“And it came to pass about this time that the officers of Nimrod and the descendants of Phut, Mitzrayim, Cush, and Canaan took counsel together, and they said to one another, ‘Let us build a city, and also in its midst a tall tower for a stronghold, a tower the top of which shall reach even to the heavens. Then shall we truly make for ourselves a great and mighty name, before which all our enemies shall tremble. None will then be able to harm us, and no wars may disperse our ranks.’ And they spoke these words to the King, and he approved of their design. Therefore these families gathered together and selected a suitable spot for their city and its tower on a plain towards the east in the land of Shinar. “And while they were building rebellion budded in their hearts, rebellion against God, and they imagined that they could scale the heavens and war with Him. They divided into three parties. The first party said, ‘We will ascend to heaven and place there our gods and worship them.’ The second party said, ‘We will pour into the heavens of the Lord and match our strength with His.’ And the third party said, ‘Yea, we will smite Him with arrow and with spear.’ “And God watched their evil enterprise and knew their thoughts, yet they builded on. If one of the stones which they had raised to its height fell, they were sad at heart, and even wept; yet when any of their brethren fell from the building and were killed, none took account of the life thus lost. Thus they continued for a space of years, till God said, ‘We will confuse their language.’ Then the people forgot their language, and they spoke to one another in a strange tongue. And they quarrelled and fought on account of the many misunderstandings occasioned by this confusion of language, and many were destroyed in these quarrels, till at last they were compelled to cease building. “The tower was exceedingly tall. The third part of it sank down into the ground, a second third was burned down, but the remaining third was standing until the time of the destruction of Babylon. Thus were the people dispersed over the globe, and divided into nations.”[20] In this narrative the object of these wicked idolaters was to ascend and carry war into heaven against God. To accomplish this object or design they built the city and tower; the latter served for the granary as well as the stronghold of the new city. Abraham was born about this time. His father Terah was then in the service of King Nimrod, in Babylon. Owing to the idolatry and the wickedness of the people, Abraham left the country with his wife and nephew, and settled in the land of Canaan. When Joseph was a child he must have heard from his father the story of those eventful times, when Abraham dwelt in the country wherein he was born. In due time he availed himself of the knowledge thus imparted to him in his early days.