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Some of the people in the ancient times were very intelligent. Adam named all the animals when Yahweh told him to, Genesis 2:19. Adam was also given the job caring for the Garden of Eden. Yahweh must have told him how to do this and also told him how to make some tools to work with to be able to do his job. People in the bible invented musical instruments with strings or that you blow through, along with musical instruments like harps and organs, Genesis 4:21 and Psalms 150:4. They also played these instruments to make beautiful music. Noah was very intelligent too, he built a very large Ark. To be able to do this he had to know a lot of mathematics. He also had to be able to use tools, and had an advanced understanding of the art of building. He had to be able to build the Ark just the way Yahweh had told him to. We know that in Egypt they built great pyramids, even today we don’t understand exactly how they did this. People knew how to cut precious stones; they knew how to mold brass, silver and gold into different things. Not everyone had the knowledge to do all this, but just like today there are many different jobs people do. Some people are truck drivers and some people are teachers and this is good. This is the way Yahweh made people; everyone is different.
At this same time in the Bible there was a man who was the Grandson of Noah’s son Ham. This man’s name was Nimrod. Nimrod was not a very good person at all. Nimrod was a very large, strong, fierce man with dark skin. Because of his power and skill as a successful hunter of wild beasts that attacked people, he became a hero and a leader among his tribe, Genesis 10:8-9. Nimrod knew Yahweh’s laws but he hated them and disobeyed them. He got a lot of other people to disobey Yahweh also. Nimrod told the people they would be happier worshipping the way he did. Nimrod worshiped the sun. This means he gave praises to the sun like we should praise Yahweh. Nimrod also had idols that he worshipped, things that were made out of gold and other metals, things that they would bow down to. We are not to bow down to any statue, 1 Chronicles 16:26. Yahweh said, "I am Yahweh. You shall have no other mighty one and you are not to make any images and bow down to worship them." Nimrod became the leader over the people who had grouped together in the town in the land of Shinar. Nimrod and his warriors fought to protect the townspeople. The people thought Nimrod was a great leader, so many families settled in his towns.
The temple was going to be very large with a lot of rooms in it, with gold and brass and silver in it. They were to put idols in it so they could worship them. As the temple was being built Nimrod was making plans to have statues made to be put into the temple. Even today there were a lot of idols which people worship. Some people worship pictures they think are of Yahshua, other people worship animals or statues made of wood or stone. Nimrod had the men working on the base of the new temple for over two years to make it just the right way so it would hold up the rest of it. After they got the base of it done it was time for the rest of it. Then little by little the temple began to take shape rising up to the sky. Nimrod’s plan for building the temple was working, the temple was going up higher and higher. Yahweh saw that the tower was only the beginning of what people would do to worship idols. He knew he had to do something to stop the building of the tower. There isn’t anything wrong in building a big city or in building large towers or in making things of gold. What is wrong is when you build and make things out of gold and silver to be an idol; something you would bow down to, or something you make more important than Yahweh, which is wrong. The thing Yahweh was unhappy about was that they were building this tower for worshipping Nimrod and the sun. Yahweh knew he had to do something to stop the people. One day when the people started working on the tower they started talking to each other, but they could not understand what each other were saying. Yahweh had caused them to talk in different ways. The less they understood one another, the more they argued. Arguments grew into fights. The work on the tower stopped, Genesis 11:7-8. The tower was called the Tower of Babel because “Babel” means “confusion.” No matter how much people may try to do things their way, if it isn’t what Yahweh wants, He may stop them. Memory Verse
HalleluYAH! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Noah’s family had settled in the plains south of where
the Ark had landed. Some of them moved farther down into the valleys of
the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. These were the two main rivers of what later
became known as the land of Assyria. As years went by, people moved southeast
over the lower plains which we now call the Persian Gulf area. They found that
some of the soil was just right for making bricks. By pressing moist clay into
block shapes and baking them in the sun or by a fire the blocks would get very
hard. They also found a place where a thick, pitchy liquid oozed from the ground
and was the very thing needed to hold the bricks together, Genesis 11:3. Men
began to use these bricks to build houses and barns and walls. They built many
kinds of buildings out of bricks. Before long they started building towns.
We can see that the people were very capable of building
large cities. Before long, people were building large cities and living close
together in them. This did not please Yahweh. Yahweh knew that when a lot of
people live together in crowded places, it is more likely for them to break
Yahweh’s laws for living happily. Yahweh had told Noah and his family that
people should spread out over the whole earth, but because they didn’t, they
were becoming more and more unhappy. People were beginning to mass together just
as they had done before the flood.
Before long the town had grown into a city. It was the
first large city to be built on the earth after the flood. This city later
became known as Babylon. Nimrod’s city grew larger and larger. Nimrod had a wall
built around the city so that wild animals couldn’t get into the city. Nimrod
was not only the ruler of Babylon but he was the most feared man in the land.
His power and wealth grew as the city of Babylon grew. He told the people that the
laws Yahweh had given were not good for the people. He told them they should
have human government and Nimrod should be the king. The city was getting very
large so Nimrod told the people they should have a temple to worship in. Nimrod
told the people he wanted them to build a temple. He wanted this temple to reach
up to the sky. Nimrod thought that if he would build a gigantic tower that it
would excite everyone into believing in his religion, Genesis 11:4.