So why was God so hard on the people of Babel in Genesis 11?
”The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:6-9)
I used to think this action was about repopulating the earth, and that does seem to be a part of it. But I also see God’s grace at work. These men who had banded together would never seek God. They would always rely on one another. They would be able to accomplish so much that they would not feel the need for a higher power. (Hmmm… sound familiar? I wonder if God is going to come and scatter our languages again.)
When Paul was speaking to the Athenians in Acts 17 he said, “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.” (Acts 17:26-27) Paul said that the multiplicity of nations was a design of God to make men seek him, reach out for him and find him. That explanation fits what we see in Babel. Yes, there is an element of punishment, but like most punishment, there was a purpose to it. God wanted to make it easier for these men to seek him, and he did it by making their lives harder.
Which is another element of how God works with people that we need to see. His priority is not to make our present lives as easy and comfortable as they can be; sometimes he puts hardship in our lives to make it easier for us to turn to him. That’s because his focus, as our focus should be, is on the life to come. It’s an eternal focus. One that I need in my life.