Genesis, the first book in the Christian Old Testament, describes the Tower of Babel (11:1–9), a famous story that’s pervasiveness in culture has not gone unnoticed: “For such a short narrative (nine verses, about 250 words in English) that is not referenced anywhere else in the Bible, the tower of Babel has claimed a place in collective imagination far outshining its relatively minor role in the Bible” (de Bruin 2023, 35).

The story is permeated with theological significance and themes worth exploring, which, in this series, I will unpack in greater detail, attempting to both appreciate and answer questions pertaining to historicity and theology.

Part 2: The Tower of Babel as a Common Myth

The Story of the Tower of Babel

The narrative opens by emphasizing the unity of humanity: “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech” (Gen. 11:1, NIV). These unified humans wished to settle, so they migrated eastward and found a suitable location to build a settlement,

“[T]hey 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” (Gen. 11:2–4).

But this kindled the attention of the “Lord,” or the supreme deity of the ancient Hebrews, so “the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building” (Gen. 11:5). Evidently less than pleased, God said: “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other” (Gen. 11:6–7).

The ensuing confusion caused the building of the tower to cease and for the humans to be “scattered… over all the earth” (Gen. 11:8). The author then describes the meaning behind the name “Babel,” which signifies that “the Lord confused the language of the whole world” (Gen. 11:9).

The Tower of Babel story begins with unity in space and communication that subsequently leads to a state of incommunicability and dispersion (Placial 2018, 45–46). One is introduced to a humanity united in language and purpose but that is nonetheless prideful and disobedient and fails to realize its finitude and need for God.

This theme of a unified humanity carries over from events preceding the Tower of Babel, such as the flood story in which Noah and his family survive by building and sailing an ark (Gen. 6:9–8:19). Genesis offers a list of descendants for each of Noah’s sons, demonstrating how the earth has been repopulated after the flood (10:1–32).

Unity continues into the story of the Tower of Babel, where humans intend to make a name for themselves and remain as one. They plan to build a settlement and tower reaching the sky in a plain in the land of Shinar, located in southern Mesopotamia (roughly the southern border region of modern-day Iraq and Iran). God did not take kindly to this, so He confused their language, causing construction to cease and humans to scatter across the world.

References

de Bruin, T. 2023. “The Tower of Babel.” In Biblical Themes in Science Fiction, edited by N. L. Tilford and K. J. Murphy, 35-56. Atlanta, Georgia, United States: SBL Press.

Placial, Claire. 2018. “Biblical myths.” In A History of Modern Translation Knowledge, edited by Lieven D’Hulst and Gambier, Yves, 45–56. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing Company.