Scripture Reference:
Genesis 11:1-9
Suggested Emphasis or Theme:
We should not have unhealthy pride.
Memory Verse: Pride leads only to shame. It is wise not to be proud. Proverbs 11:2, ICB
Story Overview:
After Noah and his family left the ark, God planned for them to spread out over the whole earth and repopulate it. Instead, in their pride, they gathered in one place and began to build a tower. To intervene, the Lord confused and stopped their plans, causing everyone to speak different languages. Once again, people began to move away and spread all over the earth.
Background Study:
Only eight people survived the flood. They were Noah and his wife, his three sons and their wives. Through these eight people, the world was populated again (Genesis 9:18-19).
God’s plan was for Noah’s descendants to spread out and replenish the earth (Genesis 9:7). Instead, they wanted to stay in one place and show what amazing things they could do. Genesis 11:4 records that this tower they were building was a monument to their own abilities instead of a reliance upon God. Like Adam and Eve, they chose to use their own wisdom and reject God’s. Years later, the Psalmist addressed this attitude.
“If the Lord doesn’t build the house, the builders are working for nothing.”
Psalm 127:1, ICB
In addition to this self-pride, there seemed to be a direct intention to push God out of the picture. The people revealed this when they said they were building this tower “so that we may make a name for ourselves.”
In contrast to this attitude, God will later make it very clear that HE is the one with the power to make a people and name great. He tells Abram,
“I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you. I will make you famous.
And you will be a blessing to others.” Genesis 12:2, ICB
Ironically, the tower at Babel seemed to soar so high, and yet the Lord had to “come down” to see it. Towers in ancient Mesopotamia were called Ziggurats. The buildings began with a square base and then “had the form of a terraced step pyramid of successively receding stories or levels.” (Wikipedia)
The people proudly built their towers higher and higher without any apparent intention to pause and consider God. But God took notice. He intervened and “re-set” the situation. By confusing their language, He forced them to come to terms with their own limitations immediately. The building project stopped, and the people began to move out of the place.
In today’s lesson, talk about the difference between healthy self-esteem and unhealthy pride. Here’s a definition of pride from Dictionary.com:
- Positive Pride- A becoming or dignified sense of what is due to oneself or one’s position or character; self-respect; self-esteem. Pleasure or satisfaction is taken in something done by or belonging to oneself or believed to reflect credit upon oneself:
- Negative Pride is a high or beyond-ordinary opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether cherished in the mind or displayed in bearing, conduct, etc.
Way to Introduce the Story:
As the children arrive, have blocks or Legos available. Guide the students in building a tower as tall as they can. Older children might want to play a round or two of “Jenga” or build a house of cards. “Today we are going to read about a time when some people decided to build the tallest tower that had ever been built.”
The Story:
After the flood, people had to begin all over again. Noah’s sons had large families, and there were soon many people. Sadly, the people began to forget about God. God wanted them to move to other places, but they decided to stay together in one city instead.
As time went by, they began to forget about God and only think about how good they were as builders. They were so proud of themselves! The people wanted to build something to show how good they were and to be famous. They decided to build a very tall tower.
Do you know what the word “pride” means? It can have a good or a bad meaning.
Good Pride is when you feel good about yourself because you have done a good job or are part of something good that makes you happy. You might feel proud of the way you have learned something new at school, or you may be proud of your family. God likes it when we feel this kind of pride.
Bad Pride is when you think too well of yourself. If you have bad pride, you might think you are better than you really are. You might also look down on other people and think you are better than them. God does not want us to have this kind of pride.
The people who were building the tower had a bad kind of pride. They thought their plan was better than God’s plan. They thought they didn’t need God to make the best city and the tallest tower. They thought they could do it all on their own. They thought so much about themselves that they didn’t even think about God very much at all.
Finally, God decided to put a stop to this pride. He wanted the people to think about him and not about a tower. He wanted the people to start moving to new places and not all live in one big city.
So, God caused something amazing to happen. God confused the people’s languages so they could no longer understand each other. When someone talked, it just sounded like strange noises or “babbling.”
It became impossible to work together on the tower. Everyone just got mixed up. The people stopped working together. The town became known as “Babel” because of all of the different languages. Everything in the city was so confusing that the people started moving away into smaller places where they could learn to talk together better. Now, they stopped having so much bad pride. They learned an important lesson about pride. They learned that they were not the best after all. God is the best!
Ways to Tell the Story:
This story can be told using various methods. Always remain true to the facts found in the Bible, but help children connect to its meaning by using drama, visual aids, voice inflection, student interaction, or emotion.
Click here for visual aids and story-telling methods.
Click here to download the slideshow, or click here to download the pictures to print.
Each teacher is unique, so only use the illustrations that best relate to how YOU tell the story in THIS lesson. Too many illustrations can be confusing, so eliminate any that cover other stories or details you do not wish to emphasise in this lesson.
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Review Questions:
- Did God want Noah’s sons and descendants to live in one place? No
- Why did the people of Babel begin building a tall tower? To make a tower so good that they would be famous and so that everyone would want to live in one place—their city.
- How did God stop the people from building the tower? He caused them to speak different languages.
- Why was the city called “Babel”? Because the different languages sounded like babbling.
- What does a good kind of pride cause us to think about? God (and what He has done for us)
- What does a bad kind of pride cause us to think about? Only ourselves and how we are better than others
Song Suggestions:
- My God is So Big Song
- Oh, Be Careful Song
- Humble Yourselves in the Sight of the Lord
- Refer to the Song Page on this website for more options.
Learning Activities and Crafts:
(How to choose the best learning activities for my teaching situation)
Activities:
- Brainstorm things people might say when they brag about something.
- Ask someone who speaks a different language to come to class and give the children simple instructions on how to do something (for example: “Children, take a pencil and paper and write your name on the paper” or “Open your bible to Genesis chapter 11”). Discuss how difficult it would be to build a tower when everyone spoke different languages.
- Snack: Build a tower out of square biscuits/cookies or crackers. “Glue” pieces together with peanut butter or icing.
- Look up and discuss scriptures concerning pride: Psalms 17:10; 138:6; Proverbs 13:10; 16:5, 18; 28:25; Acts 12:21-24; James 4:4-6, 10.
- Contrast “Healthy Pride” and “Unhealthy Pride” using these Drawing Contrasts for an Application Activity idea.
Crafts:
- Make a poster depicting Proverbs 16:18.
- Cut rectangles from coloured paper to represent bricks. Use the paper bricks to “build” two towers. One of the paper bricks on which are written godly attributes (humility, love, unselfishness, etc.). The bricks for the other tower should have ungodly traits written on them (pride, hate, selfishness, swearing, etc.) Discuss which tower God would want us to build.
Print bookmarks, trading cards or timelines (printable pages).- Visit the Teaching Ideas page for additional activities and crafts.
This is very powerful. I bumped on it online but I hope I will always use it when preparing lessons for the children.
Dear Christopher, Thank you for your encouragement. I’m so glad you are able to use these resources to bless children. Mary
In telling the stories of the Bible, we need to be careful to not say something the Bible does not say. Example: You said “they thought they were so good that they were better than God. They never even said ‘Thank you, God.” The Bible does not say that in any of the versions I have. While it is evident they were not seeking God’s advice nor looking to Him for guidance in their project, we can’t teach what the Bible doesn’t say. It does tell us 1) the people decided to build a city, 2) it describes the building materials, 3) it describes their motives; to make a name for themselves and to not be scattered abroad, and 4) God’s response.
As teachers, we never want the children to leave class with the wrong information; whether it is the words we use, the visuals we use which may not be biblical in teaching the facts, or the attidute we give when teaching.
We all sin and make bad decisions, but that is due to our own weaknesses and not because we think we are better than God. We also need God’s intervention to point us in the right direction just as these people did.
Hello Charlotte
I appreciate your concern for biblical teaching. Hopefully, my website reflects I share that same concern. I’m not perfect but I do try to get that right. Probably “they thought they were more clever than God” is a better way to put it than “they thought they were better than God”. I’m going to take another look at it shortly.
The book of Genesis “sets up” so many big concepts and reveals so much about God. As a teacher, those concepts are on my mind as I teach. To me, considering what God reveals in Genesis 12:1-9 helps inform Genesis 11:1-9. The 11th chapter is filled with “we, ourselves, us”. I circled those in my bible. Reading through the verses it was not just a lack of seeking his advice or guidance. God was not a part of their conversation at all! If they thought God was better than they were you would think they would have sought him. I think making a name for themselves was putting themselves above God.
Then, we read GOD’S vision for mankind when we read chapter 12. HE will make Abram’s name great. He says “I” over and over to refer to himself. I circled those in my bible also and was struck by the parallel to chapter 11. Unlike the people of Babel, Abram puts God first and goes along with God’s plan.
The people of Babel wanted to bless themselves. Through Abram, God went on to bless the world.
I feel uncomfortable describing sin as only “bad decisions” or “weakness”. I don’t think that is fully speaking what the Bible says, either. If it is difficult to explain these concepts to adults then no wonder we struggle when teaching the Bible to children! We are not just reading the Bible to children verbatim. We are teaching them. My goal is to keep true to the Scripture but explain it in language children can understand. Not always easy and I fall short often but that’s my aim.
May God bless us both as we interact with His Word and try to share it with children, Mary
This is always my go to website when I’m preparing lessons.