We don’t know for sure the reasons that God does things. We can only surmise, based on what’s in the Bible, and ultimately the Bible says in Proverbs 3:5 of the proverbs of Solomon, to “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”
With that, it is hard to fathom that whereas God in Genesis 11:1-9 disperses the people of Babel and confuse their language to the point where different languages are created, depending where in the world they end up, with John 3: 16 which says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
That is a pretty tall order, considering the many languages spoken throughout the world by this time! Who would understand Jesus, who likely spoke only Hebrew? If people don’t understand what you tell them, you sound to them like a clanging cymbal.
Yet, as the Bible says in Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork,” and Jesus says to his disciples in Mark 16:15-16 to “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Jesus seemingly gives his disciples an arduous mission that is predicated on other peoples understanding what the disciples, who more than likely themselves spoke only Hebrew, are saying, to spread the word of God.
God originally confused the language of the people of Babel because, as it says in Genesis 11: 6 “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.’” The general understanding of why He did this is because He was concerned that the people could, in one fell swoop, turn away from Him and that would be the end of that. This was after The Flood, when God said he would never again erase the people from the earth.
But we know from reading the Book of Exodus that God is a “jealous God,” not wanting people to turn away from Him. So it would seem that God made it harder for the world to come to love
Him, because of the language problem that Jesus and his disciples would have to surmount in order to enlighten the rest of the world. How much easier if everyone spoke the same language.
Obviously, Jesus and his disciples succeeded in spreading the Word of God, so they must’ve come to master the language of the people they wanted to enlighten.
And come to think of it, Jesus and his disciples had an even more difficult task at first in convincing people to love their neighbor, since in all likelihood their neighbor spoke a different language. As it appears to be a natural thing to marginalize people who don’t speak the same language as you…think of those who come to the borders of the U.S. and who are living in the U.S. who do not speak English and are constant targets of media xenophobes…the idea of loving one’s neighbor is to this day elusive.
How much simpler things would be if we all spoke the same language. And couldn’t God have achieved spreading the Word a lot easier if Jesus and his disciples, and the rest of the world, spoke one language so it would be easier to turn back others who turned away from God in past generations?
With that, it is hard to fathom that whereas God in Genesis 11:1-9 disperses the people of Babel and confuse their language to the point where different languages are created, depending where in the world they end up, with John 3: 16 which says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
That is a pretty tall order, considering the many languages spoken throughout the world by this time! Who would understand Jesus, who likely spoke only Hebrew? If people don’t understand what you tell them, you sound to them like a clanging cymbal.
Yet, as the Bible says in Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork,” and Jesus says to his disciples in Mark 16:15-16 to “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Jesus seemingly gives his disciples an arduous mission that is predicated on other peoples understanding what the disciples, who more than likely themselves spoke only Hebrew, are saying, to spread the word of God.
God originally confused the language of the people of Babel because, as it says in Genesis 11: 6 “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.’” The general understanding of why He did this is because He was concerned that the people could, in one fell swoop, turn away from Him and that would be the end of that. This was after The Flood, when God said he would never again erase the people from the earth.
But we know from reading the Book of Exodus that God is a “jealous God,” not wanting people to turn away from Him. So it would seem that God made it harder for the world to come to love
Him, because of the language problem that Jesus and his disciples would have to surmount in order to enlighten the rest of the world. How much easier if everyone spoke the same language.
Obviously, Jesus and his disciples succeeded in spreading the Word of God, so they must’ve come to master the language of the people they wanted to enlighten.
And come to think of it, Jesus and his disciples had an even more difficult task at first in convincing people to love their neighbor, since in all likelihood their neighbor spoke a different language. As it appears to be a natural thing to marginalize people who don’t speak the same language as you…think of those who come to the borders of the U.S. and who are living in the U.S. who do not speak English and are constant targets of media xenophobes…the idea of loving one’s neighbor is to this day elusive.
How much simpler things would be if we all spoke the same language. And couldn’t God have achieved spreading the Word a lot easier if Jesus and his disciples, and the rest of the world, spoke one language so it would be easier to turn back others who turned away from God in past generations?
