Contemplative Bible Reading

Genesis 11:5-7 (New Living Translation)

5 But the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building. 6 “Look!” he said. “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! 7 Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.”

This is from the (hi)story of the Tower of Babel. The people had one language, on way of living, one culture. God recognized the potential of a united, uniform mass of humans. God recognized the coming accomplishments and the unfortunate accompaniment of harmful pride.

God created culture. He gave mankind different languages, different ways of living, different cultures. Simply put,

They won’t be able to understand each other.

And some 30 or so centuries later, we still don’t understand each other. Perhaps the Internet and what follows in 21st-century communications will further reduce the cultures of the world, but we still have our memories. We still hold grudges. We will not meld into one culture again for quite a while.

Thank you God for differing ways of life. We would be quite dangerous if we understood each other.