The consensus interpretation of the Tower of Babel story is that of human pride and rebellion against the divine. The story functions not only as an etiological myth for linguistic and national diversity but also “as a warning against human arrogant audacity” (de Bruin 2023, 35). This interpretation finds justification in the description of the people intending to make a “name” for themselves:

“Come let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth” (Gen. 11:4).

Part 1: Introduction to the Tower of Babel
Part 4: Rebutting the ‘Localized Hypothesis’
Part 6: Perceiving Jesus Christ is the Tower of Babel

Pride, which is a sense of pleasure derived from an elevated sense of the self and self-worth, has always been entangled with material possessions, ethnic membership, skill or talent, and nation of birth, among other phenomena. Historically and today, palaces, mansions, castles, cathedrals, and temples can and have displayed wealth proudly and even arrogantly. The people at Babel intended to glorify themselves by making a name for themselves, their decision to settle, and constructing a tower whose top would reach the heavens, the location of the divine. It is depicted as a threat to God. The people would become too godlike if they continued to work together (Perrings 2007, 5). They were mortals intending to transgress by approaching the “domain of the immortal; lesser beings attempt to become similar to God” (de Bruin 2023, 36).

The peoples’ disobedience lay in their omitting God from their plans and not obeying His command to fill the earth. After the flood, God commanded Noah and his descendants to spread over the earth and multiply. Instead, the people chose rather to settle in one location, meaning that by building the Tower of Babel, the people were not obeying the order to “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth” (Gen. 9:1). Humanity began to sin, once again refusing to comply with God’s will.

Wanting to make a name exclusively for themselves, the people intended not to seek God‘s honor and glory, but only their own. For this, they were punished: “In Genesis, Babylon and its tower, instead of being symbols of unification, are presented as archetypal monuments of a human arrogance that is punished by God with the dissipation of the people and the confusion of their tongues” (Frahm 2011, 367).

Because God confused the peoples’ language, the construction of the tower ceased (Gen. 11:8). Unable to communicate any longer, they were forced to separate and populate the wider world. Although confusion is hardly viewed positively, in this case, according to one interpretation, God intended to ensure that human beings relied on him, rather than on themselves (Perring 2007, 7). The tower’s construction symbolized prideful human autonomy that would produce failure in the end. God created human beings and intends for them to realize their finitude so that they may seek and depend on Him. Instead, the “tower and its city become a beacon to human autonomy, independence from the divine…” (de Bruin 2023, 36).

“… God’s action here was more of a guiding shove than a wrathful strike. Confusing the languages forces the humans to separate and thus they must always be in dialogue with each other and work together to find the truth. God’s action in response was not so much a punishment as it was a means of accomplishing his will and reminding the humans in question that they cannot survive on their own but need God” (Perrings 2007, 10).

Part 6: Perceiving Jesus Christ is the Tower of Babel

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.

Frahm, Eckart. 2011. Babylonian and Assyrian Text Commentaries: Origins of Interpretation. Guides to the Mesopotamian Textual Record 5. Münster, Germany: Ugarit-Verlag.

Laura Perrings. 2007. “The Tower of Babel.” Denison Journal of Religion 7(2):1–11.