tower of babel

[Ignoramus]

I hope this isn't too lazy of a post. I'm kind of trying to make my way through "the bible" once again, but I'm distracted by other things.

In genesis there is mention of the story about the tower of babel, and it just says that Yahweh said that they (the Babylonians or maybe the humans) will be able to do anything, so he confused their languages. What interpretations and sources do you think are interesting with respect to that story? What does it mean that it was bad that they might be able to achieve anything?

I used a bible search engine and din't find other mentions of the tower of babel.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. I read both the Bible and Torah

and this passage is what jumped out at me: they built the tower "to make a name for ourselves". This was the same in both books, and what I find this passage significant. It seems to indicate that people were unifying for egotistical reasons. That God decided to deversify by changing the speech was so that they could learn more about their spiritual selves rather than focus on outward appearances. I don't have access to any recent direct translations of this passage, but I'm sure it is to be more alligorical than my interpretation.

[The Straight Story]

2. gotta head out for a bit, but

when I get back will discuss my thoughts on this interesting topic (can go deep really).

I was starting to type and get into it all when dad called and mom needs some things from the store (she just got home friday after 5 weeks in hospital). So I will be back soon and promise to discuss it.

BTW - good topic!

[indigobusiness]

3. The Tower of Babel

The Tower of Babel



Now the whole earth had one language and few words. And as men migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 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. 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 scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."



And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built. 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. Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."

So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the earth. - Genesis 11.

edit- direct link

http://unmuseum.mus.pa.us/babel.htm

http://www.occultopedia.com/index1.htm

[The Straight Story]

4. Here is one source of info

There are a lot of different commentaries to peruse there on the subject.

http://bible1.crosswalk.com/Commentaries/JamiesonFaussetBrown/jfb.cgi?book=ge&chapter=11#Ge11_9

[Brentos]

5. The main point...

The main point of the story is that after the Flood, God asked mankind to do one thing...spread across the entire world that He had created for them. Instead, what does man do? He sticks together and decides to build a tower to themselves, instead of spreading across the world in the glory of God.

Quick version.

Thanks,

-Brentos, the Freshmaker

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. It's simply a fanciful explanation for why people speak different

languages. :-)

There's a lot of strange stuff early in Genesis. Since it comes from three different early oral traditions, who knows what it all meant to the original inventors of the story?

[pelagius]

8. The Genesis accounts were ancient...

...by the time they were compiled into the biblical form. Tradition attributes the authorship of the Pentateuch to Moses (a remarkable feat since apparently he penned passages describing his own death!) and dates it to around 1450 BCE. Modern scholarship proposes even earlier dating.

The important thing to consider is that these "origin myths" existed in a Near East where nascent Judaism had to provide a defense for itself in the terms understood by followers of many contending religions. So the creation stories (there's two) in Genesis are the Jewish answer to, say, the Babylonian creation stories. The covenant between G-d and the children of Israel described in the Exodus account took the literary form of a contract between a Near Eastern suzerain and his vassal. It would be clearly recognized as such by a Near Eastern audience. Much of what seems strange to us today would make sense in the context of the times.

And so it goes. The whole line of debate about how "group x STOLE this story, holiday, belief, whatever from group y" is ridiculous in its assumptions. No idea or story exists in a vacuum; it's part of a larger conversation between other ideas and stories.

[InvisibleBallots]

11. I agree about the Tower of Babel

I assume it's a mythological explanation of why people speak different languages, and the tower part is probably based on pyramids or other really existing architecture.

"Since it comes from three different early oral traditions, who knows what it all meant to the original inventors of the story?"

I don't believe that the Torah comes from any oral traditions at all - and usually, the "documentary theory" posits FOUR, not three, written sources for the Torah - J (Jehovah), E(Elohim), P(Priestly) and D (Deutonomist).

[catbert836]

7. It's like this:

God said to the people after the flood the honor Him by spreading over all the earth. But instead, they stuck together and built a tower so they could reach heaven or be like God. It's like saying: "God, I know how much you've done for us, but we really don't need you anymore. You're fired."

[nemo137]

9. and for a funny treatment of this story

Track down David Ives' "Babel's in Arms," an exceptionally funny one act play.

[indigobusiness]

10. It is a parable advising respect for diversity.

It is emblematic of the chaos and noise of our information age. The meaningful hides in plain sight, obscured by the chatter.