robable reason is that they
mistrusted God's promise never again to destroy the earth with a flood,
and therefore determined to build a high tower, so that, if another
deluge came, they might ascend above the waters, or, if need be step
clean into heaven itself. Their lack of faith is not surprising. We find
the same characteristic on the part of believers in our own day. They
believe in God's promises only so far as it suits their interest and
convenience. Scripture says, "Whoso giveth unto the poor lendeth unto
the Lord." Yet there are thousands of rich Christians who seem to
mistrust the security.

How high did these primitive builders think heaven was? According to
Colenso, they said, "Come, let us build for us a city, and a tower _with
its head in heaven_." Did they really think they would ever succeed in
building so high? Perhaps they did, for their Natural Philosophy was
extremely limited. They doubtless imagined the blue vault of heaven as a
solid thing, in which were stuck the sun, moon, and stars, and no higher
than the sailing clouds.

Their simple ignorance is intelligible, but how can we explain the
ignorance of God? Their project alarmed him. He actually "came down to
see the city and the tower which the children of men builded." Heaven
was too distant for him to see from with accuracy, and telescopes
were not then invented. A close inspection led him to believe that his
ambitious children would succeed in their enterprise. They thought they
might build into heaven, and he thought so too. What was to be done? If
they once got into heaven, it might be very difficult to turn them
out again. It took several days' hard fighting to expel Satan and the
rebellious angels on a previous occasion, and these newcomers might be
still more obstinate. In this dangerous extremity, "the Lord said [unto
whom is unknown], Behold, the people is one, and they have all one
language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained
from them which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down,
and there confound their language, that they may not understand one
another's speech."

Why did the Lord resolve to take all this trouble? Had he forgotten the
law of gravitation and the principles of architecture? Was he, who made
the heaven and the earth, ignorant of the distance between them? He
had only to let the people go on building, and they would eventually
confound themselves; for, after reaching a certain heig