The Rainbow and the Tower of Babel

After the flood receded, Noah and all his family and the animals went out of the ark. Noah offered built an altar and offered God burnt offerings.

God promised that He would never again destroy the whole world with a flood such as that one. As a token of His promise, He said He would place His bow in the sky. Today, when we see a pretty rainbow, we are reminded of God’s promise: “I will never destroy the world again with a great flood.”

God told Noah and his family to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth with people. With only eight people roaming the earth, they had a big job ahead of them! 

Noah lived to be very old. He was close to 500 years old when he built the ark and about 600 when the flood began. He was 950 years old when he died. Men lived to be very old during that time.

After the flood, people began to do as they pleased. God had told them to replenish the earth with more people, but they wanted to stay together in one area. They didn’t want to lose sight of one another. They said, “Come, let’s build a tower which reaches to the heavens.” Perhaps they thought as long as they could see the tower, no one would “get lost.”

God wasn’t pleased. They weren’t obeying Him. He confused their language so they couldn’t understand one another. That caused such a problem for them that they began to move away from each other. In that way God assured that humans would move across the earth and populate the whole world.