The Confusion of Peleg

 

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 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. (Genesis 11:1-9 ESV).

 

Peleg, a great-great-grandson of Noah, was given an unusual name, which means “divided.” Our reading today explains that he was “named Peleg, because in his time the earth was divided.” And what does that mean? The story about the tower of Babel in Genesis 11 may be the answer to that question. The people in that day wanted to build a city with a tower reaching into the sky in order to make a name for themselves. What a far cry from Noah, who “walked faithfully” with God! God intervened at Babel by confusing the language of the people so that they scattered throughout the world.

 

Wherever we look in the world today, we still live with the bitter results of division as we experience nationalism, tribalism, racism, prejudice, and warfare. Just as we begin making headway in one place, division rears its ugly head in another place. The only answer is the One God has provided… Jesus!

 

At Jesus’ birth, the angel announced, “I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people... A Savior has been born to you” (Luke 2:10-11). And in John 17 we see that before Jesus was arrested and crucified for our sins, he prayed that we would be one. Because of Jesus’ finished work, we can walk not only with the Lord but also together, and we can love one another. Let’s begin today.