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Tower of Babel: Less Confusing
Date Posted: Monday, March 07, 2005
Author: Dick Fischer
After the dispersing, settling, and, probably, conquering by the tribal descendants of Noah's three sons, a landmark incident took place in the plain of Shinar that caused and still causes confusion - at the tower of Babel.
Genesis 11:1:
"The whole earth was of one language, and of one speech."
It
is not difficult to see how Bible interpreters have been as baffled as
the tower builders. The
true confusion of tongues, surpassing the incident at Babel, is the
translation of Hebrew into English.
Yet again, ‘erets is translated "earth,"
although in the next verse the same word is rendered correctly as the
"land" of Shinar.
Any
other duly authorized word such as land, district, region, or territory
would have suited the occasion adequately.
It's the word "earth" in this and verses discussed
previously that has become the launching pad propelling Bible exegesis
into outer space. It is
long past time to abandon this circular, non-productive orbit of
misinterpretation, and get back down to - not "earth" - but
land.
Burnt
Brick Set in Bitumen
Genesis
11:2-3: "And it came to
pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the
land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
And
they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them
thoroughly. And they had
brick for stone, and slime [asphalt, bitumen] had they for mortar."
The
children of Arphaxad, descendants of Shem, named in the same chapter of
Genesis, are the likely builders of the tower at a time in history when
tower building was all the rage.
In
Mesopotamia, the temples of the predynastic period developed into
grandiose monuments which dominated not only the cities they were meant
to serve, but the whole of the valley floor.
It has even been suggested that the ziggurats, the stepped mounds
which supported the sacred shrines, were intended simply as artificial
mountains. Though their
design showed high skill, technically they were of the simplest: a
mudbrick core encased in a weatherproof skin of burnt brick set in
bitumen.
Although
the Egyptian pyramids were constructed of cut stone, the Mesopotamian
ziggurats were, in fact, constructed with mudbricks and burnt mudbricks
as stated in Genesis 11:3. The
bitumen used as a weathertight casing comes to us as "slime"
in the King James version though the New American Standard uses
"tar."
The
evolution of the temple complex is well illustrated by the Anu Temple in
Uruk. Six temples were
constructed, one above the other. ...
after five hundred years of rebuilding, a monumental brick platform rose
16 meters above the community.
Not
only the Semites, but the Sumerians too, were adept at building
ziggurats. In addition to
the site at Uruk, the Sumerians built temple monuments at Nippur, Lagash,
Kish, and Ur. Even smaller
population centers to the north were building their own.
Many of the true ziggurats were built upon old temple complexes
about the time of the Third Dynasty at Ur (2112-2000 BC); some, perhaps,
were constructed a little earlier.
A
Ziggurat Building Contest
A
picture emerges of the region as a land of city-state kingdoms laced
with an intricate canal network for farming and facilitating trade.
Although trading between cities was an integral part of the
culture, fierce competition was quite evident, and sacking neighboring
cities was all too common.
Growing
populations required more water, and as northern cities extended their
network of canals to irrigate additional fields, they deprived their
southern neighbors of life-giving water.
In anger, the southern cities would wage war on their northern
neighbors and wreak havoc on their irrigation systems.
Cities would recover in time and exact their revenge, starting
another cycle.
In
their literature, these continual battles with ensuing changes of
kingship are interspersed with the names of the kings and the years they
reigned. Leaving out those
details, following is a brief sequence:
The
weapons of Kish were overthrown;
its kingdom passed to Opis.
(Kings omitted)
The arms of Opis were
overthrown;
its kingdom passed to Kish. (Kings
omitted)
The arms of Kish were
overthrown;
its kingdom passed to Erech.
(Kings omitted)
The arms of Erech were
overthrown;
its kingdom passed to Agade, etc.
Individual
cities, united for waging war, were also sufficiently organized for
civic building projects. At each cult center, a simple temple mound was erected
dedicated to a particular god. Although
these mounds can be traced to as early as 3000 BC, by the end of the
third millennium they were reaching immense proportions.
The
Ashmolean Prism contains a liturgy to the temple at Kes, presumed to
have been in the proximity of Erech and Shuruppak.
Numerous lines end with "attaining unto heaven":
Oh
temple whose design in heaven and earth has been planned, thou are
possessed of pure decrees. Temple
erected in the Land where stand the chapels of the gods.
Mountain house, radiant with abundance and festivity.
A
kind of ziggurat contest ensued as cities added mudbrick platforms on
top of older temple complexes topped with granite, sandstone, and marble
temple enclosures. It
became a point of honor and pride to outdo neighboring cities, and of
course, this demonstrated love and devotion to their deity.
Genesis
11:4: "And they said, Go
to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven;
and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of
the whole earth."
Gudea,
king of Lagash, sings the praises of the temple he built to worship
Eninnu constructed from burnt bricks, stone, and "bitumen from
wells," and "bitumen from bitumen lake."
In addition to the similarity in building materials, note also
the similarity in attitude and aspirations with the builders at Babel.
In Gudea's words, the temple was "an object of admiration to
the eyes of the gods."
A
sense of this pride and competitive spirit that was emblematic of
virtually every city in Mesopotamia can be seen in the following
liturgy from king Gudea:
The
bright crown of the temple rested upon it and as the lapis-lazuli
mountain of heaven and earth rose from the earth.
The pavement of the terrace of the great temple he laid; as a
pure vessel on which honey and wine are poured it was open to heaven.
The shrine with a couch which he built like a perfect mountain,
as the holy stone vessel of the deep it rose.
On account of the great name which he had made for himself he
was received among the gods into their assembly.
Notice
the commonality between "the great name which he had made for
himself" in the liturgy with "let us make us a name" in
Genesis 11:4. The Semite
builders at Babel were not about to be outdone. After all, they had the one true God, and the other cities
were honoring impostors. They
would build a tower of such proportions that it would show up the
others and prove to them whose God reigned supreme.
You can imagine how happy God would be to have a mound of
mudbricks 10 feet higher than one dedicated to the Accadian sun god,
Shamash, or the Sumerian moon god, Nanna.
This misguided endeavor was not edifying to say the least.
Genesis
11:8: "So the Lord
scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and
they left off to build the city."
Many
Towers
The
traditional interpretation of the flood and the dispersion at Babel
has been that the total population of the entire world was confined to
the land of Shinar in the post-flood era. They were all related, according to tradition, all spoke a
common language, and they became engrossed in building the tower at
Babel. The Lord
confounded them, and off they went in all directions muttering Aztec,
Mandarin, Swahili, and the like.
They crossed oceans and reached far distant continents.
They made changes in skin color too, presumably, and developed
morphological adaptations, as they went along.
This
interpretation has perpetuated in spite of the extra-biblical evidence
available all along that nullifies this interpretation.
All those Bible apologists had to do was count the mudbrick
ziggurats in Mesopotamia. Any
number that exceeds one kills that explanation.
Five or more ziggurats should seal the lid on the coffin.
In fact, The Atlas of Mesopotamia locates over thirty ziggurats
and temple mounds in the region including Persia.
Parrot identified thirty-three towers in twenty-seven different
cities, adding "it was sometimes possible for one city to have
several ziggurats."
Had
the entire earth been devoid of humanity except for Noah's tribes
clustered together in the land of Shinar where the tower of Babel was
built, what would explain the additional towers?
The other ziggurats at various sites had to be constructed
either before, at the same time, or after the tower of Babel.
If the other monuments were constructed before Babel, it would
mean that Noah's descendants had already begun to spread out and
settle in widely separated communities, precluding them from all being
at one place, which was the case according to Genesis 10.
If
constructed all at the same time, however, that would infer multiple
Babels and simultaneous dispersions at all locations.
Who would like to argue for that?
But if the other ziggurats were built after Babel, it would
mean that after the Lord taught them a lesson and sent them packing,
they gathered together and built more ziggurats all over the place
like nothing had happened!
What
we find is that building ziggurats was simply in vogue in those days.
The tower of Babel was one among a number of Mesopotamian
worship centers. Though
we may never know with complete certainty which one it was, the mound
at Babylon is a prime candidate.
The following is part of Enuma Elish:
"Now
O lord, thou who hast caused our deliverance,
What
shall be our homage to thee?
Let
us build a shrine whose name shall be called
`Lo,
a chamber for our nightly rest': let us repose in it!
Let
us build a throne, a recess for his abode!
On
the day that we arrive we shall repose in it."
When
Marduk heard this,
Brightly
glowed his features, like the day:
Like
that of lofty Babylon, whose building you have requested,
Let
its brickwork be fashioned. You
shall name it
`The
Sanctuary.'"
The
Anunnaki applied the implement;
For
one whole year they molded bricks.
When
the second year arrived,
They
raise high the head of Esagila equaling Apsu.
Having
built a stage-tower as high as Apsu,
They
set up in it an abode for Marduk, Enlil, (and) Ea
In
their presence he adorned (it) in grandeur.
To
the base of Esharra its horns look down.
After
they had achieved the building of Esagila,
The
Anunnaki themselves erected their shrines.
[...]
all of them gathered
[...]
they had built as his dwelling.
The
gods, his fathers, at his banquet he seated:
"This
is Babylon, the place that is your home!"
Clearly
the building of the tower and the confusion of tongues at Babel loomed
large to the participants, but the tower itself was one among many.
It was not the biggest, and cannot be identified as the first
or the last.
The
Tower Restored and Rebuilt
The
rebuilding of destroyed temples was carried out long after the heyday
of Sumer and Accad. The
ziggurat at Babylon was restored by Nabopolassar, the founder of the
Neo-Babylonian dynasty, about 625 to 605 BC.
These are his words:
The
lord Marduk commanded me concerning Etemenanki, the staged tower of
Babylon, which before my time had become dilapidated and ruinous, that
I should make its foundations secure in the bosom of the nether world,
and make its summit like the heavens.
His
firstborn son, Nebuchadnezzar, continued in the efforts started by his
father, carrying out building the tower at Babylon until 562 BC.
When finished, a seven stage structure and its temple complex
reached nearly 300 feet in height.
Herodotus
visited Babylon about 460 BC and gave this report:
In
the midst of the temple a solid tower was constructed, one stadium in length
and one stadium in width. Upon
this tower stood another, and again upon this another, and so on, making eight
towers in all, one upon another. All
eight towers can be climbed by means of a spiral staircase which runs round
the outside. About halfway up
there are seats where those who make the ascent can sit and rest.
In the topmost tower there is a great temple, and in the temple is a
golden table. No idol stands
there. No one spends the night there save a woman of that country, designated
by the god himself, so I was told by the Chaldeans, who are the priests of
that divinity.
Sons
of Arphaxad
Genesis
11:10: "These are the
generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad
..."
Descendants
of Shem and Arphaxad must have experienced those places of worship,
constructed by their Sumerian neighbors, devoted to pagan gods, and decided to
follow suit, building a monument of their own.
Polytheistic worshippers erecting temples to pagan gods was tolerated
due to their ignorance, but God's chosen were expected to exercise better
judgment.
The
Lord was not pleased with this enterprise, and put an end to their foolishness
by confusing their speech. This
was described by Oracles:
And
now all intercourse,
By
some occult and overruling power,
Ceased
among men: by utterance they strove
Perplexed
and anxious to disclose their mind;
But
their lip failed them; and in lieu of words
Produced
a painful babbling sound ...
Then
this particular band of Semites, maybe mixed with Sumerians too, dispersed.
And judging from their writings, some of which pre-date the time of
Babel, there was no permanent alteration in their basic languages.
Ziggurat Design
Although a tripartite design was common to many ziggurats, distinctive designs and shapes reflected regional differences. Unger identified three different types which he labeled as a rectangular type, a square type, and a combined type. Parrot added a fourth, which he called "a temple on a high terrace." [xv]
Typically,
the Sumerians used a rectangular base with ramps for access.
Examples of these were found in the south at Ur, Uruk, and Nippur,
although triple staircases were added at Uruk and Nippur.
The Assyrians in the north preferred a square foundation with
staircases, such as were found at Asshur and Nimrud.
At Eridu, the style was the same as the Assyrian.
The square foundation, emblematic of Semite construction, could signify
a Semitic influence on the ancient city of Eridu.
The
temple at Nineveh, built by the Assyrians, is over 260 miles from Babylon,
farther than New York City is from Washington, D.C.
Just as New Yorkers took no part in building the Washington monument,
so too it is unlikely that Ninevites offered any assistance to build a tower
in the plain of Shinar where Babylon is located, especially when they had a
tower of their own to build.
There
was considerable distance between many of the cities that contained Semite
populations, cities that were founded before the building of the tower of
Babel came to a halt. Even Shem's
descendants could not all have been at Babel when the confusion of tongues
occurred; not to mention the neighboring Sumerians, Elamites, Gutians, or
Egyptians; or, for that matter, distant, primitive cultures concentrated in
areas of the world known today as Mexico, Denmark, Thailand, and Japan.
Purpose
for the Ziggurats
The
impetus for building the first temple mounds is unknown.
Were they platforms for saving lives in the event of floods?
Could they have been a means of defense?
When attacked, they could scamper up high platforms where they might
hold the enemy at bay, much as medieval forts were utilized from where defenders could throw things down upon the attacking enemy.
The
temples were also places of worship, where townspeople could honor their
particular deity and offer sacrifices. Yet,
none of these purposes explain why the temple structures began to become
skyscrapers. From 3000 BC to
about 2100 BC, more modest temple complexes in cities all over the region
blossomed into imposing ziggurats.
The
objective in constructing massive mudbrick structures is hinted at in the
names chosen. "House of the mountain of the universe" stood at
Asshur. "House of the seven
guides of heaven and earth" was located at Borsippa.
The "House of the king counsellor of equity" was at Ur, and
the "Lofty house of Zababa and Innina whose head is as high as the
heavens" was built at Nippur. Larsa
had the "House of the link between heaven and earth," and at Babylon
was the "House of the foundation of heaven and earth."
The
Hebrew balal means to confound or mix, and from Babel our English word
"babble" is derived, defined as, "to utter meaningless or
unintelligible sounds."
These definitions followed the event; however, the name
"Babel" was not chosen in anticipation of confusion.
The origin of "Babel" appears to be rooted in the Accadian
word, bab-ilu, or "Bab-El," meaning, "gate of God." Considering Babylon as the likely location for the tower of
Babel, then the name literally was "Gate of God" at the "House
of the foundation of heaven and earth."
Between
Beersheba and Haran, Jacob dreamed of a ladder, "set up on the earth, and
the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and
descending on it" (Gen. 28:12). He
proclaimed that place "Beth-El," "the house of God, and this is
the gate of heaven" (Gen. 28:17).
Did
Jacob's grandfather Abraham describe to his son and grandson the tower at
Babylon, or the one at Ur, in such vivid detail that it became a
shadow-in-the-mist in Jacob's dream?
Come
Down, Lord
Unlike
our modern churches and tabernacles, these temples had a greater significance
than just being a place to come and worship.
They were intended as the "house" or dwelling place of their
deity. The closer to heaven the towers could reach, the nearer the
worshippers could approach, and it was a two way street; the deity could
descend to the people more easily. By
means of the tower itself, perhaps, they could invoke their god to come down.
Parrot touches on the ziggurat as a "link."
Thus
the ziggurat appears to me to be a bond of union, whose purpose
was to assure communication between earth and heaven.
Even when this idea is not actually clearly expressed, it is
nevertheless implicitly suggested; for what is the `mountain' but a giant
step-ladder by means of which a man may ascend as near as possible to the sky?
Not only in order to touch it, but also, and especially, to approach
nearer to the deity whom he seeks, and whose descent towards mankind he wishes
at the same time to facilitate.
Was
this in the minds of God's chosen people, His faithful remnant, those
in the line of Shem and Arphaxad?
Perhaps, if the sanctuary was high enough, and if the
sacrifices were appealing or in sufficient abundance, God Himself
might be enticed to come down and dwell among His people.
Isaiah voiced that appeal, "Oh that thou wouldest rend the
heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow
down at thy presence ..." (Isa. 64:1).
Ultimately
they were successful. God
did come down, but not then, not striding down the steps of a
Mesopotamian ziggurat. God came down over two thousand years later, in Bethlehem, in
the land of Judea.
Historical
Footnotes
Semites
from the north migrated gradually into Sumer adapting to the local
life style as they went along. From Hawkes:
Semites,
who had adopted Sumerian culture and adapted cuneiform to the writing
of their own language, are known as Akkadians.
The mingling of the two peoples and their traditions produced a
vigorous civilization, but it was not long before the Semites were to
become the dominant partners.
The
Sargonid period, also called the Accadian period of Mesopotamian
history, lasted about 150 years and saw five kings come to power.
The great Sargon ruled from 2371 to 2316 BC.
His grandson, Naram-Sin, was the fourth in line of succession,
and reigned from 2291 to 2255 BC.
All of the city-states of Mesopotamia came under his rule; even
the Elamite dynasty in Persia was subdued.
The
Semitic Accadians found out what subsequent empires throughout history
have learned to their chagrin. Power
is easier to grasp than maintain.
Continual raids from without and revolts from within weakened
the Accadian hegemony until the nomadic Gutians toppled the Sargonid
dynasty around 2200 BC.
A
period of turmoil followed the Gutian victory.
The
arrival of the Guti and their conquest of the Akkadians around 2200
B.C. ushered in a period of anarchy.
The Sumerian King List asks "Who was king?
Who was not king?", recording twenty-one kings in a period
of ninety-one years.
Utu-Legal
became king of Uruk in about 2120 BC.
His empire lasted seven years, and he suffered defeat at the
hands of Ur-Nammu, governor of Ur.
Subsequently, Ur-Nammu was crowned "King of Ur," and
further took on the title of "King of Sumer and Agade."
He began the Third Dynasty of Ur lasting from 2112 to nearly
2000 BC.
It
was during the reign of Ur-Nammu that the ziggurat at Ur was erected
for the moon-god Nanna.
This massive temple monument dominated the landscape in the
ancient city. Minority
Semites may have been conscripts for this undertaking, necessitating a
departure for any unwilling to endure another ziggurat project,
honoring a pagan god to boot.
The
Destruction of Ur
During
the bloody reign of Naram-Sin, independence-minded cities were forced
under submission to Accad. To
guard against future uprisings, Naram-Sin ordered the fortress walls
of Ur brought down. By
complying, Ur became dependant on the military strength of the Semite
king, and vulnerable to attack. Gutians
and Elamites attacked the city and destroyed it about 2000 BC,
slaughtering and enslaving nearly half a million Sumerians.
A
Sumerian scribe set down what is now called "Lamentations Over
the Destruction of Ur." These are a few lines:
On
its walls they lay prostrate. The
people groan.
In
its lofty gates where they were wont to promenade
dead
bodies were lying about;
In
its boulevards where the feasts were celebrated
they
were viciously attacked.
In
all its streets where they were wont to promenade
dead
bodies were lying about;
In
its places where the festivities of the land took
place
the people were ruthlessly laid low.
The
scribe further lamented over the temple:
The
lofty unapproachable mountain, Ekissirgal-
Its
righteous house by large axes is devoured ...
Naming
the Gutians and Elamites as defilers of the temple, the scribe spat
out his hatred against the "destroyers" who "made of it
thirty shekels."
To
the Sumerians, "thirty shekels" signified degraded value,
something of great value treated as if it had little value.
What tragic irony that a Sumerian scribe would use a term of
description also found in the Bible.
The life of a slave was set at "thirty shekels" in
Exodus 21:32; and in Matthew 26:15, a traitor named Judas was paid in
similar measure for the life of a King.
The
End of Sumer
Sumerian
political authority over the region ended with the capture of Ibi-Sin,
the last of the third dynasty of Ur.
For two hundred years thereafter, Mesopotamia struggled with
small, protective, city-state kingdoms, such as Assur and Eshnunna in
the north, and Isin and Larsa in Sumer.
As for the Sumerian people:
In
matters of culture and religion, however, they
continued to play a leading role for many centuries, while as an
ethnic group they were slowly absorbed into their Semitic environment.
We do not know when this process of absorption was completed.
Sometime
after the scattering at Babel, Abram's father, Terah, traveled to Ur.
Genesis
11:26-28. Terah was 70 years old,
and had three sons. Terah's
third son, Haran, died where he was born, "in Ur of the Chaldees."
Genesis
11:31,32. Abram (later called
Abraham) and his wife, Sarai (later named Sarah), journeyed with Terah
from the city of Ur, either before, or possibly at the time of its
destruction, toward a land of potential peace and quiet.
Their travel plans were to go by way of Haran to the land of
Canaan, though Terah stayed in Haran and died there.
It
could have been rampant polytheism, part of the Sumerian-Semite culture
at the time, that prompted Terah to send his family to a land settled by
distant kin. Perhaps it was
political turmoil or famine that prompted his journey, or it could have
been something a few of us can relate to - war. Terah and his entourage, including Abraham, may have been
refugees.
The
last king of Larsa, Rim-Sin, was defeated by the great Babylonian king
Hammurabi, bringing an end to the domination of the region by the
Semitic Amorite kings. The
date was shortly after 1800 BC, the new kingdom was now Babylonia, the
peoples emerging from the region would come to be known only as Semites,
and Sumer was undone.
NOTES
.
Jacquetta Hawkes, The Atlas Of Early Man (New York: St.
Martin's Press, 1976), 102.
.
C. C. Lamberg-Karlovsky and Jeremy A. Sabloff, Ancient
Civilizations: The Near East And Mesoamerica (Menlo Park: The
Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Inc., 1979), 147.
.
George A. Barton, The Royal Inscriptions of Sumer and Akkad
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1929), 351.
.
Stephen Langdon, Sumerian Liturgical Texts (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1917), 317-318.
.
Barton, The Royal Inscriptions of Sumer and Akkad, 221.
.
Martin A. Beek, Atlas of Mesopotamia (London: Thomas Nelson
& Sons Ltd., 1962), 21.
.
Andre Parrot, The Tower of Babel (New York: Philosophical
Library, 1954), 26-27.
.
Apparently the tower would be as high as the netherworld was low.
.
James B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the
Old Testament (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press,
1955), 68-69.
.
Parrot, The Tower of Babel, 18.
.
Isaac Preston Cory, Ancient Fragments of the Phoenician, Chaldean,
Egyptian, Tyrian, Carthaginian, Indian, Persian, and Other Writers
(London: William Pickering, 1832), 52.
.
Parrot, The Tower of Babel, 40-41.
.
Hawkes, The Atlas of Early Man, 46-48.
.
Parrot, The Tower of Babel, 64.
.
Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 1979.
.
Parrot, The Tower of Babel, 64.
.
Hawkes, The Atlas of Early Man, 92.
.
Lamberg-Karlovsky and Sabloff, Ancient Civilizations: The Near
East and Mesoamerica, 163.
.
Edmond Sollberger, The Babylonian Legend of the Flood
(London: The Trustees of the British Museum, 1962), 12.
.
Lamberg-Karlovsky and Sabloff, Ancient Civilizations: The Near
East And Mesoamerica, 165.
.
Samuel Noah Kramer, Lamentations Over the Destruction of Ur
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1940), 39-41.
.
Lamberg-Karlovsky and Sabloff, Ancient Civilizations: The Near
East and Mesoamerica, 167.
.
H. H. Rowley, Atlas of Mesopotamia (New York: Thomas Nelson,
1962), 45.
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