The Dispersion of the
Nations in Genesis 11:1-9
Allen P. Ross
Introduction
to the Passage
THE
NATURE OF THE ACCOUNT
The narrative in Genesis 11:1-9
describes the divine inter-
vention among the human
family to scatter them across the face
of
the earth by means of striking at the :heart of their unity- their
language.
A quick reading of the passage shows that the pre-
dominant
idea is not the
If the point is not simply the tower,
then this passage does not
present,
as some have suggested, a Hebrew adaptation of the
Greek
Titans storming heaven to dislodge God. Rather, the char-
acteristics of the people
in this story are anxiety and pride
through
their own gregariousness.1 The tower, on the one hand,
is
born from the people's fear of being scattered across the earth;
and
on the other hand it is an attempt to frustrate God's plan to
fill
the earth (Gen. 9:1).
The
sin. Since the story has the trappings of a judgment
narrative
in which Yahweh interrupts mankind's misguided
activities
and scatters them abroad, it may be assumed that the
antithesis
of this scattering must be the sin. The major error was
not
the building of a city, but the attempt of the race to live in one
City.2 Therefore it
appears that the human family was striving for
unity,
security, and social immortality (making a name) in de-
fiance of God's desire
for them to fill the earth.
Divine
punishment. It is important to keep in mind that the
"judgment"
was not the destruction of the city but of the lan-
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120
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guage that united the
people. It was shattered into a multiplicity
of
languages so that the common bond was destroyed.3 Thus the
text
is demonstrating that the present number of languages that
form
national barriers is a monument to sin.
Divine
prevention. Since the people's purpose was to make a
name
for themselves and to achieve power through unity, the
apostasy
of the human spirit would shortly bring the race to the
brink
of another catastrophe such as the Deluge. By frustrating
their
communication and dividing them into nations, it is evi-
dent
that "it is the will of God, so long as sin is present in the
world,
to employ nationalism in the reduction of sin."4
For ages people have restricted
themselves to native man-
ners and customs and
regarded diverse languages of foreigners
with
great horror.5 Thus
strange
language" (Ps. 114:1) and was frequently warned of de-
struction by a fierce
nation whose language would not be under-
stood
and whose deep speech could not be comprehended (Deut.
28:49;
Isa. 28:11; 33:19; Jer. 5:15). The language barrier
brought
sudden fear and prevented unification.
Ringgren
summarized the twofold aspect of Yahweh's in-
tervention in Genesis 11
as divine reaction to pride.
Theologically, the building of the
tower in Gen. 11 is interpreted as
an act of human arrogance and
rebellion against God; accordingly,
Yahweh intervenes against its builders
and scatters them over the
whole earth. This action of God is
both punishment and a preven-
tive
measure; it prevents men from going too far in their pride.6
Later prophets would draw on this
narrative, recording the
very
beginnings of the divisions as they looked to the end of days
when
God Himself would unify mankind once again. Zephaniah
3:9-11
appears to be constructed antithetically to this passage
with
its themes in common with Genesis 11:1-9: the pure speech
(i.e.,
one language),7 the gathering of the dispersed people (even
from
mountain.
The miracle on the day of Pentecost is often seen as a
harbinger
of that end time.9
LITERARY
ANALYSIS OF THE PASSAGE
The literary style of the narrative
shows an artistic hand
ordering
the material in such a way as to mirror the ideas from
the
Babylonian background of the story as well as to contrast by
means
of antithetical parallelism the participants in the story. To
such
literary art, repetition and parallelism are essential.
The Dispersion
of the Nations in Genesis 11:1-9 121
Antithetical balance. In the
antithetical parallelism of the
narrative
ideas are balanced against their counterparts. The
story
begins with the report of the unified situation at the begin-
ning (11:1) and ends
with a reminder of that unity and its
resultant
confusion for the scattering (11:9). This beginning and
ending
picture is reflected in the contrast of the dialogues and
actions:
11:2-4 describes what the humans proceeded to do;
11:5-8
describes how Yahweh turned their work aside (begin-
ning with the
contrastive, "But Yahweh ... ").
Within these balanced sections many
elements support the
antithetical
arrangement. As seen in the Hebrew, verse 1 is bal-
anced with 9, 2 with
8, and 3 with 7, and the narrative turns at
verse
5.10
Poetic
devices. The mechanics of the writer can also be seen
in
the heavy alliteration and sound play throughout the account.
First,
the writer enhances the meaning of the ultimate word
play
(the llaBA/lb,BA
["confuse"/"
The
letters b,
l,
and n,
culminating in the word lb,BA; are frequent-
ly used. Verse 3 reads Mynibel; hnAB;l;ni hbAhA; Nb,xAl, hnAbel.;ha Mh,
Unl.A-hn,b;ni
hbAhA. In verse 5
are the words yneB;
UnBA; and verse 7 has hlAb;nAv;.
In
verse 8 the sounds continue with hnob;li
UlD;H;y.ava. And in verse 9 is
the
anticipated culmination of the sounds in lb,BA ... llaBA.
There also appears to be a play on the
key word of the pas-
sage,
CUP
("scatter"). The word is frequently followed by the
phrase,
"across the face of the whole earth," Cr,xAhA-lkA
yneP;, which,
interestingly,
begins with the letter P and ends with C, thus
reflecting
CUP.11
Other alliterations involve yneP;/NP,; Nb,xAl;/hnAbel.;ha; and
Mw,/MwA.
Second, the wordplays in the passage
strengthen the ideas.
Bullinger calls such
wordplays "paronomasia" which he de-
scribes
as the employment of two words that are different in
origin
and meaning, but similar in sound and appearance to
emphasize
two things by calling attention to the similarity of
sound.12
One is placed alongside the other and appears to be a
repetition
of it. Once the eye has caught the two words and the
attention
concentrated on them, then one discovers that an
interpretation
is put on the one by the other.
While this description gives the general
nature of wordplays,
it
is too broad for distinguishing the types of wordplays within
the
group known as paronomasia. To be precise, it should be said
that
paronomasia involves a play on similarity of sound and some
point
in the meaning as well; those that have no point of contact
Bibliotheca Sacra-April-June
1981
in
meaning are best classified as phonetic wordplays such as
assonance,
rhyme, alliteration, or epanastrophe.
This distinction becomes necessary in
the exegesis of the
narrative.
In verse 3 is the exhortation, Mynibel;
hnAB;l;ni, "let us make
bricks"
(literally, "let us brick bricks"). Immediately there follows
a
second exhortation: hpAreW;li
hpAr;W;ni, "let us burn them hard"
(literally,
"let us burn them for burning"). These are paronoma-
sias in the strict
sense since they offer a sound play and are
etymologically
connected.
However, the key play in the passage is
not strictly parono-
masia since there is
no connection etymologically between lb,BA
and
llaBA. It is a
phonetic wordplay. The people would say that the
name
was called "lb,BA" because
Yahweh "made a babble" (llaBA
the
language.
All these devices enhance the basic
antithetical structure of
the
passage. Fokkelman illustrates this by connecting the
par-
onomasia of verse 3, Mynibel; hnAB;l;ni, with the response of God in verse
7,
hlAb;nA, in a
sound-chiasmus:13
L B N "let
us make bricks"
N B L
"let us confuse"
The
reversal of the order of the sounds reveals the basic idea
of
the passage: The construction on earth is answered by the de-
struction from heaven;
men build but God pulls down. The fact
that
God's words are also in the form of man's words (as cohorta-
tive) adds a
corroding irony to the passage. God sings with the
people
while working against them.14
The same point is stressed with Mwe, MwA, and MyimawA. To bring
everlasting
fame (Mwe) they unite in
one spot (MwA) as the base of
operations
for their attainment of fame which they make con-
ditional on the
encroachment of MyimawA, the abode of
God. What
drives
them is hubris. What calls out the nemesis of Yahweh from
heaven
(MyimawA) and scatters
them from there (own) is also hubris.15
The
"brackets" on the text illustrate this poignantly: what "all the
earth"
sought to avoid, namely, dispersion "all over the earth,"
happened
(cf. v. 1 and v. 9).
SETTING
FOR THE PASSAGE
The
Babylonian background. That this passage has Baby-
lon in mind is clear from the
explication of the name "
verse
9. The first time this term was used was in the Table of
Nations
in Genesis 10 where the beginning of the kingdom was
recorded
in the exploits of Nimrod from
there
this direct reference to proud
dences show that the
background of the story was Mesopota-
mian. Speiser says, "The episode points more concretely to
the
background that is here sketched proves to be authentic
beyond
all expectations.”16
important
city of
a
ziggurat (ziggurratu).17
In Nebuchadnezzar's
the
area of Marduk's sanctuary known as E-sag-ila, "the house
whose
head is raised up,"18 there was a seven-storied tower with
a
temple top that was known as E-temen-anki. This structure,
measuring
90 meters by 90 meters at the base as well as being 90
meters
high, became one of the wonders of the world.19 The
tower
was a symbol of Babylonian culture and played a major role
in
other cultures influenced by it.20
The first of such towers must be earlier
than Nebuchadnez-
zar's, for his were rebuildings of ancient patterns. Cassuto
main-
tains that this
reference must be to E-temen-anki
(although he
suggests
that the occasion for the tradition giving rise to the
satire
would come from an earlier time, from the Hittite destruc-
tion of
cannot
be E-temen-anki, which
cannot antedate the seventh
century.
Therefore this account must be centuries earlier than
E-temen-anki.22
Since Esarhaddon (seventh century) and
Nebuchadnezzar
(sixth century) were the first since Hammurabi
to
build such works, the biblical reference in Genesis 11 must be
to
a much earlier
So while the actual Neo-Babylonian
Empire's23 architecture
cannot be the
inspiration for this account, one must conclude
that
their buildings were rebuildings of some ancient
tower
located
in the same area.
But when the literary parallels
concerning this architecture
are
considered, some very significant correspondences to the
narrative
are noted.
First, there is a specific connection of
this story with the
account
of the building of
Enuma Elish, tablet VI,
lines 55-64:
When Marduk heard this,
Brightly glowed his features, like the
days:
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Bibliotheca Sacra-April-June
1981
"Like that of lofty
Let its brickwork be fashioned. You
shall name it the sanctuary."
The Anunnaki
applied the implement;
For one year they molded bricks.
When the second year arrived,
They raised high the head of Esagila equaling Apsu.
Having built a stage tower as high as Apsu,
They set up in it an abode for Marduk, Enlil, Ea;
In their presence he adorned it with
grandeur.24
Within this passage are several literary
parallels to the bibli-
cal
narrative. Line 62 reads, "They raised the head of Esagila
mihrit apsi," (sa Esagila mihrit apsi ullu rest [su] ). Speiser
notes
the word play of ullu resisu with Esagila, which
means
"the
structure which raises the head," explaining that it evokes a
special
value for the Sumerian name, giving it a significant
meaning
in Babylon.25 Thus he concludes that resam ullum
became
a stock expression for the monumental structures of
Speiser shows that apsu is a
reference to the heavens. He
allows
that it often means "the deep," but that cannot be correct
in
the light of line 63 which says, "when they had built the temple
tower
of the upper (elite) apsu" (ibnuma ziggurat sa apsi elite).
In
line 62 then, mihrit apsi must be
"toward heaven," and apsu
must
be celestial and not subterranean.26
A second important element is the
bricks. The Hebrew text in
Genesis
11:3 describes the brickmaking with a cognate accusa-
tive construction.
Once the bricks are made, the tower is made.
Speiser observes that
the bricks figured predominantly in the
Babylonian
account where there is a year-long brick ritual.27 The
Babylonian
account not only records a similar two-step process
(making
bricks in the first year and raising the tower head in
the
second), but it also has a similar construction, using a
cognate
accusative, libittasu iltabnu (Hebrew:
Mynibel;
hnAB;l;nii).
In
fact,
the Hebrew and Akkadian words are cognate. The
similarity
is
striking.
So in Enuma Elish and Genesis there are at least
three solid
literary
connections: the making of the tower for the sanctuary of
the
gods, with Genesis reporting the determination to build the
tower
and city in rebellion to God; the lofty elevation of its head
into
the heavens, with Genesis recording almost the same ref-
erence; and the making
of the bricks before the building of the
city,
with Genesis describing the process with the same gramma-
tical construction.
Another correspondence is reflected in
the great pride of the
builders.
One of the purposes of the Babylonian creation epic at
its
composition was to show the preeminence of
the
cities of the country, and especially the supremacy of Marduk
over
all deities. They were so pleased with themselves that they
considered
naki gods and made
for Marduk on behalf of his victory over
Tiamat. It then became
the pattern for the earthly city (Enuma
Elish, tablet VI, lines 113-15). In fact
city
for so many peoples, claimed to be the origination of society,
their
city having descended from heaven.28 Herein is the im-
mense pride of
Therefore with this world-famous city
and tower culture
claiming
to be the heavenly plan and beginning of creation, the
record
in Genesis 11 is a counterblast and a polemic.29 To com-
municate this most
forcefully, the text employs literary elements
of
that ancient, traditional theme preserved in the Babylonian
culture,
but the contents and thrust of the message differ
remarkably.30
The differences are pointed out in part
by Vos.31 First, Gene-
sis
implies that nothing like this had ever been built before by
man,
but the ziggurats represent traditional workings. Second,
Genesis
presents the building as evidence of their disobedience,
but
the Babylonian work was for the purpose of worshiping a local
deity.
Third, Genesis describes this as the work of one united race
of
people that became the basis of the scattering and confusion
into
languages and tribes, but the ziggurats were man-made
mountains
of a national group (their towers were the symbol of
their
culture). Also these towers developed gradually over the
centuries
after the diffusion and scattering.
So Genesis, in setting forth the account
of the divine
intervention
at
the
arrogance of
The
result is a satire on the thing of glory and beauty of the pagan
world.
The biblical writer, having become familiar with the vain-
glorious
words in the traditions of
for
the purpose of deriding the literary traditions of that ancient
city
and establishing the truth. In fact traditions from Mesopota-
mia recorded the ancient division of
languages as well. The
Sumerians
had recorded that there was originally one language
since
everyone came to worship Enlil with one tongue (Enmerkar
Epic, lines 141-46).32
Bibliotheca Sacra-April-June
1981
Cassuto suggests a
collection of satirical ideas that would
have
given rise to the Genesis narrative, and he paraphrases
them
as follows:
You children of
"Gate of god," or Bab-ilani,
"Gate of gods"--and your tower you
designated "House of the foundation
of heaven and earth." You
desired that the top of your tower
should be in heaven.... You did
not understand that, even if you were to
raise the summit of your
ziggurat ever so high, you would not be
nearer to Him than when
you stand upon the ground; nor did you
comprehend that He who in
truth dwells in heaven, if he wishes to
take a closer look at your lofty
tower, must needs come down.... Your
intention was to build for
yourselves a gigantic city that would
contain all mankind and you
forgot that it was God's will to fill
the whole earth with human
settlements, and that God's plan would
surely be realized.... You
were proud of your power, but you should
have known that it is
forbidden to man to exalt himself, for
only the Lord is truly exalted,
and the pride of man is regarded by Him
as iniquity that leads to his
downfall and degradation--a punishment
befitting the crime....
On account of this, your dominion was
shattered and your families
were scattered over the face of the
whole earth. Behold, how fitting is
the name that you have given to your
city! It is true that in your
language it expresses glory and pride,
but in our idiom it sounds as
though it connoted confusion--and
confusion of tongues heard
therein, which caused its destruction
and the dispersion of its
inhabitants in every direction.33
that
despise God's instructions and raise themselves in pride.34
world
peace and unity by domestic exploitation and power. They
would
be brought down in confusion; herein was the warning to
the
new nation of
and
brought low in spite of her pride, ingenuity, and strength.
The "
the
antitheocratical program. Later writers drew on this
theme
and
used the name as a symbol for the godless society with its
great
pretensions. Isaiah 47:8-13 portrayed
sins,
and superstitions. Isaiah 13:19 pictured her as "the glory of
kingdoms,
the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride"; and Isaiah 14:13
describes
her sinful arrogance in exalting her throne above the
Most
High in the heavens only to be brought low. Jeremiah also
predicted
the cup of vengeance on this arrogant city (Jer. 51).
Daniel
recorded her persecutions against
17-18
applies the theme to the spiritual
ton,
showing that it was her sins that reached heaven and
brought
the catastrophe to her, thus preparing the way for the
true
celestial city to come down to earth.35
The
setting in the primeval narratives. The present story of
the
scattering is part of the primeval events of Genesis which give
a
picture of man in open rebellion to God and of God intervening
in
judgment on each situation.36 The scattering of the race from
race.37
This development of mankind is accurately described by
Kidner.
The primeval history reaches its
fruitless climax as man, conscious
of new abilities, prepares to glorify
and fortify himself by collective
effort. The elements of the story are
timelessly characteristic of the
spirit of the world. The project is
typically grandiose; men describe it
excitedly to one another as if it were
the ultimate achievement--
very much as modern man glories in his
space projects. At the same
time they betray their insecurity as
they crowd together to preserve
their identity and control their
fortunes.38
So it is with this story that the common
history of all man-
kind
comes to an abrupt end, which leaves the human race
hopelessly
scattered across the face of the entire earth. It is this
that
makes the present narrative so different from those preced-
ing it: In each judgment there was a
gracious provision for hope
but
in this judgment there is none. It does not offer a token of
grace,
a promise of any blessing, a hope of salvation, or a way of
escape.
There is no clothing for the naked sinner, no protective
mark
for the fugitive, no rainbow in the dark sky. There is no ray
of
hope. The primeval age ends with judgmental scattering and
complete
confusion. The blessing is not here; the world must
await
the new history.
In view of this, the story of the
scattering of the nations is
actually
the turning point of the book from primeval history to
the
history of the blessing. From this very confused and dis-
persed situation
nations would develop in utter futility until God
would
make a great nation through one man who himself would
be
"scattered" from this alluvial plain to the
blessings
of final redemption and unification would come
through
his seed.
The beginning of Genesis 11 presupposes
a linguistic unity
and
localization comparable to the beginning of Genesis 10.
Since
the Table of Nations in Genesis 10 describes the many
families
of the earth "after their families, after their tongues, in
their
lands, in their nations," and Genesis 11 describes the
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1981
divine
intervention to scatter them, the question is how this
story
of the dispersion is compatible with the Table. They appear
to
be reversed chronologically.
Most modern scholars follow the critical
view that Genesis 11
is
independent of the ethnographic Table and is fundamentally
irreconcilable
with it.39 However, this is not seen as a major
obstacle,
for as von Rad states, "The chapters must be
read
together
because they are intentionally placed next to each other
in
spite of their antagonism."40 So while critical scholars are
bothered
by the antagonisms, they recognize that the two chap-
ters are
complementary in referring to the same scattering.
The Table of Nations gives absolutely no
explanation for the
scattering,
but "that the author was intending right along to treat
of
the confusion of tongues appears from 10:25."41 There it is
stated
that in the days of Peleg ("Division") was
the earth divided.
Writers
have explained this division as some sort of tribal
split,42
or some piece of trivia about conditions at the time, such
as;
for example, irrigation ditches.43 The word gl,P, is often used
for
trenches and irrigation ditches, but the implication of the
Table
is toward universal events.44 It is worth noting that the
root
word occurs in Psalm 55:9 (
"Destroy,
0 LORD, and divide (gl.aPa) their
tongues" (author's trans-
lation here and
throughout the article). The prayer is that God
would
break apart their counsel into contending factions, an end
that
is comparable to the story of the division of the nations.
So
the point of contact appears to be the birth of Peleg
(and
thus
his naming) in Genesis 10.45 At that point the incident of
chapter
11 would have happened, causing the people to spread
out
into the earth until they settled in their tribes as described in
chapter
10. Chapter 11 is the cause; chapter 10 is the effect.
The passages are arranged in a manner
consistent with
Genesis.
The broad survey is given first; the narrowing and
selection
and/or explanation are given afterward .46 The order is
thematic
and not chronological. The choice of this reversed order
is
a stroke of genius. Jacob stated it well: "The placement of
chapter
10 before this one is a special refinement. The absurdity
of
the undertaking becomes obvious if we know the numerical
nations
into which mankind should grow."47
THE
PURPOSE OF THE DISPERSION NARRATIVE
It should be clear by now that the story
of the dispersion is a
sequel
to the Table of Nations and is designed to explain how the
nations
speak different languages in spite of their common origin
and
how they found their way to the farthest corners of the earth.
The
major theme of the passage is the dispersion of the nations
because
of their rebellious pride and apostasy in uniting at
But
the story is more than an explanation of the scattering; it is
an
explanation of the problems due to the existence of nations.
It was at
of
Ham through
that
seat of rebellion toward the true God and pagan worship of
the
false gods--that Yahweh turned ingenuity and ambition into
chaos
and confusion so that the thing the people feared most
came
on them and that their desire to be men of renown was
suddenly
turned against them. For the Israelite nation the lesson
was
clear: If she was to survive as a nation, she must obey God's
will,
for the nation that bristles with pride and refuses to obey will
be
scattered.48 Thus the account of the scattering at
theological
significance for God's people.
Exegesis of the Passage
PROLOGUE
(11:1)49
The first verse informs the reader that
the entire race had a
common
language, thus showing that this beginning is parallel
to
10:1. Knowing the previous arrangement of the scattered
nations
in chapter 10, Jacob explains that a tone of irony is
already
sounded in this verse.50
The whole earth (= the inhabitants) had
one "lip" (hpAWA to
indicate
speech)51 and one vocabulary (MyribAD; to indicate the
con-
tent
of what was said). The point of this prologue is clear: The
entire
race was united by a common language.
MAN'S
PROCEDURE (11:2-4)
Settlement
(11:2).
The narrative records that the human
family
migrated "off east" (Md,q.,mi) and settled in
the region of
ancient
carries
the sense of bedouins moving tents by stages. This
wandering
continued in an easterly direction from
they
settled (Ubw;y.eva) in
"valley
of the world," as the Talmud calls it, became the designated
place
for the nomads-turned-settlers.
Resolution
(11:3-4).
The resolve of the race comes in two
stages:
in verse 3 they made bricks, and in verse 4, motivated by
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1981
their
initial success, they moved to a grander scale by building a
city
with a tower. Bush follows Josephus in designating Nimrod
as
the leader of this founding of Babylon.52
In their zeal for societal development,
alliance, and fame, and
with
all the optimism of a beginning people, they began to orga-
nize their brickmaking. They were an ingenious lot, for they
lacked
the proper stone and clay and had to make do with
makeshift
materials.53 The writer's attitude toward this comes
across
in an appropriate pun: they had no clay (rm,Ho) but they
used
asphalt (rmAHe). Jacob
suggests the effect of this assonance
sounds
like a child's play song.54
Met by initial success they advanced to
a greater resolution:
"Come,
let us build. . . ." Couched in the same grammatical
construction
as the preceding resolve, their words display that
they
would use the materials made to make a city "with a tower. "
The circumstantial clause draws the
reader's attention to
the
tower. Once built, this tower would provide the pattern for
fortresses
and acropolises for others.55
Building it with its top in
the
heavens may reflect the bold spirit of the workers, even
though
it is hyperbolic language used to express security (cf.
Deut.
1:28).
The purpose of their building venture
was fame. They
wished
to find security by arrogantly making a name--a desire
that
is satirized in verse 9. But their desire to be renowned was
betrayed
by their fear of the oblivion of dispersion.
observes
this motivation.
The hatred of anonymity drives men to
heroic feats of valour or long
hours of drudgery; or it urges them to
spectacular acts of shame or
of unscrupulous self-preferment. In the
word forms it attempts to
give the honour
and the glory to themselves which properly belongs
to the name of God.56
Thus the basic characteristics of
culture are seen here:
underlying
anxiety (the fear of being separated and discon-
nected) and the desire
for fame (a sense of security in a powerful
reputation).57
THE
INTERVENTION OF YAHWEH (11:5-8)58
The
investigation (11:5-6). The second half of the passage
reflects
the first, beginning with Yahweh's investigation of
the
city and the tower which the humans had begun to build.
The
description, written so anthropomorphically, describes
Yahweh's
close interest and participation in the affairs of man.59
He
did not need to come down to look at their work (in fact His
coming
down implies prior knowledge). Procksch clarified
this by
pointing
out that "Yahweh must draw near, not because he is
near-sighted,
but because he dwells at such tremendous height
and
their work is so tiny. God's movement must therefore be
understood
as a remarkable satire on man's doing."60 Or in the
words
of Cassuto one could say that no matter how high they
towered,
Yahweh still had to descend to see it. Yahweh's coming
down
does not alone strike this note of satire. The parallel con-
struction of the cohortatives (11:7) reflects their plans made
earlier.61
The point to be made is clear: The tower that was to
reach
the heavens fell far short.
The purpose of His coming down was
"to see" the work. This
is
the second anthropomorphic expression in the line and
announces
that He will give the city a close investigation. The
narrative
is filled with condescension. In referring to them as
MdAxAhA
yneB; ("sons of the earth"), he shows them to
be earthlings.
This
strikes at the heart of the Babylonian literature which cred-
ited the work to the
Anunnaki gods. The work, according to
Genesis,
was terrestrial, not celestial.
Verse 6 records the results of that
investigation: "And
Yahweh
said, `If as one people all having one language they have
begun
to act this way, now nothing that they propose to do will be
out
of their reach."' The similarity of style and wording to Gene-
sis
3:22 is most striking. The potential for calamity is dangerous
to
the race, and God will prevent it.62 The verb llaHA is used here;
the
beginnings of man are commonly counterproductive.63 They
will
nullify the purposes of God in favor of their own purposes
which
are within reach. They will be at liberty for every extrava-
gance if they can
think only of their own confederation.
The
resolution (11:7).
Continuing to speak, Yahweh says,
"Come,
let Us go down and confound their language so that they
cannot
understand one another."
The internal difficulty concerns the
relationship of the word
hdAr;ne ("let Us
go down") with dr,Oy.va ("But
[Yahweh] came down")
of
verse 5. The critical approach is to divide the two elements into
strata,
but that is not a satisfactory solution.64 Dillmann
simply
saw
a return to heaven first, then a reflection (comparing 3:22),
and
then the coming in judgment.65 This may be the simplest
way
of understanding it. Cassuto takes rm,xyo.va, "and He said, "as an
explanatory
connection of contemporaneous actions: "But
Bibliotheca Sacra-April-June
1981
Yahweh
came down ... thinking rm,xy.ova
literally,
‘saying') ... they
are
one ... let us go down...."66
The second verb describes the actual
purpose: "let Us con-
found."67
It was this confusion [llaBA] that led to
the diversity of
their
understanding and thus to their dispersion. Bush explains
how
this would come about.
This was to cause a dispersion of the
multitudes congregated at
instantaneous formation of new
languages, but simply such a con-
fusion in the utterance of the old, as
should naturally lead to mis-
apprehension, discord and division. The
dialectic discrepancies,
however, thus originating, though
perhaps not very great at first,
would become gradually more and more
marked, as men became
more widely separated from each other,
and by the influence of
climate, laws, customs, religion, and
various other causes, till they
finally issued in substantially
different languages.68
Once the understanding of one another
was confounded, the
division
would be effected.
The
effect (11:8).
"So Yahweh scattered them from there
across
the face of the whole earth, and they ceased building the
city."
Their greatest fear (v. 4) came on them.69 The place of unity
(MwA) became the place of dispersion (Mw.Ami). Their view was toward
centrality;
God moved them universally. The result of this disper-
sion meant that the
city was unfinished as they had planned it.
The
rebellious race as a unified people did not fulfill their goal.
EPILOGUE
(11:9)
In a marvelously clever
"etymological" word play, verse 9
announces,
"Therefore [that is why] its name is called
because
there Yahweh confused the lip [language] of all the
earth
and scattered them across the face of the whole earth."
The formula NKe-lfa with xrAqA is quite common as an explana-
tory inference from
a reported event and is used most often with
place
names.70 Here it introduces
the meaning given by the
Israelites
for
of
“confusion” for the proud Babylonians' name.71 The story
shows
how this gate of the gods fell far short of expectations,
ending
in confusion and chaos.
So Yahweh scattered them across the face
of the earth. The
text
need not imply that the confusion was immediately reached
nor
the scattering instantaneous. The narrator fixed this point
from
which the division of the peoples and the languages would
begin
and move ever farther.72
The Dispersion of the Nations in Genesis
11:1-9 133
Conclusion
Irony is seen in the beginning and the
ending of this pas-
sage.
The group at
now
they were spread over the whole earth (11:9). By this the
lesson
is clarified: God's purpose will be accomplished in spite of
the
arrogance and defiance of man's own purposes. He brings
down
the proud, but exalts the faithful.
The significance of this little story is
great. It explains to
God's
people how the nations were scattered abroad. Yet the
import
goes much deeper. The fact that it was
beginning
of kingdoms under Nimrod from
ominous
warning: Great nations cannot defy God and long sur-
vive.
The new nation of
around
her to perceive that God disperses and curses the rebel-
lious, bringing utter
confusion and antagonism among them. If
source
of blessing to the world.
Unfortunately,
fused
to obey the Lord God. Thus she too was scattered across the
face
of the earth.
Notes
1
B. Jacob, The First Book of the Bible:
Genesis, ed. and trans. Ernest I. Jacob
and
Walter Jacob (
story
gave rise to the story of the giants trying to expel Jupiter (Jaroslav Pelikan,
ed.,
Luther's Works, Lectures on Genesis,
Chapters 6-14 [
Publishing
House, 1960], p. 211.
2
Hugo Gressmann, The
Press,
1928), p. 3.
3
Delitzsch explains that the primitive language through
this intervention "died
the
death from which comparative philology is incapable of awakening it"
(Franz
Delitzsch, A New Commentary on Genesis, trans.
Sophia Taylor [
&
T. Clark, 18991, p. 355).
4
Harold G. Stigers, A Commentary on Genesis (
Publishing
House, 1976), p. 129.
5
A. Dillmann, Genesis,
Critically and Exegetically Expounded (
&
T. Clark, 1897), p. 387.
6
Theological Dictionary of the Old
Testament, s.v. "Babhel,"
by Helmer Ring-
gren, 1:467.
7
Spoken of in the singular, the "pure lip" must mean the language
barriers will
be
broken down to make one universal tongue. The second idea in the expression
means
that their speech will be cleansed.
8
The Bible uses this word for both
connection
is remains a matter of debate. In this connection, the similarities
between
Ethiopic and Akkadian are interesting for
speculation.
9
Derek Kidner, Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary
(
IL:
InterVarsity Press, 1967), p. 110.
10
Fokkelman diagrams it as follows:
A tHAx,
hpAWA Cr,xAhA-lkA (v. 1)
B MwA (v. 2)
C Uhfere-lx,
wyyxi (v. 3)
D Mynibel; hnAB;l;ni hbAhA (v. 3)
E Unl.A-hn,b;ni (v. 4)
F lDAg;miU ryfi (v. 5)
X txor;li hvAhy; dr,y.eva (v. 5)
F’ lDAg;miha-tx,v; ryfihA-tx, (v. 5)
E' MdAxAhA
yneb; UnBA rw,xE (v. 5)
D' hlAb;nAv;
. .
. hbAhA
(v. 7)
C' Uhrere tpaW; wyxi (v. 7)
B' Mw.Ami
(v.
8)
A' (llaBA) Cr,xAhA-lKA tpaW;
(v. 9)
(J.
P. Fokkelman, Narrative
Art in Genesis [Assen Amsterdam: Van Gorcum,
1975],
p. 22). In verse 1 is the strong statement of one language for the race. In
verse
9 Yahweh confused them. In verse 3 they spoke to one another, but in verse
7
they were not able to understand each other. In verses 3 and 4 is the workers'
double
cohortative, and in verse 7 is Yahweh's cohortative mirroring their words.
In
verse 4 the people wish a tower in the heavens, and in verse 7 Yahweh comes
down
from heaven. In verse 4 they desire a name; in verse 9 the name is called
From
Noah to Abraham, trans. J. Abrahams [
pp.
230-34).
11
While some may find such a discussion fanciful or strained, it cannot be
ignored.
There is in good literature a clear choice of words and a deliberate
juxtapositioning of phrases to
reflect and enhance the ideas. The style in this
section
and in much of Genesis 1--11 has been a prime factor in distinguishing
this
section from the second part in Genesis, namely, chapters 12-50.
12
E. W. Bullinger, Figures
of Speech Used in the Bible (1898; reprint, Grand
Rapids:
Baker Book House, 1968), p. 307.
13
Fokkelman points out that the fact that one word is
the word with a prefix
and
the other is the root itself in no way destroys the effect of the sound of
these
letters
which are played on six times in the story (Narrative Art in Genesis, pp.
14-15).
14
Ibid., p. 14.
15
Hubris on the positive side is pride, megalomania, a wanting to be like God,
and
an overstepping of one's bounds. On the negative side it is the fear of having
to
live without safety and existential security, of being lonely and vulnerable.
So
their
hubris leads them to act impiously and brings down God's judgment. It is
crime
and punishment, both of which are caused by pride that oversteps bounds
(Fokkelman, Narrative
Art in Genesis, p. 16; see also Donald E. Gowan, When
Man Becomes God:
Humanism and Hubris in the Old Testament (
Pickwick
Press, 1975] ).
16
E. A. Speiser, Genesis,
The Anchor Bible (
1964),
p. 75. It is riot to be inferred from this statement that Speiser
holds a
conservative
view of this Scripture.
17
It is necessary to say at the outset that it is not that the writer saw a
ziggurat
and
composed a myth about the origin of languages, and that this myth somehow
found
its way into the Book of Genesis. Rather, Genesis implies that such towers
The Dispersion of the Nations in Genesis
11:1-9 135
had
not been built before this and this would be quite unique (Howard F. Vos,
Genesis and
Archaeology
[
18
Emil G. Kraeling, "The Earliest Hebrew Flood
Story," Journal of Biblical
Literature 66 (1947):282.
19
Cassuto, From
Noah to Abraham, p. 227; Andre Parrot, Ziggurats
et Tour de
Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1954), p. 47; En-
cyclopedia Biblica, s.v. "
20
Gressmann, The
structure
was related to their understanding of the world with God at the pinna-
cle, the door of heaven, and man on
the slopes of the artificial mountain. The
entire
world rested on the breast of the underworld. Thus it was fitting for this to
be
included in primeval events. Most would view it as an artificial high place of
worship
erected on the plain.
21
Cassuto, From
Noah to Abraham, p. 228. Cassuto is
(unnecessarily) assum-
ing that the traditions demand a
city and a tower in ruins. The judgment passage,
however,
says absolutely nothing of that at all. The most that is said is that this
project
was not completed.
22
E. A. Speiser, Genesis,
p. 75. This argumentation is used here simply to
show
the difficulty in ascribing the identification to E-temen-anki even if one were
to
take the late date of the composition in accordance with a J document.
23
E. A. Speiser, "Word Plays on the Creation
Epic's Version of the Founding of
ological problem with
the date of J and E-temen-anki,
but then he adds in his
argumentation
that other temples also had the -anki element in the
name, such as
Borsippa's which was E-ur-me-imin-anki,
"house of the seven preceptors of
heaven
and earth," so that we are not limited to one reference that first fits
the
idea
with -anki. His point is that the source was literary
and not monumental
(architectural).
24
James B. Pritchard, ed., Ancient Near
Eastern Texts Relating to the Old
Testament, 3d ed.
(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1969), p. 60.
Speiser, who translated
the Akkadian myths and epics for Pritchard's work,
states
at
the outset that the majority of the scholars would assign Enuma
Elish to the
Old
Babylonian period on internal evidence alone. Unger explains that it was
composed
in the days of Hammurabi in the mold of political and religious prop-
aganda to show the
preeminence of
the
poem itself, though one of the literary masterpieces of the Babylonian Sem-
ites, goes back to
much earlier times. It is clearly based upon the earlier traditions
of
the Sumerians, the non-Semitic precursors of the Babylonian Semites in lower
25
Speiser, "Word Plays," p. 319. He compares
this to other and similar phrases
to
show that they did it frequently.
26
Alexander Heidel, The
Babylonian Genesis (
Press,
1942), p. 48. Heidel had the same difficulty
attempting to render it "deep."
Speiser says, "I
was equally at sea in translating “equaling apsu.
"' Speiser alludes
to
Enuma Elish, tablet
IV, lines 142-45, where apsu = samamu (Speiser, "Word
Plays,"
p. 319).
27
The making of the first brick was a trial ordeal before the gods and was to be
accomplished
by the king. The ceremony of the bricks was to be a sign that the
service
was offered to the gods (Henri Frankfort, Kingship
and the Gods [
28
Theological Dictionary of the Old
Testament, s.v. "Bbhel,"byH.
Ringgren,
1:467.
Ringgren suggests that the metropolis with so many
peoples (= lan-
guages) was natural
for such an account of the dispersion.
29
Cassuto, From
Noah to Abraham, p. 227.
30
It seems clear that the story did not originate in
correspondence,
but that is to be expected since it is a travesty on
mann thought the
story came from
the
Israelites by the Arameans, but that is unlikely (Gressmann, The Tower
of
cult
mountains even in
[
writers:
Diodorus 2.7; Herodotus 1.178; Strabo 16.1.5; and
Pliny 6.121.
31
Vos, Genesis
and Archaeology, p. 47.
32
S. N. Kramer, "The '
Memory of E. A. Speiser, ed. W W Hallo (
Society,
1968), pp. 108-11; George Smith, The
Chaldean Account of Genesis
(New
York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co., 1876), p. 160.
33
Cassuto, From
Noah to Abraham, pp. 229-30. Cassuto has
attempted to
reconstruct
the type of satirical material behind the passage by relating the
passage
to the time when
message
as a polemic (against what the Israelites would have known
claimed
for herself as opposed to the truth) is an accurate presentation of the
message,
but Cassuto does not treat the text with precision.
In the first place,
Genesis
presents it as a universal judgment on the race collected in
one
group of people scattered by the Hittites. True, Cassuto
is looking for some
occasion
and the Hittite invasion is a happy one for him. However, that is
unwarranted.
Second, there is no hint whatsoever that the city and the tower
were
reduced to rubble. They were just not completed. Third, the text is not saying
that
all the languages could be spoken there but that one was once in the
beginning
and God confounded it. Cassuto's attempt to take a
naturalistic ex-
planation to the occasion
for the text weakens it.
34
Alan Richardson, Genesis I -XI:
Introduction and Commentary (
SCM
Press, 1953), p. 124.
35
Kidner, Genesis,
p. 111.
36
Ryle observed that "we are led to suspect that the mystery of the origin
of
distinct
languages belongs to the dim obscurity of the infancy of the human race,
an
infinitely remote and prehistoric age" (Herbert E. Ryle, The Book of Genesis
[
37
Von Rad, Genesis,
p. 143.
38
Kidner, Genesis,
p. 109.
39
John A. Skinner, A Critical and
Exegetical Commentary on Genesis (Edin-
burgh:
T. & T. Clark, 1910), p. 224. Skinner was quick to add that the incon-
sistency is not such
that would hinder the collector of traditions from putting the
two
in historical sequence.
40
Von Rad, Genesis,
pp. 147-48.
41
H. C. Leupold, Exposition
of Genesis, 2 vols. (
House,
1942), 1:381.
42
Skinner, A Critical and Exegetical
Commentary on Genesis, p. 220.
43
This is suggested by Driver who follows Sayce in the
suggestion (S. R. Driver,
The Book of
Genesis
[
44
Josephus referred the dispersion to the time of Peleg
and related the whole
story
to the efforts of Nimrod (Antiquities of
the Jews 1.146, and Apion
1.19). Most
traditional
scholars have followed this line.
45
According to Genesis 11:10, 12, 14, and 16 Peleg was
in the fifth generation
after
the Flood. At this time, according to Keil, there
could have been 30,000
people
on the earth. That may be a bit generous, but even a conservative estima-
The Dispersion
of the Nations in Genesis 11:1-9 137
tion turns up enough
to satisfy the passage. Certainly not all the tribes listed in
chapter
10 need to have been existing at
Pentateuch,
Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, trans. James Martin, 25
vols.
[reprint,
46
For example, Genesis 37 records the sale of Joseph into
of
Genesis 38 traces the family of
however,
traces the account of Joseph from his sale into
posited
for chapter 1 (the total survey of creation) and chapter 2 (the selective
discussion
of the main elements of the creation, viz., man and woman). The
princes
of
narration
returns to the story.
47
Jacob, The First Book of the Bible,
p. 80.
48
The concept of dispersion or scattering of peoples was an ancient one.
Kitchen
deals with the idea of exile and scattering in the ancient literature to show
that
the concept was real (fearfully real) for
Orient,
'Deuteronomism,' and the Old Testament," in New Perspectives on the
Old Testament, ed. J. Barton
Payne [
49
Cassuto entitles the first half of the narrative,
"Many Are the Plans in the
Mind
of Man" (Cassuto, From Noah to Abraham, p. 238).
50
Jacob, The First Book of the Bible,
p. 79.
51
Isaiah 19:18 describes those who speak the language of
portrays
the foreigners with deep speech and stammering tongue; Ezekiel 3:5
describes
the people as deep of lip i(= strange speech) and
heavy of tongue (=
hard
language). The lip, mouth, or tongue were frequently employed in metonomy
to
represent the speech or the language.
52
George Bush, Notes on Genesis, 2
vols. (reprint,
Publishing
Co., n.d.), 1:183.
53
Making bricks to replace the unavailable stones would further feed the pride
of
the people who would rise above their difficulties. These bricks (libittu) are mud
bricks
(Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, s.v. "libittu").
54
Jacob, The First Book of the Bible,
p. 77.
55
Von Rad, Genesis,
p. 146. Several examples of this are seen in Judges 8:9;
9:46;
2 Chronicles 14:6; and Isaiah 2:15.
56
Richardson, Genesis I -XI, p. 128.
57
Von Rad, Genesis,
p. 145.
58
Cassuto called this section, "It Is the Purpose
of the Lord That Will Be
Established"
(From Noah to Abraham, p. 244).
59
Midrash Pirke of R. Eliezer (c. 14) records ten comings down of the Lord:
Paradise,
Tabernacle,
and once in the last day. The coming down was viewed as Yahweh's
revealing
of Himself. It is seen in Scripture as the divine intervention breaking
through
the course of events (Exod. 19:20; 34:5; Num. 11:25; 12:5); however, one
should
also see Exodus 3:8 and Numbers 11:7 (for deliverance and blessing).
60
Cited by von Rad, Genesis,
p. 145.
61
Consequently, this writer takes the waw
antithetically: "But Yahweh came
down"
- in contrast to their efforts to ascend.
62
Throughout these verses the divine mood is not anger for depravity but rather
laughter
at foolishness (Jacob, The First Book of
the Bible, p. 79). Kidner observed
that
the note of foreboding marks a father's concern and not a rival's. He shows
that
it is like Christ's words in Luke 23:31, "If they do these things in a
green tree
.
. . " (Kidner, Genesis, p. 110). It is better to have division than to have
collective
apostasy
in unity and peace.
63
Compare Nimrod's beginning with kingdoms and Noah's beginning with viniculture.
138
Bibliotheca Sacra-April-June
1981
64
The two-recension theory bypasses the issue. It still
remains a surprise that a
"redactor"
would leave such an incongruity unrevised (Cassuto, From Noah to
Abraham, p. 246).
65
Dillmann, Genesis,
p. 393.
66
He offers as examples for this construction Genesis 26:22 ("thinking, for
the
LORD
now ...") and Exodus 2:10 ("she named ... reflecting. .(Cassuto, From
Noah to Abraham, p. 246).
67
The word "Us" is taken here as a plural of majesty as in the earlier
chapters
of
Genesis. For a discussion of its use with verbs, see Gerhard F. Hasel, "The
Meaning
of 'Let Us' in Gn 1:26,"
(1975):58-66.
68
Bush, Notes on the Book of Genesis,
p. 179.
69
See Exodus 1:12 and 1:10 for a similar situation. The Egyptians were afraid
multiplied.
70
Burke 0. Long, The Problem of Etiological
Narrative in the Old Testament
(Berlin:
Alfred Topelmann, 1968), p. 3.
71
The name in the Achaemenid literature came to mean
"the gate of God"
(Bab-ill), or perhaps "the gate of the gods." In
Persian it is Babirus. In Sumerian
it
is KA.DINGIR.K(A). The idea that
10:10)
was current in
Euphratian and part of the
heritage of the earliest pre-Sumerian or Semitic
etymology.
The
Encyclopedia Judaica (s.v. "
B.
Landsberger and refers the reader to Die Serie ana ittisu (1937) for the
discussion.
The first mention of
the
Third Dynasty of Ur when it was a provincial government.
Bush illustrated how the connotative
meaning carried by saying that there
can
be no doubt that the Latin words balbus ("stammerer") and
balbutio
("stam-
mering") derive
their origin from Hebrew llaBA, or, by the
doubling of the first
radical,
balbel, bilbel, from
which latter form of the word comes ~n, closely
related
to the English and German babble. The Greek (3aQ(3aQ6g (by commutation
of
liquids for balbalos),
"barbarian," primarily signifying a person of rude or
outlandish
pronunciation, is doubtlessly referring to the same root (Bush, Notes
on
Genesis, 1:178). The
of
babble that "in none [of these languages] can its history be carried far
back; as
yet
it is known in English as early as anywhere else.... No direct connexion with
72
Figart suggests that this point would be the logical
place for the development
of
races to begin. The text of Genesis 11:6 makes a point of the unity of the race
("one
people"), but according to Genesis 10 they are dispersed according to
families,
nations, tongues, and lands. He says, "Again, if God intervened and
miraculously
changed man's looks, as well as his language, then there is no need
to
account for these changes through isolation, environment, or culture. This is
not
to dismiss the known effects of these three factors; we have already shown
some
possible changes. Yet, if God did the initial changing of genetic structure,
then
those other factors were only modifying means within the limits set by God.
As
a matter of fact, this is all they could be in any interpretation" (Thomas
O.
Figart, A Biblical
Perspective on the Race Problem [
House,
1973], p. 45). Figart then proceeds to mention places
in Scripture where
God
does intervene and change the structure of mankind (the Fall and the
Rapture).
He concludes that the silence of the Table concerning Negroid and
Mongoloid
peoples is to be related to the purpose of the Table, that is, the rela-
tionship of
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