Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.

Genesis 11:4-6

Most people know this story as the “Tower of Babel”. God commanded the people to fill the earth several times (Gen 1:22,28, 9:1,7), and here they are puffed up on themselves, their own greatness, achievements, and self-sufficiency. They are planning to build a tower to reach heaven so they don’t have to be “dispersed over the face of the whole earth”. What I saw in the author’s character and God’s character here is humor. It’s hilarious, to me, that God has to come “down” in order to see their tower. Wasn’t this thing supposed to reach heaven? Even though it falls way short of the glory of God and the heavens, God still has the wisdom to look into their hearts for the true motivations for their pursuit. He calls it “only the beginning of what they will do”. I think what they “propose” to do is to replace their own need for God, and God is admitting that this proposal won’t be “impossible” for them to achieve. They’ll achieve it. We see that in our world now don’t we? Many people and cultures confident in their technology and own abilities. Powerful people puffed up on their own greatness, making themselves out to be more than they are.

Well, in this case God was working his plan to reveal himself to the world through Abram and the Jews, so he needed the people to disperse like he told them to do. Despite them trying again to mess up the plan, he confuses them with a language change, they tribe up and disperse over the earth exactly as planned.