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1) Gen 11:1–2: The account of the city and tower in Babel brilliantly employs several literary devices, such as alliteration and double meanings.

Just as with Noah’s flood (Gen 6:10–9:19), this story appears as a chiasm, with the emphasis falling upon “The Lord came down” (F):[1]

A      All the earth had one language (Gen 11:1)

B       They settled there (Gen 11:2)

C       They said to each other (Gen 11:3)

D       Come, let us make bricks (Gen 11:3)

E       A city and a tower (Gen 11:4)

F        The Lord came down (Gen 11:5)

É        The city and the tower (Gen 11:5)

D́       Come…let us confuse (Gen 11:7)

Ć        They don’t understand each other (Gen 11:7)

B́        They dispersed from there (Gen 11:8)

Á        The language of the whole earth (Gen 11:9)[2]

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This last biblical narrative of primeval history parallels the account of the fall (Gen 3:1–13, 22–24) and the Lord’s judgment upon humanity due to the violence of the sons of the gods (Gen 6:1–7).[3]

Moses began by stating, “And it happened that all the earth [had] one language and one [set of] words. And they journeyed on the side of the East, and they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they remained there.”

“The whole earth” could depict this as the universal experience of humanity.[4] However, several other possibilities exist.[5]

In Hebrew, the same word denotes “earth” and “land” (erets). We cannot ascertain which meaning the author intended apart from the context of the passage.[6]

This event may include only the people of that region.

Except for Gen 10:32, the genealogy of Shem’s descendants occurred just prior to this verse (Gen 10:21–31). Possibly, some of them settled in Sumer, where this narrative took place.[7]

On the other hand, people throughout the region may have utilized a trade language to facilitate communication, much like English serves people in disparate countries today.[8]

In these cases, Gen 11 would follow the Table of Nations (Gen 10) in chronological order.

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However, this account may indicate that Noah’s sons had not yet separated into their people-groups.[9]

In this view, Moses returned to a time before the Table of Nations existed.[10] After all, Gen 10 does speak of people-groups divided by clans and languages.[11]

Many commentators view this passage as a flashback depicting the division of the world during Peleg’s lifetime (Gen 10:25). Even after the flood cleansed the land of injustice, the earth’s inhabitants remained tainted by sin (Gen 6:11–14; Gen 7:19–22; Gen 9:20–22).[12]

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By traveling “on the side of the East,”[13] these people moved far away from the promised land of Moses’s era.[14]

Similarly, God cast Adam and Eve out of Eden to the east (Gen 3:22–24).[15] After Cain murdered his brother, the Lord banished him to a land east of Eden (Gen 4:8–16).[16]

The Table of Nations depicts some of Shem’s descendants as living in the east (Gen 10:30).[17] However, that appears to be in Arabia.[18]

In general, living in the east connotes that one does not experience God’s blessing (Gen 13:10–13; Gen 25:5–6; Gen 29:1).[19]

That the wanderers “found” (matsa) a place to settle implies they had sought a suitable place to live.[20]

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In the middle of the fourth millennium BC, flood waters drained from southern Mesopotamia into the river system over the course of several hundred years.[21]

This resulted in a broad, flat plain,[22] making the land desirable for new habitations.[23]

Over the course of time, the name of this region changed from Sumer to Akkad to Babylonia.[24] Today, it lies near Baghdad in Iraq.[25]

Understanding the culture and history of southern Mesopotamia sheds crucial light upon the events in this chapter.[26]

A Neolithic society called the “Ubaid culture” was the first to dwell in this area (6th–4th millennium BC).[27]

Sumerian literature cites Eridu as the oldest city. It dates to the late 6th millennium BC.[28]

According to a 6th century BC Babylonian creation account, “All the lands were sea…Then Eridu was made.”[29]

Close to 3700 BC, the Ubaid culture disappeared, replaced by an urban civilization.[30]

By 3000 BC, a plethora of small villages, towns, and cities loomed over these plains.[31]

Image via Wikimedia Commons

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a) Read Gen 11:1–2. Who do you think was involved in this migration? Why was dwelling in the East significant? How does the archaeological record reflect the biblical account?

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Go to Let Us Bake Bricks (Gen 11:3)

[Related posts include Serpents in the Ancient Near East (Gen 3:1); A World-Altering Conversation (Gen 3:2–5); Succumbing to Temptation (Gen 3:6); Hiding from God (Gen 3:8); A Day of Reckoning (Gen 3:9–13); Access to the Tree of Life (Gen 3:22); Driven Out (Gen 3:23–24); Cain Arose against His Brother (Gen 4:8); Misappropriated Blood (Gen 4:9‒10); Cursed from the Ground (Gen 4:11‒14); Banished from God’s Presence (Gen 4:15‒16); Sons of God or Sons of the Gods? (Gen 6:1–2); Descendants of Seth as the Sons of God (Gen 6:1–2 cont.); Fallen Angels as the Sons of God (Gen 6:1–2 cont.); Kings as Sons of the Gods (Gen 6:1–2 cont.); Taking Wives for Themselves (Gen 6:1–2 cont.); Limiting Human Life Spans (Gen 6:3); Nephilim in the Land (Gen 6:4); God Grieves (Gen 6:5–6); Wiping Out Everyone (Gen 6:7); Violence Filled the Earth (Gen 6:11–12); The End Was Near (Gen 6:13); Specifications for an Ark (Gen 6:14–16); The Waters Prevail (Gen 7:17–20); The Breath of Life Extinguished (Gen 7:21–24); Noah Planted a Vineyard (Gen 9:20–21); Ham Dishonors His Father (Gen 9:22–23); The Descendants of Japheth (Gen 10:2–5); The Descendants of Ham (Gen 10:6–14); The Descendants of Canaan (Gen 10:15–20); The Descendants of Shem (Gen 10:21–31); Seventy Nations (Gen 10:32); Let Us Bake Bricks (Gen 11:3); A Stairway to Heaven (Gen 11:4); A Deity Descends (Gen 11:5–7); Dispersed over the Face of the Earth (Gen 11:8–9); Ancient Literature; and Author and Date of Genesis]

[Click here to go to Chapter 12: Scattered to the Ends of the Earth (Gen 11:1–9)]

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[1]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 234.

[2]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 176.

[3]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 242.

[4]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 178.

[5]Walton, Genesis, 371–2.

[6]J. Bergman and M. Ottosson, “אֶרֶץ” (erets) TDOT 1:388–405, 393.

[7]John H. Walton, “The Mesopotamian Background of the Babel Account and Its Implications,” BBR 5, no. 1 (1 September 1991):155–75, 173, https://www.ibr-bbr.org/files/bbr/BBR_1995_09_Walton_TowerBabel.pdf.

[8]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 350.

[9]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 240.

[10]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 350.

[11]Walton, Genesis, 371.

[12]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 175, 177.

[13] Brown, Driver, and Briggs, “מִן” (min), BDB, 577–83, 578, https://archive.org/stream/hebrewenglishlex00browuoft#page/578.

[14] Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 238.

[15]Walton, Genesis, 372.

[16]Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 238–9.

[17]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 352.

[18]Gary H. Oller, “Mesha (Place),” ABD 4:708.

[19]Waltke and Fredricks, Genesis: A Commentary, 178.

[20]S. Wagner and H.-J. Fabry, “מָצָא” (matsa), TDOT 8:465–83, 467.

[21]Walton, “The Mesopotamian Background of the Babel Account and Its Implications,” 172, https://www.ibr-bbr.org/files/bbr/BBR_1995_09_Walton_TowerBabel.pdf.

[22] Wenham, Genesis 1–15, 239.

[23]Walton, “The Mesopotamian Background of the Babel Account and Its Implications,” 172, https://www.ibr-bbr.org/files/bbr/BBR_1995_09_Walton_TowerBabel.pdf.

[24]Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1–17, 351.

[25]James R. Davila, “Shinar (Place),” ABD 5:1220.

[26]Walton, “The Mesopotamian Background of the Babel Account and Its Implications,” 155, https://www.ibr-bbr.org/files/bbr/BBR_1995_09_Walton_TowerBabel.pdf.

[27]Jean-Cleaude Margueron, “Al Ubaid,” Paul Sager (Trans.), ABD 1: 141–2.

[28]Jean-Claude Margueron, “Eridu (Place),” ABD 2:573.

[29]Alexander Heidel, The Babylonian Genesis: The Story of Creation, 2nd Ed. (Chicago; London: University of Chicago Press, 1951), 1:10–12, 62, https://archive.org/stream/TheBabylonianGenesisStoryOfCreation/The%20Babylonian%20Genesis%20Story%20of%20Creation#page/n7.

[30]Margueron, “Al Ubaid,” 1:142.

[31]A. Kirk Grayson, “Mesopotamia, History of: History and Culture of Babylonia,” ABD 4:755–77, 757.