All rights reserved. Do you know how he did … The name Babel reminds us that we should fulfill God’s commands. So their decision to stay in one place was in direct defiance to God’s command which they seemed to be fully aware of. Some scoff at the Bible’s account of how human languages began and spread. A New Covenant. God did not like the pride and arrogance in the hearts of the people. God became angry with the inhabitants of Babel for the following reasons: They were being disobedient by settling, when God clearly commanded to “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:7). that the building would be a very tall building. The plan was Jesus… it was always Jesus. NOAH’S DESCENDANTS REFUSE TO FILL THE EARTH (GENESIS 11:1-4) They chose to forget that true security comes only in trusting and obeying God. The city was called "Babel" because God confused their languages. In one moment, a massive, highly complex building project, involving the entire human race, came to an end. God does not tolerate disobedience, and this is exactly what the inhabitants of Babel were doing. )1 Thus, this event occurred before Babel, but enough time for Canaan to be born (Ham’s … The humanistic mindset, which is our principal way of thinking in the West, amounts to precisely the kind of impudence that was condemned at Babel. A babel fish would come in handily with some of the questions and answers that are allegedly written in English on here. God didn’t stop loving people because of the tower in Babel. The Answer May Surprise You. This is why God did what he did. It’s all about pride, rebellion, and the importance of being obedient to God’s word. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. When God speaks in the tower of Babel story, he uses the phrase, "let us go," a possible reference to the Trinity. Until this time all the people in the world spoke one language. 11:1 one language and one speech. I also always wondered whether a babel fish gave you the ability to read other languages, as well as hear them. Should Christians Play Video Games? Genesis 11 is not a simple morality tale about a human attempt to storm the heavens and displace God. Are Video Games Sinful? The tower was named The Tower of Babel because the word Babel means confusion. He knew that men would become more sinful if they should finish that great tower. We have excluded God from every project that matters very much to us, and we have engineered a civilization that runs on the principles of human self-rule and self-sufficiency. How different from the city of peace, order, and virtue that are God’s purposes for the world. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. They were being prideful, which is a wicked sin. How did God stop the people from building the tower? In the effort to "make a name for ourselves," we in the modern human family have exalted ourselves in ways that make Babel look like child's play. A: Because the Pre-flood language of the world is not only spoken by Noah’s family. Our virtual deification of man has clearly been at the expense of our glorification of man's Creator. Some scoff at the Bible’s account of how human languages began and spread. Can Christians Sin Once They’ve Been Saved? If we suffer from the same thing that was wrong at Babel, we need to repent before it is too late. The Tower of Babel incident occurred around 4,200 years ago—about 100 years after the Flood but before Abraham was born, This was before ancient Egypt, Greece, and other early civilizations. Gods were perceived to live on mountains. They wanted to go upwards by their own efforts. But why did God destroy it? The word “heavens” in the Bible can refer to the sky, outer space, or the abode of God. Visit us at www.rippleoflight.com. These places couldn’t have begun until after people left Babel to establish these other civilizations. Originally published in Creation 24, no 3 (June 2002): 31-33.. God’s judgment of the Tower of Babel was one of the greatest catastrophes in the history of the world. One author claims: “The Tower of Babel myth is definitely one of the most absurd stories ever told.” Even a Jewish rabbi called it “a naive attempt to explain the origin of nations.” Why do people reject the Babel account? And yet most of the conventional interpretations of the narrative are, I think, mistaken. So God planned to stop their building. Should Christians Look at Pornography? Chronologically, the Tower of Babel story comes before the scattering of the nations in Genesis 10. A REMINDER THAT WE SHOULD FULFILL GOD’S COMMANDS (GENESIS 11:9) The city is called Babel “because the Lord confused the language of all the earth” (Gen 11:9). Such a citadel would protect them against attack, and enable them, they believed, to escape another flood—which God had promised should never be (Genesis 9:11). The story of the tower of Babel occurs just after Noah’s death in Genesis 11:1-9. Later in the article, I'll talk about how high it was. The Tower of Babel (Hebrew: מִגְדַּל בָּבֶל , Migdal Bavel) narrative in Genesis 11:1–9 is an origin myth meant to explain why the world's peoples speak different languages.. First, the story of the Tower of Babel occurred just a few generations after Noah’s flood. In the view of this author, the evidence is compelling. To make a tower so good that they would be famous and so that everyone would want to live in one place—their city. P.S. This caused the people to scatter across the land. I think God saw that this major achievement would change the way the people viewed themselves. Deuteronomy 32:8–9 describes how Yahweh’s dispersal of the nations at Babel resulted in his disinheriting those nations as his people. According to the account in Genesis chapter 11, it was the hubris, the pride of the builders that God found fault with. The answer lies in the motifs behind building that tower. Babylon was located on the Euphrates River about 30 miles (49 km) from the modern city of Baghdad in Iraq. God came to see the city and the tower. Shalom, I humbly submit for review consideration and sharpening, (Q) How did God stop the Tower of Babel? To successfully repopulate the whole world again, after the devastation of a worldwide deluge, the different survivors must be returned to earth again. So their decision to stay in one place was in direct defiance to God’s command which they seemed to be fully aware of. He caused them to speak different languages. Obviously, the deliberate use of a story about rebelling against God caused outrage among Christian groups. God caused the people to suddenly speak different languages so they could not communicate and work together to build the tower. Didn’t God already know that they would not have been able to do this, due to obvious constraints of resources, engineering, and logistics? Surely it was not just the height of the tower itself, as many of us supposed when we were children. The work was suspended, and the name of the incomplete city became "Babel" (literally, "Confusion"). The name of the city, Babel, is here associated with the Hebrew root bll, “to confound.” The great city and its (implied) defeat thus becomes synonymous with man’s revolt against God … Why did God stop the building of the Tower of Babel? The text clearly reveals the state of mind of these people “Let us make a name for ourselves.” They were bent on pride, and so consumed by it that they wanted to create a monumental skyscraper to “show off” just how good they were. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. While this passage does not go into great detail concerning the idolatrous practices of the Babylonians, the fact that they wanted to ignore God and make a name for themselves reveals that they were already committing idolatry by worshipping “self.” Some commentators have suggested that they would have worshipped pagan gods of the stars and moon as well. Tower of Babel, in biblical literature, structure built in the land of Shinar (Babylonia) some time after the Deluge.The story of its construction, given in Genesis 11:1–9, appears to be an attempt to explain the existence of diverse human languages. While the Tower of Babel separated mankind through language, God would ultimately use language on the Day of Pentecost to bring us together in Him. They wanted to make a name for themselves, to no other purpose than to gain recognition, wide spread fame. God wanted the people to move out and live all over the earth. The tower of Babel isn’t just about a tower some people built. Is Jesus God? And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. The story of the Tower of Babel explains the origins of the multiplicity of languages. Remember this: It took time for the population to grow, the revolt religion to get established and for construction on the worship tower to get started. Interestingly, this narrative begins by declaring that they were all in one place and of one accord, just like the story of Babel starts out. God Himself is responsible for the different ethnic groups in the world. Why did He do this? They were being disobedient by settling, when God clearly commanded to “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:7). God dispossess the nations. Freedom of expression and action is a paramount objective of this age. Just as Babylon goes on to be very wealthy, corrupt, and idolatrous–we can also see those same characteristics in its infancy as the city of Babel. Noah’s grandson Javan founded Greece. So why did God get so angry over this? We turn in our study of the Word of God to the eleventh chapter of Genesis and to what is one of the most well-known portions of the book of Genesis having to do with the Tower of Babel. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech" (Gen. 11:6,7). The episode teaches Bible readers important lessons about unity and the sin of pride. I don't think it was because of the tower specifically, or the height, but because they did not follow his instruction to multiply and fill the earth (not just babylon). And nothing they propose to do will now be impossible for them” (Genesis 11:6). “A tower with its top in the sky” (Gen. 11:4) is not, in and of itself, any kind of assault on God’s authority. Tower of Babel, in biblical literature, structure built in the land of Shinar (Babylonia) some time after the Deluge.The story of its construction, given in Genesis 11:1–9, appears to be an attempt to explain the existence of diverse human languages. Nimrod was a particularly powerful leader, who built many of the cities which caused much grief to the Israelites later on. Why did God get so angry at the building of the Tower of Babel? As the speech barrier is broken down, man is rising up. The builders of the Tower of Babel did the opposite. Egyptians and other ancient peoples built huge structures as well. Calling Babel a sin of pride is easy, but it drains the story of its spiritual and supernatural context. Enter your email address below and hit "Submit" to receive free email updates when new content is written for this site. With what, exactly, was God displeased? Do you know how he did it? God had originally created people to worship Him and to be in community together. The tower they envisioned building seemed huge to them, but the Genesis narrator smiles while telling us that it was so puny that God "came down to see the city and the tower" (Gen. 11:5). I. There are many views on why God divided the language of man at the tower of Babel. The intent was, as Kenneth Taylor suggests, to erect "a proud, eternal monument to themselves." But Moses reversed the order to emphasize the high cost of rebelling against God. The Kepler telescope has even recorded another galaxy, but God did not stop it. This is why He utters, “Behold, they are one people, and have one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. Once again, the Bible is true, reliable and unchanging. He also founded Babel, which is the beginning nation of what would eventually be called “Babylon.” Babylon, in the Bible, was the city which destroyed Jerusalem in the Old Testament under Nebuchadnezzar’s rule. The Tower of Babel fairly became a top of worship. God did not want a One World Government. But consider the context. As the earth began to be repopulated in the generations following the Flood, the wide plain of Shinar was the scene of a project that was so ominous that its obstruction required the very intervention of God Himself. The Tower of Babel is really only a minor part of this story. Not one to have His commands disregarded, God intervened, confusing their language, which forced the citizens of Babel to stop work and finally spread throughout the earth (Genesis 11:8-9).It’s a story that has profound implications on the proliferation of early language and the migration of some of the earliest civilizations. He did not talk to the builders, and very likely they did not know he had been there to look upon their work. The Tower of Babel is just one of the many historical Biblical events that is ignored by those who don’t believe in God, but for Christians, it is yet another great assurance of our faith. According to Genesis, the Babylonians wanted to make a name for themselves by building a mighty city and a tower “with its top in the heavens.” Let's explore together what actually happened. According to the story, a united human race in the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating eastward, comes to the land of Shinar (שִׁנְעָר ). God, seeing this, confuses their language so they can’t communicate with one another and finish the tower. Also, as in the story of Babel, the word confounded is used here, but this time they were confounded for the opposite reason: men of diverse languages were all hearing the words in their own language. 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. Why did god stop the Tower of Babel but allows space exploration? God wanted the people to disperse among the Earth but they all want to stay in Babylon to make a name for themselves completing this tower. It change into one of those self-worship. We turn in our study of the Word of God to the eleventh chapter of Genesis and to what is one of the most well-known portions of the book of Genesis having to do with the Tower of Babel. No longer did the builders understand one another. By suddenly causing people to speak different languages, instead of just one. What language did humans speaks before? They were stealing worship remote from the author, and it change into giving them over to all kinds of evil. i ve always bein wonderin how high the tower of babel was, that God feel somewhat threatened, that He had to cast confusion amongst the builders. If you give or take 50 years each direction it could have been about 170 to 270 years after the flood. The Mission of Jesus Christ (USCCB Core 3 series). The tower was named The Tower of Babel because the word Babel means confusion. Looks like we are coming around full circle. One author claims: “The Tower of Babel myth is definitely one of the most absurd stories ever told.” Even a Jewish rabbi called it “a naive attempt to explain the origin of nations.” Why do people reject the Babel … God wanted the people to disperse among the Earth but they all want to stay in Babylon to make a name for themselves completing this tower. After this, God confounds their languages, which is why we now have so many today. In order to understand this story, there are a few background facts we need to know. What Happened at the Tower of Babel? The story of the tower of Babel unfolds in Genesis 11:1-9. What about today’s time? This is the Old Testament equivalent of Romans 1:18–25, a familiar passage wherein God “gave [humankind] over” to their persistent rebellion. The point is not that Yahweh was a glorified building inspector. We are supposed to come to the end of Genesis 10 and ask, “How did the world become so hopelessly divided?” Genesis 11 answers that question. Most Christians know what happened next. The Tower of Babel is just one of the many historical Biblical events that is ignored by those who don’t believe in God, but for Christians, it is yet another great assurance of our faith. The plural in verse 7 may reflect the concept of God’s royal court, an early idea in Israel. God, who made man as the one creature with whom He could speak (1:28), was to take the gift of language and use it to divide the race, for the apostate worship at Babel indicated that man had turned against God in pride (11:8, 9). Babylon is often associated with idolatry, wealth, and is referred to in the Book of Revelation as a political and religious world system in the end times that is corrupt and idolatrous: And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Therefore, the people of earth disperse, based on common language, and continue to fill the earth, just as the Lord commanded ( Genesis 1:28 ). God scattered the people all over the earth and stopped the building of the tower. It is important to note that in Genesis, Chapter 10, we see who founded the city of Babel: Nimrod, whom the Bible refers to as a “mighty hunter before the Lord.”. Men wanted to build the tower of Babel in the hope of finding security through the works of their hands. Why was the city called “Babel”? The people wanted honor for themselves, not for God. They didn’t stop to consider if that’s what the Creator God wanted them to do. The tower of Babel. The people of Babel build the tower knowing that unless they do so, they will be scattered throughout the earth. We build huge towers all the time today. Interestingly, this narrative begins by declaring that they were all in one place and of one accord, just like the story of Babel starts out. This is why their city came to be called Baʹbel, or Babylon, meaning “Confusion.” If you died today, are you 100% sure that you’d be saved from God’s judgment? They wanted to make a name for themselves, to no other purpose than to gain recognition, wide spread fame. The account of this event is found in Gen. 11:1-9.While the building of the city and the tower in Shinar was still in progress, God said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. A babel fish would come in handily with some of the questions and answers that are allegedly written in English on here. God confused the languages at the Tower of Babel to enforce His command for humanity to spread throughout the entire world. Why did god stop the Tower of Babel but allows space exploration? For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. We have decoded the human genome, made huge discoveries in science, engineering, technology, and more. By “confuses their language” we mean, creates multiple languages. The Kepler telescope has even recorded another galaxy, but God did not stop it. Did God really think people could have built a tower into the heavens? The height evidently was not an issue because, again, God had to come down to see it. The people of Babel build the tower knowing that unless they do so, they will be scattered throughout the earth. Later in the article, I'll talk about how high it was. Why did the people of Babel begin building a tall tower? Copyright © 2021 Revelation.co. Questions Where was the Tower of Babel? By Gary Henry From Expository Files 7.11; November 2000. It was an expression of the proud. Mankind had chosen to worship God’s creations instead of the Lord Himself. It does not indicate—at least not clearly—what is wrong with this city and tower that God should be bothered by it in the first place. It is man seeking to exalt himself to heaven, but not for the purpose of reaching God (as if that could even be done by human effort) but to usurp authority, rule in His place, and steal His … To counter their enhance, God did … While in His patience and longsuffering He may delay the onset of His judgment, the time comes, later if not sooner, when the ambitious pride of mankind will be humbled. The Tower symbolized their own efforts to settle a land rather than to fill the earth as was God's command. You may flip open your Bible and say, “Hey, this … Why did God stop the building of the Tower of Babel? But why did God destroy it? In Genesis 11 the tower of Babel is a man made mountain. The story also reveals why God sometimes intervenes with a divisive hand in human affairs. God did not like the pride and arrogance in the hearts of the people. God didn't necessarily destroy the tower, but he caused them to stop building it (see Genesis 11: 8) Historical fun fact: The European Union used to use the tower of Babel as a propaganda tool to promote itself as "Many tongues, one voice." 14:11). Why did the Almighty confuse everyone’s speech? The Tower of Babel story is among the best known and most frequently cited stories in the Torah. Idolatry. Hand in human history catastrophes in the history of the project was impossible because the language. Best known and most frequently cited stories in the events surrounding the tower of Babel was,. His own purposes a one world Government and is a wicked sin from... Language at the tower itself, as Kenneth Taylor suggests, to erect `` a proud, eternal to. 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