“And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. God came down to see what they did and said: "They are one people and have one language, and nothing will be withholden from them which they purpose to do." So God said, "Come, let us go down and confound their speech." And so God scattered them upon the face of the Earth, and confused their languages, and they left off building the city, which was called Babel "because God there confounded the language of all the Earth."”(Genesis 11:5-.

Ok I have a few questions I’d love answers to:


First off, if the word “God” had been replaced with “a spiritual being”, I believe we would most likely all, after considering the actions of this ‘being’, conclude that said ‘spiritual being’ is the Devil [and/or Lucifer] himself as his actions are clearly ‘evil’. Isn’t it crazy to think that our all powerful, all good God caused the present disharmony among his people because they existed in harmony and could succeed in all endeavors?

I mean, what made God, the infinite, omnipotent, omniscient, so scared and wary of the peace and unity among his finite, weak, mostly spiritually illiterate people who simply sook to see his face? If he did not want his people disrupting the peace in his place of abode, was the evocation of disharmony between the people, an action which sounds absolutely sadistic to me, the most sensible containment measure for employment by an all-powerful God?


The passage states that the humans were building the tower towards heaven. I believe we can safely assume that they (the people) began building the tower on the same earth we exist on now; where then is heaven? In the clouds directly above us? If so, why doesn’t God destroy the spaceships and shuttles that have eventually found their way into and past those ‘heavens’?


The bible also claims the builders were all that existed on earth at the time and their disbanding brought about the diversity of languages. Agreed. What then brought about the diversity of races?


Or are we to take this story as a metaphor? If so, what then is its existential significance? Harmony and peace are values that can help us grow immensely as a people, but we must not strive to achieve them as God would thwart whatever plans we make thereafter? Or spiritual things are irrelevant (seeking God’s face), and we should only be concerned with matters in our immediate world (he didn't stop them from building the city)?

I am sure the story is a metaphor for something much more spiritual. A parable about what once happened to mankind eons ago. If you read mythological tales of other cultures, especially african ones, you will get the same elements. The one language referred to in the tower of babel tale could be the language of telepathy, which is referred to repeatedly in many african myths that mankind once used to communicate.

Jenwitemi:

I am sure the story is a metaphor for something much more spiritual. A parable about what once happened to mankind eons ago. If you read mythological tales of other cultures, especially african ones, you will get the same elements. The one language referred to in the tower of babel tale could be the language of telepathy, which is referred to repeatedly in many african myths that mankind once used to communicate.

Are you implying that the story was adopted from some culture Christianity came into contact with in its early stages or some time when this part of the Bible was being written?

Also if we take this as a just a metaphor, what other stories in the bible should we also qualify as metaphors and not actual events? David vs Goliath? Joshua's victory at Aijalon?The parting of the Red sea? The Egyptians and the Ten Plagues? Moses' conversations with God on Mt Sinai and the acquisition of Tablet of commandments?
Wouldn't it would seem as if adherents to Bible teachings just decide to find some deep spiritual meaning within some Bible story they find unbelievable?

Edit: My point is, in a world when we can't even decide on the exact age of the earth as scientists and the bible adherents have different opinions, you (or we as humans) don't have enough concrete historical evidence to entirely determine if the writers of some story in the Bible intended it as an actual story/myth or as a metaphor. Well, except in cases such as this where some form of mutual exclusivity exists between two claims in the story and in other parts of the Bible respectively (the nature of God in this case).

Thanks for your reply tho

Tower of Babel, was conceptual-bliss. God used it in a few ways, I think, primarily to smote those who had nerve to lose faith and to question his presence with the audacity to think they could build a tower, reaching him.

think about it. . .he could have very well let them continue to build until they reached a height where they couldn't breath properly, featuring an unstable tower that God's laws of physics would've soon caused to fall and injure or killed many humans. . .not including those who had already died (meaninglessly) building it, up to the point.

But God did something much greater, instead, he used that Tower-incident to create, nationalities. Languages. Beauty-in-Tongues.

[size=18pt]Isn't our God, a great God?!!![/size]






seriously tho, people built something very high. It collapsed, they believed it was god who collapsed it (that is, assuming this particular babel story even ever occurred).history has documented cases of statues or buildings crumbling due to faulty engineering (even ships sinking, ala titanic) being placed in the "The Gods must be upset with us" category. Tower of babel has to be one of the better fairytale stories of the bible yet stupid in its own way. It tries to explain that all languages were the same at the time which is foolish

atleast, yahweh and his arabian counterpart allah got sumthing in common here; crashing down buildings 9/11 style

Jenwitemi:

I am sure the story is a metaphor for something much more spiritual. A parable about what once happened to mankind eons ago. If you read mythological tales of other cultures, especially african ones, you will get the same elements. The one language referred to in the tower of babel tale could be the language of telepathy, which is referred to repeatedly in many african myths that mankind once used to communicate.

The writer uses the word 'speech', so I would assume the people of said time actually had to produce audible sounds with their mouths? Is there any evidence showing that humans once communicated telepathically?

Mudley313:

Tower of Babel, was conceptual-bliss. God used it in a few ways, I think, primarily to smote those who had nerve to lose faith and to question his presence with the audacity to think they could build a tower, reaching him.

think about it. . .he could have very well let them continue to build until they reached a height where they couldn't breath properly, featuring an unstable tower that God's laws of physics would've soon caused to fall and injure or killed many humans. . .not including those who had already died (meaninglessly) building it, up to the point.

But God did something much greater, instead, he used that Tower-incident to create, nationalities. Languages. Beauty-in-Tongues.

[size=18pt]Isn't our God, a great God?!!![/size]






seriously tho, people built something very high. It collapsed, they believed it was god who collapsed it (that is, assuming this particular babel story even ever occurred).history has documented cases of statues or buildings crumbling due to faulty engineering (even ships sinking, ala titanic) being placed in the "The Gods must be upset with us" category. Tower of babel has to be one of the better fairytale stories of the bible yet silly in its own way. It tries to explain that all languages were the same at the time which is foolish

atleast, yahweh and his arabian counterpart allah got sumthing in common here; crashing down buildings 9/11 style

Pretty interesting


I want some answers from theistic points of view too though

The story is as literal as it appears in the bible. God wasn't against their innovative ideas, but the purpose of God was for men to fill the earth and not to gather in one place only. At this time , the earth was just a whlo mass of land, without islands and continents. God had to divide them so that they could go and occupy the entire face of the earth. As men located themselves according to their new languages and as they moved out, God divided the earth under their feet, this is what led to the continental drift in the days of peleg.

Genesis 10:25
25 And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one[ was] Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name[ was] Joktan.