Week 5: Genesis 11 – The Tower of Babel

Week 5: Genesis 11 – The Tower of Babel

As a family, read Genesis 11:1-9 together. Afterwards, share the following discussion.

What happened?

At one time, a group of people settled in a plain in the land of Babylonia. They decided to build a city with a tower that reached high into the sky. They thought it would make them famous and keep them from being scattered all over the world. Back then, all the people of the world spoke the same language. So they could easily talk and make plans for baking bricks and other things they needed to build their great tower.

But the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building. He knew that as long as they were together, they would encourage one another to rebel against Him. So, He decided to go down and confuse the people with different languages. Since they couldn’t understand each other, they couldn’t build their city or their tower. Eventually, people who spoke the same language found one other and settled in new areas together.

Why is this important to us, today?

The people of Babylonia wanted to build their city with a massive tower that would reach to the heavens. It would be a monument to their own greatness, showing the world what they could accomplish. The people were only concerned with making a name for themselves, not honoring the name of the Lord.

God was not pleased with them.  He was disappointed in their pride, and He feared that they would continue to depend on their own skills and talents rather than depend on Him.  So God stopped their plan with a very interesting solution— He confused the language (which prevented them from communicating), and He scattered them across the world (which prevented them from cooperating and working together).

Although the people had the wrong motivation for building this tower, this story shows us something very important: there is incredible power when we communicate and work together.  In other words, when we talk regularly and make it a point to cooperate, we can accomplish a lot! It displeases God, however, when people work together to make themselves look good rather than showing how great He is.

Spend a few minutes talking about what you just read by answering these questions together:

In your own words, why do you think it was wrong for the people to build this tower?  Talk about God’s solution to this problem – how did the two things He did (confused their language and scattered them) affect the world?

How can we better follow God this week?

How can your family work together to serve and glorify God? What personal or group accomplishments cause you to be prideful? How can you use that accomplishment to honor God?

Take a few moments now to thank God for bringing you together as a family.   Pray that you will make communication and cooperation a priority in your home and that, unlike the people of Babel, you will take part in things that are good and pleasing to God!