Mystery shrouds one of the most significant stories in the Old Testament. The story resurfaces in Acts Chapter Two.
Babel
Babel was a city. The Tower of Babel was a ziggurat.
The Ziggurat
The Gate of God
“The Gate of God” was the description given to Babel and its city.
The purpose of the Ziggurat was “to be a bond of union to assure communication between God and Heaven (Parrot).
Steps (and sometimes ramps) on the outside of the ziggurat had two purposes. First, they ascended to the temple that existed at the top of the ziggurat. This temple brought priests and other people significant to a pagan deity close to their god(s).
Second, the steps should create an easy pathway for the god(s) to descend into the city and mingle with the people.
God came down
We can assume that in pagan mythology, no actual god ever descended the ziggurat into the surrounding city. But God came down.
The LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
Genesis 11:5
As we know, the results of this divine visit were catastrophic. I don’t think Nimrod expected God to actually descend the Ziggurat and survey the city.
Flood insurance
As the great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod knew about the global flood which destroyed humanity.
Nimrod was ignorant or doubtful of God’s promise to never again destroy the earth with water. We know this because another purpose of the ziggurat at Babel was to rise to a level where a flood could never submerge its top (Josephus). In the event of a deluge, those who made it to the top of the ziggurat would survive God’s judgment.
Rebellion
I disagree that God’s judgment on Babel came because humanity refused to disperse. Genesis 10 tells us that the three sons of Noah dispersed and had different languages (at least three languages existed at the time of Babel).
Rebellion came from Ham, Cush, and Nimrod because they refused to occupy the land given them. Nimrod built Babel in the land of Shem, not in the land of Ham.
Japeth
According to legend, Japeth, one of Noah’s sons, settled in the regions of Europe and Asia.
By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.
Genesis 10:5
Shem
People believe that Shem, another of Noah’s sons, settled in regions that are now known as the Middle East and parts of Africa. Scholars consider Shem’s descendants as the ancestors of the Semitic people, including the Hebrews, Arabs, and Assyrians.
These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.
Genesis 10:31
Ham
I list Ham last because Ham was the father of Cush who was the father of Nimrod.
According to the story, Ham, the third son of Noah, settled in regions that are now known as Africa, specifically in Egypt and Ethiopia. Scholars consider the descendants of Ham as the ancestors of the Hamitic people, which include various African tribes.
These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.
Genesis 10:20
Babel – final notes
The origin of Babylon
– Perhaps the enduring repercussion of the city and tower of Babel was the founding of Babylon. The name itself means “the gate of God.” Babylon has always been a center of pagan worship and, of course, rebellion against God.
Honorable mention
– Jacob’s ladder in Genesis 28:12 functioned much like ziggurats were intended to function.
Confounded languages
– God saw that language unified the people at Babel and gave them impressive capabilities. Nimrod had already created additional plans to challenge, defy, and conquer God.
The LORD said, Behold, the people [is] one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
Genesis 11:6
The “unified language problem”
– was that of Nimrod and his followers, not of the entire earth. Of course, I seem to contradict Genesis 11:1 and 9, an obvious weakness of my argument.
The whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
Genesis 11:1
If the phrase, “The whole earth,” meant just a region of the earth, that would allow the possibility of a “local” flood (rather than a global flood).
Perhaps the dispersion recorded in Genesis 10 occurred after Genesis 11:7. Still, we must exercise caution here because God scattered only the builders of Babel.
The scattering
– God scattered Ham because Ham refused to occupy their allocated region of the earth.
Notice who God scattered:
The LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
Genesis 11:8
Who was building the city? Nimrod and his followers. Shem and Japeth were not involved.
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