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I researched a few weblinks to understand this passage a bit more – there are many out there, but this one was fairly simple to understand https://www.bibleref.com/Genesis/11/Genesis-11-9.html
“Genesis 11:1–9 recounts one of the most dramatic acts of God recorded in Genesis. Before the tribes and nations described in Genesis 10 were formed, all the people of the earth shared one language and one culture. They also shared the goal of not wanting to be separated. To that end, they decided to make themselves great by building a great city with an enormous tower—and without apparently acknowledging God. To keep humanity from being too powerful, and lapsing into the widespread sin which inspired the flood, God confuses human languages and scattered mankind around the world. The city of Babel, similar to the Hebrew word for ”confused,” would later become known as Babylon.”
It’s a very difficult topic – God’s role in disasters – I found this weblink very helpful:
“Christian Theology and Disasters: Where is God in All This?”
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-92722-0_3I find this passage quite difficult to reconcile (i) destruction v creation – did god destroy the world to start over again? (ii) Was God learning about human beings & later realised that they would always be combination of good/ evil and so there was no point to destroy the human beings he had created but instead he had to teach them
differently – also perhaps you need to have evil to understand what good is – you need polar opposites – see Genesis 8.21 “ And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.”Causes of violence (i) self defence, survival (ii) emotions linked to threatened self esteem (selfish) – jealousy, pride… when compare self v others – not recognising your own “sin” or weakness , not being loving and happy for others’ success. Here it seems Cain was jealous of Abel – not sure what gift Cain offered to the Lord maybe his gift was it’s an ordinary fruit rather his best fruit v it seems Abel’s was the best / fat lamb? So the Lord knew Cain had not tried his best (& Cain knew in his heart too..) – he had been selfish /sinful. Cain murders Abel but the Lord protects Cain from being killed by others – it is wrong to kill + so Cain had to live for the rest of his life bearing his guilt – very heavy burden – isolation from the Lord unless he can seek forgiveness…?
As children we are initially quite innocent of evil, we are not aware that we are naked. Seems God initially tried to protect Adam/ Eve from evil but failed. So now we have to battle all our lives good v evil, love of others v self, god v material possessions. I note that even though God is angry he is still a loving God as he provides clothes for Adam/ Eve to hide their nakedness- in the same way God can protect us from evil & our selfish ways. Is the “clothing” God gives Adam/ Eve a metaphor for Gods Love?
Now thinking that the Garden of Eden is continuation of the allegory – Garden of Eden is linked to the Kingdom of God – & both are within us – our soul / hearts. Both have Love at the centre – love / honesty with ourselves (acknowledgement of our sins & sincere action to take to improve) + love of others + the world. But the day Adam ate from the tree of good/ evil he/ we died as we moved from a world where only LOVE (creation) existed (God’s Kingdom) to acknowledging SELF and our own selfish desires at the expense of others & the world (destruction).
thank you Andy! I’d never looked at this passage as an allegory before and now its easier to separate science & god (spirit). Human beings is the only animal who believes he had transcended his Kingdom – meaning the animal kingdom classification – We think of ourselves as beings who are more than our biological make up; we think of ourselves as beings with souls. I love the thought that creation is so much more powerful than destruction and that is something to think about everyday in the language choices I make. I am also mindful that God gave us dominion over every other living things and we need to respect our responsibility for that and continue creation not destruction (I think of climate change).
