The Tower That Reached Too High

“That is why it is called Babel, for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world.” — Genesis 11:9

After the flood, Noah’s family grew and grew. Children were born, and then grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. And in those days everyone in the whole world spoke the same language. They all used the same words.

God had told people to spread out and fill the earth. But as they moved east, they came to a wide, flat plain in a land called Shinar, and they decided to settle down there.

They had discovered something new. Instead of using stones for building, they could make bricks out of mud and bake them hard in the fire. And they could stick the bricks together with tar.

“Come on,” they said to one another. “Let’s build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches up to the sky! Then we’ll make a great name for ourselves. And we won’t be scattered all over the earth.”

Can you see what was wrong with their plan? They weren’t building to honour God. They wanted everyone to say how great they were. They wanted to make a name for themselves. And they wanted to stay together in one place, when God had told them to spread out over the world.

So they got to work. Brick on brick, higher and higher, the tower climbed towards the clouds. They must have been very proud of it.

But God came down to see the city and the tower they were building.

You see, the people thought their tower was enormous. But to God it was tiny. He had to come down to look at it! No tower, however tall, can ever reach up to God. God is far greater than anything people can build.

God said that if they could do this as one people speaking one language, nothing they planned would be beyond them. Their pride would only grow and grow. So God did something amazing. He mixed up their language.

All of a sudden, the builders couldn’t understand each other! One man would ask for more bricks, and his friend would hear nothing but strange sounds. Another would call for tar, and nobody knew what he meant. Imagine the muddle and the shouting!

They could not work together any more. So they had to stop building the city. People who could understand each other went off together, and they scattered all over the earth, just as God had wanted all along.

That city was called Babel, because it was where God confused the language of the whole world. And that is why there are so many different languages in the world today.

The people of Babel wanted to make a great name for themselves. But in the very next story, God chooses a man and promises, “I will make your name great.” Greatness is something God gives. We can’t grab it for ourselves.

Read it in your Bible: Genesis 11:1–9

Dear God, you are greater than anything people can build. Please keep me from being proud and showing off, and help me to live for you and not for myself. Amen.