At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words. As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there. They began saying to each other, “Let’s make bricks and harden them with
fire.” (In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was
used for mortar.) Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a
tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us
from being scattered all over the world.” But the LORD came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building. “Look!” he said. “The people are united, and they all speak the same
language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for
them! Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.” In that way, the LORD scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city. That is why the city was called Babel, because that is where the LORD confused the people with different languages. In this way he scattered them all over the world.
Genesis 11: 1-9 [NLT]
Commentary: Several generations passed since the time of the great
Flood. Noah’s sons obeyed God and were fruitful and multiplied, and began to
fill the earth. This was God’s command to Adam and Eve, but man became wicked
and within a millennium God sent a flood to reset His plan. The aforementioned
was also God’s command to Noah and his sons, but within a few generations – after
some “filling” of the earth had occurred – began to migrate back to their
origin: east. This displeased God as the people began to unite under their own
accord, and not within the plan of God. See, God does want mankind to be united
but within His plan, abiding with Him. The tower of Babel was the people’s
symbol of uniting under their own strength, as pride was their motivation. So
God forced the people to scatter as He had originally
planned. Even scattered – whether speaking one language or hundreds – we can
still be united, but only united in God through His Son, Jesus the Christ. Even
before Jesus came to earth as a man, the workings of God and eventually His
Scripture point toward a Messiah – One who showed us perfect humility, the opposite
of pride. It is through Him we can abide with God and with each other.
(At first glance, v6 seems to imply that with the people united nothing "will be impossible for them!" God was not saying to His Son and Spirit that all things would be possible for them, but looking at the language of the Scripture, it's clear that what is being said is: man will believe all is possible and they won't need God. It is only through the power of God that all things are possible, hence the passage in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Never of our own strength can we do the seemingly impossible.)
