This paper arose because of two subjects that came to my attention this year. First, in my so-called “framework” approach to aid new Christians to quickly gain a grasp of the big picture of the Bible, I realized I had left out the importance of the Babel event. Second, in trying to contextualize the current political situation in our nation within the Bible’s dispensation of human government, I came to a new appreciation of the effect of Babel on world history.
Therefore, in the following discussion I will explore the geophysical, populational, and theological context of the Babel project and God’s far-ranging judgment upon it. Then I will conclude by suggesting how this event, when integrated with the other key events in the framework approach, provides us with a helpful tool with which to understand human history for at least the last 4000 years.