The Tower of Babel: What’s the Point?
Is this the story about how different languages appeared? Not so much.
Introduction
In Genesis 11:1-9, there is the familiar story of the Tower of Babel (even though the term Tower of Babel does not appear in the text).
The biblical narrative begins saying that the whole world had a common language.
The whole earth was of one language and of one speech (11:1).
Some people have thought that this is an origin story describing how the diversity of languages came to be. However, this does not appear to be the case. There were already many languages (see Genesis 10:5; 10:20; 10:31).
Genesis 11:2 describes the place as Shinar, which included the city Babylon and the area surrounding it.
The story unfolds as the Babylonians decide to build a giant tower, so that they can reach heaven. Many cultures in the ancient world believed the gods lived on top the mountains. So, if you live in a flat area (like in Babylonia), you build your own mountain and put a temple on the top.
The Babylonians built several of these artificial mountains, called ziggurats.
When Was This Story Written?
We get a clue of the date of the story from Genesis 11:3, where it describes “bricks that were fired.” Firing bricks was an innovation that made bricks (and their buildings) sturdier. This was an innovation that began during the heights of Babylonian power, so it is likely that this was written during the Babylon Exile (587-538 BCE) or shortly after.
While the people of Judah were in Babylon, there was a ziggurat built for the Babylonian god Marduk, called Etemenanki. It was a magnificent structure, probably 16 stories tall. However, due to changes in Babylonian leaders and bureaucracy, Etemenanki sat unfinished, with no construction going on.
This story in the Bible may be based on those events.
There are also myths from other cultures—in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and even Greece—that has stories very similar to the Biblical Tower of Babel.
Whether it is based on Etemenanki, the mythology of other cultures, or both, the writers of Genesis wrote the story of the Tower of Babel. So, wherever the story came from, the writers of Genesis took the opportunity to teach something about God and our interaction with Him.
So What’s the Point?
Here’s a few questions about faith insights from the story of the Tower of Babel.
The Babylonians were trying to get everyone to speak Aramaic. Was the idea of “one language and one speech” a shot at the Babylonian idea to create a common language?
Is the failure of the Tower of Babel a metaphor for the fall of Babylon?
When the Persians took over Babylon (539 BCE), they destroyed most of the religious buildings in Babylon. Is this story describing, anachronistically, the invasion by the Persians? And that God is using the Persians to accomplish his will? (Isaiah 44:28 calls the Persian King Cyrus “God’s Shepherd.”)
Were the writers of Genesis mocking the gods of Babylon? Other prophets in the Old Testament savagely mocked pagan gods. The Babylonian gods were so weak that they couldn’t even build a ziggurat before God swooped in to stop them?
In the ancient world, people thought gods ruled over geographic areas. So, the Egyptian gods ruled in Egypt, but if you left Egypt, the gods didn’t go with you. If you left Egypt and went to Babylon, you had to worship the Babylonian gods. During the Babylonian Exile (587-538 BCE), many people of Judah thought that God was still stuck back in Palestine. The prophets, of course, tried to tell people that God was in Babylon (unfortunately, people didn’t listen to the prophets very often). Was the story of the Tower of Babel a way to share the idea that God ruled over every geographic area—even Babylon?
The Babylonians were at the height of their power at the beginning of the Exile. The people of Judah must have thought that the Babylonian gods were pretty tough. After all, they beat the God of the Hebrews! Perhaps the story of the Tower of Babel is to remind people not to be afraid (the phrase “don’t be afraid” is the most common phrase in the Bible).
Perhaps the Tower of Babel’s main insight is to remind us that God has a beautiful plan for us, and with a little bit of waiting, we can see His plan unfold.
If you liked this article, you might enjoy Read the Bible in a Year, a chronological guide to reading the Bible. It has 52 introductions for each week’s readings. The introductions include the history and of the book you’re reading, important passages, and faith insights.
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Read the Bible in a Year: 52 Introductions for a Chronological Journey through the Bible
Help! I Want to Read the Bible: A Beginner’s Quick Start Guide
Understanding Genesis: The Beginning of the Promise. A Bible Study
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