Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“ So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, September 13, 2018
by Daniel D. Maurer, Clergy Stuff
More origin stories. The Tower of Babel is one we all learned in Sunday school.
But, boy, does the Lord sure seem like a meanie in this one, too!
"Hey, look! They're getting too big for their britches. Let's goof up their language and spread 'em out!"
Thanks, God.
Actually, I've always found that different languages are more a gift to us than a curse. I know German fluently. (I lived there in High School). And I can get by with a few Spanish phrases. Oh . . . I know biblical Greek and Hebrew too. Took one year of Russian in college as well.
The more I read in the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), the more I'm convinced that we really don't know all that much about the human spirit.
Perhaps, that, above anything, makes it bearable to read these passages, place them in context, and move on with our lives trusting that there has to be a better way.
Jesus?
Narrative Lectionary Daily Reading:
Genesis 11:1-9
Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as they migrated from the east, they came upon 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; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”
The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. And the Lord said, “Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
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