Chapter Eleven
The Tower of Babel
Almost everyone has wondered about human diversity, be it a question about why there are so many languages or why someone’s skin color is different than another. The events that followed the worldwide flood help us see how that diversity may have begun. While it is true that the sons of Noah came from one family, many of the names in the genealogy of Genesis chapter ten often allude to color and other features. Many Bible scholars suggest that those variations, combined with the locations each of those families migrated to make them the progenitors of the various cultures around the world.
11:1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words.
Prior to the Tower of Babel incident, the world only had one language, and everyone understood everyone else. More than likely that language was Hebrew as the names we read about prior to the Babel rebellion, all have Hebrew roots and meanings. Some believe that it is unlikely that the Shemites (or at least the majority of them) would not have participated in this rebellion, therefore they would have been the most likely to retain Hebrew as their primary language.
11:2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
As discussed in Genesis chapter eight, if the people migrated from the area around where the ark landed, they would have come from the region known today as Iran. The land of Shinar technically describes a large geographic region in the Mesopotamian valley, however in the Bible it is an alternate name for Babylonia.
11:3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar.
It appears that the people of the land of Shinar came together and formed some form of government, or perhaps a leadership council. They decided to build using bricks and bitumen, a material we discussed in Genesis chapter six where God instructed Noah to coat the inside and outside of the ark with pitch. This word translated as bitumen (Hebrew word ‘ḥē·mār’),[1] and even though it can be translated as pitch, slime, tar, or asphalt, it is a different word than the word used in Genesis 6:14.[2] The valley between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers apparently was rich in bitumen as archaeologists have found significant amount of kiln-fired brick and asphalt construction in this area.
11:4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”
This group decides to build a city and a tall tower out of those bricks. On the surface this does not sound like a bad thing to do. Building towns and cities would have been a reasonable activity to do when you are establishing a home. We are given a hint that there is something else going on here, namely their motives. We see that they want to settle down in the land of Shinar and build a tower with its top in the heavens and make a name for themselves. A name for themselves? Why are they looking to improve on their reputation or image? We know that the Hebrew word ‘šā·mǎ’·yim’[3] (translated here as ‘heavens’) has been used 24 times prior to this verse, including the first verse of the Bible, to refer to everything from the earth’s atmosphere to the outer regions of space; it is also a word that can refer to the abode of God. As we combine that fact with the last part of the verse, “lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth,” we see that their primary motivation was to stay there instead of being dispersed. Why did they think they had to scatter? God gave them the command to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (see Genesis 1:28; 9:1, 7) and God lives in heaven, so were they making a tower to worship God or be like God? Perhaps they sold the idea to the people as a way to worship God, but the truth is, this was a great ploy to rebel against God. Was this an attempt to glorify human achievement instead of seeking and worshiping God? Many believe that humanism has its roots here in the Land of Shinar. God’s response to this event supports this conclusion.
11:5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.
We know that God is long-suffering and generally does not interfere or intervene, allowing people to choose their own path (as we have read about with some of the sons of Ham). But we also know that He is a loving God and will not tolerate evil forever. God understood what was going on, He knew the people’s true motivation. It is interesting to note that God came down (descended) to see the city and tower for Himself. Was God far away? No, this verse is worded this way to remind us that God is definitely interested in the affairs of mankind. Many believe that this anthropomorphizing of God was to use a form of satire to emphasize the extreme level of human depravity. The author once again is privileged to hear about a conversation between the members of the Godhead. Was God concerned that mankind would build a tower that He would now have to share heaven with them? Of course not! Besides towers built today would make that one look tiny. So, what was God concerned about? Mainly the suppression of truth; if people are easily persuaded to believe in a lie, it would be much harder for them to accept the truth. If left on their own, there would be no limit to their rebellion against God and the subsequent humanism could potentially displace the truth with false religion. Efforts to corrupt the truth have continued throughout history as witnessed by the number of false theologies and religions we have around us today.
11:7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
Speaking in the plural form, God effectively stops this community from continuing their disobedience. Any project that requires teamwork also requires effective communications. By confusing their language, this rebellion came to an end. Based on how the author first called our attention to the fact that there was one language when this rebellion started (see verse one), combined with the information that family groups were dispersed from here, presumably members of the same family still understood each other, we can conclude that this event was the birth of a variety of languages.
11:8 So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.
Not able to continue building their city, the people were dispersed from the land of Shinar to all over the world. The text states that God dispersed them; did He do that indirectly as the result of the confusion or did He disperse them directly through some form of intervention? Since the emphasis is on the change in languages and does not imply anything else, it must have been clear that the language issue was from God and that they had no choice other than return to obedience of His earlier edict of being fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
The name of the city is listed as Babel (Hebrew transliteration ‘bā·ḇěl’,[4] meaning the “Gate of God’) which gives us another clue as to the people’s motivation as to why they were building the tower (seeking a different religion), plus it provides us with a better understand why God stopped it. However, we also know that the word translated here as ‘confused’ is the Hebrew word ‘bā·lǎl’,[5] meaning “to confuse,” which begs the question, could the name Babel be considered more of a word play intended to be a parody regarding what just took place? In either case the term babble is still in use today when someone doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Considerations
Have you ever wondered what a race is? Races or racial groups were originally used to denote geopolitical or national affiliations, however, later by the 17th Century, the term was being used to categorize shared traits, primarily physical appearance but often included ancestry, social, and cultural traits. It was not until Darwinian evolution suggested that different people groups may have evolved at different rates, inferring that some humans were less evolved than others, that race became a highly debated subject. Science and medicine now understand that biologically there are not any differences between people groups and that there is only one human race.
What does the Bible say? The Bible teaches that we all of one origin (see Acts 17:26), all descendants of Adam (see 1 Corinthians 15:45), who are all made in the image of God (see Genesis 1:26-27). This is important fact to remember since Jesus had to be a human being in order to be qualified to be your Savior. Leading a sin-less life, suffering, dying, and being raised to life again would have been meaningless unless He was human.
It is interesting to see how fast many people turn from God. The Bible contains several stories that report the rapid decay of a person’s moral behavior or a group’s sudden interest in pursuing worldly pleasure. In some cases, the decline extends over a period of several years or in other times only a few weeks. It is interesting to note that whenever people are being obedient to God they are often rewarded with prosperity. As prosperity increases, the less one is reliant of God. The less reliant one becomes of God the more they become interested in worldly pleasures and wisdom. Soon they only want to do the things they want to do; God no longer matters. Sometimes to get the attention of those caught in the lure of the world, God allows calamity or an invasion by one’s enemy to remind them of reality. So why does this happen? What makes a person, or a group of people start to disobey or rebel against God? That would be pride, human pride. History is replete with stories of prideful, God-challenging people. Does anyone actually think they can out do God? It is great that God loves us so much that He is willing to create a roadblock to help us see reality, but for some they only see what they want to see and will continue to challenge God. Nimrod was one of those people.
Apparently, Nimrod and other descendants of Noah’s son Ham decided to do things differently than what God wanted. They began to worship the creation rather than the Creator, leading to pantheism (the belief that all things are part of divinity, since all are god there is no one distinct God) and polytheism (the belief that there are many gods); both beliefs naturally lead to idolatry. Many scholars consider the Mesopotamian Valley and the Land of Shinar as the region where ancient idolatry has its roots and Babylonia possibly the birthplace of all pagan ritualism. It appears that the various ancient gods and goddesses of Rome, Greece, India, Egypt, and other several other nations may have their origins in Babylonia. Nimrod himself was later identified as the chief god of Babylon, known as Marduk (or Merodach).[6]
Most Biblical scholars and many historians believe that Nimrod was the chief instigator behind the building of the Tower of Babel. Some even equate Nimrod as the first world dictator. However, God prevented Nimrod from growing his false religion by confusing the language, which may explain why he left Babylon to go to Assyria and build many other cities (see Genesis 10:11-12).
While Babylon is a key city in the Bible, it certainly is not a godly one. Here is a quick recap of the Biblical events involving Babylon. It was central to the Assyrian invasion of Israel and the assimilation of the Northern Kingdom Israelites (see 2 Kings 17:24-41); an envoy was sent from Babylon to visit King Hezekiah who pridefully showed them everything, later the king was informed by Isaiah about a prophecy of how one day the city would conquer the Israelites (see 2 Kings 20:12-19; 2 Chronicles 32:31); Babylon did invade Judah (Southern Kingdom) resulting in a 70-year period of captivity (see 2 Kings 24:1-25:30; 2 Chronicles 36:1-21); even though the exiles did return from Babylon it was not easy rebuilding the Temple and city walls (see Ezra 1:1-Nehemiah 13:31).
The city of Babylon was used by God to discipline the Israelites for not obeying His law regarding the Sabbath Year (see Exodus 23:10-11; Leviticus 25:1-7; 26:34-35). However, even though the city was used as a tool to punish the Israelites, that doesn’t mean that Babylon was not a true enemy against Judah nor was it a friend of God’s. Both Isaiah and Jeremiah wrote extensively regarding the punishment of Babylon (see Isaiah chapters 13 and 14; Jeremiah chapters 50 and 51). The book of Revelation also covers the future event of Babylon’s final destruction (see Revelation chapters 17 and 18).
Shem’s Descendants
11:10 These are the generations of Shem. When Shem was 100 years old, he fathered Arpachshad two years after the flood. 11 And Shem lived after he fathered Arpachshad 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
Now approximately 200 years after the Tower of Babel event, we see the next listing of generations (Hebrew ‘tô·lē·ḏôṯ’, this is the fifth generation list in the book of Genesis), these are the generations of Shem. This fifth-generation listed in the book of Genesis covers the genealogy between Arpachshad (or Arphaxad) to Peleg, the next generation listing begins with Terah, the father of Abram. Shem lived another 500 years after Arpachshad was born. We are also told that he had other sons and daughters, which is a indirect way of informing the reader that there were others, but they were not considered significant to provide any further detail.
11:12 When Arpachshad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah. 13 And Arpachshad lived after he fathered Shelah 403 years and had other sons and daughters. 14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber. 15 And Shelah lived after he fathered Eber 403 years and had other sons and daughters. 16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg. 17 And Eber lived after he fathered Peleg 430 years and had other sons and daughters. 18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu. 19 And Peleg lived after he fathered Reu 209 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug. 21 And Reu lived after he fathered Serug 207 years and had other sons and daughters. 22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor. 23 And Serug lived after he fathered Nahor 200 years and had other sons and daughters. 24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah. 25 And Nahor lived after he fathered Terah 119 years and had other sons and daughters. 26 When Terah had lived 70 years, he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
This genealogy appears very similar to the one found in Genesis chapter five. Both offer the age of the father at the birth of their first-born son, the number of years the father lived afterwards, and a statement that they fathered sons and daughters. However, this chapter leaves out the total of the respective life spans as well as any reference to their deaths.
Just as we read in Genesis 10:24, the name Kenan (or Kainan, Cainan) is omitted between Arpachshad and Shelah (see Luke 3:36 and commentary above). It is interesting to note that the lifespans reported are gradually declining since the flood. They will be close to lifespans experienced today by the time of Jacob.
Considerations
Many believe that since the Hebrew word ‘yālad’[7] (translated above as ‘fathered’) can also be translated as “to beget,” “to give birth,” or “to deliver,” and like the words, ‘ben’ and ‘bat’ (son and daughter) that word can refer to a descendant rather than a direct child, that there are some gaps in this chapter’s genealogy. As we discussed earlier (see Considerations for Genesis 1:1), gap theories abound in the world of theology and quasi-theology. The issue in this chapter typically comes from the disbelief that the population by Abram’s day can be so large, therefore there must be more generations that are not listed. While the concern is understandable, it is not necessary. Dr. Henry M. Morris explains:
Assuming the record of Noah’s grandsons was complete, we have noted that there was probably an increase of 533 percent in the first generation after the Flood. If a generation was thirty-three years (there had been three grown generations a century after the Flood), there would then have been eleven such generations by the time Abram went to Canaan. In the genealogical listing from Shem, Abram is ninth from Shem. However, his seventy-fifth year would have allowed two more normal generations, even though he himself had no children at the time. Evidently, it is reasonable to assume eleven generations since the Flood at this stage in world history.
If each such generation were to experience a 500 percent increase, slightly less than did the first generation (and this certainly was not impossible or unreasonable in those early days), then the world population at this time could have been at least 300 million people! Of course, it is more likely that this rate of increase fell off as time went on, but at least it is clear that the world population in Abraham’s time could have easily been large enough to account for all the evidences of civilization at that time throughout the world.[8]
Terah’s Descendants
11:27 Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran fathered Lot. 28 Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
The sixth listing of generations in the book of Genesis are the generations of Terah, the father of Abram. There is a significant amount of speculation regarding the meaning and etymology of his name, some believe that his name relates to the moon, which could be true since what we do know is that he was a idolator and may have worshiped the moon god (see Joshua 24:2). Haran died before his father, which may explain why his son Lot became Abram’s responsibility.
11:29 And Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.
Terah had three sons; however we are only given the names of the wives of Abram and Nahor, this may have been due to their involvement in later events (again listing only those that are vital or significant). Apparently Nahor married his niece Milcah, the daughter of Haran. We will later find out that Sarai was Abram’s half-sister as she was the daughter of Terah, but not the same mother, since he had more than one wife (see Genesis 20:12). Years later when the law is given to Moses, this type of relationship and close marriages were forbidden. The text informs us that Sarai was barren and did not have a child; this issue will become a concern for Abram and Sarai as this is the setting of a test of faith for both of them.
11:31 Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.
Perhaps shortly after Haran’s death, Terah desired to leave Ur of the Chaldeans and move to Canaan. Due to the topography, namely impassible mountains, they could not travel directly to Canaan (southwest). So, they would have needed to travel due west first, that is where they would have encountered the city of Haran (located on a major trade route). It is not explained why the move, nor does the text explain why Terah stopped in Haran, where he stayed until he died.
Considerations
The location identified in Genesis 11:28 and 31 as the “Ur of the Chaldeans,” is somewhat of a mystery. Since historically the earliest recorded reference to the Chaldeans is estimated to be around 883-859 B.C. (During the reign of the Assyrian King Ashurnasirpal II), that makes this reference to the Chaldeans questionable as it alludes to their existence over a thousand years earlier. While it is true that secular history may not always be accurate, some people use issues like these to question the authority of the Bible. Most scholars dismiss this by considering this to be nothing more than an anachronism, where the author, in this case Moses, knew about Abram’s Aramean origins (another point that scholars love to debate) and simply used the term ‘Chaldeans’ who were, by Moses’ time, well known.
The Hebrew word ‘kǎś·dîm’, translated here as ‘Chaldeans’, has been rendered by Bible translators in multiple ways, including Babylonian. Some linguistically connect the word to an ancient Sumerian title (meaning “master builder”). Others believe it is a reference to the people in south Mesopotamia near the Euphrates River. The word ‘Ur’ has been connected to the words light, flame, fiery furnace, the residence of the moon-god Nannar-Sin, etc. There seems to be many theories, meanwhile the debate continues. No one really knows for certain what the terms ‘Ur’ and ‘Chaldean’ mean, nor do we know their true etymology.
Although the same word ‘ûr’ can be found six times in the Old Testament and is always associated with fire and more specifically the fire of judgment (see Isaiah 24:15; 31:9; 44:16; 47:14; 50:11; Ezekiel 5:2). The word was given a different Strong’s Hebrew number (217 versus 218 being the one used for the name of the location) to prevent confusion.
Where is the Ur of Chaldeans? Well that is a mystery too; archaeologists have found several potential sites, some with elaborate temples that could potentially be the correct location, but again, no one knows for certain. Perhaps one day that will change, although the politics in those regions will undoubtedly make it difficult for some archaeologists to access.
It is interesting to note that there is some extra-Biblical evidence that the term, ‘Chaldean’ was used to describe Babylonian priests around the 6th Century B.C. Which corresponds with a passage from the book of Daniel, “Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king.” (Daniel 2:2). While the mystery continues, we have no reason to doubt the Word of God.
⇐Previous Chapter (Introduction/Index) Next Chapter⇒
[1] Strong’s Hebrew 2564.
[2] See commentary under Genesis 6:14-16 for a comparison.
[3] Strong’s Hebrew 8064.
[4] Strong’s Hebrew 894.
[5] Strong’s Hebrew 1101.
[6] Dolphin, L. (1985). Nimrod, Mars and the Marduk Connection. https://www.ldolphin.org/Nimrod.html
[7] Strong’s Hebrew 3205.
[8] Morris, H. M. (1976). The Genesis record: a scientific and devotional commentary on the book of beginnings (p. 284). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.