’Know Your Bible’ Teacher Guide

Lesson 06
Topic: The tower of babel (Man trying to be like God)
Key points:
 After the flood man started to repopulate the earth
 People in their pride got together and build a tower to reach heaven so they can be like
God
 God confused their plans and put an end to their pride

Key bible verses (get children to read!) and Explaining the lesson to Children
 God blesses man after the flood:
After the flood God blessed Noah and his family and said ‘Be fruitful and fill the earth’ (Gen
9:1). God also promised that He will never destroy the earth with a flood. This is the first
covenant that God made with man and it is unconditional (Gen: 9:11-12). God put the
rainbow as a reminder of this promise.
 Man, rebels against God again:
After the flood the world was becoming populated with man once again. But disobeying
God, man decided not to spread over the earth and stay together (Gen 11:1-4). What they did
was against what God wanted them to do. They wanted to,
- Build themselves a city (in a place called Shinar in Mesopotamia) with a tower that
reaches the heavens [But God wants man to rely on Him to get to heaven and not on
our own]
- Make a name for themselves [But God wants us to honour His name and not exalt our
own name]
- Not be scattered over the earth [God wanted them to fill the earth]
Thus, in many ways they rebelled against God and wanted their own kingdom, a global kingdom
run by man. This was led by Nimrod. He is the one who formed the city in Shinar (Gen 10: 8-10)
 God confused their plans (Gen 11: 5-9):
Until this time there was only one language that people used. God confused their language so
the people were not able to understand the languages of others. So, they stopped building the
tower and they scattered all over the earth.
The plans of man to rebel against God failed!

Application (How can children apply this to their lives)

 The hearts of people can easily rebel against God and go against His will. This is also
true in our lives.
 Man does not want to submit and obey God, instead he wants to take things to his own
hands. Think about the many things that we do without ever checking to see of this is
what God wants.
 Giving your life to Jesus means that we listen to Him and do His will in our lives. This is
how we love Him. This is how we know we belong to Him (John 14:15)
Contemporary topics:

Sunday School Lessons -2021

 ’Know Your Bible’ Teacher Guide

 Many believe that they are saved because they have said the sinner’s prayer, got baptized
and have been involved in the church or lived decent lives etc. But those who truly
belong to Jesus keep obeying His commands (John 14:23-24).

The tower of Babel is a good example of man trying to be his own god. The picture above may
not be the real one but the tower was full of idol worship temples and the rooms opening to the
side may reflect them. They simply did not want to build a tall tower and reach heaven where
God dwells, but they wanted to reach the heavens with their own spiritual means such as occultic
practices and false religions. Thus, the tower of babel
was the birthplace of many false religions and occults.
When people scattered, they also took these practices to
wherever they went.

Nimrod descended from Cush, who was the son of Ham

whom Noah cursed because of his sin. It is also
interesting to see that a descendant of Ham, Nimrod was
the key figure in trying to establish a rebellion against
God and be a global leader.

Sunday School Lessons -2021