TOWER OF BABEL

In ancient times, towers were a symbol of power and enslavement.

It is very interesting that the Bible mentions one tower against the construction of which even God himself spoke out! The history of the construction of this tower is directly related to the modern diversity of languages and the complexity of mutual understanding between speakers of these languages. We will dwell on this in more detail.

The background was like this. After the global flood, the Lord God makes a covenant with Noah and his family, as well as with all the “birds and cattle and with all the beasts of the earth … with all that came out of the ark.” As a sign of this amazing treaty, God put a rainbow in the cloud and promised that if God brings a cloud to the earth and a rainbow appears in the cloud, then God will remember the agreement between Him and people and every living soul, and there will be no more water as a flood to destroy all flesh. Having carefully studied the contract, we can see that there are not so many conditions of this contract.

1. From now on, everything that moves that lives will be food for man.

Animals, birds, fish now fear and tremble before people.

3. From the prohibitions: you can not eat the flesh with its blood, because it is the soul.

4. From every beast will be exacted for the blood of man.

and likewise a man cannot shed the blood of a man, otherwise God will exact from the murderer and his blood will be shed by the hand of man: for man is created in the image of God.

6. Another condition that relates to our topic was this – be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth! At the expense of “multiply” it turned out not bad for people. One might even say good! God blessed the sons of Noah with a large offspring.

Despite this, we must recognize the fact that most of these conditions were violated to one degree or another by the descendants of Noah, and the violation of the last condition “fill the earth” led to significant changes in people’s lives. And we are still feeling the consequences of this.

The eleventh chapter of the book of Genesis tells that there was one language and one dialect. After everyone moved east in a friendly crowd, they chose a valley in the land of Shinar for settlement. People understand that they will be scattered throughout the earth and instead of fulfilling this condition of the covenant, they are making an attempt to build themselves a city and a tower as high as heaven. “And make a name for ourselves” – they just said so.

Theologians explain this decision of theirs not by the desire to “scatter over the earth.” To make a name for yourself means to establish yourself, to demonstrate your strength, that is, to create a name for yourself! In the Swedish translation (and also in the English Bible, by the way), the end of verse 4 of chapter 11 is rendered as “lest we be scattered.” Clear and understandable desire. The sin of the inhabitants of the valley of Shinar was, apparently, in excessive pride. Let’s build a city! Let’s build ourselves a tower to heaven! Let’s make a name for ourselves! Everything is against the will of the Creator. Looks like an open rebellion!? And what does God do in such a tense situation? The Lord personally comes down to that place to make sure that, yes, that’s exactly the way it is. And he draws attention to the fact that everyone has one language and they have one people, and as a result they will not lag behind what they have planned to do.

This is where the most interesting and intriguing begins!

What does the Lord decide to do? God mixes languages between people so that they stop understanding one another! Let’s see why the Lord made such a decision?

The Bible has a lot of examples when the Lord, believing that something has gone wrong, very radically intervenes in what is happening. Well, He did not want the Egyptians to catch up with the Israelites when they crossed the Red Sea. For some reason, the pharaoh decided that his soldiers would be able to pass through the sea like on dry land. But the Lord took away the wheels from the Egyptian chariots and they could no longer catch up with the people of Israel, and after that he completely drowned them all in the abyss of the sea. (The Egyptians are meant.) As you can see, quickly, ruthlessly and very effectively!

Why, in the case of the Tower of Babel, did the Lord not show the fullness of His power for intimidation and edification?

Yes, it was enough for Him, just like those wheels in chariots, just to stop the fire in the brick kilns or to render some mechanisms unusable so that there would be no physical opportunity to carry out the plan … But the Lord acts in a different way – He mixes languages ​​and people stop understanding each other friend.

Theologians have several versions, but they all begin with the fact that it was a Punishment or Judgment from above. In this case, the confusion of languages is not the worst thing that could befall these proud people. As a punishment for pride and disobedience, poisonous snakes could have attacked them like the Israelites in the desert or some kind of pestilence at worst. The same question remains: Why the confusion of languages?

Let me express my vision of what happened, what seems to me the most logical. This is my assumption and I do not claim to be true. When we meet the Creator, I think we will have time to ask Him how it really happened, but my version of events can give you food for thought, for a new step forward in your spiritual quest.

So what actually happened there? From my point of view, it is significant that there was one language and one dialect. By the way, the Lord also pays attention to this when He descends to them. This is the key to understanding this problem. As it turned out, the presence of one language led to collusion and opposition to God’s will.

  First: no society is ever homogeneous in social status. We can see this starting from the younger group in kindergarten, then in school classes and the teams that surround us at work and at home. Someone has a leadership position, someone is under the influence of authority, and someone is a clear outsider in the group. In large societies, no matter how democratic they are, a leader is also chosen (call him whatever you want: president, secretary of the presidium, supreme father of the nation or clan elder, whatever), but the leader will definitely appear. The power of voice and influence on the opinion of the majority of the leader is always greater than that of those who are lower in social status. It is his voice in many matters that is decisive. It is important to note that the authority of the Voice of Power “magically” affects the minds of adepts, that is, ordinary people. “And they said: let us build ourselves a city and a tower as high as the heavens…” Ie. contrary to God’s command – to settle on the earth, they began to build a tower so as not to go anywhere.

We can observe the same situations in our time. Almost all people have access to the media and we can observe how the words of the announcer change public opinion in one direction or another. People are by nature naive and gullible (so that no one speaks) and they have nowhere to go from the pressure and manipulation of those who constantly broadcast some kind of idea. It’s the same in the story with the construction of the Tower of Babel, all the time! someone’s insistent voice sounded. The voice of the one who did not want to fulfill the will of the Creator and lose his power. As long as families or family clans had no desire to leave in search of a better life, power remained securely in the same hands!

Having visited Babylon, the Lord sees the main reason for resistance – one language gives one dominant ideology, which leads to nationwide disobedience to His will. The Lord mixes languages, which leads to a lack of understanding in society. What is the true meaning of this action? I believe that the Merciful God actually freed the unfortunate inhabitants of the valley from the pernicious influence of the dominant ideology that sounded in one language. As soon as people lost the opportunity to communicate in one language, the dictate of the dominant voice fell: “one stopped understanding the speech of the other.” It does not mean that how many people there were, so many languages appeared. In the same way, they were able to agree among themselves in their clans or families to “scatter over the face of the earth.” “One ceased to understand the speech of the other” means that there was freedom of choice and whoever wanted could return to the origins of God’s covenant.