Genesis 11:3–4

Memory Verse

Then they said unto one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had tar for mortar. And they said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower and its reference to the heavens, and let us make a name for us lest we are scattered over the face of the earth.” Genesis 11:3–4.

At this time in man’s history, everyone spoke the same language. Rather than obeying God and spreading across the earth, Nimrod set up his kingdom in the land of Shinar, and they built a city with a tower. The purpose of the tower was two-fold: a place to worship the heavens and a safe haven if God brought another flood to wipe out their wickedness.

Romans 1:18–32 explains why they were seeking to make a name for themselves and why they desired to make a tower with reference to the heavens. Although they knew God, they chose not to maintain a proper opinion of God, but changed His glory into that of corruptible man, birds, four-footed animals, and creeping things (Romans 1:22–23). Due to their rejection of God and the corruption of their ways, God turned them over to the foolishness of their hearts, leading them to worship creation and defile themselves among themselves (Romans 1:24). They built the tower because they knew that God would bring punishment upon them for their works (Romans 1:32).

It took only about 100 years after the flood for mankind to corrupt their ways again, even doing the very things that brought the flood upon their ancestors. In addition to the corruption of the flesh and mind, out from the tower of Babel came all of the false gods and religions, including astrology, that still plagues us today.