The Genesis Project
Genesis 11

Scattered from Bondage

118 words · January 24, 2025

And it came about, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
Genesis 11:2 (NASB)

The Tower of Babel story starts with humanity settling in the plain of Shinar. Babylonia.

Therefore it was named 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.
Genesis 11:9 (NASB)

God scatters them after they begin building the Tower of Babel. One could argue that God doesn’t want us to settle, but I suspect that this is actually a deliverance story. Shinar is a place of darkness and bondage. He is saving us from it.

Shinar Tower of Babel bondage darkness deliverence scatter settle

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