A Review
After the flood the people on the earth were all from the families of Noah’s three sons, and had one language. No one knows what that language was, but it must have been the same as Adam and Eve knew. The people then lived very many years and could go where they wished, because there was no one else to claim the land. But there were no separate nations then.
After awhile some of the people came to a part, called the land of Shinar. There was a wide high plain which they thought would be a fine place to build, and they said,
“Let us build us a city, and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven.”
So they made strong bricks, well prepared, and began a city and tower. These men may have built other cities and been wise workmen, but their purpose for the tower was not good: it was not to help others, but for their own pride. They wanted to make a “name for themselves”, so people after them would speak of how great they were.
The Lord in heaven saw that tower and knew their plans were not for good, and unless stopped, they would do greater things in their pride. Do you know how the building was stopped? It was in a strange way: The Lord caused the men to speak new languages, and they could not understand one another. This seems to have been very sudden; there was great confusion, and the men could not plan or work together. It is not told how high they had already built, but they did not build more, and separated to different places.
That was how the many languages began, and the nations also began then, for the people of one language stayed tether, and had their own leader, or king. As time went on, these nations spread over Asia and to Europe and Africa.
These people must all have heard from Noah and their own grandparents how God kept them through the flood, and why it was sent, yet seem not to have been thinking of Him.
ML 11/29/1942