In a previous article I noted that dispensationalism grew out of a nineteenth century situation. From the late 1800s until the present day, it has been a major point of contention inside Reformed circles with covenant theologians. Why do these two theologies that otherwise agree on the great body of orthodox christology and soteriology, disagree so vigorously in ecclesiology and eschatology?

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.