THE TOWER OF BABEL.

After the flood Noah`s three sons (Shem, Japheth, and Ham) and their families spread out around the two rivers of the Euphrates and the Tigris. Nimrod, a grandson of Ham, became a mighty hunter and built Babel in the land of Shinar.

`Cush begot Nimrod, he began to be a mighty one on the earth…..the beginning of his kingdom was Babel…in the land of Shinar…` (Gen. 10: 8 – 10)

Babel – Heb. `Babel,` meaning confusion – Babylon.

Many others gathered there and said –

`Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the earth.` (Gen. 11: 4)

God saw that mankind could then do all that they wanted as one group. (Note, man`s heart was wicked, so their purposes would be evil.)

`And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.”  (Gen. 11: 6)

So, God confused their language and scattered them abroad. They ceased building the city and spread throughout the earth.

`Therefore its name is called Babel, because the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.` (Gen. 11: 9)

Babel/Babylon became a small town, merely as a religious and cultural center. Throughout the centuries different empires arose which dominated the Mesopotamian region. Finally, the Assyrians destroyed Babylon and then built it again.