The
Story of the tower of Babel is quite an interesting historical event that
happened as far as 4000BC, which by fact seems to be the landmark of all languages.
As remarkable as it is, the scriptures gave us a little insight about the Tower
in Babel and a little essence behind the construction of the tower. The
scriptures tell us in
Gen
11:1-4
Now
the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in
Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, "Come, let's make
bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and
tar for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with
a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves
and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." (NIV)
These
events according to historical perspective happened after the flood, the
scriptures indicated that as these men migrate toward eastward, they found a
plain in Shinar and settled there. In other to understand to this subject
matter, emphasis must be made upon the pre-flood events attached to the
genealogy of the surviving Generation, the overseer of the project, the purpose
and the place of construction(Shinar).
The
Beginning Of the Generation
Only
Noah, with his three sons Shem, Ham and Japheth, along with their wives (Genesis
7:13) escaped from death in the Flood. Genesis tells us it is this group, “the
generations of the sons of Noah,” from whom all mankind is descended (Genesis
10:1-32).
Noah’s
clans soon became segregated. His three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, become
the patriarchs of the Middle East, Lower Europe, and Northern Africa. Shemites
move south to the Pakistanean area. Hamites move to Middle Eastern area. Jephethites
move northward towards the Scythian region.
The
Generation of Shem is quite an interesting fact to look into of which is linked
to the Pioneer of the Tower of babel, let look into the book of Jasher which
gives a wider view of Shem and his generation. (To authenticate the existence
of this book look up to JOS10:13; 2sam1:18)
Jasher7:10-14
And these are the sons of Ham; Cush, Mitzraim,
Phut and Canaan, four sons; and the sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabta,
Raama and Satecha, and the sons of Raama were Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of
Mitzraim were Lud, Anom and Pathros, Chasloth and Chaphtor. 12. And the sons of
Phut were Gebul, Hadan, Benah and Adan.And the sons of Canaan were Zidon, Heth,
Amori, Gergashi, Hivi, Arkee, Seni, Arodi, Zimodi and Chamothi... These are the
sons of Ham, according to their families, and their numbers in those days were
about seven hundred and thirty men. Nahor.
Later
in verse 23 of the same chapter that Cush later took a wife in his old days
23. And Cush the son of Ham, the son of Noah,
took a wife in those days in his old age, and she bare a son, and they called
his name Nimrod, saying, At that time the sons of men again began to rebel and
transgress against God, and the child grew up, and his father loved him
exceedingly, for he was the son of his old age.
This
is the Beginning of the days of Nimrod as the scriptures has defined him to be mighty
before the Lord (Gen10:8-9) furthermore it was stated that he created
other regions according to (Gen10:10) And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel,
and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.( KJV).
The
Act of Nimrod And The Beginning Of Rebellion
It’s
of a clear term that Nimrod also had a walk with the Lord and fought battles
and won territories for the lord(Jasher7:32), in this act he began
to be powerful and soon became king over his brethren and also of the sons of
Noah and soon became the King of the world, people began to worship him
And all nations
and tongues heard of his fame, and they gathered themselves to him, and they
bowed down to the earth, and they brought him offerings, and he became their
lord and king, and they all dwelt with him in the city at Shinar, and Nimrod
reigned in the earth over all the sons of Noah, and they were all under his
power and counsel. (Jasher7:45).
He was a wise king
indeed for all to submit under his counsel, it’s of a strong opinion that in
this his might and power that he began to think in his heart to be as God just
as the devil did from the beginning. He began to rebel against the Lord. The
Scriptures tells us that he was more wicked than all men that were
before him from the days of the flood to those days.
Other sources like
The Zohar stated that:
…Nimrod…prevailed…conquering
the inhabitants of the world. He proclaimed himself Ruler
of the World, and
humanity worshipped him. Why was he called Nimrod? Because he rebelled
against the
supernal King (God) on high…he ruled all the inhabitants of the world, reigning
over them, rebelling against his Lord (God), proclaiming himself ruler of the
World…Nimrod used to entice creatures into worshipping idols…he enticed
creatures, finally luring humans to abandon worship of the Lord (God) of the
world… (The Zohar1:73b).
The Targum of
Jonathan tells us Nimrod “began to be mighty in sin, and to
rebel before
the Lord.”
This source stated
that he had compelling powers to persuade creatures to rebel against God until
he strived to entice humans to leave the worship of lord and join him into idol
worshipping.
And he made gods
of wood and stone, and he bowed down to them, and he rebelled against the Lord,
and taught all his subjects and the people of the earth his wicked
ways;…..(Jasher 7:47)
The Tower Of Babel
In those years,
the king began to reign securely and a proposed plan to build a tower began to
emerge and also with a motive behind this magnificent structure. Let take a
look at both scriptures
Gen 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. (KJV)
The Book of Jasher
gives Us a detailed description of the event, let take a deeper look
Jasher 11:21:27
And king Nimrod
reigned securely, and all the earth was under his control, and all the earth
was of one tongue and words of union. And all the princes of Nimrod and his
great men took counsel together; Phut, Mitzraim, Cush and Canaan with their
families, and they said to each other, Come let us build ourselves a city and
in it a strong tower, and its top reaching heaven, and we will make ourselves
famed, so that we may reign upon the whole world, in order that the evil of our
enemies may cease from us, that we may reign mightily over them, and that we
may not become scattered over the earth on account of their wars. And they all
went before the king, and they told the king these words, and the king agreed
with them in this affair, and he did so.
And all the
families assembled consisting of about six hundred thousand men, and they went
to seek an extensive piece of ground to build the city and the tower, and the
sought in the whole earth and they found none like one valley at the east of the
land of Shinar, about two days' walk, and they journeyed there and they dwelt
there. And they began to make bricks and burn fires to build the city and the
tower that they had imagined to complete.
And the building
of the tower was unto them a transgression and a sin, and they began to build
it, and whilst they were building against the Lord God of heaven, they imagined
in their hearts to war against him and to ascend into heaven. And all these people and all the families
divided themselves in three parts; the first said We will ascend into heaven
and fight against him; the second said, We will ascend to heaven and place our
own gods there and serve them; and the third part said, We will ascend to
heaven and smite him with bows and spears; and God knew all their works and all
their evil thoughts, and he saw the city and the tower which they were
building. And when they were building they built themselves a great city and a
very high
and strong tower;
and on account of its height the mortar and bricks did not
reach the builders
in their ascent to it, until those who went up had completed a
full year, and
after that, they reached to the builders and gave them the mortar
and the bricks;
thus was it done daily.
The reason for the
building of the tower was to enter the Majestic Glory wherein was God, that
they might defeat Him in battle, and so overthrow Him). And all these people
and all the families divided themselves into three parts; the first said we will
ascend into heaven (into the Majestic Glory) and fight against him (fight
against God); the second said, we will ascend to heaven (into the Majestic
Glory) and place our own gods there (to put their idols, which represented the
fallen angels which they worshipped, in God‟s Majestic Glory) and serve them
(instead of God); and the third part said, we will ascend to heaven (into the
Majestic Glory) and smite him (smite God) with bows and spears…And they built
the tower (of Babel)…and did this thing daily until many days and years
elapsed.
This is how far
they have decided in them to rebel so much against God and overthrow him, this
indeed and evidently the works of the devil himself as it aligns with his
original purpose to be like god and rule over the earth. They were so intense
in the building project that human lives was valueless whenever a human die
while building. The overseers who supervised the construction of Nimrod’s tower
diverted much of the population’s efforts towards this project. They were so
strict that is was said even a woman in childbirth could not take the time off
to give birth, but had to keep at her chore of making bricks for the
construction of the tower:
And behold these
ascended and others descended the whole day; and if a brick should fall from
their hands and get broken, they would all weep over it, and if a man fell and
died, none of them would look at him. (Jasher11:28).
This is where the
picture of God came in when their actions had eloped so greatly that their sins
ascended unto heaven and it was said …
And the Lord knew
their thoughts, and it came to pass when they were building
they cast the
arrows toward the heavens, and all the arrows fell upon them filled
with blood, and
when they saw them they said to each other, Surely we have slain all those that
are in heaven. For this was from the Lord
in order to cause them to err, and in order; to destroy them from off the face
of the ground. (11:29)
Gen 11:5-7
And the Lord came
down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one,
and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will
be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go
down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one
another's speech. (KJV)
The book of Jasher
say a similar thing
Jasher11:32-33
And God said to
the seventy angels who stood foremost before him, to those who were near to
him, saying, Come let us descend and confuse their tongues, that one man shall
not understand the language of his neighbor, and they did so unto them. And
from that day following, they forgot each man his neighbor's tongue, and they
could not understand to speak in one tongue, and when the builder took from the
hands of his neighbor lime or stone which he did not order, the builder would
cast it away and throw it upon his neighbor, that he would die.
Their blind impulse
to build such a city and tower arose only from a wicked and foolish desire that
animated and prompted them to live in open revolt against the Holy One
(God)." Said Rabbi Abba: "They were the subjects of a horrible and
demoniacal infatuation in that they impiously wished to abandon the worship of their
Lord for that of Satan or the serpent (Azazel) to whom they rendered homage and
glory. The words, 'go to, let us build us a city and tower,' have a deeply
occult meaning and contain a mystery most profound. Remark that when the Post diluvians
arrived at the plain in the land of Shinar (a strange kingdom or domain) and
had become acquainted with and accommodated themselves to its natural
advantages coming from its proximity to the sea, they said amongst themselves,
it will be best for us to settle down and dwell here, for with little trouble
and at once we can indulge in those sensual pleasures and delights that are the
charm of life, making it worth the living. But why worship heavenward and what
advantage will accrue to us in so doing. Here let us build us a temple and make
a deity of ourselves. Come and let us make a shem (name, a synonym for God, or
a Divine Being) whom we can adore and have him always in our midst as a center
of attraction, and thus avoid becoming dispersed abroad on the face of the
earth."
According to The
Zohar, speaking of the builders of the tower, the first and foremost being
Nimrod, “Said Rabbi Abba: „They were the subjects of a horrible and demoniacal infatuation
in that they impiously wished to abandon the worship of the Lord for that of
Satan or the serpent (Azazel) to whom they rendered homage and glory.‟” Nimrod
and his followers worshipped the angels Satan and Azazel. It must be noted that
this is the area where Azazel lay entrapped within the earth. The tower was
built upon this spot. Indeed, Philo in his work “On the Giants” tells us “the name
Nimrod, being interpreted, means, „desertion.‟” After Nimrod’s rebellion
against God was defeated, his subjects and princes were said to call him
„Amraphel,‟ a derogatory term meaning “at the tower his princes and men fell
through his means” (The Book of Jasher 11:34-35).
And they did so
many days, and they killed many of them in this manner. And the Lord smote the
three divisions that were there, and he punished them according to their works
and designs; those who said, We will ascend to heaven and serve our gods,
became like apes and elephants; and those who said, We will smite the heaven
with arrows, the Lord killed them, one man through the hand of his neighbor;
and the third division of those who said, We will ascend to heaven and fight
against him, the Lord scattered them throughout the earth
In the process of
the posturing for world domination, a huge citadel and tower was built.
Hundreds of stories high, the tower was a monument to the resourcefulness of
the people living at that time. Its purpose is not completely understood, but
it had something to do with being able to transfer people from here to a place
called Heaven so that more land could be controlled by the Devil and his agents
but at the end the Lord always win.
Shalom
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