competition and inordinate desire. Instead, it only seems to accelerate the plunge toward oblivion and meaninglessness.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Preparing to Rule!

Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Genesis 11:5:

Acts 2:6-11

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Genesis 11:6 >>

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What Does Genesis 11:5 Mean?

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