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God commands Noah and his sons to "be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.<ref> Genesis 9:1 NIV</ref> God also commanded Adam and Eve to do the exact same thing.<ref> Genesis 1:28 NIV</ref> Babel is an example of people who are doing the opposite of what God's wishes for humanity were. Instead of filling the earth they were building a city. This was in direct opposition to the commands of God. Therefore the people of Babel were punished by God and their language was confused so they did not understand one another.<ref> Genesis 11:7</ref> The Bible never explains the destruction of the tower or the city it seems that people just abandoned it and scattered from there over the face of the earth.<ref>Genesis 11:8 NIV</ref> |
God commands Noah and his sons to "be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.<ref> Genesis 9:1 NIV</ref> God also commanded Adam and Eve to do the exact same thing.<ref> Genesis 1:28 NIV</ref> Babel is an example of people who are doing the opposite of what God's wishes for humanity were. Instead of filling the earth they were building a city. This was in direct opposition to the commands of God. Therefore the people of Babel were punished by God and their language was confused so they did not understand one another.<ref> Genesis 11:7</ref> The Bible never explains the destruction of the tower or the city it seems that people just abandoned it and scattered from there over the face of the earth.<ref>Genesis 11:8 NIV</ref> |
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| − | The city of Babel was |
+ | The city of Babel was (according to some) later rebuilt as the city of [[Babylon]]. |
==Today== |
==Today== |
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Revision as of 05:12, 24 November 2013
The Tower of Babel was a great tower built by mankind.
A 1587 painting from an unknown Flemish painter depicting the Tower of Babel.
Etymology
Babel (Hebrew: בבל Bavel) means "to jumble" or "a confused medley of sounds".
The phrase the "Tower of Babel" never actually appears in the Bible. The Tower itself is always referred to "the tower" or "a tower" throughout the passage. The city is named Babel because it is the location where God confused man's language.
Construction
A united humanity made up of the generations following the Great Flood, who spoke a single language,[1] were migrating from the west and came upon a large plain (some interpretations read as valley) in the land of Shinar.[2] It was here that they decided to stop migrating and build a city and a great tower as they did not want to be scattered across the face of the earth.[3]
There is nothing in the biblical texts that actually describe the tower in anyway other than it was to be a tall tower that "whose top will reach into heaven."[4]
Purpose
The purpose of the Tower of Babel is a topic of great debate as there are as many varying opinions on how to translate the phrase that explains the top of the tower reaching into the heavens.
One theory is that the builders were trying to build a common religious center as some kind of rallying point so that humanity will not be scattered. The evidence for this theory is that if humanity truly intended to build a tower to heaven they would have started on top of a tall mountain to spare them a tremendous amount of work.
Another theory is based off of Mesopotamian inscriptions. The inscriptions refer to the phrase "it's top in the heavens" as a term to celebrate high towers and their grandeur. This would mean that the builders wanted to build a grand tower to make or leave a name for themselves by erecting a lasing monument By far the most common interpretation is that the builders were actually trying to reach heaven with their tower. Ancient people during this timeframe believed that the sky was actually a solid object that was held up by the large mountains the surrounded the land. They believed that heaven was a physical place just above the physical sky. Therefore the people of Babel in fact thought they could build a tower tall enough to God.
God's Judgment
God commands Noah and his sons to "be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.[5] God also commanded Adam and Eve to do the exact same thing.[6] Babel is an example of people who are doing the opposite of what God's wishes for humanity were. Instead of filling the earth they were building a city. This was in direct opposition to the commands of God. Therefore the people of Babel were punished by God and their language was confused so they did not understand one another.[7] The Bible never explains the destruction of the tower or the city it seems that people just abandoned it and scattered from there over the face of the earth.[8]
The city of Babel was (according to some) later rebuilt as the city of Babylon.
Today
Today the reconstructed tower is called Etemanki and represents a form of Mesopotamian temple called a Ziggurat. It is near the Hanging Gardens in Babylon, Iraq. Although scholars today argue that the tower of Babel may also be symbolic of man's attempt into reaching the level of God. Often times in the Bible an establishment is symbolic for a kingdom, person, or people, such as the house of David which symbolizes a specific lineage. In means of the Tower of Babel some scholars have raised the possibility that the post-flood world was eager to re-establish themselves and regain the former glory that had been realized by Antedeluvian people before the flood. As the Bible says they came together to build a tower yet does not mention any specific dimensions or characterstics, giving further evidence to the assumption that mankind was uniting to build an elite race that would equal the beings of heaven and reach the glory of God. Since God was able to confuse the language the people were unsuccessful in their attempt, and from there the people divided into the world and it is assumed this is where the world recieved its ethnic diversity.