The Tower of Babel in Genesis 11 provides the key explanation for why humanity is divided into different languages and nations. Genesis 11:1–4 describes the unity and ambition of people after the flood:
“Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. Then they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.’ They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.’”
Instead of obeying God’s command to fill the earth (Genesis 9:1), humanity united in pride to build a city and a tower as a monument to their own greatness. Their rebellion was not just about architecture but about defiance against God’s authority.
God’s response is recorded in Genesis 11:7–8:
“Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.”
By confusing their language, God interrupted their sinful unity and forced them to scatter across the earth, creating the foundation for distinct nations, cultures, and languages. This event explains why the genealogies of Genesis 10 describe divisions among peoples and lands.
The confusion at Babel was a judgment on pride and a safeguard against consolidated rebellion. It reminds us that true unity cannot be built on human ambition but only in submission to God. Ultimately, Babel points forward to Pentecost (Acts 2), where God began to reverse this division by uniting people of all languages through the gospel of Christ.
