Genesis 11:7

Let us go down. The use of the pronoun “us” indicates the participation of at least two persons of the Godhead (see Gen. 1:26).

Confound their language. God did not wish again to destroy man. Wickedness had not as yet reached the limits to which it had gone before the Flood, and God determined to check it before it should again reach that point. By confusing their language and thus forcing them to separate, God designed to forestall future united action. Each of the groups might yet pursue an evil course, but the division of society into many groups would prevent concerted opposition to God. Upon repeated occasions since the dispersion of the races at Babel, ambitious men have sought, unsuccessfully, to contravene the divine decree of separation. Ingenious leaders have succeeded, at times, in forcing the nations into an artificial unity. But with the establishment of God’s glorious kingdom the nations of the saved will be truly united and speak one language.

Not understand one another’s speech. Not that one man could not understand any of his fellow men, as such a situation would render the existence of society impossible. There were to be various tribal groups, each of which was to have its own speech. Such is the origin of the world’s great variety of languages and dialects, which now number approximately 3,000.

The division of languages, though an obstacle to human schemes for political and economic cooperation, was not to be an obstacle to the triumph of the cause of God. The gift of tongues at Pentecost was to be one means of overcoming this difficulty (see Acts 2:5-12). National differences do not prevent either unity of faith and action on the part of God’s children or the advancement of His eternal purpose. God’s Word has been made available to the nations in their own tongue, and brethren of like faith, though separated by racial and linguistic differences, are nevertheless bound together in their love for Jesus and their devotion to truth. The brotherhood of faith unites them more firmly than could the possession of a common language. In the unity of the church the world is to see convincing evidence of the purity and power of its message (see John 17:21).