This week we are looking at the Tower of Babel story from Genesis 11. This is one of the ‘tangential stories’ told when we walked through the Table of Nations outlined in Noah’s descendancy genealogy.

• Genesis 11

  Text from The Bible Gateway

  Genesis 11

• Scripture Audio:

  Presented as dramatizations from The Bible Gateway

  Genesis 11 Audio

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• Suggested Study Resources

  The following resources should be helpful. Of course feel free to chase down any study rabbit holes and you want to chase. This is your deep dive in the Word.

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• The World Best Preserved Ziggurat

  This is a quick four-minute video showing what the world’s best-preserved ziggurat looks like today. Feel free to skip past most of it and just look at the structure itself. A large percentage of scholars believe that the Tower of Babel would have followed this type of structure since it was common in the area as a building type.

  YouTube Video

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• Extra-Biblical Writing:

  There are several sources outside of the Bible that speak to the Tower of Babel. We are not clear what ‘their’ sources were for their information. Realize that these are not canon but are regarded by some scholars and religious sects as important. To keep you from digging on your own, I have collected three sources and included them in a PDF document and uploaded it to the web site.

  Website Link

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Here are some questions and thoughts to ponder as you look into the resources for this week.

1. In the first verse of chapter 11 “Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.”
• Is this verse redundant in its speech?
• Doesn’t using the same language also mean using the same words or is there some difference in meaning here or some point it is trying to make?
2. In verse 4 they talk about building “a tower whose top will reach into heaven”
• Do they mean literally building a way into heaven or figuratively such as building a tall tower that reaches into the sky?
3. In verse 4 they talk about not wanting to be scattered over the face of the earth.
• Would scattering have happened naturally anyway due to population increase and limited supplies within a given geographic area?
4. God after seeing what they have built specifically calls out that they are one people with one language and together there is nothing that they try to do is impossible for them. God then goes on to directly interfere with their unity by confusing the language. Given the nature of humanity, the unity of the people likely would have waned after some time anyway.
• Why did God feel it was necessary to directly interfere?
5. Would the tower have naturally failed anyway due to physical limitations?
6. Why did confusing the languages stop the progress?
7. Did God directly physically scatter the people, or did He indirectly drive them apart?