The Tower of Babel by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1563)

The account of the Tower of Babel is recorded in Genesis (1), the first book of the Holy Bible (2). A great number of books and dissertations have been authored on this topic over the centuries and, due to the biblical brevity of these nine verses, many have taken extreme liberties with the Word of God (3) while doing so. Here, let us focus on what the Bible shares.

Nestled in between the post-Great Flood era (4) and the calling of Abram (5), the biblical account of the Tower of Babel is recorded in Genesis 11:1-9.  We learn here that the people of the Earth had one language and shared a common speech. As the Earth re-populated, some relocated to Shinar (Babylonia) to settle. Genesis 11:3-4 discloses the people coming up with the idea of building a city there. Using brick and tar, they wanted to build a tower that "reaches to the heavens" with the objective of "making a name for ourselves." Doing so, they reasoned, would avoid the people from being "scattered over the face of the whole Earth."

Paralleling the words of Isaiah 55:8-9, what mortal man thought was a genius idea was not embraced by the God (6) they claimed to serve. Keep in mind that, aside from the eight human souls saved aboard Noah's Ark during the worldwide Flood, these folks may not have seen the wonders of God at work during their lifetime. Although they were the offspring of those who had been saved from utter destruction, it is possible they were not raised up in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Accordingly, these men were now attempting to put themselves on equal footing with the heavens and the God who ruled over all of it.

Genesis 11:5-7 records God's response to man's idea of building this tower to the heavens. He comes down to see the city and the tower under construction. 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. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

The narrative closes in Genesis 11:8-9 with Lord confusing the languages of His prideful children so they could not understand one another when they spoke. Accordingly, the confused souls stopped building the tower and the city as they scattered all over the Earth.

Since then, the occupants of the whole Earth have had different languages. To this very day, "Babel" is associated with the verb "babble," that is, to speak in a "meaningless or unintelligible" manner (7).
 

Whereas God turned one language into many in Genesis, He did the opposite in the Acts of the Apostles (8). In this New Testament (9) narrative, God unleashed the Holy Spirit (10) at Pentecost (11), allowing people of many languages to understand one another (Acts 2:1-13).

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FOOTNOTES

  (1) https://downriverdisciples.com/genesis

  (2) https://downriverdisciples.com/the-good-news

  (3) https://downriverdisciples.com/the-word-of-the-lord

  (4) https://downriverdisciples.com/noah-and-the-flood

  (5) https://downriverdisciples.com/father-of-many-nations

  (6) https://downriverdisciples.com/god-of-the-bible

  (7) https://merriam-webster.com/dictionary/babble

  (8) https://downriverdisciples.com/acts

  (9) https://downriverdisciples.com/new-testament

(10) https://downriverdisciples.com/the-holy-spirit

(11) https://downriverdisciples.com/pentecost