Tower Of Babel Lesson

Scripture

Genesis 9:1; 11:1-9

Memory Verse

“All of earth’s inhabitants are nothing in comparison. The Most High does whatever he wants with heaven’s forces and with earth’s inhabitants. No one can contain his power or say to him, ‘What do you think you are doing?” Daniel 4:35

Objective Of The Lesson

The story of the Tower of Babel shows us that God accomplishes what He sets out to do.

Big Picture Question

Is there anything that God cannot do? God can do anything.

Teacher Exhortation

Study the Scripture passages diligently and carefully. Ask God to make them real in your own life and pray for the children in your class.

Opening Questions

What is sin?
Is there anything that God can’t do?
Can we do anything to keep God from accomplishing His will?

“And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” Genesis 9:1

God gives Noah and his descendents a clear commandment. The same commandment that He had originally given to Adam, to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

God is telling Noah to fill the earth with his descendents. Out of these descendents would come the prophesized Savior.

“Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.” Genesis 11:1

Everyone at this time used the same language; the language spoken by Noah.

They were united by their strong bond over their shared language and culture.

“It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.” Genesis 11:2

At first they were fulfilling God’s command. The verse says that they were traveling eastward, but then they come to a stop.

They reach a plain in the land of Shinar, a fertile and spacious land and decide to settle there. This fertile valley was watered by the Euphrates and Tigris river. And so we have the establishment of Babylon.

What were these men doing by deciding to settle in the area? They were openly rebelling against God’s command. They were sinning by not listening and obeying what God wanted them to do.

“They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” Genesis 11:3-5

The men of Babylon wanted to do whatever it took to prevent them from being separated and scattered abroad.

They decided to build a powerful city and a large tower, a tower that would reach into the heavens. It was not a sin for them to try to build a city. What made it a sin was building it with the sole purpose of defeating God’s command by attempting to prevent the emigration of its builders. This was foolish and offensive to God because they were fighting against His very wishes. But as we will see God accomplishes the plans that He sets forth, even when men try to work against them.

They also wanted to create a name for themselves. They wanted to be remembered and known as the great builders of their powerful city and tower. The men of Babylon are remembered today, but they are remembered for their disobedience and sin.

“The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” Genesis 11:5-7

God knew they were in disobedience the whole time. Why did He not stop them at the beginning of their construction? Why did he allow them to spend so much time constructing the city and the tower?

Because He was doing the same thing He did when it took Noah 120 years to build the ark. God was giving them time to repent of their sins.

But as we can see from the story, none of the men in the city repented. So God is now going to intervene.

“Now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.” God is not saying that He is powerless to stop them from continuing to build the city. What God is saying is that the potential of fallen man is terrible and powerful. All we have to do is look at our history and we can see all the evil and destruction that man has caused.

God is saying that left unchecked, the city would grow more prosperous and powerful and they would be able to accomplish all of their desires.

God wanted men to fill the whole earth, but these men fought God every step of the way. They sinned against God by settling in one spot so that they would not be separated from one another.

But God is going to force their hand. God turned their language into many languages. They could no longer understand each other.

How could they continue building the tower when they could no longer work together?

“So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.” Genesis 11:8-9

The men of the city fought tooth and nail to keep from being separated, but now they are being forced to leave the city. They had no choice because they could no longer continue building the city.

If a worker asked for a brick how could any of the other workers understand him? They could not.

So the men of the city got together with the people that now spoke their new language and traveled to new lands.

The city was called Babel, meaning confusion, because in that city God had confused the language of the whole earth.

God’s Power

Instead of obeying God, people chose to ignore God’s command and glorify themselves. They disobeyed Him and built a city that would keep them together and make a name for themselves. This didn’t stop God’s plan to scatter the people and to form nations.

God is in control of everything and everyone. There is nothing that He can’t do and no one has the right to question His decisions.

God wanted men to fill the earth and to form nations. Men fought against Him, but He accomplished His will. There is nothing that we can do to stop His will.

Eventually one of these nations would become God’s chosen people. Through the nation of Israel, Christ would come to save those who are lost.