This story brings the first section of the Bible to a close. After this, we see how God begins to zero in on one clan, one family, one man and woman, to become the bearers of his covenant blessing and love.

"The whole world had one language and a common speech" (Gen. 11:1). Is that bad? Wouldn't we wish for such a thing, and won't that be the case in the new creation when Christ returns? The reason why it's bad at this stage of history, with a rising tide of sinfulness and human pride, is explained in the story that follows: the tower reaching to heaven.

Over time, people have migrated to the richly fertile Mesopotamian basin where the Tigris and Euphrates come together. It's a great place to live, and the people thrive, so they settle down and build a city. To this day, cities are the greatest result of civilization. People get together in one place; they plan together, pool their resources, and build cities.

In the middle of this city, people decide to build a tower that "reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth" (v. 4). We know what this tower looked like because there are remnants of similar towers around what is now Iraq. These magnificent buildings were square at the base, with sloping, stepped sides leading to a shrine at the top. (To the people of that day, with their low-roofed homes, this seemed to "reach to the heavens." The idea was to get as close to the gods above as possible, and there offer sacrifices to them.)

The problem was not the city as such, or the building project itself. The problem was the motive and purpose of the people. The motive was pride, and they wanted to establish a reputation in the world. By building this great tower, they hoped to gain the favor of the gods they worshiped.

In a striking phrase, the writer says, with a certain nonchalance: "But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building" (v. 5). They were building a tower to reach the heavens, but the Lord came down to examine them. This is a different kind of God than the ones they worshiped with their towers.

The Lord sees not just the accomplishment, but the possibilities for evil inherent in their united strength. "Then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them" (v. 6). It's not that the people will become all-powerful, but that they can do both great and terrible things. (Think of the wonderful and dreadful possibilities made possible by modern science.)

So God scatters the people by confusing their languages. (The "let us" is reminiscent of Genesis 1:26 and is a natural outgrowth of the name for God in both places, elohim, which is a plural noun). This makes it harder for them to gather in one place and accomplish great things. We need to see this as a temporary solution, however, for soon enough big sections of the world did unite again around a single language (like English today).

One more thing to notice is how the story of the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost reverses Babel. There, the Holy Spirit enables people of different languages to hear the gospel in their own tongue. God is in the business of uniting a new people in his church for all nations.