I placed the later verses to highlight the possibility that the tower of Babel was built by King Nimrod. First, it was not unusual to to depict kings as great hunters and also the word may also mean warrior. The original word ‘gibbor’ also has a similar meaning to hero. Extra biblical texts such as the Jewish account uses the word ‘reshit mamlakhto’ as a founder or ruler of the cities, mentioned but also possibly both. He is depicted as a rebellious king. A theory which probably comes form a possible root of his name ‘mrd marad’ (which means he revolted), but scholars have failed to ascertain his identity mentioning Akkadian kings such as Sargon of Akkad, his grandson Naram-Sin, or in the same motif as divine city founders the gods, Marduk, Ninurta or Gilgamesh. As he too was a mighty hunter slaying Humbaba, befriending Enkidu a wild beast man and the divine bull and was a great ruler. All of these are possible inspirations or a confused conflation to add to his character. Nonetheless it is assumed he did built the tower. Nimrod builds a tower.
“1 The whole world spoke the same language, with the same vocabulary. 2 Now, as people moved eastwards they found a valley in the land of Shinar where they settled. 3 They said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and bake them in the fire.’ For stone they used bricks, and for mortar they used bitumen” (Gen.11:1-3).
Fired brick technology became known at end of the 5th millennium BC.
However mostly in the south as Canaan had plenty of large stones to function as
62 building materials. However Babylon was founded around 2300 BC and became a city-state around 1900 BC unless they are referring to Eridu also equated as Babylon.
“4 ‘Come,’ they said, ‘let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top reaching heaven. Let us make a name for ourselves, so that we do not get scattered all over the world’” (Gen.11:4).
The phrase ‘with its top reaching the heaven and the name of the tower of Babel’ alludes strongly to a Ziggurat (to raise – Zaqāru [Akkadian ]). A raised large platform meant to serve as the highest point in a city and the city was built around Zigurats. Although Mesopotamian city such as Babel had temples, the Ziggurats were meant to serve as gateways where the gods would come and go47. Half of them do not even have stairways. The Hebrew ‘midgal Bavel’ is translated into English as tower is also ambiguous as the word may be applied to any large structure.
About that, Warad-Sin king of Larsa writes that ‘He made it as high as a mountain and made its head touch heaven. On account of this deed the gods nanna and ningal rejoiced’. The Ziggurat of Babylon is named ‘Etemenanki’ (house of the foundations of heaven and earth). Larsa temple that links heaven and earth and lastly the ziggurat at Sippur stairway to pure heaven. Ziggurats were built with a core of mud brick and exterior covered in mud brick, usually square or rectangular they averaging around 50 metres square or 40x50 metres at the base however since these are ancient structures. We do not properly know their height. The tallest found so far is 102 metres. However others stand at approximately half of
47 Rachel Storm, Myths and Legends of India, Egypt, China and Japan, 48.
63 their original height. There are 25 known Ziggurats around Sumer, Babylonia, and Assyria.
“5 Now Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower that the people had built. 6 ‘So they are all a single people with a single language!’ said Yahweh. ‘This is only the start of their undertakings! Now nothing they plan to do will be beyond them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they cannot understand one another’ 8 Yahweh scattered them thence all over the world, and they stopped building the city.
9 That is why it was called Babel, since there Yahweh confused the language of the whole world, and from there Yahweh scattered them all over the world” (Gen.11:5-9).
The writer here makes God incredibly human like. Some Jewish scholars also interpret this short text as a personal attack on the baylonian religion, to pursuade readers away from such faiths. Passage five for example one could say where God is anthrophormized again he needs to look down to view and to understand what is going down on earth but some have interpreted in a mocking tone. People have built a tower to reach the heavens and yet to the Omni-potent God. It is so insignificant he barely misses it and has to look down to view the structure.
The most likey candidates for the inspiration of this story is Esagalia (‘temple whose top is lofty’ – é-sağ-ílla) is a Ziggurat dedicated to Marduk. It rose to a height of about 300 feet, and contained two sanctuaries. One at its base, which was 300 feet square. One at its summit. The tower was probably constructed at the time of Hammurapi , but was damaged or destroyed several times and repaired by Esarhaddon (seventh century B.C.E.) and Nebuchadnezzar II (sixth century B.C.E.). The memory of the Esagalia being reconstructed by Nebuchadnezzar as well as its destruction in the mid 16th century BC by the
64 hittites may have created this narative. The writer also mentions humans building the tower which was contradicting the Babylonian, thinking it was constructed by gods. It is therefore ruinable and finaly the last attack is on the city itself. The term ‘Babylon’ (‘gate of the gods’ –babilim) is rendered as ‘incoherent nonsense’
babble. The Aggadah cites this tale as caution to the dangers of idolatry.
The parallel of the tale of Tower of Babel is found in the tale of Lord of Arata. There are two works of literature which are very similair to this tale. The first is the lord of Arata, which tells of two cities Uruk and Aratta. The two kings of these cities both build a temple with Inana as its patron. Hearing of the other temple they compete to one another with threats and convince the other temple is nothing as Inana has chosen her favourite. One part of this tale is very noteworthy.
65 Enmerkar agrees and sends the envoy, along with his specific threats to destroy Aratta and disperse its people, if they do not send him the tribute –
‘lest like the devastation which swept destructively, and in whose wake Inanna arose, shrieked and yelled aloud, I too wreak a sweeping devastation there.’ He is furthermore to recite the ‘Incantation of Nudimmud’, a hymn imploring Enki to restore (or in some translations, to disrupt) the linguistic unity of the inhabited regions, named as Shubur, Hamazi, Sumer, Uri-ki (the region around Akkad), and the Martu land.
‘On that day when there is no snake, when there is no scorpion, when there is no hyena, when there is no lion, when there is neither dog nor wolf, when there is thus neither fear nor trembling, man has no rival! At such a time, may the lands of Shubur and Hamazi, the many-tongued, and Sumer, the great mountain of the me of magnificence, and Akkad, the land possessing all that is befitting, and the Martu land, resting in security – the whole universe, the well-guarded people – may they all address Enlil together in a single language! For at that time, for the ambitious lords, for the ambitious princes, for the ambitious kings – Enki, the lord of abundance and of steadfast decisions, the wise and knowing lord of the Land, the expert of the gods, chosen for wisdom, the lord of Eridug, shall change the speech in their mouths, as many as he had placed there, and so the speech of mankind is truly one.’48
‘There also exists a work from the third dynasy of Ur which states that originally mankind spoke the same language, until Enki, the Sumerian god of wisdom, confounded their speech. Though the reason for the confusion of tongues is not stated, Kramer has suggested that it may have been inspired by Enki’s jealousy of another god, Enlil. Hence, in the Sumerian version it was a case of the rivalry between two gods, whereas in the Bible the rivalry was between God and man‘.
Although the Bible has some differences there are very few unique stories which there is no parallel. The polytheistic gods could just have been edited out during the Babylonian captivity by scholars and replaced by YHWH a monotheistic faith. The writers would have been familiar with the religions of the near east, and when residing in Babylon acquainted with the religion even more so. However there is also room to doubt this claim as the formation of Genesis which would be from the Persian period (450-350 BCE). The writers wary of the
48 “Enmerkar and the lord of Aratta: translation” The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature, accessed July 4, 2021 https://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/section1/tr1823.htm
66 other religions and during this time Ezra as head of the Jewish community would most likely not intentionally copy these pagan myths. If they desired to strengthen their faith around the temple on return from Babylon. Most likely these stories were a Jewish take and instead of plagiarizing their surrounding neighbours.
These motifs were in fact standard and common in the region. Each tribe had their own god who created man. Flooded and desired to be worshiped and so these common myths served as general story which could be edited to firm the needs of each tribe’s patron deity.
The purpose of this chapter is to compare the Bible and prove with reasonable doubt it is not a separate or individual book completely unique or alienated from the local beliefs, Judaism and by extension Christianity and Islam all hearken back to the dessert and its people calling it home and its origin, one might say the near east is the cradle of life is also is the de facto axis mundi. The Bible a definitive text for religion and the font, draws its inspiration from religions that are not its own, this is not an attempt of pantheism where the religions are indistinguishable and thus diversity is moot but rather the three Abrahamic religions vary little in their narratives but vastly in interpretation and meaning; In Islam Adam, Noah and Abraham49 are treated as prophets, and the tower of Babel is wholly absent, possibly due to not possessing the same sentiments of the returnees from the Babylonian exile and thus serves no function for the audience.
Christian apologists would later draw allusions through out the old testament even
49 “Meneladani Nabi Ibrahim, Sang Kekasih Allah”, accessed August21,2021 https://www.uii.ac.id/meneladani-nabi-ibrahim-sang-kekasih-allah/
67 so far back as Genesis to prove the messiah and the grand narration of the bible can be traced back from the birth of the cosmos to the redemption of Jesus Christ ever since the dawn of creation, Adam is the man that brings the downfall and Jesus is the New Adam. Judaism however sees Abraham as a progenitor, and claim their decent from the child born of a miracle, although their messiah has yet to come50. The three religions will perhaps never see eye to eye in creedo but they need not to, to cooperate and nurture relations does not require the spate three to become one religion and possess the same dogma, the Abrahamic religions view their scriptures and progenitors with the same reverence but distinctly and regarding this though it may have started with Abraham the story of God and his people does not end with them, their legacy and halcyon tales are a part of our religion but never its end, it is our duty to carry the will of our forefathers in faith Abraham is our common starting point the remainder of our responsibilities as children of God and Abraham is to make peace with our siblings.
50 “What Do Jews Believe About Jesus?
How Judaism regards the man Christians revere as the messiah.” My Jewish Learning, accessed August 22, 2021 https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/what-do-jews-believe-about-jesus//
68 CHAPTER III
YHWH AND ABRAHAM