Tower of Babel

The Tower of Babel is a tower that is referred to in Genesis 11. For a time after the flood when the Earth's population began to grow the people all lived close together. At that time they all spoke the same language. The decided to live in Shinar. They did not want to be scattered, so they decided to build a city and a tower. They desired for the top of the tower to reach up into heaven.

The Purpose of the Tower
The stated reason of the tower was to keep them from being scattered. They wanted to make a name for themselves and hoped that that would keep them together.

The End of the Tower
It is not totally clear why the Lord was opposed to the tower, but it is stated that the Lord visited the city to look over it and to see what they were doing. After seeing that they were all working together for a common purpose he decided something needed to be done. It may be that they would have tried to elevate themselves to the place of God. Whatever the reason, the Lord decided that it was better to have them seperated, so he caused them to speak different languages. Their language was confused. Babel means confusion. Because they could no longer understand each other they left off building the city and they were scattered to other parts of the Earth.