*Genesis 11:1-9
People united after the flood attempt to build a tower to reach heaven, but God confuses their language and scatters them around the world.
- Unity of Humanity:
- At the time, the whole earth had one language and a common speech.
- People migrated eastward and settled in the land of Shinar.
- Building the Tower:
- They decided to build a city with a tower that reached the heavens, to make a name for themselves and prevent being scattered across the earth.
- Divine Intervention:
- God observed their actions and decided to intervene.
- He acknowledged that as a united people, nothing would be impossible for them.
- Confusion of Languages:
- God descended to see the city and the tower that humans were building.
- He confused their language so they could not understand each other’s speech.
- This caused the project to halt, as they could no longer communicate effectively.
- Scattering of People:
- God scattered them across the earth, and they ceased building the city.
- Thus, the city was called Babel (meaning confusion), as God confused the language of the whole world.
- From there, the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
- Implications:
- This event led to the dispersion of people into different language groups and nations.
- It highlights humanity’s tendency towards pride and self-exaltation, and God’s sovereignty over human endeavors.
11:1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
11:2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
11:3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
11:5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
11:6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
11:7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
11:8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
11:9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.