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The Tower of Babel
(A story from the Old Testament, Gen 11, 1-9)

The whole world spoke the same language, using the same words.

While men were migrating in the east, they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.

They said to one another, "Come, let us mold bricks and harden them with fire." They used bricks for stone, and bitumen for mortar.

Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered all over the earth."

LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men had built.

Then the LORD said: "If now, while they are one people, all speaking the same language, they have started to do this, nothing will later stop them from doing whatever they presume to do. Let us then go down and there confuse their language, so that one will not understand what another says."

Thus the LORD scattered them from there all over the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the speech of all the world. It was from that place that he scattered them all over the earth.

 

 

Critique of the text according to current scientific knowledge

Gen 11,1-9

1

The whole world spoke the same language, using the same words.

It is not true,

that there was a time of salvation at the beginning when people all spoke the same language.

2

While men were migrating in the east, they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.

 

It is not true,

that humans were already a solid community at the beginning of human development.

3

They said to one another, "Come, let us mold bricks and harden them with fire." They used bricks for stone, and bitumen for mortar.

It is not true,

that people built cities at the very beginning of human development.

At first, they were hunters and gatherers, then wandering shepherds and lived in tents and caves, only then did they settle down as farmers and build simple huts and houses.

4

Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered all over the earth."

 

It is a mistake to think that shared fame guarantees cohesion.

On the contrary, when fame becomes the meaning of life, there is soon envy, jealousy and ruthless competition.

But even today there is a longing for togetherness, for being noticed and for recognition.

5

LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men had built.

 

It is not true

that God is "above" and looks at us humans from above or meets us from above

(Cf. the "Incarnation of God" in Jesus: God is with us: "Immanuel")

6

Then the LORD said: "If now, while they are one people, all speaking the same language, they have started to do this, nothing will later stop them from doing whatever they presume to do.

It's not true

that God does begrudge people the development of their technical and mental abilities and wants to prevent it.

Cf. Second Vatican Council (GS): text below È

7

Let us then go down and there confuse their language, so that one will not understand what another says."

 

It is not true

that God caused the multiplicity and diversity of languages through deliberate intervention.

It is not true

that the "non-understanding" of people is God's will.

It's not true

that the burden of the multilingualism of peoples is a punishment from God (because he supposedly does begrudge people their skills and technical achievements).

It is not true that the multilingualism of humanity is only a negative thing.

8

Thus the LORD scattered them from there all over the earth, and they stopped building the city. 

It is not true

that God has scattered people across the earth and thrown them back to a more primitive level of civilization.

9

That is why it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the speech of all the world. It was from that place that he scattered them all over the earth.

 

This explanation of the name is not correct.

For a long time, the scientific explanation of the word Babel was translated as "Gate of God". But this explanation is not certain either.

 

 

The spiritual truth of this history remains valid:

It is true that arrogance and honor-seeking turn people against each other,

that excessive competitiveness leads to a loss of the language of the heart, the language of understanding, of appreciation and benevolence

and instead misunderstandings, intrigues, mendacity and coldness of heart arise:

People sometimes don't understand each other even if they speak the same language.

 

The Tower of Babel

A story of how the tale of the "Tower of Babel" might have come about

 

By Manfred Hanglberger (www.hanglberger-manfred.de)

 

Around 3000 years ago, many people in Israel still lived as wandering shepherds in tents. There were also small villages. The few towns that existed were not as big as a large village in our country today.

At that time, traders and merchants also came to Israel. Some of them were from the land in the east, beyond the great desert, to offer beautiful fabrics and valuable tools and weapons for sale.

And they told of huge cities that existed there, of cities with magnificent palaces and towers so large that they were said to reach up to heaven. And people can walk up stairs and see almost the whole earth. And there are so many houses and streets in a city that it takes you three days to get from one side of the city to the other.

And for their gods, who gave them these abilities, they built enormous temples with huge gilded statues of gods.

Then the Israelites felt small and insignificant in their tents and simple houses.

And they also considered their god, whom they worshipped, to be insignificant, because he had not given them the same great abilities as those gods of the eastern peoples had evidently done. And so they developed feelings of inferiority and considered themselves and their religion to be quite small and retarded.

But there was a wise priest among them who saw the spiritual needs and doubts of the people and thought about how he could free them from them.

Then he told them the story of the “Tower of Babel".

 

 

Then the people of Israel realized:

Such mighty structures are built by people who are conceited and think that pride and grandiosity can create cohesion among themselves.

But the Israelites should know

that true cohesion is created through justice and helpfulness,

by helping the poor among the people, e.g. widows and orphans.

Genuine cohesion arises when people respect each other and do not scold and mock each other.

Genuine cohesion is created by good laws and by good rulers and governments who ensure that the laws are observed and do not abuse their power to do so,

to build great palaces and monuments and oppress ordinary people.

 

Compare this with the message of Pentecost in the New Testament:

You can understand each other, even if you speak different languages,

even if you belong to different peoples and religions:

if you treat each other with kindness, interest and respect.

 

But there was still a problem:

Later Christians believed that God did not want people to achieve great things technically.

They were afraid that they would be punished for it,

and therefore Christians have often made little effort to make their lives easier through technological progress.

Some church leaders feared that people would no longer be interested in faith if technological progress made their lives more beautiful, longer and safer.

Thus, even in church circles, technical progress and increasing prosperity were understood and demonized as arrogance against God.

This is why, for example, Pope Leo XII (1823-1829) is said to have forbidden Christians to be vaccinated against smallpox.

 

In contrast, the Second Vatican Council said:

Quote: "Gaudium et Spes", from chapter 34:

 

“Throughout the course of the centuries, men have labored to better the circumstances of their lives through a monumental amount of individual and collective effort. To believers, this point is settled: considered in itself, this human activity accords with God's will. …

 

Thus, far from thinking that works produced by man's own talent and energy are in opposition to God's power, and that the rational creature exists as a kind of rival to the Creator, Christians are convinced that the triumphs of the human race are a sign of God's grace and the flowering of His own mysterious design.

 

For the greater man's power becomes, the farther his individual and community responsibility extends. Hence it is clear that men are not deterred by the Christian message from building up the world, or impelled to neglect the welfare of their fellows, but that they are rather more stringently bound to do these very things.”

 

The complete text of „Gaudium et Spes” >>>

 

A problem also in our time:

But there is indeed the problem that people believe that wealth and power can satisfy all their essential needs and are thus in danger of overlooking and neglecting their spiritual needs and values. In addition, these people are in danger of despising other people who are not as successful as they are.

They believe that through honor and fame they find the meaning of their lives.

This leads them to a senseless and destructive competition with those who are as rich and powerful as they are, or even surpassed by them. (See our world today!)

 

=> This biblical story is an etiology:

An outdated mythological legend to explain,

why there are many different languages among people

and why mankind is divided into different peoples and cultures.

 

=> A problematic, outdated idea:

The Bible explains everything that is painful and burdensome in people's lives as God's punishment for their disobedience, self-will and arrogance.

Here, the burdensome problem of multilingualism, which leads to many misunderstandings, foreignness and fear of foreigners, is presented as God's punishment.

(Cf. Genesis chapter 3: God's punishments are: the labor pains of a woman at the birth of a child, death, the toil of working in the fields, the growth of thorns and thistles, ... )

 

=> This story should perhaps also diminish the importance of the huge buildings of the mighty nations, so as not to give rise to envy and feelings of inferiority in the small nation of Israel.

 

=> It was intended to make clear the greatness and majesty of their own god compared to the other gods:

He has to descend from the sky to see the tower, which is supposedly so massive:

So a ridiculous minuscule compared to the greatness of God.

The wealth, power, scientific and technical achievements of a culture are no proof of the truth of its religion!

 

Manfred Hanglberger (www.hanglberger-manfred.de)

Link to share: https://hanglberger-manfred.de/en-turmbau-babel.htm

 

 

 

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How the story of „The testing of Abraham“ (Gen 22) might have come about: >>>

How the story of „Cain and Abel“ (Gen 4) might have come about >>>

A Contemporary Understanding of the Bible >>>

 

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