Historicity of the Tower of Babel and Its Cultural Context

2024-01-01

The Tower of Babel effort predates nations and languages. The people of the world were all together speaking one language. Noah was still alive. They were told, “And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein” (Genesis 9:7). Nonetheless, they stayed together. They decided to build this tower and city in Genesis 11:1-9. Here we will consider this tower’s historicity and cultural context.

All the descendants of Noah were together on a plain in Shinar. This area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is what would become known as Mesopotamia, currently known as Iraq. The tower they decided to build was going to be built from baked clay bricks. “And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter” (Genesis 11:3). Clay is an ample material found in the area. Moreover, baked bricks are more expensive and time consuming to make but are far more durable. They were going all out to ensure the sturdiness and longevity of this tower. This “slime” is bitumen which was known in the area, and it would seal and strengthen these bricks.

The intended structure was likely a ziggurat. These step-towers can be found all over the world, even as far as the Americas. Since the ancestors of every nation in the world were there at Babel, there is a remembrance of what they tried to do then in Shinar. Cultures all over the world have tried to repeat what they did at Babel.

In Mesopotamia, about 30 ziggurats have been discovered. They were a part of temple complexes with an outer staircase and a single interior room. In Babylon, the foundation of a ziggurat called Etemananki remains. Nebuchadnezzar II (the same as the Biblical Nebuchadnezzar) had added decorations to its top. It was destroyed by the Persians with a failed attempt at rebuilding by Alexander the Great.

Etemananki cannot be the same as the Tower of Babel because it was built way too late. Also, the Tower of Babel and its city were never finished: “they left off to build the city” (Genesis 11:8). Moreover, this was a whole humankind effort and was not just a Babylonian project.

According to the Babylonian creation myth of Enuma Elish, Babylon was created at the beginning of creation. It was said to have connected heaven and earth. Even in pagan literature, there is a remembrance of this city and tower being built, though there is quite a difference from the Biblical account. “Babili” in the Akkadian language logograms means “Gate of the gods.” There is a proud remembrance of the gods building this Babili for the god Marduk after his victory.

In the Bible, rather, we see this tower as a sign of shame for humanity. It was not of divine origin, but rebellious humankind got together to build this tower in spite. The place was called Babel, for in the Hebrew language it means “confounded” and “confusion.” This play on words with “Babili” vs. “Babel” shows that the glory of man is disdained by God. They tried to build up to reach God, but rather God had to come down to them. “Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven... Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language” (Genesis 11:4, 7).

While this does not prove the existence of the Tower of Babel per se, we see that the location, building materials, myth, and historical accounts fit in well with what we know from the true Biblical history.

Beyond this history, we know that everyone has sought to reach God in their own way. Since we could not reach Him, God came down to us in the person of Jesus Christ. He was born a man and lived righteously and died on our behalf. He rose again, and every believer shall He carry up to heaven to be with Him.

A lot of the historical information I received from a video course called The Bible in the Light of the Ancient Near East. Lesson 5 talks about the Tower of Babel.