Confusion: Dispersion at Babel

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Introduction

As we think back over the ideas we have studied in this curriculum, we have covered three of the Seven C’s of History, and we are about to talk about the fourth. Let’s take a minute to review them. The first was Creation in six normal-length days about 6,000 years ago, followed shortly after that by the Corruption that entered the world with the first sin. About 1,600 years later, the Catastrophe of the flood was sent as a judgment for man’s wickedness.

For the next two lessons, we will be discussing the events surrounding the scattering of the people from the tower of Babel—the Confusion of the languages. This event would have taken place during the period of the ice age that we talked about last week.

The Tower of Babel

Turn in your Bibles to Genesis 10, and let’s talk about the relationship between chapters 10 and 11. These two chapters present the account of the events surrounding the tower of Babel. We looked at the chronological genealogy in chapter 11 to help us understand the age of the earth. Chronologically, the description of the genealogies in chapter 10 comes after the dispersion of the people from Shinar. Look at the transition between the chapters.

Reading from verse 10:32 to 11:1, some have wondered if this is a mistake or contradiction in the text. There is no contradiction; rather, chapter 11 presents background information about how the spreading of chapter 10 came about. It also gives some extra information about the ages of the individuals mentioned in the line leading up to Abram—the main character of the next section of Genesis. Here we see a clear literary structure to the text that helps us understand the transition that is about to happen in Genesis 12.

In all, Noah had 16 grandsons. It is their families that are described in chapters 10 and 11, and we will look at how they spread across the earth, settling in new areas. The 16 grandsons are included in the text at the bottom left of the Seven C’s Timeline with additional information about each.

Let’s read Genesis 11:1–9 together. Have someone read the passage aloud.

In this passage, we have the description of what is typically referred to as the tower of Babel. Let’s examine the text carefully to make sure we don’t bring any misconceptions in our understanding into the account.

• What type of literature is this passage? Historical narrative; there is nothing in the text to indicate it is poetic or anything other than an account of the events.
• How many languages were spoken on the earth at this point? One.
• Where had the people come from? The east.
• Where did the people settle? A plain in the land of Shinar.
• What did they intend to build? A city and a tower.
• How is the tower described? It was a tall structure with its top in the heavens.
• What construction material were they using? Bricks with bitumen for mortar (v. 3).
• Does anyone know what bitumen is? Allow for answers.

  Bitumen is a kind of natural asphalt. It is found where oil, or petroleum, seeps to the surface of the earth and makes pools of thick black tar. This substance has been used for centuries for waterproofing and as an adhesive. They used it as mortar between the bricks of the tower.

• What was the purpose of building the city and tower? To make a name for themselves and to not be dispersed over the earth.
• What did God find when he “came down”? The people had one language and were so unified that they could accomplish anything together.
• What was God’s response to the building of the city and tower? He confused their language.
• What was the result of the languages being confused? The people scattered over the earth.
• Why is that place now called Babel? Because the Lord confused the languages there.
• What does the passage tell us about God? He sees what is happening on the earth and has the power to change the language of its inhabitants as he judges sin.

Discover the Truth

Now that we have asked questions about the text, let’s talk about the main idea and gather some more information with some cross-referencing.

• Slide #9
  The people seemed to be avoiding spreading across the earth. Why would this be a concern for them in light of Genesis 9:1 and 9:7? God had commanded the people to multiply and fill the earth. Read Genesis 9:1 and 9:7 as cross-references that explain their attitude.
• Based on the information given in the text, what was the root issue of the sin that was exhibited by the people at Shinar? Their pride caused them to desire a name for themselves more than honoring God and obeying his commands.
• Did they complete the city and tower? Based on the statements in verses 5 and 8, it seems that the construction had begun and was interrupted. The tower may have been completed since verse 8 indicates they stopped building the city, but it does not mention the tower.
• Most agree that the land of Shinar is the plain between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in modern-day Iraq. (In Hebrew, the word shinar may mean “two rivers.”) If that is the case, in light of the information in Genesis 11:2, where did the ark land? If the people came from the east, then the ark likely landed somewhere to the east, possibly in the mountains of Iran. Remember that the ark rested in the “mountains of Ararat,” not on Mt. Ararat, so no one knows the exact location.

  The text gives no date, but other information in the Bible can help us arrive at a date for the events we have been discussing. We know that Arpachshad, one of Shem’s sons, was born two years after the flood. From the chronological genealogies in Genesis 11, we also know the ages of the next generations that led up to Shem’s great-great-grandson Peleg. Peleg was born 101 years after the flood (2247 BC) and lived for 239 years (Genesis 11:18–19).

• Slide #10
  What does Genesis 10:24–25 tell us about Peleg? It tells us that in his lifetime the earth was divided.

  Most believe that the division referred to is the division of the languages at Babel, and not the splitting of the continents as some suggest. It seems very unlikely that the division in the days of Peleg was the splitting of the continents, in light of the major disruption this would have caused on the earth. Therefore, the events of Babel would have occurred within 100–200 years after the flood. Archbishop James Ussher places the date at 2242 BC when Peleg would have been five. (Peleg’s name means “division” and may have been prophetic of the division that was to come.)

  As an interesting side note, we find the root of two words we use frequently in the names of two individuals in this lineage. Our word Semite/Semitic comes from Shem, and the word Hebrew is believed to come from the name Eber, who was Peleg’s father.

• God confused the languages of the people and scattered them over the face of the earth. How did the confusion lead to the scattering? The best explanation seems to be that the confusion led to the inability of the different family groups to communicate. As a result, they migrated from Shinar to other parts of the earth, as they were supposed to have done in the first place. This will be examined more closely in the next lesson.

  The people were scattered across the earth, and they took their culture with them as they scattered. We will talk more next week about what that dispersion looked like and examine the details from chapter 10.

  We are going to take a look at some of the evidences that confirm this biblical understanding of history.

Babel Around the World Activity

• If people had been living together as one culture with one language and were then scattered across the globe, what do you think the first government structures, religious ideas, and buildings they established might have looked like? We would expect them to look much like the culture they came from.
  Slide #11
  Show Lesson Images #1 and #2. This first image is an artist’s representation of what the tower of Babel may have looked like. We are not certain where the tower was located, but there are a few candidates
  Slide #12
  in modern Iraq. What seems to be clear is that the tower was a stepped structure like this one. This is agreed upon by biblical and secular scholars alike, though the secular historians tend to assign unbiblical dates.
  Slide #13
  The people at Babel were openly rebelling against God. As they scattered, they built structures that were similar to the building project that God had frustrated. The rest of these images show step pyramids and ziggurats from various places around the globe. Show Lesson Image #3 of the various ziggurat/pyramid structures that are found around the world.

Connect to the Truth

Throughout history, these structures have been used for religious practices—just like when the people were trying to replace God at Babel. The human sacrifices and other wicked practices used to honor the many false gods most likely originated with demonic worship that arose at Babel by those in rebellion against God.

If we understand that this was the first civilization after the flood, then we can fix a date for the beginning of civilizations. If the date of about 100 years after the flood is accurate for the division at Babel, then the earliest date for the first civilizations that arose after the dispersion would have been about 2100 BC.

Secular historians have suggested that the pyramids in Egypt were constructed beginning about 2600 BC, and that the oldest pyramid structures, in Caral, Peru, were built around 3000 BC. And these structures supposedly came from these cultures long after they were founded.

• Slide #14

  Slide #15

  Slide #16
  What is the problem with such claims? If the dates fall earlier than 2349 BC, these structures would have been destroyed during the flood. Even if the dates are close to the date of Babel, the civilizations did not take long ages to form before they built these structures.
• What is a biblical explanation for the occurrence of all of these pyramid structures all over the earth? The result of the confusion of the languages was the scattering of the people across the earth. As they went, they would have carried part of the information from the building of the tower and the other cultural practices with them. As they settled in various regions, they built structures similar to the tower for worship practices.
• • Encourage students to take notes in their Student Guides as you discuss evidences for the tower of Babel event.
  If this is the case, what “memory” should we expect to find in cultures all over the world? (Think back to what we learned about the “memory” of the flood in various cultures.) We would expect to find legends of the entire population having one language and then being scattered. Themes of the true account would be present in these distorted legends.

  It should be no surprise to know that these legends do exist, just like we saw with flood legends. Here are a few samples. These are a sampling of how the truths of Scripture have been distorted over time, but they point to the historical truth of the scriptural account. Discuss the biblical elements present after you read each one.

  Guatemala—The Quiches of Guatemala told of a time when the tribes multiplied and left their old home to go to a place called Tulan. Here the language changed, and the people sought new homes in various parts of the world as a result of not being able to understand each other. Gathered in one place; confused language; spread to new places.

  India—The Mikir tribe in northeastern India tells of the descendants of Ram who were strong men and were growing dissatisfied with earth and aspired to conquer heaven. They began to build a tower.

  “Higher and higher rose the building, till at last the gods and demons feared lest these giants should become the masters of heaven, as they already were of earth. So they confounded their speech, and scattered them to the four corners of the world. Hence arose all the various tongues of mankind.” Desired to make themselves famous; tower to the heavens; gods intervened; confused language; people scattered around the world.

  Polynesia—Polynesians on the island of Hao say that Rata and his three sons survived a great flood. Then “they made an attempt to erect a building by which they could reach the sky, and see the creator god Vatea; but the god in anger chased the builders away, broke down the building, and changed their language, so that they spoke diverse tongues.” A man and his three sons survived a flood; tried to build a structure to heaven; a god thwarted their efforts; language was changed.

Application

Today we have received an introduction to the fourth of the Seven C’s of History—the Confusion of the languages at Babel. We have seen that mankind continued to rebel against God’s commands even after the judgment of the flood.

The people sought to make a name for themselves and stay together rather than spread out as God had commanded them to do. The people were united not only by their common language, but also in their purpose to defy God. This was a clearly sinful response, and God judged the people for that sin.

As the people spread across the globe, they carried the story with them, as well as the culture and architecture that they had experienced in Shinar. Common themes are seen in the early cultures around the world, and the common memory of the flood and the one common language bear testimony to the Bible’s account of the origin of the nations.

We will continue uncovering how this event shaped history when we look back to chapter 10 and the origin of the various nations and people groups.

Now let’s consider how we might apply some of these truths to our lives.

• We looked at evidence such as the legends of a common language and the ziggurat structures found around the globe, which seems to confirm the Genesis account of the people spreading across the globe. Why do many people, even those claiming to be Christians, reject this as an actual account of the origin of the various people groups around the world? Many simply reject the Bible’s history, and others try to allegorize the accounts and say that they simply teach us a moral lesson. When we reject the authority of Scripture, we will have to explain the origins of the people groups based on some other authority. For most people, this has come from evolutionary explanations of man’s origin as different races developed in different areas of the world, beginning in Africa.
• Were God’s plans for the people to multiply and fill the earth thwarted by the disobedience of the people? No. His plans were initially disobeyed, but man cannot thwart God’s plans. God’s command was ultimately followed, just not willingly.
• What attributes of God did this judgment demonstrate? God’s justice and omnipotence were demonstrated. He was just for judging the people for their sin, and he demonstrated his absolute power by reprogramming each person’s brain to speak and understand a new language. Refer to Attributes of God Poster.
• The people who were gathering together in Shinar were removed from the judgment of the flood by only a few generations. The details of the flood would have been directly available to them through Noah’s testimony. (Noah was alive during the lifetime of Terah, Abraham’s father, and Abraham could have talked directly to Shem.) Does it surprise you that this rebellion happened so quickly? Explain. If we think of the heart condition of mankind, this shouldn’t be much of a surprise (Genesis 6:21; Jeremiah 17:9). Looking forward to the grumblings of the Israelites in the desert, we see that this is the case throughout history.
• Knowing that this is the tendency of mankind, how do we conduct our lives so that we don’t fall into this pattern? It is a matter of daily, and even moment-by-moment, recognition of our sinfulness and our need for a Savior. We should focus on God’s grace in our lives that was made possible only by the sacrifice of Christ. We need to be constantly applying the truths of the gospel to our lives (1 John 1:8–9) and seeking to live by the power of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16–18).
• We see in Genesis 8:21 that God knew that man’s heart would continue to be evil from his youth (“the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth”), yet he simply confused their language rather than wiping them out again. How is this a picture of God’s continuing mercy and grace to mankind today, including you? All have sinned and deserve God’s wrath, but he has been gracious to every person in Christ. Recognizing that we as individuals deserve judgment and yet have received forgiveness in Christ is an essential part of understanding who God is and what he has done for us. We are no different than the people at Shinar—we are proud and rebellious apart from the grace of God changing our hearts. Keeping our focus on what Christ has done for us provides us with a motivation to lovingly serve him and keep his commands. We can also encourage one another to pursue a godly lifestyle and come alongside one another as we see sin creeping in (Galatians 6:1–2).

Group Prayer

Be sure to pray with your class and take requests if time allows.

• Praise God for his mercy and grace shown toward us each day.
• Ask for the ability to take these truths to heart and put them into practice each day.
• Thank God for preserving his Word for our benefit.