Building Monuments To Yourself

Building Monuments to Yourself

Q: What structure did the people build to show their importance?

• a. Mount Moriah
• b. the tower of Babel
• c. an Egyptian pyramid

Years after the Flood, the world was full of people who all spoke the same language. They decided to build a large tower that would reach into the heavens to show how great they were. The people said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.”

The people planned on showing their importance by building a huge monument to themselves, but God wasn’t impressed by the people or by their tower. So God mixed up their language. One minute they were all talking and laughing together, and the next minute they couldn’t understand each other. They must have been so confused!

Slowly people divided into groups based on what language they spoke, and the groups moved away from each other. In that way, God scattered the people across the world. They found out the hard way that they were not as important as they thought they were.

Sometimes people today think they are more important than they are. They may not build a tower like the people in the book of Genesis, but they may do other things to show their importance. People you know may do things to show how important they think they are. Can you think of some of the ways they do that?

For You

Have you ever done anything to pretend you are more important than others? Maybe you won’t go to someone’s house because you think your house is nicer. Or maybe you only wear a certain brand of clothes because it’s popular. Those are ways of trying to look important. Ask God to point out to you attitudes you may need to change in your life.

Answer: b

That is why the city was called Babel, because that is where the LORD confused the people with different languages. In this way he scattered them all over the world.   Genesis 11:9

(The Whole Story: Genesis 11:1-9)