'''CHAPTER SIX: THE TOWER OF BABEL'''

CHAPTER SIX

THE TOWER OF BABEl

It rained nonstop for 40 days and nights. Noah and his family had plenty of chores and duties to keep themselves busy. They had to feed and water all of the animals, as well as keep their stalls clean.

When the rain finally ended, the clouds parted and the sun appeared. In all directions, Noah could see that water covered the whole world (Genesis 7:17-18). Altogether, the ark journeyed across the water-filled earth for 150 days (about five months; Gen 6:23-24).

At the end of the 150 days, God created a wind to pass over the waters, causing them to dry up (Genesis 8:1-3). As the flood slowly lowered, the ark came to rest upon the mountains of Ararat. No longer would it drift around the earth (Gen 8:4).

But Noah, his household and the animals still had to stay aboard the great ship. There was not yet enough land and vegetation to live on (Gen 6:5).

Noah Leaves the Ark

A few months passed before Noah could see the tops of the mountains.

He sent out some birds to see if they could find dry land and fresh vegetation.

Finally, a dove came back with a freshly plucked olive leaf in her mouth. Since olive plants grow at lower land levels, Noah knew that the waters had lowered enough so that people and animals could again survive on the earth.

But Noah wanted to be sure. He waited seven days and sent out the dove again. This time it did not return. Noah then knew that life could survive on its own in the wilderness (Genesis 8:6-12).

Noah and his family had been in the ark for about one year before God dried up the flood and renewed the earth.

One day, God gave Noah some good news: “It is time for you and your family to leave the ark. Bring out the animals that are with you and let them go. I want them to spread across the earth and have children and grow in number” (Gen 6:16-19).

Noah obeyed God and set the animals free. Then he and his family set off into the fresh, green new world.

One of the first things Noah did was build an altar of worship and offer a burnt sacrifice to God. Noah wanted to show God that he was thankful for all that He had done for him and his family (Gen 6:20).

God promised to never again punish the world with a great flood.

Then God said that every time people saw a rainbow, it would be a sign that He would keep His promise (Genesis 9:8-17). And God never lies (Hebrews 6:18).

Civilization Begins

Noah’s three sons (Shem, Ham and Japheth) and their wives had many children. Before long, several generations were born (Genesis 9:18-19). Today, often four generations live at the same time: children, parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. But back in Noah’s time, because people lived hundreds of years and had many children, as many as ten generations lived at the same time.

Some families settled in the lower plains areas where there was plenty of rich soil to make farmlands. Others moved to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers region, in what became the land of Shinar.

Like those before the Flood, people tended to crowd together instead of spreading out the way God had intended.

In Shinar, there were few rocks or trees to use for making buildings.

So the people made bricks from the soil and used them to make homes, barns, storehouses and other buildings (Genesis 11:2-3). They built them so close together that villages and small towns formed.

Eventually, these grew into cities. Just as today, many people preferred to live in close, cramped cities.

Noah Preaches About the Son of God

Meanwhile, Noah preached about God’s Way to all who would listen.

He reminded people about what sin is—the breaking of God’s spiritual laws, and putting self before God and other people (I John 3:4).

Noah also taught about a member of the God Family who would someday be born as a human being (John 1:1, 14). As the Son of God, He would be both man and God. Thousands of years in the future, this special servant—Jesus Christ—would free everyone from the way of sin. Because He would reject carnal nature and never break God’s laws, Christ’s death would become the perfect sacrifice, or offering. It would pay the penalty of sin—death—for all people, past, present and future (Romans 3:23; 6:23).

Three days after His death, God the Father would raise His son Jesus back to life. But instead of being a physical man, Jesus would be changed back into spirit as a God-being (Revelation 1:12-18). This would provide all people the chance to be born into the God Family (I Corinthians 15:47-49).

But until that time, burnt offerings would remind the people that they needed Christ’s perfect sacrifice.

Satan Uses Nimrod to Deceive

Most did not care for Noah’s messages. They did not want to trust God to guide their lives. Following their carnal nature, most people continued to decide for themselves right from wrong.

Satan and his demons also hated Noah’s preaching. The devil wanted< people to worship him, not God. So he devised a lie to mislead people into believing that the Son of God was born right after the Flood!

To do this, Satan used a man named Nimrod. He was the grandson of Ham and the great-grandson of Noah. Nimrod was a mighty hunter, strong and fierce. Over the centuries, he has been known by many names among various ancient cultures. Nimrod was popular with the people because he protected them from wild animals (Genesis 10:1, 6, 8-9).

Like Satan, Nimrod hated God’s laws.

He foolishly thought that he could create his own happiness without them.

He led the people who crowded together to build walls around their towns. At first, this protected them from wild animals getting inside. But eventually, the walls came to protect people from war. Just as before the Flood, man slid back into his evil, wicked ways. Armies of cities fought against each other to take what others possessed.

God was not pleased.

He witnessed Nimrod lead others to build Babel, the first large city built after the flood. With other cities under his rule, Nimrod became an evil dictator, or ruler, over the kingdom of Babylonia. As his power and riches grew, he came to be

Nimroddeceived many into worshipping idols (carved images of men, animals, and so forth)

Feared by all under his reign—and by many others who were not.

He forced his subjects to reject the one true God and worship false gods and their images—idols. Nimrod deceived and misled people into worshipping the devil, whom he called “Merodach,” which means lord or master. Another name of the devil was Baal. Among many pagan worshippers, Baal was considered the chief of all the so-called “gods” and their idols.

Nimrod claimed to be Baal’s high priest. He carried out Baal’s wishes and taught others to do the same. As both an evil ruler and a religious leader, Nimrod’s power over the people continued to grow.

But he wanted even more power.

So Nimrod devised a plan to keep the minds of the people away from God. He decided to lead them into a great project to build the tallest tower in the world! Dedicated to the “sun god,” the tower would be seen throughout the plains of Shinar.

Everyone outside the kingdom would know about it, causing many to come near. Nimrod would then lead—even force—them to worship Baal.

If all went according to Nimrod’s plan, Babel would become the capital of a world-ruling government.

But God had other plans!

Tower of Confusion

Many months passed as the tower slowly took shape and could be seen across the plains. If the project continued, it would reach up into the sky.

God knew that He had to stop this. He knew that if they continued, nothing could keep men from acting out every kind of evil they could think up.

So God confused their language. Up until then, everyone spoke the same language (Genesis 11:1). They could easily share ideas and thoughts. But God confused their speech, causing people to speak in different languages. They could no longer understand each other. This led to arguments and fights. Most of the people could no longer live or work together.

So the tower project ended. People who spoke the same language banded together and moved to their own region of the earth. Those who spoke other languages did the same.

Because of this, the tower came to be called “Babel,” which means “confusion” (Gen 11:2-9).

Where Worldly Holidays Come From

Those who stayed in or near Babylonia grew great in number. Over the years, Nimrod led them to build other cities in Babylonia, as well as in Assyria and other lands. These were all devil-worshipping kingdoms (Genesis 11:10-12).

The many who had left Babel and freed themselves from Nimrod’s rule continued to worship Satan, but called him by many different names.

Yet, a very tiny number of people, led by Noah’s son Shem, still feared and obeyed God. For many years, Shem fought against the spread of Nimrod’s idol-worshipping mystery religion.

Eventually, Nimrod was killed for his evil ways. His death so shocked his followers that many drifted away from the mystery religion. However, Satan wanted to continue his deception. So he used Semiramis, Nimrod’s wife, to do this. Long after her husband’s death, she gave birth to a son, who she claimed was a miracle-child—Nimrod reborn! She said that the baby had no human father, but rather was the son of the “sun-god.”

This lie was used to replace the true Son of God, Jesus Christ, in the minds of the people. Semiramis deceived many into worshipping this false god.

It is the same today. Millions say that they worship Christ. But they do not really worship Him, because they do not obey God.

Though Nimrod was just a man, he came to be worshipped as a “sun god” after his death. Semiramis became known as “the Virgin Mother,” as well as the “Queen of Heaven.”

With Semiramis ruling over several kingdoms and religious systems, the Babylonian mystery religion spread far and wide. Over the centuries, it merged with other pagan religions and traditions of men.

Even today, many millions of people practice the ancient customs of this false, evil religion: Christmas, Easter, New Year’s and most of the world’s other holidays. They do not realize that what they practice came from ancient, idol-worshipping religions. These religions forced people to commit horrible evils, such as sacrificing babies by burning them in fire!

When people reject God and put their trust in themselves or other men, trouble always follows.

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