became. Their sins darkened their heart and mind, and thus they lost the true knowledge of God, and fell into idolatry. They began to adore a multitude of false gods[1]. Some worshipped the sun, moon and stars, others worshipped men and beasts, and even the works of their own hands. To these false divinities even human victims were offered, and sometimes innocent children, who were made to endure the most cruel torments. God left them to go their own way[2].
COMMENTARY.
Idolatry is a grievous sin against the first Commandment It is, moreover, unreasonable and foolish, and is a sad proof of the evil effects on man of original sin.
Necessity of grace. God gave the idolaters over to their own evil desires and inclinations. As evil inclinations are rife in man, in consequence of original sin, it is only by God’s grace that he is able to keep the commandments. As God withdrew His grace from these men who had rejected Him, they gave themselves over to the desires of their hearts, and were led by their unbridled passions into the most horrible sins.
Pride. This story shows us how man’s apostasy from God began by pride. At the time that Noe’s descendants built the Tower of Babel, they had increased to some millions in number. They began to build in defiance of God, relying on their own strength and numbers. They did not give glory to God, by acknowledging that they had received all things from Him, and could do nothing without Him. On the contrary, they intended to build a tower which would reach to heaven and make their name famous in all ages. Thus it was pride that prompted this sinful undertaking.
- ↑ False gods. Because men gave themselves over to their bad passions and were further and further removed from God by their sins, they at last lost the knowledge of Him and began to worship the creature instead of the Creator. This worship of false gods is called idolatry, and the people who so worship are called idolaters.
- ↑ Their own way. Their sin grew and grew, because God gave them over to the desires of their hearts. When Cain began to yield to the passions of envy and hatred, God did not give him over to these passions unwarned. When the children of Cain, the “sons of men”, turned away from the true God, He, in His goodness , urged them to penance and conversion through holy Henoch. And immediately before the Deluge, He made the just Noe stand forth and proclaim the punishment which was hanging over mankind. Each of these times God warned sinners and manifested Himself to them: but now when, after the building of the Tower of Babel, men fell away from Him, though He neither destroyed nor punished them, He no longer revealed Himself to them, but gave them over to the desires of their hearts. Because they forsook God, He forsook them; and they had to learn by experience to what they would come when left by God to themselves.
