What Did You Say? - NCCG.ORG Ning Network Archive 2008-10

WHAT DID YOU SAY?
The Story of the Tower of Babel

by Barbara Wilmerton Haas

Jason wanted to become famous. He wanted to be the most popular
kid in his school. The bad thing is, he didn't care what it took to
become popular, EVEN if it meant telling lies or hurting other
people's feelings. All Jason wanted was to make a name for himself
at Hawthorn Elementary School. Nothing else mattered more to him.

The problem was, the more Jason lied, the more he had to make up
stories to cover up his other lies. Each day he was getting himself
into deeper and deeper trouble. The more he hurt other people's
feelings, the less other people liked him.

This road to popularity was quickly becoming a very confusing way
to live. He was making a name for himself all right, but NOT the
kind of name that would win friends and give him a good name.

* * *

After the great flood that covered the whole earth, Noah and his
wife and Noah's three sons - Shem, Ham, and Japheth - and their
wives left the ark.

Before long, the children and grandchildren from Noah's three sons
began to cover the whole earth.

After the flood, Noah lived another 350 years. As a matter of fact,
he lived to be 950 years old, [PAUSE] and then he died.

Noah's son Ham had four sons. Ham named one of his sons "Cush."
Then Cush had a son he named "Nimrod."

Nimrod became a mighty hunter. Anywhere people said the name
Nimrod, everybody knew they were talking about the world famous
hunter Nimrod. His hunting skills had made Nimrod famous
throughout the earth. He was certainly blessed of Yahweh.

One of the first cities Nimrod built was called "Babel." At this
time, everyone in the whole world spoke one language. There was no
such thing as French, Spanish, Russian, Italian, Chinese, and all
the other languages we hear today.

As families began to grow larger, the people had to move on to make
room for each other. They kept moving toward the direction the sun
came up each morning. On and on they moved toward the east.

One day, the people finally reached a beautiful, large, flat spot
where there were no mountains. They thought to themselves, "This
would make a beautiful place to live."

Soon more and more people discovered this wonderful place to live
and decided to build a home, settle down, and live here in the land
of Shinar. The more word spread about this new place to live, the
more people began moving in.

Before long, the place was BUZZING with people. You could hear
people yelling back and forth in the marketplace. Children were
singing and dancing in the streets.

Sheep were bleating,
cows were mooing,
and horses were neighing.

The people who lived there got together and began to make great
plans for themselves. They decided to turn the place into a BIG
city and figured out how they could use bricks to build a tower
that would reach way up toward the sky.

They wanted to build a tower SO TALL that it would make their city
FAMOUS. This tower would be SO HIGH that people could see it from
miles away. This tall building would make them FAMOUS and spread
their name throughout the WHOLE WORLD.

What they wanted was something SO FAMOUS that it would draw
people from around the world. They believed that the more people
moved into their city, the more they could do together.

With more PEOPLE, they could build an even GREATER city and
make an even GREATER name for themselves. They were afraid that
if they didn't go ahead with these plans, people would soon be
scattered far away from each other throughout the whole earth.

This high tower, reaching up toward the sky, would be JUST the
thing they needed to bring everyone together. Being together in one
place, there was NO LIMIT to what they could do.

Well, someone ELSE was watching this great city. Do you know who
it was?

IT WAS YAHWEH!

The Bible says Yahweh came down to see the tower and the city these
people were building. He saw a people who were so taken up in their
OWN power and their OWN name that they had lost sight of spreading
stories of Yahweh'S power or spreading HIS Name throughout the earth.

They had become ONLY INTERESTED IN THEMSELVES. They were
so busy building a name for themselves, they no longer had any time
for Yahweh.

Yahweh saw EXACTLY what was happening, and He said, "Why look!
The people have gotten together in one place, and they all speak one
language. Look what they are beginning to do!

"When they know they are able to finish building this high tower
together, they will think there is NO END to what they could do
together."

So Yahweh decided to go down and CONFUSE THEIR LANGUAGE, and
that's EXACTLY WHAT HE DID!

One minute they were standing together talking and could each
understand one another perfectly, and, the next minute, they
couldn't understand ONE WORD of what the person standing beside
them was saying. Everybody was COMPLETELY CONFUSED! They
could no longer understand one word the other person was saying.
Nothing they said made any sense. It all sounded like a bunch of
BABBLING.

Because they could no longer understand each other, they could no
longer work together or live together.

The work on the tower STOPPED altogether. The people packed up
their things and began moving out of the city. They wanted to get
as far away as they could from all that confusion. They began to
scatter all across the face of the earth.

Soon the city became known as "Babel," because everyone heard this
was the city where Yahweh brought confusion to their language.

* * *

REMEMBER: Yahweh wants us to give ALL the glory to HIS Name.

THINK!

1. Have you ever wanted to become famous?

2. Name some famous people in the Bible.

3. What makes a person famous?

4. What one thing about Yahweh makes you feel blessed and happy?

A VERSE TO LEARN
"...let us exalt his name together" (Psalm 34:3b).

LET'S PRAY

****************************************************
Dear Yahweh, help me to remember that Your Name is the
most IMPORTANT name for me to know. I praise You and
give You all the glory. In Yah'shua's Name. Amen.
****************************************************

CAN YOU FIND THIS STORY IN THE BIBLE?
Genesis 9:18-20, 28-29; 10:6-10; 11:1-9

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