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Could man really build a tower to heaven?

They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” Genesis 11:3-4

In the Tower of Babel story, the passage doesn’t say they built a tower to heaven. It says they built a tower that, they believed, would reach the sky (heavens). The tower revealed their arrogance and their faith in humanity to construct such an ambitious building. Because of their spiritual state, their intention could also have been to build something to reach heaven, a sort of invasion where mankind could overthrow the spiritual forces and make a name for themselves. That’s implied, but these were very selfish people.

In that day and time, there were structures called ziggurats, built as gateways to the gods. These large temples were pagan idols, literally used as stairways to heaven. They reveal to archaeologists today that the people had the technology to create such a structure, or at least begin the building project.

God didn’t panic over the building or the impending invasion. He responded to their rebellion by breaking up their unity.

Since God already promised not to flood the earth again when man became evil, he scattered the people and confused their language instead. Confusion is a powerful weapon to defeat the enemy. Man had the prowess to build impressive skyscrapers (nothing as high as we have today) and that ability made them arrogant.