Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church

The Tower of Babel.

4^th Week of Great Lent – Thursday Vespers. Gen 10:32 – 11:9

Today we read in Genesis the story of the tower of Babel. In this story, we learn how the human race was scattered over the face of the earth because, in our pride, we wished to build a tall tower reaching unto heaven. Thus, the confusion of our language was a great mercy of God, as it kept us from banding together for evil, so that, scattered abroad, we could learn humility and return to God.

A Christian cannot (should not) think of the expulsion from paradise without thinking of the remedy – the holy Cross.

Likewise, we should not think of the confusion of tongues without thinking of the remedy – the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

While the division caused by the confusion of tongues was for our benefit, it was not in line with God's plan for us. Made in His image, we are made to be united to Him and to one another, as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one within the Godhead.

And thus, the Holy Spirit comes down on the day of Pentecost to unite us to Christ and to one another in the Church. Moreover, we each received this very same gift on the day of our baptism, being united to Christ's Body in the Church, and we renew this union each time we partake of the Holy Mysteries.

Father Tom Soroka, speaking of this in his daily scriptural commentary (http://ancientfaith.com/podcasts/thepath), quotes in particular the following hymn from the Pentecost service:

"Of old the tongues were confounded / because of the audacity in the building of the tower, / but now the tongues are made wise / because of the glory of Divine knowledge. / There God condemned the impious because of their offense, / and here Christ hath enlightened the fishermen by the Spirit. / At that time the confusion of tongues was wrought for punishment, / but now the concord of tongues hath been inaugurated // for the salvation of our souls" (Aposticha for Pentecost).

Let us give thanks to God for His great mercies! And let us strive to come together, through prayer and repentance uniting ourselves to the Holy Church, and thereby to each other, that we may see fulfilled Christ's last with for us: "that they may be one, as we [the Holy Trinity] are" (John 17).

Gen 10:32 – 11:9

These are the tribes of the sons of Noe, according to their generations, according to their nations: of them were the islands of the Gentiles scattered over the earth after the flood. 1. And all the earth was one lip, and there was one language to all. 2. And it came to pass as they moved from the east, they found a plain in the land of Senaar, and they dwelt there. 3. And a man said to his neighbor, Come, let us make bricks and bake them with fire. And the brick was to them for stone, and their mortar was bitumen. 4. And they said, Come, let us build to ourselves a city and tower, whose top shall be to heaven, and let us make to ourselves a name, before we are scattered abroad upon the face of all the earth. 5. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men built. 6. And the Lord said, Behold, There is one race, and one lip of all, and they have begun to do this and now nothing shall fail from them of all that they may have undertaken to do. 7. Come, and having gone down let us there confound their tongue, that they may not understand each the voice of his neighbor. 8. And the Lord scattered them thence over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city and the tower. 9. On this account its name was called Confusion, because there the Lord confounded the languages of all the earth, and thence the Lord scattered them upon the face of all the earth.

Reader Nivholas Park 2008.     St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent/great-lent-week-04-thursday_2008+vespers+the-tower-of-babel.html

http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent/great-lent-week-04-thursday_2008+vespers+the-tower-of-babel.doc

Original Post: http://stnicholasdallas.blogspot.com/2008/04/once-when-he-descended-and-confounded.html

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Your time is gonna come!

Evil shall pursue sinners; but good shall overtake the righteous.

(Proverbs  13:21, from the selection Proverbs 13:19 – 14:6, Vespers, 4th Thursday of Great Lent)

The Proverbs are good to read every day. They are good reminders; they help keep us on track. I suppose that they are read during all weekdays in Great Lent precisely because inculcating their wisdom into our daily life enables us to realize the power of the resurrection, which we are pointing to the entire fast.  The resurrection is powerful, life changing, but it does not affect everyone. Only those who attempt to change will be affected by it. Many of the changes we must make are elucidated in the Proverbs.

This proverb is an excellent word picture of the entire life of the righteous, and by this is meant the sinner who, with God’s grace helping, aspires to love the law of God and follow it, and become righteous. 

There are four pursuits described here. (1) Sinners pursue evil; (2) those who wish to be righteous pursue the following of all the commandments. (3) Evil pursues sinners, and will surely overtake them (read the Psalms and Proverbs especially, you will find dozens of examples), and (4) God pursues the righteous, and surely His good and mercy will ultimately prevail.

The Proverb does not tell us when these things shall happen, but we know – the absolute end of these pursuits is at the end of all things, when the Lord will come to judge the living and the dead.

We are not without consolation until this time; in various ways, we slowly change, and good “overtakes” us. We are commanded to pursue God, but we do this poorly. What a great consolation it is that He is always pursuing us!

Many times in confession I remind someone of the progress they have made – this is very important! We cannot go on very long in any pursuit without consolation.

Perhaps you formerly cursed a great deal, now you do not curse, or do so rarely when overtaken with anger.

Perhaps you formerly had many unclean thoughts and actions and now control yourself much more than in the past.

Perhaps you have finally excised the worm of bitterness that formerly overtook you with the memory of someone who hurt you deeply.

All these things are consolations; they are examples of good overtaking us.

God is with us, even when we do not feel Him. Evil is with sinners, even if they do not feel it.

It is a great consolation to know that are we run the race, and often stumble, and even go in the wrong direction for a time, God is with us, running with us, pursing us. What we see in the world now will not always be. The evil will be punished, the good will be rewarded. Which will we be?

Priest Seraphim Holland 2009.     St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, McKinney, Texas

http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent/ great-lent-week-04-thursday_2009-03-26+vespers+evil-shall-pursue-sinners-but-good-shall-overtake-the-righteous.html

http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent/ great-lent-week-04-thursday_2009-03-26+vespers+evil-shall-pursue-sinners-but-good-shall-overtake-the-righteous.doc

New commentaries are posted on our BLOG: http://www/.orthodox.net/redeemingthetime

Daily Lenten Meditations on the service texts and scripture readings: http://www.orthodox.net/dailylent

Compendium of materials about Great Lent:

http://www.orthodox.net/greatlent

Use this for any edifying reason, but please give credit, and include the URL were the text was found. We would love to hear from you with comments!