THE BOOK OF GENESIS
CHAPTERS 10 AND 11
At this
point in the Bible, many people get bored with reading it. They suffer through a chapter or two and then
figure they made a valiant effort to read it through, but maybe they'll try
again next year.
Let's
review what has happened in the previous chapters a little bit before we go on with this
story. After the great flood and
Noah's Ark saving 8 souls,
we have the earth being populated by the descendants of Noah's three
sons. They all speak the same language and they're starting to spread out
on the earth.
Then we read about Noah's son Ham starting some trouble, so to speak.
Well, it looks like trouble is running in the family, because Ham
had a grandson named Nimrod. Nimrod was a hunter. He was strong so people
followed him, and he started a kingdom called Babel.
Being the
King of Babel, Nimrod and the people decided to build a city and a tower
that could
reach up to Heaven. They wanted to make a name for themselves, so they
wouldn't be all scattered out and a bunch of nobodies. This is a
picture of what the Tower of Babel may have looked like.
There
are many sources that suggest that Nimrod and these rebellious people would
shoot arrows from the tower into the clouds. They claimed the arrows would
return to earth dripping with the blood of angels. This of course isn't in the Bible, but sometimes
it's a good idea to know what is and what isn't so that you're prepared when
and if you're ever confronted about a certain topic.
God came down to see the tower. And God said, If the
people do things like this because they all speak one language, what will
stop them from doing more bad things? There goes God, talking to His Holy
Spirit again. Well, it didn't take long for Him to figure out the answer.
He made them speak different languages so they couldn't understand each
other, that way they couldn't finish the tower or gain their fame that they
wanted. You've got to admit, God has a fantastic sense of humor. Can you
imagine them all, one minute, just chattering away and the next minute not
being able to understand a word their friends and families were saying. No
wonder it was called the tower of Babel, which was in Babylon, also known
today as Iraq.
Then God scattered those people around the earth, just like He
planned in the first place. And that's why people in different countries
speak different languages.
Now sometimes you just want to relate Bible stories with things
that happen in today's day and age. Well, all you have to do is think about
how the world can make a tremendous fuss about sending a teacher on a trip
to the moon, and POW, there's your analogy. The lesson wasn't learned the
first time, that the heavens belong to God. The commandment He gave to man
was to take care of the earth, not to go nosing around where he doesn't
belong.