The Tower of Babel

The small section in Genesis called the Tower of Babel is one of the most disturbing incidents in the entire Bible. This is one lesson that I do recall learning in Catechism, except for my teachers put a lot different spin on it than the meaning I came too from actually reading it. I always had a Sodom and Gomorrah attitude when I was younger about the architects of the Tower of Babel, but these people were the pinnacle of human civilization. After God had just flooded the entire earth and kept what he deemed fit, his people become all that he wants them to be and starts trying to replicate Eden. Obviously God is confused in what he wants, because he doesn't want people to live in pandemonium, but he also doesn't want them to live together in peace.

"Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing is impossible for them. Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another's speech."

The only conclusion that I can come up with is answered in one of my previous blogs about God's fear of man and how he doesn't want people to become equal to him. It is also interesting that David Plotz skips over chapter 11 in his commentary on Genesis. I don't know why he chose not to discuss this part of the Bible considering the connotations of God's decision. The republicans could be right in trying to slow down the progress of society, because I don't want to have to learn a new language right now.