Ge 11:1-9

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Rebellion against God at Babel

(Gen 11:1-9)

Babel was one of the cities founded by Nimrod in the land of Shinar, ancient Babylonia (see Gen 10:8-12).

The people of this region, proud of the society they had established, displayed the same anti-God spirit as had brought about God’s judgment through the flood.

They joined together to build for themselves a new city that would make them famous and give them complete security.

They decided to crown their city with what they considered to be a skyscraper, as a symbol of their advanced civilization and complete self-sufficiency (Gen 11:1-4).

Their skyscraper may have been a fortress, or it could have been a temple, but whatever it was God saw it as a symbol of rebellion.

The more people progressed, the more they tried to use their collective abilities to build for themselves a society that would make them independent of God. God therefore smashed their unholy union decisively (Gen 11:5-9).