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Tower of Babel
Main Points to Remember- God created all the languages of the earth
- Man cannot succeed in overturning God's will
Vocabulary
language: a set of commonly used words and grammar that people use to speak to each other.
Lesson: Genesis 11: 1-9 Our lesson begins with the time when everyone on earth spoke the same language. But something happened to change all of that. Today we have many different kinds of languages. ... Read the entire lesson text...
Summary After the flood, God told Noah and his family twice to fill the earth with people:
Gen 9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.
Gen 9:7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it. But man decided to stay in one place and build a name for themselves rather than live for God's glory. God knew that man would presume to do his will instead of God's more and more, just like before the flood, unless he blocked them in some way. For man's own benefit, and to further His will that they fill the earth, he created many languages for man. The men spread out, based on their languages. Remember, God's laws are to benefit man, not God. He split the men up to keep them from greater and greater evil.
Activity: hand motion story
| Tower of Babel | |
| smaller video .mpg (1.3 mb) | |
| better video .mov (4 mb) better audio | |
| Words | Motions |
| First it was this big | hold hands out wide |
| Then this big | move hands higher & narrower |
| Then this big | move hands higher & narrower |
| And God said "NO, NO!" | shake index finger "no" |
| and then what happened? | Hands out questioning |
| "sound effect of building crashing" | fingers shaking down (like rain) |
Discussion: Languages become simpler throughout time. The study of languages shows that grammar and vocabulary become simpler. This makes since when we understand that God, the great Creator, gave man many complex languages at the time of Babel. It also follows the second law of thermodynamics - that complex things break down over time. The evolutionist in his desperation will combat both evidence and physics and try to tell you that things get more complex over time, but it is not true.
True/False
- God told men to build a tower. F (he told them to multiply and fill the earth)
- The men wanted to glorify God with their tower. F (they wanted to glorify themselves)
- God gave man different languages to separate them. T
- The tower was completed. F
- Man spread across the earth. T
Activity:
If you know how, open the class in a different language - one the
children do not know. Then discuss the confusion that speaking in
different languages creates. Or, use
flash cards with words from
different languages and have the kids match them together. Show how
much harder it would be for workers to work together when they don't
know how to talk to each other. (Your public library may have flash
cards like this). Sing: Wise man built his house
Puzzle:
Cut out the picture of the
Tower of Babel
and have students put it together.Memory
Review Books of OT. “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty
spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18Review Questions (can be used with gameboard)
linguistic questions - What is a language? a set of words and a grammar that people use to understand each others' speech
- Say any word you know from another language.
- Find this lesson in your Bible. Genesis 11
activity questions - Act out the people when they suddenly couldn't understand each other.
- Quickly assemble the Babel puzzle.
- Draw a tower.
emotion questions - How did God feel about man's rebellion? He wanted to stop it.
- How did man feel about following God's command to spread out? they didn't want to and made a plan to prevent it.
- How do you think the people felt when they realized they couldn't understand each other? confused
application questions - Can we defeat God's plans? no
- Are God's rules to help us or hurt us? help and bless
- Why should we follow God's plans and not ours? because God's plans are designed to help us
fact questions - What were the people trying to avoid? being spread out
- What did they propose to build? a tower and a city
- What did God do to separate them? gave them different languages to speak
review questions - Why did speaking different languages prevent the people from building the city and tower? Because they couldn't understand each other or work together.
- Why did God want the people to spread out? to fill the earth
- Why did God stop them from staying together? they would continue to rebel against Him and sin