What Was So Wrong With The Tower Of Babel?

Chapter 11 verse 2 says as people moved eastward they found a plane in Shinar and settled there. They decide to settle together and build a city. The name Shinar is another name for Babylon. So why is staying together a problem? Well for one thing, as we'll see, it's done to defy God, to be united against him. But also it breaks God's command given to Noah in chapter 9 verse 1 to spread out to fill the earth. But I think there's also a third reason. God is going to create a people who will be separate and unique, holy and devoted to God. Through that people he'll bring the Messiah and he cannot have his people assimilated with all the other people the world, particularly those who practice idolatry. Notice secondly their plan. Their plan is to build a tower to reach heaven, verse 4. Then they said come let us build ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise we'll be scattered over the face of the whole earth. Most scholars think that this tower was actually a ziggurat. A ziggurat was a Babylonian temple with an external staircase leading up to a small shrine on top. The shrine is where the priests would meet with their God. The shrine was often painted blue to represent the heavens. By reaching the heavens the people evidently think they can become like God, independent and self-sufficient. Remember Satan's temptation of Eve. He said if you eat the fruit you will be like God. The people of Shinar think that by doing this they'll gain the two things humans crave the most. Prestige and power. Verse 4 says so that we may make a name for ourselves. There's the prestige. They continue otherwise we'll be scattered over the face of the whole earth. There's the quest for power. Together they think they'll be powerful enough to even defy God.