Babel – Genesis 11:1-9

Walton, in his commentary, speaks to the issue of whether there is any other witness to the city with the tower:

If we must pick a city for the project based on Mesopotamian traditions and literature, the most likely candidate is Eridu, considered the first city and the principal type site for the Ubaid period (fifth millennium b.c.). One Babylonian creation account says, “All lands were sea, then Eridu was made.” The patron deity of Eridu was Enki (Ea), who in a Sumerian epic, Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, is seen as the one who “changed the speech in their mouths, [brought (?)] contention into it, into the speech of man that (until then) had been one.” Conclusions about the specific role of Babylon may have to await further discoveries. The text conveniently picks up on the meaning of “confusion” through the Hebrew root bbl, which sounds like the Hebrew word for Babylon (bbl), though the popular etymology of Babylon in Mesopotamian was that it meant “gate of the gods” [Akkadian bab-ilu]).

[1] Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. [2] And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. [3] And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. [4] Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” [5] And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. [6] And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. [7] Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” [8] So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. [9] Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth. (Genesis 11:1–9, ESV)

A not altogether remarkable fact about the earth, post-flood, is that everyone speaks the same language and uses the same basic vocabulary.  Having all come from one family makes that likely.  The other non-remarkable fact is that the same sinful nature that drove the populace before the flood to have only sinful intentions all the time, has continued to operate and move all earth’s populace to seek for security apart from God by staying together and looking to make a name for themselves.  They have migrated from the east and found a plain big enough for them all to settle and create a city with which is a tower with its top in the heavens.  The location of Shinar has been long debated (north versus south Mesopotamia).

Debate has also centered around the purpose for the tower.  Is it a place for worship (like the ziggurat), or was it a way to escape further floods, despite God’s promise that He would not send another such flood?  Either choice is a display of the people’s rebellion against God and refusal to obey His mandate to fill the earth.

As they seek the heights of the tower, God has to “come down” to see them.  Yahweh’s assessment is that in their unity they will be able to achieve all they want, in their rebellious hearts, to achieve.  Man, as created in the image of God, does not lack ability to do great things, especially when united around a common purpose.  But this rebelliousness needs some restraint, so that the conditions of Genesis 6 are not repeated.  The confusion of languages is a brilliant solution.  It is a judgment, but a gracious one.  Can you imagine everyone scrambling to find those who spoke the same language as them?  Now, what they felt they needed, unity around this tower, becomes dispersion by languages.  And here begins the nation-building that has been the human need for security met by building up our own strength.  And part of that need for security is name-building and has often led to nations seeking to conquer other nations to form empires, none of which, of course, has lasted.