92NiLYyGSok · Unit 1: Creation to Babel OT1.6 Tower of Babel Lesson Scripture: ... words for Hello in various languages. Look at all the words for "Thank You." At first you might

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OT1.6 Tower of Babel ©Beverly Wilson 2016

Unit 1: Creation to Babel OT1.6 Tower of Babel Lesson

Scripture: Genesis 11:1-9

Lesson Goal: In this lesson we’re going to learn about how God caused all the languages of the

earth to begin. This story took place at the Tower of Babel. We will learn that no matter what language we speak we should all worship the Lord.

Introduction: This is the sixth lesson in Unit 1: Creation to Babel. In this lesson we’re going to learn about how God caused all the languages of the earth to begin. The lesson is found in the first book of the Bible It is called Genesis which means "beginning." Genesis is the first book of Law which are the first five books in the Old Testament. Let's say the books of Law together. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Attention Getter: Foreign Languages Have you ever heard someone speak another language and you wondered what they were saying? What would you think if you woke up one day and you couldn’t understand a word anybody around you was speaking? Did you know that there are many different ways to say Hello? On the board behind this girl are the words for Hello in various languages. Look at all the words for "Thank You." At first you might think it was funny to hear all those sounds of a different language, but after awhile you might get pretty frustrated. When we hear a lot of confusing sounds or voices it a noise called "babble." That word comes from the name of place we are going to talk about today--the Tower of Babel. This was the place where all the different languages originated. Optional: Get students' attention by giving simple directions to the students such as "stand up", "sit down", "wave your hand," "snap your fingers." Suddenly start communicating by using sign language, or any other language besides English. Give more simple commands in the foreign language. Then say: "Why did you not follow the instructions?" Elicit the response from the students that they could not understand the sign language or the other foreign language. Conclude the activity by saying, "Today we are going to look at a situation where the exact same thing happened. It was the day that people first began to use different languages. It happened at the Tower of Babel."

Opening Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, Help us to worship you! Thank you for giving us your Son Jesus as our Savior. Help us to love people all over the world just like You do. Give us strength to share the good news of salvation with everyone no matter what language they speak. In Jesus name, Amen

Memory Verse: The memory verse is John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the Life, no man comes to the Father, but by Me."

Lesson Video: https://youtu.be/92NiLYyGSok After the great flood, everything was ready for a new beginning. God told Noah and his family to repopulated the world. They were to have many children and spread out over the whole earth. God changed many things after the flood. Before the flood people had only eaten plants.

https://youtu.be/92NiLYyGSok

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Everything that people ate had to be grown in the ground. But now God gave people a new kind of food to eat — meat. People were to cook and eat the flesh of animals. So men then began to raise sheep and goats and cattle to provide meat. After the flood God changed another thing. He decided that man should have a government with laws and leaders in order to govern themselves. Before the flood, there was no civil government—no kings, no presidents, no policemen, no jails. That is one reason why the world became so wicked so quickly. The kings and rulers would be given the right to command respect and keep people orderly. Lawbreakers could be punished. God also placed His rainbow in the sky as a pledge to man that never again would He send a worldwide flood. To keep this promise God set up the water cycle, the wind currents and the ocean currents. These would control our climate and prevent the whole world from being destroyed again by floodwaters. Noah's three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, all had very large families . All the people on earth today have come from either Shem's, Ham's, or Japheth's families. As the families left the mountains of Ararat they journeyed to the east. They came to the plain of Shinar by the Euphrates River. Shinar was a great, flat plain and many people could live in this area. They decided that it would be a great place for many people to live. God had told the people to spread out all over the earth but they did not obey Him. Instead their hearts were full of pride. They forgot all about God. So instead of scattering to replenish the earth, they built a huge city, the city of Babylon, or Babel. They were able to work together on the city because all the people spoke the same language. "We want to make a name for ourselves," they said, "so that people ever after will know how great we were." They said to each other, “Let’s make bricks and bake them to make them hard.” Then they said to each other, “Let’s use the bricks to build a city and tower. Let’s make the top of the tower reach high into the sky. We will be famous. If we do this, we will not be scattered all over the world. We can reach up to God and people will follow us and worship us." Since they had forgotten God, they began to worship the sun, moon, and stars. The tower of Babel was huge job! It required great mathematical skill to calculate the size of each of the bricks and how to make them all fit together so uniformly. But God was very displeased with this enormous temple-tower. It made the people feel proud of themselves and their skills instead of trusting God. People were not worshipping Him. They were worshipping the heavens! God saw how the people were bragging about the tower. People said, "Look at the great tower we have built!". God knew that if He let them continue going their own way that nothing would stop them! So God decided to stop them. One day, thousands of people were working on the tower. Some were making bricks and letting them dry in the sun. Others were mixing sand and water to make mortar for holding the bricks together. Many people were carrying the bricks up the tower to finish it. Then, in the midst of all this work and cooperation, suddenly something very strange happened. God confused the people!. God made all the people speak different languages. He caused some people to speak one language, some another, and others still another. Genesis 11:9 says The Lord confused the language of all the earth. This was a judgment from God because the people had not obeyed Him. A man working on top of the tower might have called down, "Send up some more bricks."

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"What did you say?" called a man from below. "I can't understand you." "Stop talking gibberish and send up some more bricks," shouted the man on the tower. But he never received his bricks, because the man on the ground couldn't understand him! Down on the ground, one of the men making mortar told another worker not to pour any more water into his batch. Not understanding, the man poured the water anyway, and the mortar turned into a watery mess! Everybody was confused! Things like this were happening all over the construction site! The more people tried to give instructions and explain things to each other, the more confused everyone became. Can you

believe it? One day they all talked the same language, and instantly the next day they all spoke different languages.

Finally, they gave up building the tower and went home to their own families. At least their wives and children and other close relatives understood them. The many languages made it difficult to buy things, to build things, to trade goods, to talk to people, and to do just about anything with anyone except your family. Soon people gave up trying to make themselves understood, and families started moving away from the city. This caused the groups that spoke the same languages to come together and move to another area of the world. They forgot about building the tower. So the place was called “Babel” because all the people were babbling in different languages. The name of this place of confusion was called Babel, or Babylon. This is how God spread the people out over all the earth. Some family groups went north, some went south, some went east, and others went west. Shem's family spread out over Asia. Ham's descendants went toward Africa, and Japheth's descendants went toward Europe. As time passed, people also made their way to the lands that are now North America, South America, and the islands of the sea. People kept moving out farther and farther until finally people were spread out over the whole earth. That was what God had told them to do in the first place! As people moved to different parts of the world they continued to build structures like the Tower of Babel called ziggurats. Ziggurats looked like pyramids with steps or ramps leading up the sides. Ziggurats could be as high as 300 feet and were often just as wide. Ziggurats are still found all over the world today. One Mayan pyramid called Chichen Itsa is in Mexico. It very similar to the Tower of Babel and was probably build by the descendants of the people who were scattered from there. It is one of the six famous ziggurats of the world. The carved stones in it are very large. All these ziggurats help us know that God's Word is true! Today many different languages are spoken like Spanish, French and German. But God is still the God of all peoples, of every nation and of every tongue. Did you know that all these different cultures in our world today came from Noah? Through his three sons came all the colors and nationalities of the people who live on earth. That means that all cultures belong to the same human family! Acts 17:26 says "

26 From one man

He has made every nationality to live over the whole earth." So the

Tower of Babel explains why we have so many people groups around the world. But no matter what color or race we are we all can belong to the family of God! God taught the people in this story an important lesson. They thought that they could get to Heaven on their own and be like God. But that is rebellions and sin against God. That will always lead to destruction. No matter what nation or people group we are all from God. He loves us and wants us to live with Him someday.

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God tells us that He is the only true God and the only way to Heaven is by believing in Jesus. We must trust Jesus and ask Him to forgive us of the things we have done wrong. The Bible says that Jesus will forgive us and give us the gift of eternal life. The people in today’s lesson disobeyed God by wanting people to worship them instead of God. Jesus says that there is only one Way to Heaven. Our memory verse is John 14:6 . It says, "I am the way, the truth, and the Life, no man comes to the Father, but by Me." If you have not asked Jesus to be your Savior you need to do that today! Let's say our verse again together. John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the Life, no man comes to the Father, but by Me." This lesson also teaches us that we must love everyone and treat all people with respect and kindness. No one is better than anyone else. We should not make fun of other people. God loves everyone--no matter who they are! He wants everyone to worship Him! Remember: No matter what language you speak--worship the Lord!

Review Questions: "Babel Bingo" (Grades K-5) Procedure: Print a copy of the Babel Bingo pattern on cardstock, one per child. Pass out a Babel Bingo card, pencils or pens, and a bag of cereal such as "Cheerios" to each child. To get the bingo boards ready say the letters of the alphabet out loud. As you say each letter have the students write that letter in one square of the bingo card. Tell the students not to go across the board but to write their letters in random boxes. Students may skip one letter because there are 26 letters and only 25 boxes. After students have their cards ready, ask the following the review questions. When each question is answered, call out a letter of the alphabet. Students are to use their cereal pieces to cover the letter. Winner of the game is the student who gets a row across, down, or diagonally first.

1. After leaving the Ark what command did God give to Noah and his family? (God told them to spread out over the whole earth and repopulate it.)

2. What change did God give to man about food after the flood? (God told man that he could eat meat not just vegetables and plants. Genesis 9:3)

3. What promise did God give about the destruction of the earth? (God promised that He would never again destroy it by flood.)

4. What sign did God give that confirmed this promise? (God placed a rainbow in sky as a sign that He would never again destroy the earth by a flood.)

5. How did God change the earth so it would not flood? (To keep this promise God set up the water cycle, the wind currents and the ocean currents.)

6. What did God establish to help men live together peacefully? (God decided that man should have a government with laws and leaders in order to govern themselves. )

7. What happened to the families of Noah's three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, after the Flood? (They became very large and all moved to the Plain of Shinar.)

8. Instead of obeying God what did all the people on the earth decide to do? (They forgot all about God. So instead of scattering to replenish the earth, they built a huge city, the city of Babylon, or Babel. )

9. In God's view why was building the Tower of Babel a great problem? (Men were full of pride and arrogance and did not worship God. Men wanted everyone to think they were great. They wanted to build a tower to heaven so they could worship the sun, moon, stars, and the heavens.)

10. What did God do to stop men from building the tower? (He confused their speech so they spoke different languages.)

11. Why would speaking different languages be a problem? (The people could not understand one another and became very confused. Work was halted on the tower because people could not easily communicate with one another

12. What happened to the people after God confused their languages? (The people scattered across the earth according to their language group.)

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13. What structures do we still have today that is evidence of the truth that the people of Babel scattered across the earth? (Ziggurats or buildings that resemble the Tower of Babel are found all over the world in different locations.)

14. Name a ziggurat in the world today. (Chichen Itza in Mexico, Kashan in Iran, Memphis in Egypt, El Giza in Egypt, City of Ur in Iraq, Khuzestan in Iran, Shendi in the Sudan, Katima town in the Sudan, Xl'an in China, Rome in Italy, Teotihuacan in Mexico, City of Ji'an in China, Java in Indonesia, Kol Ker in Cambodia, Ningxia Hui in China, and the Rapa Iti in Polynesia.)

15. What sin against God did the people of Babel commit? (They worshipped the sun, the moon, and the stars instead of God. They disobeyed God by not scattering all over the world to repopulate it.)

16. What lessons can we learn from the biblical account of the story of Babel? (We can only get to heaven by believing in Jesus. We should respect people of all different language groups because we are all of the same human family. God loves us and wants us to be His children no matter what language we speak.)

Bible Memory Verse Activity: "Stack the Cups" (Grades K-5) Say: "Our memory verse is John 14:6 . It says, "I am the way, the truth, and the Life, no man comes to the Father, but by Me." This verse tells us that believing in Jesus is the only way to heaven! Have students find the verse in scripture and then repeat it together several times. John 14:6 "I am the way, the truth, and the Life, no man comes to the Father, but by Me." Procedure: Write the following words on the side of large drinking cups: (1) Jesus said, (2) I am (3) the way (4) the truth and (5) the life, (6) no man (7) comes (8) to the Father (9) but by (10 Me. Have the students stack the cups in a pyramid shape as shown in the picture. Set a goal of stacking the cups within a one minute time limit. This activity can be done as a team or individual competition. Once the students have completed the tower have them repeat the memory verse.

Group Learning Activity: Tower of Babel Relay (Grades K-4) Purpose: "In this activity we are going to learn how the people had to work together to built the Tower of Babel." Materials: You will need the same number and kind of stackable objects for each team, such as: Blocks, Boxes, or Empty containers Procedure: Divide children into two teams. Teams line up about twenty feet from their stacking materials. The first player stacks one of the objects on top of another, runs back to the starting line, tags the next player, and goes to the end of the line. Players take turns stacking an object onto the tower. If a player knocks down the tower, he must leave the objects as they are and return to the end of the line. The next player may restack one object. The game continues until one team has completed their “Tower of Babel.”

Group Learning Activity: "Groups" (Grades K-3) Purpose: "This activity demonstrates how the people of Babel grouped together by like languages." Procedure: On small slips of psper write an animal name such as: cows, ducks, cats, dogs, etc. Be sure to have at least two slips with the name of each animal. On the word "Go" have the children find the member (s) of their species by just uttering the sound of their animal. This means that all the "moos" will be together as cows, the "quacks" together as ducks, the "meows" together as cats, and the "bow-wows" together as dogs.

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Group Learning Activity: "Language Game" (Grades 3-5) Purpose: This game will demonstrate man's ability to reason and put together complicated ideas by constructing different sentences using the same words. Procedure: Divide the children into various groups and give each group ten different words written on separate pieces of paper. Write the words on index cards for ease in arranging them in different orders. Each group of children should receive the same words. Give the groups a set amount of time to see the different sentences they can create out of the ten words. One person in each group needs to write the sentences so they don't have any duplicates within their group. See which group can made the most sentences. Example: God, Tower of Babel, built, confused, people, worshipped, the, their, heavens, languages People built the Tower of Babel. God confused their language. People worshipped the heavens.

Group Learning Activity: "Where do races come from?" (Grades 3-5) Say: "Let's talk about some important facts about people. Very tiny things called cells make up the human body. In the nucleus of our cells is genetic material, which determines what characteristics we are born with, such as eye color, skin color, height, intelligence, etc. We receive half of this genetic material or genes, from each parent. We notice similarities in those who are related. This genetic material started with the first parents—Adam and Eve. They passed their genetic material onto their children who passed it onto their children. Following the flood, all human races were descendants of Noah's three married sons and their wives. They passed their genes onto the human race. "In order for races to arise, a population must split into small, isolated groups, leading to "inbreeding". (Gish, pg.92) In that way traits become common among a people. This is what happened at the Tower of Babel. "According to a recent summary of modern biological knowledge on human racial characteristics, the difference in human genes linked to race is only .012%. Humans all have the cellular machinery to make them very white or very black. What color you are reflects only trivial genetic differences. In transplant surgery, an organ from a white donor can make a more acceptable match for a black patient, and vice versa" (Discover, November 1994, pp. 72) We are going to compare the different traits among the members of our class. Ask the following questions and let students respond: "How many of you can roll the end of their tongue, or raise an eyebrow? Who has dimples, or free ear lobes versus those that are attached? When they fold their hands naturally, does their left thumb cross over their right thumb? What color are your eyes? Is your face round, square. oblong or oval? All these traits were there even when they were in their mother's womb. Procedure: Print a copy of the human cell drawing below for each child. Give the following instructions: "Imagine that the cell represented on the paper is the beginning of a unique life form—YOU! We know that we each began as a single cell with all the information needed to make a human being. Think about your unique self—then add words or phrases that describe you to complete your genetic puzzle. Have students write phrases that answer the questions above. "God allowed each of us to inherit special and unique traits from our parents. He created different colors, sizes and shapes of people but really what matters to Him is what is inside our heart. God wants us to view people the same way and realize that we all have one thing in common. That one thing is the need for the Savior--Jesus Christ!

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Group Learning Activity: "Foreign Language Guest Speaker" (Grades K-5) Purpose: To communicate to children how so many different languages came about viewed from a Biblical perspective. Procedure: Illustrate how frustrating it would have been for people of Babel to suddenly speak different languages. Invite a guest speaker who can speak a foreign language to come to your class. Have the person teach the children several words in that language. Words for hello, thank you, and good-by are generally easy enough for students to memorize quickly. Have the speaker tell a little about the culture of the people who speak that language. This can be a great opportunity to stress various mission outreaches with the gospel to that people group. Say: "Differences of languages are one of the reasons for the divisions in the human race. Others are culture and religion. Have the children name as many different languages that they can. Do the people that speak these languages get along with each other? Help the children to realize that one day all nations shall live together in peace under Christ's rule (Isaiah 2:1-4). Did you ever wonder where our ability to speak came from? Were we born with this ability or did we learn it from people around us? Have the children give their answers to these questions. The theory of evolution says that language developed from animal grunts or calls, or from people making instinctive sounds caused by pain. Another theory is that people reacted to the stimuli of their surroundings. An example is the expression, "bye, bye" which supposedly simulate the lips and tongue waving goodbye. We know, of course, that God created the first man with the ability to speak and that as babies, we hear our parents talk. Therefore we use our God given abilities to learn how to use language. Have the children think about the different features that God has given them to enable them to speak. What parts of their body are being used when they speak? The vast majority of speech sounds are made using lung air. Before we can speak, lung air has to be changed into audible vibrations using the various organs within the vocal tract. The most important source of vibration for the production of sounds is in the lower region of the vocal tract, at the larynx. The front part of the larynx can be easily felt and we refer to it as the "Adam’s apple”. There are several other types of speech sounds which do not use air stream from the lungs such as click sounds, like, “tut tut,” and “tsk tsk” which are made by the tongue against the top of the mouth. Have the children say the following words and identify what parts of their bodies besides their lungs that are being used to make these sounds:

“Thin” - uses upper the teeth.

“Tall” - uses the ridge behind the upper teeth.

“You” - uses the hard palate.

“Paw” - uses the lips. Have students grit their teeth and say something. They use their jaw for this. Animals also have the ability to communicate but it is not the same as man. Man has a unique gift of using language, not only spoken, but written.

Group Learning Activity: Read the book "Hello World" (Grades K-4) Preparation: Get the children's book, "Hello World," by Manja Stojic, ISBN 9781906250621 from your local library. This is an ideal book to promote language learning and encourages children to acknowledge and appreciate languages and cultures besides their own. In the book children around the world say “hello” in their many different languages. Learn greetings in 43 languages from around the globe, from French to Swahili, and Urdu to Welsh. Each page includes a greeting in a different language, along with clear and simple phonetic spellings.

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Examples of "hello": Konichiwa (koh-Nee-chee-wah) Japanese; Ya at eeh (YAH-AHT-AY) Navajo; Hola (OH-la) is Spanish; Shalom is Hebrew; Howdy Partner is Western United States; and Aloha is Hawaiian. Procedure: Read the book aloud emphasizing the number of different languages and ways to say "Hello." Conclude the activity by saying: "Today many different languages are spoken like Spanish, French and German. But God is still the God of all peoples, of every nation and of every tongue. Did you know that all these different cultures in our world today came from Noah? Through his three sons came all the colors and nationalities of the people who live on earth. That means that all cultures belong to the same human family! Acts 17:26 says "

26 From one man

He has made every nationality

to live over the whole earth." So the Tower of Babel explains why we have so many people groups around the world. But no matter what color or race we are we all can belong to the family of God! Whatever people group or language that lives on the earth, we all need Jesus as our Savior.

Craft Learning Activity: "Bricks" (Grades K-5) Procedure: Make Bricks out of Plaster of Paris and water (put them in a plastic form such as a rectangular plastic container. (Plastic half gallon milk jugs that have the tops cut off work well.) Let students write their name in the brick and place it somewhere to dry. Write the memory verse if desired. Pop the “brick” out of the form when they are dry and let the kids take it home. Directions: Calculate the quantity and dimensions of the bricks you would like to make. Knowing the exact dimensions will help you determine how much Plaster of Paris to mix up. Measure out equal amounts of plaster and water using measuring cups. Allow the mixture to soak for several minutes before stirring with a spatula. The quantity of plaster mixture will ultimately depend on how many bricks you are making. Form the shape of the brick with your hands. You will want to spend no more than 10 minutes on each brick because Plaster of Paris begins to dry out as soon as it comes in contact with air. Use a plastic jug or other rectangular container as a mold. Smooth the edges of the brick with a non-serrated knife. Place finished bricks on a sheet of waxed paper, and allow to dry completely, which may take 45 minutes to one hour, depending on the thickness of the bricks. Leave the bricks on the waxed paper for 24 hours if you are planning on painting them. Say: "Why did God stop the building process of the Tower of Babel? What were the motives of the people? Who had they forgotten? Could they have gotten to Heaven? What lessons can we learn?" Emphasize that the people did not worship God but were disobedient. They were proud and arrogant and wanted others to admire their accomplishments. Encourage students to repeat the memory verse, John 14:6 . It says, "I am the way, the truth, and the Life, no man comes to the Father, but by Me." and explain how it relates to the Tower of Babel.

Craft Learning Activity: Towers of Babel (Grades K-3) Materials: Cylinder box for each child (Oatmeal or cornmeal containers are best; can

use toilet paper or paper towel rolls if desired.); 12 X18" brown or tan construction paper; paper glue, colored markers or crayons; cotton balls

Procedure: Give everyone a piece of 12x18" construction paper. Decorate the tower with stickers and colored markers. You may also add a door with people next to it or around the bottom of the tower. Shape paper into cylinder and staple or glue in place to the cylinder box. Optional: Attach cotton balls to the top of the tower for clouds. Decorate with jewels, sequins, glitter glue or stamps.

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Craft Snack Learning Activity: Ingredients: graham crackers; peanut butter or marshmallow cream Directions: Build a Tower of Babel with graham crackers. Hold the crackers together with peanut butter or marshmallow cream. Warning: Be aware of children with peanut allergies!

Life Application Challenge: Bible Translations Discuss why it is important for people who speak different languages to have the Bible in their own language. Bring different translations of the Bible written in different languages. Copies of these Bible are available from the American Bible Society. Say: "The Bible has been translated into many languages from the biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. The full Bible has been translated into 531 languages, and 2,883 languages have at least some portion of the Bible. There are roughly 6,500 spoken languages in the world today. However, about 2,000 of those languages have fewer than 1,000 speakers. The most popular language in the world is Mandarin Chinese. There are 1,213,000,000 people in the world that speak that language." Read Romans 10: 12-15

12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is

Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13

for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can

they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

15 And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How

beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Explain that God has commanded us to share the gospel with everyone around the world no matter what language they speak. Challenge students to think about sharing the gospel with someone who does not speak their language.

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Tower of Babel

John 14:6

"I am the way, the truth, and the Life, no man comes to the Father, but by Me."

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Human Cell Traits

I am unique because___________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

92NiLYyGSok · Unit 1: Creation to Babel OT1.6 Tower of Babel Lesson Scripture: ... words for Hello in various languages. Look at all the words for "Thank You." At first you might

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