was not needed, and the directions delivered were often the reverse of those that
had been given. Confusion and dismay followed. All work came to a standstill.
There could be no further harmony or co-operation. The builders were wholly unable
to account for the strange misunderstandings among them, and in their rage and
disappointment they reproached one another. Their confederacy ended in strife and
bloodshed. Lightnings from heaven, as an evidence of God’s displeasure, broke off
the upper portion of the tower and cast it to the ground. Men were made to feel that
there is a God who ruleth in the heavens.
Up to this time all men had spoken the same language; now those that could
understand one another’s speech united in companies; some went one way, and some
another. “The Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth.”
This dispersion was the means of peopling the earth, and thus the Lord’s purpose
was accomplished through the very means that men had employed to prevent its
fulfillment.
But at what a loss to those who had set themselves against God! It was his purpose
that as men should go forth to found nations in different parts of the earth they should
carry with them a knowledge of his will, that the light of truth might shine undimmed
to succeeding generations. Noah, the faithful preacher of righteousness, lived for three
hundred and fifty years after the Flood, Shem for five hundred years, and thus their
descendants had an opportunity to become acquainted with the requirements of God
and the history of his dealings with their fathers. But they were unwilling to listen to
these unpalatable truths; they had no desire to retain God in their knowledge; and by
the confusion of tongues they were, in a great measure, shut out from intercourse with
those who might have given them light.
The Babel builders had indulged the spirit of murmuring against God. Instead of
gratefully remembering his mercy to Adam and his gracious covenant with Noah, they
had complained of his severity in expelling the first pair from Eden and destroying the
world by a flood. But while they murmured against God as arbitrary and severe, they
were accepting the rule of the cruelest of tyrants. Satan was seeking to bring contempt
upon the sacrificial offerings that prefigured the death of Christ; and as the minds of
the people were darkened by idolatry, he led them to counterfeit these offerings and
sacrifice their own children
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upon the altars of their gods. As men turned away from God, the divine
attributes—justice, purity, and love—were supplanted by oppression, violence, and
brutality.
The men of Babel had determined to establish a government that should be
independent of God. There were some among them, however, who feared the Lord,
but who had been deceived by the pretensions of the ungodly and drawn into their
schemes. For the sake of these faithful ones the Lord delayed his judgments and
gave the people time to reveal their true character. As this was developed, the sons
of God labored to turn them from their purpose; but the people were fully united
in their heaven-daring undertaking. Had they gone on unchecked, they would have
demoralized the world in its infancy. Their confederacy was founded in rebellion;
a kingdom established for self-exaltation, but in which God was to have no rule or
honor. Had this confederacy been permitted, a mighty power would have borne sway
to banish righteousness—and with it peace, happiness, and security—from the earth.
For the divine statutes, which are “holy and just and good” (Romans 7:12), men were
endeavoring to substitute laws to suit the purpose of their own selfish and cruel hearts.
Those that feared the Lord cried unto him to interpose. “And the Lord came down
to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.” In mercy to the world
he defeated the purpose of the tower builders and overthrew the memorial of their
daring. In mercy he confounded their speech, thus putting a check on their purposes of
rebellion. God bears long with the perversity of men, giving them ample opportunity
for repentance; but he marks all their devices to resist the authority of his just and
holy law. From time to time the unseen hand that holds the scepter of government is
stretched out to restrain iniquity. Unmistakable evidence is given that the Creator of
the universe, the One infinite in wisdom and love and truth, is the Supreme Ruler of
heaven and earth, and that none can with impunity defy his power.
The schemes of the Babel builders ended in shame and defeat. The monument
to their pride became the memorial of their folly. Yet men are continually pursuing
the same course—depending upon self, and rejecting God’s law. It is the principle
that Satan tried to carry out in heaven; the same that governed Cain in presenting his
offering.
There are tower builders in our time. Infidels construct their
