Biblical Description: Following the Great Flood, a group of people of a particular speech and migrating from the east, arrived at the land of Shinar, where they decided to construct a capital with a tower “with its top reaching up the heavens”. According to the Amazing Biblical Timeline with World History, this occurred around 2200 BC
Other Structures Association. The Tower of Babel has frequently been connected with well-known structures, particularly the Etemenanki, a ziggurat devoted to Marduk by Nabopolassar (c. 610 BC). The Great Ziggurat of Babylon pedestal was square (not round), 91 meters (300 ft) in height, but destroyed by Alexander the Great before his bereavement in an effort to reconstruct it. A Sumerian tale with some comparable elements is preserved in Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta.
Biblical Etymology. “Tower of Babel” does not in fact show in the Bible; generally it only mentions, “the city and its tower” or just “the City.” According to the biblical etymology, the city obtained the name “Babel”, from the Hebrew remark “balal”, meaning to jumble.
Quickly See 6000 Years of Bible and World History Together
Unique Circular Format – see more in less space.
Learn facts that you can’t learn just from reading the Bible
Attractive design ideal for your home, office, church …
The name Babylon is from the inhabitant Akkadian Bab-ilim, which means “Gate of the god,” abridges the spiritual reason of the great shrine towers (the ziggurats) of earliest Sumer (Biblical Shinar).In Genesis Babel is believed to have created a division of Nimrod’s realm. It is not directly stated in the Bible that he prepared the tower to be built, but Nimrod is frequently connected with its structure in other resources. Hebrew description of the name of the city as well as the tower, Babel, is attributed in the book of Genesis to the verb balal, which means to perplex or puzzle in Hebrew. Ruins of the city of Babylon are near Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq.
Views to Consider:
Analogy. People used “man-made” materials, instead of more durable “God-made” materials in building the tower. The people were building a monument to themselves, to call attention to their own abilities and achievements, instead of giving glory to God.
Bible & Geology. Some scholars believe that the destruction of the Tower of Babel marks the time in history when God divided the earth into separate continents that were during the time of Peleg.
Implications. We may be tempted to think we no longer need to trust and obey God. We may believe our learning, sophistication and technology are all we need to be self-sufficient and guarantee our security. The lesson of the Tower of Babel is that such self-sufficiency is a delusion. History has shown that many nations and their leaders have fallen into the trap of arrogance and self-sufficiency. Like Babel, those nations have eventually ended up in ruins.
Genesis 11:6. God realizes that when people are unified in purpose they can accomplish impossible deeds, both noble and dishonorable. This is why unity in the body of Christ is so important.