It must have been terrifying being on Noah’s ark for all those days—closed up inside, unable to see the sky, hearing a pouring torrent beat the roof, and feeling the whole shop rock to and fro with the waves. But, you know, the most terrifying part of this experience must have been knowing that, outside the ark, everyone and everything, was dying. The people who had been cooped up in that boat emerged totally changed.

It’s no wonder that the tradition of the flood is found in nearly every tribe on Earth. After all, every one of us is descended from these eight people. We are all one family. Genesis 11 tells us that the whole earth was of one language and one speech.

That certainly is not the case today. How did that change? What can these few chapters in Genesis tell us about how people in the ancient world dealt with issues we still face in the modern age?