Genesis 11.1-4-Setting and Dialogue for the Tower of Babel Rebellion
Wednesday October 19, 2005
Genesis: Genesis 11:1-4-Setting and Dialogue for the Tower of Babel Rebellion
Lesson # 46
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 11:1.
Last evening, we went over the introduction to Genesis 11:1-9, which records for us the Tower of Babel Rebellion led by Nimrod.
This evening we will study Genesis 11:1-4.
Genesis 11:1-9 is divided into four scenes:
(1) The human race had one language and settles on the plains of Shinar in Iraq (11:1-2).
(2) The ambition of the human race to establish a one world government and religion in opposition to God (11:3-4).
(3) The Lord’s decree to confound their universal language in order to deal with their rebellion (11:5-7).
(4) The Lord disperses the rebellion by confounding their universal language into many languages (11:8-9).
The chiastic structure of Genesis 11:1-9 emphasizes the reason (rebellion against God) and cause (God) for the dispersion of the people, namely, the Lord.
Genesis 11:1, “Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words.”
Genesis 11:1 contains the figure of speech called “metonymy of the subject” where the earth is put for its inhabitants; therefore, we could translate “the whole earth” as “every single one of the earth’s inhabitants.”
“Whole” is the adjective kol, which is used in a distributive sense meaning “every single one.”
“Same language” means that the descendants of Noah were completely unified by language and vocabulary, thus no language barriers.
“The same words” in the Hebrew literally means, “one words” and denotes the fact that every single one of the earth’s inhabitants were unified by language and vocabulary and dialect.
Henry Morris writes, “This faculty of human speech and language is truly of the most amazing attributes of mankind. The evolutionist is utterly unable to explain the unbridgeable gulf between the chatterings of animals and human language. The unique and fundamental essence of speech in the very nature of man is underscored in the revelation of God to man through His Word. Christ Himself is the living Word! ‘God has spoken to us by His Son’ (Heb. 1:2). It is not too much to say that this was the very reason man was created able to speak and to hear; that that is, in order that there might first be communication between God and man and, secondarily, between man and man. But when men began to prostitute this divine gift in order to cooperate in rebellion against their Maker, in a most appropriate judgment God confused their tongues and thereby forced them to separate from each other” (The Genesis Record, page 267).
Genesis 11:2, “It came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.”
“Journeyed” is the verb nasa` (us^n*) (naw-saw), which means, “to pull up” stakes that stabilize a tent and is a technical term for “breaking camp” and presents the image of people “pulling up the stakes” to their tents in order to travel and represents the descendants of Noah as restless wanderers.
“East”: (1) Preposition min (/m!) (meen) (2) Noun qedhem (sr#q#) (keh-dem).
The preposition min usually means, “from” thus indicating that the people journeyed from the east suggesting that after migrating from Ararat in Armenia they would have had to travel far southeast into the region of Persian, now known as Iran and then from there headed westward into Mesopotamia, which is now Iraq.
But the usage of this preposition min in Genesis 2:8, 3:24, 12:8 and 13:11 indicates that “eastward” must be the correct translation since “eastward” would include southeastward and this is confirmed by the fact that Babylon, the land of Shinar lies southeast of Ararat.
Map of the Middle East
“Found” is the verb matsa (axm) (maw-tsaw), which in context refers to the fact that the people unintentionally “discovered” or “came upon” the land of Shinar since they did not know of its existence because the post-diluvian world was yet unexplored.
“Plain” is the noun biq’ah (hu*q+B@) (bik-aw), which refers to a “broad plain” that was fertile and would be attractive to settle in.
The phrase “the land of Shinar” defines exactly where in the east the descendants of Noah settled down, namely, the southern region of Mesopotamia, south of Baghdad in Iraq.
Genesis 11:3, “They said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.’ And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.”
“Come” is the verb hav (bh^), which appears three times in Genesis 11:1-9, and is attributed to the people twice in Genesis 11:3-4 where it expresses the desire of the people to be independent of God and to bring glory to themselves whereas in Genesis 11:7, it expresses the Trinity’s desire to disperse this rebellion.
In Genesis 11:3-4, the verb expresses the rebellious resolve of the people to act independently of God manifesting itself in the building of the city of Babylon and a tower, which they built as a memorial to honor themselves and worship the creation rather than to honor and worship God.
Merrill F. Unger makes the following comments regarding the material to build the Tower of Babel: “The soft alluvial mud of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley, whether baked in the sun or the kiln, offered a ready and inexpensive source of building material. It was a substitute for stone and much more plentiful” (Unger’s Old Testament Commentary, page 51).
Henry M. Morris makes the following comments on the building material for the Tower of Babel: “The more common manner of construction in antiquity was apparently to use stone, with a clay mortar. When bricks were used, as in Egypt and Assyria, they were only sun-dried. The Babylonian construction was stronger and more enduring, so the writer called special attention to it. Furnace-treated bricks were used instead of stone, and bitumen instead of mortar. This “slime” was probably tarry material from the abundant asphalt pits in the Tigris-Euphrates valley. Archaeology has revealed that this type of kiln-fired brick and asphalt construction was common in ancient Babylon” (Genesis Flood, page 268).
Genesis 11:4, “They said, ‘Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.’”
Nimrod’s ambition was to build a one world government and religion that was independent of God and brought glory and honor to men rather than God and worshipped the creature rather than the Creator and in order for this ambition to be realized two factors were essential:
(1) Geographical: Nimrod needed a center where the people could meet to express their unity of purpose to build this one world government and religion, thus, we read, “come, let us build for ourselves a city.”
(2) Psychological: Nimrod needed a motivation to encourage and inspire his followers and this would be supplied by the phrase “let us make us for ourselves a name.”
“City” is the noun `ir (ryu@) (eer), which refers to a fortified city that had its own king with surrounding villages.
None of our modern terms such as city, town or village adequately convey the meaning or the mental picture contained in this word.
Not only is there a difference between the modern and ancient city, there were differences between the ancient cities themselves, making a definition even more difficult.
The primary distinction between a city and a village is that the former `ir generally had a wall and the frequent reference to the “gate” of the city where governmental functions were held, underscores the walled nature of cities.
Elders of the cities are often mentioned who had some governmental functions and as early as Gilgamesh, cities in Mesopotamia had a council of elders whom the king had to consult before beginning a war.
The villages were in an adjacent agricultural area of a city and were in turn dependent on the city for protection.
In the ancient world, the city was primarily intended for religious and public purposes or gatherings.
Therefore, based upon the meaning of this word `ir in the Hebrew, we know that this city that Nimrod and his followers decided to build would be fortified with a wall with surrounding villages and an adjacent agricultural area and would be for religious and public purposes.
The building of this city would have taken place after a council of elders whom Nimrod presided over and would be the center or meeting of this one world government and religion.
Picture of a model ancient city with ziggurat
“Tower” is the noun mighdal (lRg+m!) (mig-dawl), which is derived from the verb gadhal (ld^F) (gaw-dole), “to be great” and does not refer to the defensive stone watch towers of Canaan but rather to the Mesopotamian ziggurat.
The “ziggurat” comes from the term ziqqurratu, apparently meaning “peak,” or the highest point of a mountain and were massive and lofty, solid-brick, staircase structures and at the top, there was a place to worship the stars of the stellar universe and the fallen angels.
According to all accounts, and judging from the extant ruins of the various buildings in those countries, Babylonian towers were always rectangular, built in stages, and provided with an inclined ascent continued along each side to the top. Since religious ceremonies were performed thereon, they were generally surmounted by a chapel in which sacred objects or images were kept (The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, volume one, page 383).
Picture of ziggurat at Ur in Mesopotamia 2100 B.C.
The Tower was “not” built as protection against another flood since if the people wanted to avoid another flood they would have settled in a mountainous area but rather, the people built the tower was built to bring glory and honor to themselves, to deify themselves and to express their independence from God.
Henry M. Morris, “The great tower would dominate the city, both architecturally and culturally. It would serve as the focal point of the political and religious life of the population, and would be a symbol of their unity and strength” (Genesis Record, page 269).
There are many ziggurats in Babylon but the one considered to be the tower of Babel of their ancient city is called “The Temple of the Foundation of Heaven and Earth,” which was called by Nebuchadnezzar, “the tower of Babylon.”
This structure was situated in the southern portion of the city, not far from the right bank of the Euphrates and was dedicated to the god of Babylon, Marduk.
If you drop the first consonant of Nimrod's name and take the others, MRD, you will have the basic root of the god of Babylon, whose name was Marduk, and whom most scholars identify with Nimrod.
Therefore, the “Temple of the Foundation of Heaven and Earth” that is situated in the southern portion of the city of Babylon and was called the “tower of Babel” by Nabopolassar and Nebuchadrezzar was dedicated to Marduk, who was Nimrod.
Jewish tradition suggests the tower was destroyed by fire from heaven and some legends have it that it was knocked down by strong winds but more than likely, that building of the city resumed at some later date.
The building of the city stopped with the establishment of multiple languages, which led to the departure of her inhabitants but when the population increased again, the building of the city continued, with the result that Babylon ultimately became the greatest city in the ancient world.
The same thing holds true with the tower, which was refurbished by Nabopolassar (625-605) and Nebuchadrezzar II (604-562).
Genesis 11:4, “They said, ‘Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.’”
The prepositional phrase “into heaven” expresses the people’s desire to compete with God just as Satan has attempted to.
The ambition of the people is not to honor and glorify the Lord but rather to glorify and honor themselves as indicated by the phrases, “come, let us build for ourselves a city,” and “let us make for ourselves a name.”
The phrase “let us make for ourselves a name” expresses the people’s desire to acquire fame or a reputation in the sense that in building this city and tower, they would find significance, security and fulfillment and immortality.
The people erroneously thought that they would find significance, security, fulfillment in life and immortality in building this city and tower.