1 Now the whole world had one language and a common form of speech.

2 And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” So they used brick instead of stone, and tar instead of mortar.

4 “Come,” they said, “let us build for ourselves a city with a tower that reaches to the heavens, that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of all the earth.”

5 Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building.

6 And the LORD said, “If they have begun to do this as one people speaking the same language, then nothing they devise will be beyond them.

7 Come, let Us go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”

8 So the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city.

9 That is why it is called Babel,c for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth.

— Genesis 11:1-9

1 After this I saw another angel descending from heaven with great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his glory.

2 And he cried out in a mighty voice: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a lair for demons and a haunt for every unclean spirit, every unclean bird, and every detestable beast.

3 All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from the extravagance of her luxury.”

— Revelation 18:1-3

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, mercy and peace from our Lord Jesus Christ to you.

Babylon’s history began with flagrant rejection of God exhibited at the Tower of Babel. Babylon came to symbolize humanity’s rebellious fury against God. The Book of Revelation records the fall of Babylon the Great, as God ruches false religion and the flimsy security of human political and economic power. God-fearing and God-loving Daniel and his friends were boxed in the center of this apparently glorious but essentially God-resenting and soon falling Babylon empire. They encountered crucial tests from time to time.

One test is when they were assigned food from King’s table. This food may have violated God’s food laws for Israel or have been offered to idols. These young men, resolved not to defile themselves, courageously chose to identify with God and His purpose, refusing to comply with the king’s directive. They respectfully asked permission to forgo the royal food and wine on a trial basis. For 10 days Daniel and his friends ate a vegetarian diet and drank only water. When the trial ended, they looked healthier than those who had eaten the king’s delicacies. We can see that God calls His people to live holy lives—displaying His truth and character—wherever He places them. The circumstances of these young men had changed, but God has not.