THE TOWER OF BABEL
Genesis 9:l8-11:9
A clean, new world lay before Noah and his three sons when they stepped out of the ark,, There were no wicked people left,
Noah and his sons made new homes. After a while God gave them children* These children grew up and made homes for themselves. Then there were other children* Again there were many people on the earth.
From a mountain in Ararat, where the ark lodged after the flood, the human family moved south into the valley of Mesopotamia and lived on a plain in the land of Shinar.
"Let us build a city," said the people, "and let us make a tower so great and high that its top will reach God and heaven, and we shall not be scattered over the earth and separated from one another." And so the people set to work.
How busy they were. Some made brick, others mixed mortar, and still others carried brick and mortar to the workmen who were building the city and the tower, They all dreamed of the time their city and their wonderful tower would be finished.
Then a strange thing happened, God saw the city and the tower and He was not pleased. He knew that men would become more sinful if they finished the great tower. Already they were thinking more and more about their own work and less and less about the God who gave them the strength to work. Soon they might forget God entirely and worship the things they had made. God decided to stop their building.
Until this time all the people spoke one language. Now God caused them to speak different languages. The people of one family could not understand what their neighbors were talking about. Nor could these neighbors understand the people who talked to them. They could not go on with their great building because the workmen could not understand one another. The people of Babel became restless and unhappy until finally those who spoke one language moved off by themselves,
