Genesis 11
1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.
2 As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
3 They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.
4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.
6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."
8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.
9 That is why it was called Babel — because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
This is the story of the Tower of Babel on the plain of Shinar. Shinar is located in modern day Iraq. If you recall the story of Noah, at the end, God wants Noah and his family to spread out and repopulate the earth.
Genesis 9
7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it."
Instead of doing that, the people wanted to stay in one spot and make a tower.
4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
In verse 4 we read that their goal was to make a name for themselves and not be scattered over the earth. That was in direct contradiction to what God told them to do. Through their prideful actions they were rebelling and disobeying the Lord.
They were also taking pride in themselves, glorifying themselves instead of the Lord, making a name for themselves. They made themselves an idol. They worshiped themselves.
Exodus 20
2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 "You shall have no other gods before me.
4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.
So God gave them many languages and they spread out. This way, they did what the Lord wanted and populated the earth.
We can see how important it is to for us to obey Him, to follow His wishes. We can also see how we are to give honor and glory to God and not to ourselves.
Colossians 3:17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
