The tower of Babel was built on a wide plain not long after the flood, and it was never finished. God's Word tells us where it stood, how it was made and why it was built.
Where it stood. The builders “found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there” (Genesis 11:2). Shinar is the flat land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, in the country we now call Iraq.
Nimrod's land. Babel was the first city of Nimrod's kingdom: “the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar” (Genesis 10:10).
No stones. That land has rich mud but almost no building stone. So the people said, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly” (11:3). Baking made the bricks hard and strong.
Tar for glue. “They had asphalt for mortar” (11:3). Asphalt, also called bitumen, is a black, sticky tar that seeps up from the ground in that region. It held the bricks together and kept water out.
What it looked like. Many Bible teachers think the tower was a ziggurat (say: ZIG-uh-rat). A ziggurat was a huge stepped tower of brick, with stairs climbing up to a small temple on top. The ruins of many ziggurats still stand in Iraq today.
Why they built it. They said, “let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth” (11:4). They wanted fame, and they wanted to stay together on their own terms.
Against God's word. God had told Noah's family to “fill the earth” (9:1). Babel was a plan to do the very opposite.
Reaching heaven. They wanted “a tower whose top is in the heavens” (11:4). People in that land believed their towers were stairways between earth and the gods. But no stairway made of bricks can reach the true God.
God came down. “But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower” (11:5). The tower that was supposed to reach heaven was so small to God that He came down to look at it.
The end of the building. God confused their language, “and they ceased building the city” (11:8). The tower was left standing unfinished.
The name. “Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth” (11:9). The builders wanted a great name, and the name their city got sounds like the Hebrew word for confused.
What we learn. Babel teaches that people cannot climb up to God by their own work. Jesus is the only way: “No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
What to do. This week, when you finish something you are proud of, thank God out loud for the strength and skill He gave you.
Babel did not disappear. The city grew into Babylon. All through the Bible we meet two kinds of cities: the city people build for their own name, and the city God builds for His people.
Babel grows up. Babel became Babylon, one of the greatest cities of the ancient world. Hundreds of years later, Babylon's army destroyed Jerusalem and carried God's people far away.
A proud king. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon once looked out over his city and boasted that he had built it by his own mighty power, for his own glory (Daniel 4:30). God humbled him until he praised the King of heaven, who is able to humble the proud (Daniel 4:37).
Babylon falls. In Revelation, Babylon stands for the whole proud world that lives without God. It looks rich and strong, but in the end it falls (Revelation 18:2).
A different city. Abraham lived in tents, but he was looking for something better: “he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10).
Pilgrims. God's people are “strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13). A pilgrim is a traveler on the way home.
Citizens of heaven. “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).
Built by God. At Babel people said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city” (Genesis 11:4). God's city is different, because God Himself is the builder.
Living stones. God is building His people into a house where He lives: “you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22).
Coming down. Babel's builders tried to go up. God's city comes down. John saw the holy city coming down out of heaven from God, and he heard, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them” (Revelation 21:2-3).
The way in. Only one thing can keep us out of God's city, and that is sin. “There shall by no means enter it anything that defiles” (Revelation 21:27). But Jesus “bore our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24).
A place prepared. Jesus promised His followers, “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2).
What we learn. Babel fell, and every city built for human pride will fall. The city God builds lasts forever, and Jesus opens its gate to everyone who trusts Him.
What to do. Ask yourself whether you are building your life for your own name or for God's. Pray Psalm 127:1 over your plans this week.
Complete all sections to finish!
Read each section and answer the questions correctly.