Genesis 11:1-9
11 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward,[a] they found a plain in Shinar[b] and settled there.
3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”
8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel[c]—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
[New International version]
This appears to be the first “skyscraper” in the world, and God was definitely not happy with it. Likely not just because it was a tall building, but because of the intent behind it. The people wanted to make a name for themselves, and they had not consulted the Lord at all. It appears they had become so confident in their own abilities that it had gone to their heads, and they thought they didn’t even need God at all.
On top of all that, they were using cheap materials – man-made bricks instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar. Cheap substitutes, that would not have even endured.
And so, God did what all good parents or authorities do when a bunch of kids are misbehaving… He split them up. Plus He gave them all different languages and scattered them across the whole earth.
And now, considering the condition of the world today, it’s easy to see that nothing much has changed. There are still people trying to reach great heights without God’s help, and it only leads to disaster. While others who humbly include the Lord in their plans will enjoy God’s blessings, both now and for all eternity.
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