66
From Eternity Past
misunderstandings among them and in their rage and disappointment
reproached one another. Lightnings from heaven as an evidence of
God’s displeasure broke off the upper portion of the tower and cast it
to the ground.
God’s Purpose in Changing Their Language
Up to this time, all men had spoken the same language. Now
those that could understand one another’s speech united in companies.
Some went one way and some another. “The Lord scattered them
abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth.” This dispersion
was the means of peopling the earth; and thus the Lord’s purpose
was accomplished through the very means that men had employed to
prevent its fulfillment.
But at what a loss! It was God’s purpose that as men should go
forth to different parts of the earth, they should carry with them the
light of truth. Noah, the faithful preacher of righteousness, lived for
three hundred and fifty years after the Flood, Shem for five hundred
years; thus their descendants had opportunity to become acquainted
with the requirements of God and the history of His dealings with their
[72]
fathers. But they had no desire to retain God in their knowledge; and
by the confusion of tongues they were in a great measure shut out from
intercourse with those who might have given them light.
Satan was seeking to bring contempt upon the sacrificial offerings
that prefigured the death of Christ. As the minds of the people were
darkened by idolatry, he led them to counterfeit these offerings and
sacrifice their own children upon the altars of their gods. As men turned
away from God, the divine attributes—justice, purity, and love—were
supplanted by oppression, violence, and brutality.
The men of Babel had determined to establish a government inde-
pendent of God. Some among them, however, feared the Lord. For the
sake of these faithful ones, the Lord delayed His judgments and gave
the people time to reveal their true character. The sons of God labored
to turn them from their purpose, but the people were fully united in
their Heaven-daring undertaking. Had they gone on unchecked they
would have demoralized the world in its infancy. Had this confederacy
been permitted, a mighty power would have borne sway to banish