If one reads the text carefully (even comparing several different translations), it becomes apparent that they didn't finish what they started. The confusion which ensued because of the many different languages forced them to scatter. One common language had fostered unity. Now, disparate languages evoked division. Pride of man broken in the dust again ("Pride of Man", Quicksilver Messenger Service).
The story is actually a historical account and it's very possible that some artifacts may one day be found.
The tower story I believe is somewhat of an embarrassment to the fundamental literalist because the literal reading presents several problems:
1) God evidently does not exhaustively know the future (omnipotent). In the story God is found to be surprised during an inspection to earth of the industrialness and achievements of his subjects. Interesting, considering that these subjects are beings of his own creation that were created in his own image.
2) The story reveals a primitive notion of cosmology. We read the story today and we immediately start looking for metaphors since it is obvious to us that you cannot build a tower to heaven. Reading the story several thousand years ago and the reader might the accept the story as plausible.
3) God apparently is threatened by man's capabilities - this is again a smallish view of God that was prevalent at the time. I know some try to twist the words to convey that God was upset because of man's arrogance but that is not what the story literally says and such inspired readings are extrapolations.
4) Contradicts the latter scripture "God is not the author of confusion". Here God is portrayed as the direct divine inventor of languages that create confusion and disharmony between all members of humanity.
5) God is referred to as plural. Perhaps revealing the original source of the story?
The problems are only imagined due to shoddy exegesis.
1) God can't know the future because it doesn't exist. However, He can create the present (while it is the future) through manipulating the past (while it is the present). The only reality is NOW (the present).
An image does not equal what it is an image of any more than a photograph equals what it portrays. Regardless, that has no bearing on God's surprise. Mankind was (and still is) a work in progress. Since mankind (and, in fact, most all creation) is left uninhibited, God is watching to see how it plays out. If he doesn't like the results, He intervenes. Imagine a gardener. He doesn't keep his eyes on his garden 24/7. If he notices damage being done to his crops, he takes action (a good gardener stays on top of things). That's God.
2) It's not primitive knowledge of cosmology, it's the degenerate cognitive abilities of modern man. The word 'heaven' in the Bible refers to three distinct but separate places. The first heaven (or lowest) refers to the atmosphere.
Acts 14:17 -- "Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons;...
Of course we can build towers to the heavens...we call them skyscrapers.
Also, people reading these stories several thousand years ago would have understood more easily as they were much more intelligent than man today.
What's amazing about the Bible is that it contains scientific knowledge that scientists have just rediscovered in the last 50 years or so. Primitive? Hardly.
3) God's not threatened by mankind but vexed. In order to understand God's displeasure at man's settlement in Shinar, one must look back to His first commandment to mankind:
Gen 1:27 So God created humans to be like himself; he made men and women.
Gen 1:28 God gave them his blessing and said: Have a lot of children! Fill the earth with people and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the ocean, the birds in the sky, and every animal on the earth.
He commanded mankind to fill the earth and here he was trying to settle in one place and forgo scattering. Since mankind (misled by Satan) was resisting God's plan, God gave him another nudge. At least He didn't totally wipe him out and start again from scratch. God was finally making progress with mankind.
4) It's not God that is confusing mankind, it's Satan. Man is indeed confused but it's not from listening to God.
5) A plural is referred to because God is not alone. Did you ever wonder how God 'spoke' everything into existence? It's simply that He gives an order (command) and His servants obey.
Note: There is no TRIUNE God. That is a pagan teaching fostered by the RCC under the influence of Satan. It's easy to 'prove', but not willingly accepted. The Trinity (I'm sure) is debated elsewhere...I'll look for it.
™ Version 4.2