THE TOWER OF BABEL
Key verse 11:7
After the flood, the proliferation of the population began on untouched ground. Evil had begun with the world, and it would not be long before it reached its peak. God was forced to take action to thwart it, given the possibility of another catastrophe.
1. Noah cursed Canaan (9:18-29)
The people split up. Cham was disrespectful towards his naked alcoholic father, aand was therefore cursed. Talking to others about the another one's weakness of others is a bad habit, and one through which Satan works. It is an act that sharply contrasts with God's act of covering Adam and Eve's fault with animal skin. Shem ("name") is heir to God's name, through his descendant Abraham. The entry of Japheth's descendants into the people of the covenant of Abraham had a remarkable repercussion in the world's redemptive history: the New Testament apostolic mission to the Gentiles.
2. The Diaspora of Nations (10:1-32)
First came Japhet's sons. They occupied the N. and N.W. of the "fertile crescent." Then the Cham sons. They were usually in the S.W. of the "fertile crescent". Among them was Nimrod. He was a valiant hunter before the Lord. He built Babel. He was a man of great talent in the eyes of men. However, before God, he was a fleshly man. Finally, the sons of Shem. They were in charge of the area between Japhet and Cham, around the Arabian peninsula.
3. God mixed up their language (11:1-9)
The whole earth spoke the same language, hence there were no difficulties for the exchange of information. However, they did not use the information in the right direction, but in the wrong one. They disobeyed the God's direction to disperse, and tried to settle by building a tower piercing the top of the sky. God saw their prideful and rebellious act and decided to spread them out by confusing their language.
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