Gen. 11:2

The people had the entire Earth to use for God's glory. They had been given a fresh start. In a way, it was similar to Eden because mankind just had to follow God and not get into the evil that had come with time that wound up resulting in the Great Flood. 

Also like Adam and Eve, they went up setting their minds on becoming like gods. And, they didn't need any help from the devil this time.

Studying slowly through Romans in my personal devotionals, I got a very real sense of what these people went through in Romans 1:20 where it says that the people had the knowledge of God. They know Him, and yet chose to ignore Him and worship the things that were created rather than the Creator. From this, all sorts of evil came because the people decided they would work on their own to reach God. They wanted to ascend to Heaven.

However, we can't get up to God's level. We are not perfect, and no sin can enter Heaven.

Instead, God lovingly reached down to our level. He humbled himself and chose to become flesh and dwelt among us. He did that so that He could take the punishment for our sins when He died on the cross and then He rose from the dead.

As for these people, this large group journeyed together till they got to in the land of Shinar. I have a couple of observations on that.

One is that the Euphrates River is named as one of those from which flowed out of Eden. The geography of the pre flood world was incredibly different, so it is almost impossible for it to have been the same Euphrates as flows today and flowed them through Shinar. However, it is possible that the river was named after the one which flowed out of Eden. This actually makes sense because of the other connection.

Nimrod founded a great empire, in the area which is perhaps the most continually settled area in the world. That area of Babylon ground up developing several empires, and the city of Babylon is mentioned more than any city except Jerusalem in the Bible.

So, even here, one can see the battle between God and rebellious man. The battle which has seen the devil tried to wipe out the Jewish people so often. Indeed, many believe the area around Babylon is filled with evil spirits. We do know that during the End Times four unclean spirits looking like frogs will be released from the area.

All this, then, provides the context for what they did next.

Genesis 11 1

As mentioned before, there is good unity and there is bad unity. Simply being unified is not a good thing when that unity is done in an effort to do mischief. A group plotting to rob a bank, for instance, is certainly not unified in a good way. God had told them to fill the earth and enjoy it's fruits. They had.the whole new world to explore.  Instead of setting their hearts on honoring God with their actions, though, they began to let mischief creep in. 

Everyone on earth had the same language at this point. However, they were starting to drift away from the Lord quite a bit. Noah and Sam were still around, we presume that Ham and Japheth were as well, and yet people refuse to listen to these wise men. Wisdom is only helpful if it is listened to and if it is Godly wisdom. Whatever we take into our minds must be tested against the absolute truth of God's Word.

Being of one language, one wonders if everyone's idioms and usage of it was the same. I don't think so. There are many differences between people in the same neighborhood in a small city. However, the important thing is that they can still understand each other. Context can be grasped quite easily as long as someone is willing to listen. And, this was made easier here because - like in that small town - there is still a major common experience all had in growing up in the same area and listening to the ancient wisdom from people like Noah and Shem.