Genesis 11:1-9.
Babel (Heb. B>bel). According to Gen 11:9, the name means “confusion” (based on the verb b>lal, “confuse”). However, the Babylonians explained that the name of their city, B> bilu or B> bil> ni, meant “god’s gate”. Others suggested that it owed its origin to a derivation of the verb bab. b>balu, “to spread”; but the citizens would not have been very proud of it, and hence its composition in babu, “door”, plus ilu, “god”. I. City. It was born with the first inhabitants of Mesopotamia, at the beginning of the kingdom of Nimrod and as the probable seat of his power (Gen 10:10). Regarding its location and identification, opinions are divided: some scholars believe that Babel and Babylon are 2 different cities; others think that both are one and the same city; and others maintain that Babylon was built on the remains of the city of Babel (this Dictionary supports the last 2 positions). Except for Gen 10:10 and 11:9, the city of Babel is always called Babylon.* II. Tower. Although the phrase “tower of Babel” is not found in the OT, it is generally so named for the structure that the first inhabitants of Shinar began to erect,* work interrupted by divine intervention that produced a confusion of tongues (Gen 11:1 -8). The builders used bricks (because their country was totally devoid of stones) and asphalt. Archaeological remains reveal that asphalt was used as a mortar in many Babylonian buildings (fig 93). It was obtained from open-air wells in Hit, about 190 km north of Babylon (Map III, C-5), so the tower would be located in the ancient city of Babylon or on a plain near that city. Nothing remains of the tower mentioned in the Bible, but the idea of erecting such structures was popular in early Mesopotamia. Practically every major city had at least one; they were called ziggurats. They were generally built on smaller and smaller stepped platforms, at the top of which was an altar dedicated to the chief god of the city or country. The ruins of some of these ziggurats are still standing: the best preserved are Ur, in southern Iraq, and Choga Zambil, near Shushan in Iran. But the remains of the ziggurats at Nimrfd, Qal’at Sherqat, ‘Aqarquf, Birs Nimrfd and Warka are still impressive. Map XXI, B/C-5/6. However, the tallest and largest structure, of all its relatives in Mesopotamian history, was the Babylonian temple-tower (mentioned in historical records from the early 2nd millennium BC; to many it would be the early Tower of Babel or another built on its foundations). But it completely disappeared; the excavators only found the foundations and a few steps. Yet an ancient cuneiform tablet describes that tower, and Herodotus mentions it 131; therefore it is possible to obtain a fairly exact idea of its characteristics. We know that its square base was about 90 m on each side, that it stood more than 90 m high, that it consisted of 7 stepped platforms and that on the last one there was an altar dedicated to the god Marduk. The tower of Babel was repaired from time to time; the last time by Nebuchadnezzar, who said he was ordered by his god Marduk to rebuild it so that its top could rival the sky. This temple tower, which was located in the precinct of the temple of Marduk, was called Etemenanki, “the foundation stone of heaven and earth”. Although it was destroyed by Xerxes, Alexander the Great made plans to rebuild it (he had most of the rubble removed in preparation for its rebuilding); but he was surprised by death when the work was being done. As practically nothing remained of the ancient temple above ground level, men of later generations questioned its existence. Over time a tradition arose linking the ruined but impressive tower of Borsippa, now Birs Nimrûd, with the tower of Babel. However, excavations have shown that this assumption is false. When Assyriology was in its infancy, the text of a very fragmentary cuneiform tablet (held by the British Museum) was interpreted as referring to the story of the Tower of Babel. A more careful reading showed that this idea was wrong. Bib.: RLA 1: 333; LW King, The Seven Tablets of Creation (London, 1902), t 1, pp 219, 220. 60. Aerial view of the site of the temple-tower of the city of Babylon. Remains of the center of the ancient tower protrude from the water-filled moat. This is the likely site of the Tower of Babel.
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
Hebrew Babhel, Babylon, balal, confuse, Babylonian babili, door of God. 1. City founded by Nimrod, on the banks of the Euphrate River, in the plain of Senaar, Gn 10, 8-10. 2. In the Old Testament it is said that the descendants of Noah, who spoke the same language, moved from the east and settled in the valley of Senaar, where they made bricks and tried to build a tower whose top would reach heaven. Yahweh, then, punished them for this collective sin of pride, confusing their language, so that they did not understand each other, and scattered them throughout the earth, Gn 11,1-9.
This is a Yahwist story to explain the origin of the different peoples and languages, very much in accordance with the custom of building tall towers in ancient Mesopotamia. Ziggurat is called this type of construction, which consisted of a platform on which several floors rose, like a decreasing pyramidal tower, until crowned with a sanctuary, which could be climbed by external ramps. The most famous of these, the Tower of Babel, ziggurat known as Etemananki, that is, House of the foundation platform of Heaven and Earth, which began to rise in the third millennium BC. C., it fell and was rebuilt by King Nabopolassar and his son Nebuchadnezzar II. The sanctuary that crowned this tower was dedicated to Marduk, the chief god of the Babylonian pantheon. This may be the basis of the Genesis account of the tower of Babel, whose tradition may well come from the patriarchs, who moved from their homeland Haran, since the fame of the tower and the prosperity of Babylon were well known in history. time, before the city was razed by the Hittites, ca. 1595 BC c.
Digital Bible Dictionary, Grupo C Service & Design Ltda., Colombia, 2003
Source: Digital Bible Dictionary
(Gate of God). Name of a city and a tower in the OT.
1. One of the cities over which †¢Nimrod, †who became the first mighty on earth† reigned (Gen 10:8). The Babylonians or Chaldeans are mentioned in the early OT books in references to the land of † ¢ Shinar, where Nimrod founded his kingdom, and † ¢ B., Erech, Acad and Calneh were built (Gen 10: 8- 10). It was there that the famous tower was built (Gen 11:19). †¢Amraphel, king of Shinar, who fought against Sodom and Gomorrah, was long identified by scholars with †¢Hammurabi, but that theory has since been abandoned.
. Tower built after the Flood by the generations that came from the sons of Noah who “came out from the east” and “found a plain in the land of Shinar” near Babylon. God decided to confuse their languages and scatter them “over the face of the whole earth.” A pun was made on B.’s name because of its resemblance to another word meaning “confuse” (Gen 11:19). What reasons did God have to act as he did in the case of B.? Some say that B.’s tower was intended to “reach heaven”, which was a demonstration of human pride. But to this others reply that in the original Hebrew the word “arrive” does not appear and that the expression means “a very tall building”, just as it is said today “skyscraper”. Others point out that the problem consisted of a disobedience to the order that God had given to “fill the earth” and that men preferred to concentrate on B.
What we do know is that B. marks the step towards the urbanization of men: “Let us build ourselves a city” (Gen 11:4). Which is linked to certain technological discoveries: fire-baked brick and “asphalt instead of mortar” (Gen 11:3). In the rabbinic tradition, the most general opinion is that the tower of B. had idolatrous purposes and rebellion against God, relating it to the person of †¢Nimrod, whose name is derived from a term meaning †œrebellion†, because it was characterized by that attitude towards God. As a hunter he was the first human being to eat meat and wage war against other peoples. He was the builder of the tower of B. and demanded to be worshiped as God. Some scholars consider that the tower of B. was a ziggurat (†¢Babylon), a pyramidal construction that the Chaldeans made for their temples and that they also used as observatories of the stars.
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
tip, CITY CONS
vet, = “door of God”. This term appears twice, and only in the book of Genesis. In the first mention (Gen. 10:10) it is the name of the first place mentioned as the beginning of Nimrod’s reign; in the second mention (Gen. 11:9) the name “Babel” is given to the tower and the city, because the language of men was confused there, and they did not understand each other. Here “Babel” is taken as a contraction of “balbel”, from “balal”, to confuse (Keil and Delitzsch, “Commentary on the Old Testament”, vol. 1, p. 176). There is no basis for asserting that the tower was to “reach” heaven (Gen. 11:4), since the verb “reach” is not found in the original, but has been supplied to make sense of the translation. It was a tower “for” or “toward” the sky. Possibly the meaning was that of an observation tower and worship of the heavens, like a “ziggurat”, which was the unifying religious center of that city under construction, in a united human company of defiance against God and rebellion against Him. This attempt deserved the judgment of God with the consequent confusion of the languages and their forced dispersion in diverse and divided groups, instead of the great united confederation against God planned by Nimrod. Bibliography: Adam, Benjamin: “The Origin of Heathendom,” Bethany Fellowship (Minneapolis, 1963); also published in Spanish under the title of “Astrology, an ancient conspiracy” (Betania, 1978); Custance, AC: “The Confusion of Tongues” (Doorway Papers, 8, Ottawa, 1961); Leupold, HC: “Exposition of Genesis” (Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, 1942, 1981); Morris, HM: “The Genesis Record” (CLP, San Diego, 1976).
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
tower and city
(-> prostitute, beast, idolatry, Marduk). Babel, Babylon is one of the most persistent symbols of the Bible, so it has…