The Tower of Babel
The people of Babel tried to make a name for themselves. They were not trying to do God's will or glorify his name. The consequence of this was that God cursed them by confusing their language. They could not co-operate with each other and so they were scattered.
If our language or terminology is confused, then we will not be able to understand each other. We will not be able to achieve anything, let alone build God's city. The result of confusion is division.
God did the opposite of this at Pentecost. People were able to understand each other again and co-operate to build God's city/dwelling place/temple (ie the church).
If we are going to build God's
dwelling place today, then we need to understand and co-operate with one
another. To do this, we need to have a common Biblical terminology.
Genesis 11:1-9
From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.
Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.
As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.
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 and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.
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.