So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth. Genesis 11:5-9
The national building project the people had
undertaken at the Tower of Babel showed the pride of man and the danger of
unification.
If all the world agreed on storming heaven, showing
God who really was more powerful and elevating themselves to the status of
gods, it could be very dangerous. Universal, worldwide agreement is very powerful once
it gets going.
So God
confused the languages to create separation.
This forced people to align in smaller groups with whom they shared
a common, understandable language.
God had
to put a stop to this worldwide selfishness that was running rampant and since
the population was so small, it was best to confuse the languages. Remember, God promised not to wipe out
everyone with a flood, so this was the next best thing.
Today, we
have to look out in this age of computers and internet. With so many tools and apps at our disposal,
soon we will all be able to speak a common language or at least understand one
another very easily.
What kind
of a rebellion could this create?