LESSON 5 - THE TOWER OF BABEL

When the flood waters had gone down, Noah’s Ark came to rest on the top of a mountain called Mount Ararat, Genesis 8:4. Yahweh told Noah to go out of the Ark and to go into the world and multiply, to have families.

Noah’s sons had children and their children had children. This went on for many years until there were a lot of people on the earth again.

Noah’s family had settled in the plains south of where the Ark had landed. Some of them moved farther down into the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. These were the two main rivers of what later became known as the land of Assyria. As years went by, people moved southeast over the lower plains which we now call the Persian Gulf area. They found that some of the soil was just right for making bricks. By pressing moist clay into block shapes and baking them in the sun or by a fire the blocks would get very hard. They also found a place where a thick, pitchy liquid oozed from the ground and was the very thing needed to hold the bricks together, Genesis 11:3. Men began to use these bricks to build houses and barns and walls. They built many kinds of buildings out of bricks. Before long they started building towns.

LET'S MAKE SOME BRICKS!
1.	Make certain you have some adult help for this project.
2.	Find some things to use for molds. Things like egg cartons, milk or juice cartons, paper cups--think about the shape and size.
3.	Dig up some nice dirt. Make certain you have permission to dig! You do not want the dirt on the top of the earth for this. Dig down to get some light colored dirt and sift it into a wheelbarrow or an old tub or bucket. You can use an old strainer or and old screen making certain you have an adult to help here since a screen could have a sharp edge.
4.	If you helped your folks mow the yard lately, you could have the perfect grass to use! You need grass or straw that is not too long; no more than 3-1/2" or so. Add the grass or straw to your dirt--one bowl of grass to six of the same size bowls of dirt.
5.	Now it gets messy! Slowly add water, mixing as you go. You want a thick batter, like you are making cinnamon buns! Mix it real good because you don't want clumps!
6.	Take gobs of the mud and press it into your moulds. Make certain you press them down good and tight.
7.	This is the toughest part: Put your molds in the sun to dry and just wait, wait, wait. Now, when your bricks start to dry, you can add a decoration or an imprint (like your hand print).
8.	Once they are really dry, remove them carefully from the moulds. If you were using paper molds, you can tear the paper away.
9.	Last, put your molds in the shade to complete drying. Make sure it does not rain on your bricks.
10.	Like everything else, PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT! Have fun!

Some of the people in the ancient times were very intelligent. Adam named all the animals when Yahweh told him to, Genesis 2:19. Adam was also given the job caring for the Garden of Eden. Yahweh must have told him how to do this and also told him how to make some tools to work with to be able to do his job. People in the bible invented musical instruments with strings or that you blow through, along with musical instruments like harps and organs, Genesis 4:21 and Psalms 150:4. They also played these instruments to make beautiful music. Noah was very intelligent too, he built a very large Ark. To be able to do this he had to know a lot of mathematics. He also had to be able to use tools, and had an advanced understanding of the art of building. He had to be able to build the Ark just the way Yahweh had told him to. We know that in Egypt they built great pyramids, even today we don’t understand exactly how they did this. People knew how to cut precious stones; they knew how to mold brass, silver and gold into different things. Not everyone had the knowledge to do all this, but just like today there are many different jobs people do. Some people are truck drivers and some people are teachers and this is good. This is the way Yahweh made people; everyone is different.

We can see that the people were very capable of building large cities. Before long, people were building large cities and living close together in them. This did not please Yahweh. Yahweh knew that when a lot of people live together in crowded places, it is more likely for them to break Yahweh’s laws for living happily. Yahweh had told Noah and his family that people should spread out over the whole earth, but because they didn’t, they were becoming more and more unhappy. People were beginning to mass together just as they had done before the flood.

At this same time in the Bible there was a man who was the Grandson of Noah’s son Ham. This man’s name was Nimrod. Nimrod was not a very good person at all. Nimrod was a very large, strong, fierce man with dark skin. Because of his power and skill as a successful hunter of wild beasts that attacked people, he became a hero and a leader among his tribe, Genesis 10:8-9. Nimrod knew Yahweh’s laws but he hated them and disobeyed them. He got a lot of other people to disobey Yahweh also. Nimrod told the people they would be happier worshiping the way he did. Nimrod worshiped the sun. This means he gave praises to the sun like we should praise Yahweh. Nimrod also had idols that he worshiped, things that were made out of gold and other metals, things that they would bow down to. We are not to bow down to any statue, 1 Chronicles 16:26. Yahweh said, "I am Yahweh. You shall have no other mighty one and you are not to make any images and bow down to worship them."

Nimrod became the leader over the people who had grouped together in the town in the land of Shinar. Nimrod and his warriors fought to protect the townspeople. The people thought Nimrod was a great leader, so many families settled in his towns.

Before long the town had grown into a city. It was the first large city to be built on the earth after the flood. This city later became known as Babylon. Nimrod’s city grew larger and larger. Nimrod had a wall built around the city so that wild animals couldn’t get into the city. Nimrod was not only the ruler of Babylon but he was the most feared man in the land. His power and wealth grew as the city of Babylon grew. He told the people that the laws Yahweh had given were not good for the people. He told them they should have human government and Nimrod should be the king. The city was getting very large so Nimrod told the people they should have a temple to worship in. Nimrod told the people he wanted them to build a temple. He wanted this temple to reach up to the sky. Nimrod thought that if he would build a gigantic tower that it would excite everyone into believing in his religion, Genesis 11:4.

The temple was going to be very large with a lot of rooms in it, with gold and brass and silver in it. They were to put idols in it so they could worship them. As the temple was being built Nimrod was making plans to have statues made to be put into the temple. Even today there were a lot of idols which people worship. Some people worship pictures they think are of Yahshua, other people worship animals or statues made of wood or stone.

Nimrod had the men working on the base of the new temple for over two years to make it just the right way so it would hold up the rest of it.

After they got the base of it done it was time for the rest of it. Then little by little the temple began to take shape rising up to the sky. Nimrod’s plan for building the temple was working, the temple was going up higher and higher.

Yahweh saw that the tower was only the beginning of what people would do to worship idols. He knew he had to do something to stop the building of the tower.

There isn’t anything wrong in building a big city or in building large towers or in making things of gold. What is wrong is when you build and make things out of gold and silver to be an idol; something you would bow down to, or something you make more important than Yahweh, which is wrong. The thing Yahweh was unhappy about was that they were building this tower for worshiping Nimrod and the sun.

Yahweh knew he had to do something to stop the people. One day when the people started working on the tower they started talking to each other, but they could not understand what each other were saying. Yahweh had caused them to talk in different ways. The less they understood one another, the more they argued. Arguments grew into fights. The work on the tower stopped, Genesis 11:7-8. The tower was called the Tower of Babel because “Babel” means “confusion.”

No matter how much people may try to do things their way, if it isn’t what Yahweh wants, He may stop them.

LESSON 5 - ACTIVITIES

Here are some questions to see how much you learned from the Lesson you just completed. You can print out this page to write your answers and do any activities that follow. Make sure you have an adult or a big brother or sister check your work! You may even get a "star" on it!

Questions

1. What are the two main rivers in the land known as Assyria?
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2. Was Nimrod a good person?
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3. Did Yahweh want people to live close to each other?
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4. Did Nimrod worship Yahweh?
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5. How did Yahweh stop the temple from being built?
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6. Who was Nimrod's grandfather?
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7. Why would Yahweh stop the temple from being built?
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8. Why did Nimrod want to build a temple?
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9. What are idols?
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10. Is there anything wrong with a high building?
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WORD SCRAMBLE

The following words are all mixed up but each one appears in the story you just read. See how many you can figure out without help.

E B B L A	_______________
K R C B S I	_______________
Y S A S A I R	_______________
N S S G E I E	_______________
M D I R O N	_______________
R U T H E N	_______________
N G O R S A D N	_______________
P H R I W O S	_______________
N B B Y L A O	_______________
R W E T O	_______________

 

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Memory Verse

Come, let us go down,
and there confound their language,
that they may not understand
one another's speech.
Genesis 11:7

HalleluYAH!