This article is from
Creation 22(3):34–37, June 2000

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Answers for Kids

by Dan Lietha and Stacia Byers

‘The Seven Cs’ of History (Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross, Consummation) help us remember the big events which have affected, and will affect, the history of the universe.

Confusion!

‘‘Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they cannot understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from that place upon the face of all the earth. And they quit building the city’ (Genesis 11:7-8).

IN THE BEGINNING

God’s perfect creation was corrupted by Adam’s sin. During the days of Noah, God judged the wickedness of man with a great catastrophe, covering the entire planet with water.

After Noah and his family came off the Ark, God commanded them to spread out and fill the earth (now very different from before the Flood). But the descendants of Noah disobeyed God. They decided to stay in one place, building a tall tower they hoped would help keep them all together. When the Lord saw their disobedience, He was displeased — as He is with all disobedience — and confused the language of the people so they couldn’t understand each other (until this time, they all spoke one language). In this way, the Creator scattered them over all the earth.

The several different languages created suddenly at Babel (Genesis 10,11) could each subsequently give rise to many more. Language gradually changes, so when a group of people breaks into several groups which no longer interact, after a few centuries they may each speak a different (but related) language. Today we have thousands of languages, but less than 20 language ‘families’.

BACK UP A MINUTE

Adam and Eve were the first humans. Then, all humans except Noah, his wife, their three sons and daughters-in-law died during the Flood. If we’re all descended from the same two people, then why do we look so different from each other?

CREATIVE DIFFERENCES

Actually, this ‘C’ has a lot to do with answering this question!

God created Adam and Eve with the ability to produce children with a variety of different characteristics. This ability was passed on through Noah and his family.

As the people scattered, they took with them different amounts of the information for certain characteristics — e.g. height, the amount of pigment for hair and skin colour (we all have the same pigment, just more or less of it), etc.

From this one event, the tribes and nations of the world have resulted. Because we all came from Noah’s family a few thousand years ago, we’re all related!

CaveMAN 101

Where’d they come from?

‘Cave men’ supposedly lived thousands of years before ‘modern man’ came on the scene. But God, in His Word, tells us the true history of these people.

In Genesis, He tells us that Adam and Eve were the first two people on Earth. Later, only Noah and his family were left on Earth after God judged man’s disobedience with a world-wide Flood.

Then, after God confused the languages at Babel because of man’s disobedience, various groups split up, taking with them their individual knowledge of technology. Some knew more about farming, some (such as those who were working on the Tower of Babel) knew more about building great structures, some knew how to use metal to make tools. Those groups which didn’t know how to do any of these things would be forced to ‘begin again’ — learning these skills on their own. Those who did have these skills were able to use them once they found a suitable place to settle — building great pyramids, or magnificent gardens.

Where’d they live?

Many families who weren’t expert builders would have found caves a good place to quickly make new homes. Today, the people who lived in these caves are called ‘cave men’. There was nothing ‘primitive’ about them, however — they used musical instruments, drew fascinating pictures on cave walls, knew how to make stone tools, could sew their own clothes, and hunted their food with great skill. When their bones are found, they are similar to our bones, showing they really were people, like us!

Where do you live?

‘In the brick house down the street on the right,’ may be the answer you give to that question. Others may say they live in a house made of wood, or in a flat, on a houseboat, or even underground. Are those who live in brick houses more intelligent than those who live underground? Absolutely not! These families simply live in different places, just as happened after Babel.

In fact, in Coober Pedy (in Australia), living above ground is very hot, so many people build their homes underground — real live ‘cave men’ with television sets!

Who were they?

Evolutionists believe the evidence they find of those who lived in caves points toward us having less-than-human ancestors. However, seeing these things through ‘biblical glasses’ helps us rightly understand that these people were descendants of Noah and were, in fact, our relatives!

The land of Shinar 4000 years ago

A story based on Genesis 11:1-9

To see the full-size accompanying illustration click here (warning, large file size, 300k).

Did you know...

Hundreds of 'flood legends' have been found throughout the world? In fact, most of today's people groups tell stories that sound very similar to what we read in Genesis. Why? It makes sense that, as the people split up after Babel, they took with them the tales their ancestors had passed on to them about the great catastrophe of Noah's day.

The true account was preserved by God and written down by Moses so that all would remember what had happened and would learn to obey Him.

Let there be FUN!

Babel Word Scramble

Answers:

1. Whole 2. Earth 3. Spoke 4. Same 5. Language 6. Words

Babel Word Find

The thirteen words listed below are hidden in the tower shaped puzzle. Look forward, backward, up and down. See if you can find them all.

Shinar, people, sin, build, tower, bricks, city, God, language, confusion, Babel, scatter, Genesis