Chapter Eleven

The Tower of Babel

Genesis 11:1. On the whole earth there was one language and one speech. Having given a general picture of the geographical settlement of primitive humanity, the biblical historian returns backward to explain to us its cause. First, he says, “on the whole earth,” that is, on the whole inhabited earth, otherwise—in all of humanity, “there was one language,”—or, as it stands in the Hebrew text—“one mouth,” as the organ of articulate speech, and “one speech,” that is, one and the same substance and form of speech. The fact of the unity of human language constitutes the fundamental problem of linguistics, which is being pursued with greater or lesser success by all outstanding linguists: the affinity of languages and the commonality of many roots in the two principal branches of the human race—the Semitic and Indo-European—almost leave no doubt that these two principal varieties once came from one common first source. What this primitive language of all humanity was, we can only judge conjecturally; but it is certain that the opinion of ancient writers (Origen, the blessed Jerome and Augustine, Diodorus, Eusebius, etc.) in favor of the primacy of one of the Semitic languages has on its side the advantage that in Hebrew alone are found the beginning of primitive names (Adam, Eve, Cain, Seth, etc.), that from it can be easily explained the names of many ancient peoples (Babylonians, Chaldeans, Cushites, etc.), and that, finally, the most ancient remains of human culture bear rather clear traces of Cushito-Semitic influence.

Genesis 11:2. Having departed from the East, Since Noah’s ark after the flood came to rest on the mountains of Ararat, Armenia was the first place of settlement for post-diluvian humanity. Although with regard to Palestine, where Moses wrote his narrative, Armenia lay to the northeast, the biblical authors do not have the custom of such strict geography, but rather in the predominant use of only indications of east and west. But on the other hand, this expression “from the east” gave occasion to some scholars to think that under “the mountains of Ararat” is meant not the Ararat of Armenia, but “Ariarat”—the highest mountain in the Hindu Kush range (Hindukush?) to the east of the Tigris—that mountain Nisir on which, according to Assyro-Babylonian tradition, the ship of Ut-Napishtim came to rest after the flood. In such a case, the expression “having departed from the east” would be literally true, because Mesopotamia or Shinar lies directly to the west of Ariarat. they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. Having left their mountainous region, the descendants of Noah moved down along the course of the Tigris and Euphrates and came to rest in the vast and fertile plain of Shinar, later the land of Babylon.

Genesis 11:3. And they said to one another: Let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. A historically accurate detail, fully justified by modern excavations, from which we see that the ancient Babylonians made artificial brick and were well acquainted with the use of bitumen or modern asphalt.

Genesis 11:4. And they said: Let us build a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens. The very first biblical report of the building of a city appears in the history of Cain Gen 4:17, and then in the history of the Cushite Nimrod Gen 10:10. By attributing in both these cases the building of cities to representatives of the wicked races of humanity, the Bible foresees an evil intention in this fact. Even more obvious is this intention expressed in the building of a tower “whose top is in the heavens”; the latter expression, of course, is hyperbolic and only shows the extraordinary height of this tower Deut 1:28. By raising such a colossal tower, its builders wanted to set up a monument to their outstanding skill and thereby immortalize themselves in the eyes of all posterity; perhaps there were also joined to this ambitious designs to create such a stronghold of dominion from which it would be convenient to extend their power over as many of the population as possible; finally, it is probable that in the intention of the builders was also the desire to hinder the fulfillment of the divine prophecy about the universal dispersal of the descendants of Noah Gen 9:25-27 by the creation of such a center that would be visible to all and would unite all around it again. and let us make a name for ourselves, These are the direct and clear words of the Bible, leaving no doubt as to the ambitious, power-hungry, and generally impious intentions of the builders of the Babylonian tower. In a similar sense, that is, in the sense of their zeal for reputation, this phrase is used in other places of the Bible 2 Sam 8:13; Isa 63:12-14; Jer 32:20. before we are scattered abroad over the face of all the earth. The initial words of the text: “before we are scattered” in the Hebrew text are expressed by the conjunction ken, which fully permits another translation of it, equivalent to the Greek μή and the Russian “lest”; in this latter form it emphasizes the fundamental thought of the text about the wickedness of the builders’ designs.

The Confusion of Tongues and the Dispersal of Nations

Genesis 11:5. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, The omniscient One has no need for visible descent, since to Him are open all, even the most hidden thoughts of the human heart Jer 11:20; Ps 7:10; 1 Chr 29:17; therefore this expression is anthropomorphic, pointing to the execution of divine judgment over human undertakings Gen 18:21; Ps 143:5. “The Lord descends to earth when, not leaving subsequent events to the will of men, He prepares to disrupt their plans in a miraculous way. The Lord descends to see the city and tower, because their construction proved the deep corruption of their soul, and by this expression it is indicated that the Lord paid special attention to the sinners and decided to take measures to separate them” (Vlastov). which the children of men built. “In a broad sense this name belongs to all people, both the pious and the wicked, and points to their natural nothingness before the Almighty (sons of men, or sons of Adam, means ‘sons of dust’); but here the discourse is probably about members of the wicked race of Ham, who were the chief instigators of the undertaking and by deceit drew in members of the pious race” (Bishop Vissarion). This is confirmed also by the biblical context, from which we see that in the previous time also the chief builder of cities is the descendant of Ham himself—the Cushite Nimrod Gen 10:10-11.

Genesis 11:6. And the Lord said: Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do, and now nothing will be impossible for them that they have determined to do; “God,” says the holy John Chrysostom, “usually acts in this way: when He intends to send punishment, He first shows the greatness of sins and as if justifies Himself, and only then punishes” Gen 3:11. So also in this case, one language—this greatest gift of divine love and the best means for developing in people the higher humane feelings of universal brotherhood and equality—was turned by men to evil, to contribute to the development of stormy and lower instincts of their nature. Seeing that humanity had firmly taken this destructive path of impiety and showed no intention of abandoning it and repenting, the merciful Lord Himself decided, by extraordinary action of His omnipotence, to turn them aside from it and thereby save them from complete moral ruin.

Genesis 11:7. come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech. The words of this biblical place, representing, in the opinion of the holy John Chrysostom, God’s address “to those equal in honor to Himself,” that is, to the Persons of the Holy Trinity, testify to the special importance of the creative act that was to follow. As an act of new creation, it approaches here in content and form the creation of the first people, which was preceded by a similar divine counsel Gen 1:26. A full New Testament antithesis to this event is represented by the miracle of the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles in the form of fiery tongues, which restored to them the once lost ability of complete mutual understanding Acts 2:4-6.

Genesis 11:8. So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth; and they ceased building the city. Properly, God only confused their languages, that is, caused them to speak in different languages and thereby destroyed the means of mutual exchange of thoughts. The dispersal of the builders was the natural consequence of the division of their interests: language serves as the external expression of thoughts and all the spiritual content of people; hence, to the extent that unity of language binds people and forces them to unite, to that extent difference of language, on the contrary, divides them among themselves and creates different and often even hostile groups toward one another. “By the confusion of language and the dispersal of peoples themselves was destroyed the impious work, which aimed at the political unification of peoples under the rule of one of them and moreover of an impious one... This placed barriers to the universal spread of impiety and depravity from one center... If there had been a universal capital, as a center of impiety and depravity, and if there had been everywhere one language, then the whole world would have become what the land of Canaan afterward became, exhausting the long-suffering of the Lord by its abominations” (Bishop Vissarion).

Genesis 11:9. Therefore was its name called Babylon; for there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad over the face of all the earth. This verse represents the conclusion to the entire history of the Tower of Babel. According to the sense of this place, the miracle of the confusion of languages that occurred here communicated its name also to the locality itself, which received the name “Babylon”; such is also the interpretation of this name held by Josephus. It is clear that both the Bible and Josephus derive the word “Babylon” from the Hebrew verb “balal” which means “to confuse.” But modern orientalists decompose this name into its component parts—Bab-Bel, that is, “the court, or gate of Bel,” an ancient Babylonian deity. However, even if some weight can be given to the latter derivation, it should in any case be referred to a much later epoch, to that time when the worship of the god Bel became established in Babylon, and the event of the Babylonian confusion had already somewhat faded from the memory of the people. The significant fact of the Babylonian Tower-building and the dispersal of peoples that followed it occurred in the epoch of Peleg, or Pelegus, a representative of the fourth post-diluvian generation, who lived approximately in the middle of the sixth century after the flood Gen 10:25. In the history of divine dispensation regarding the salvation of the human race, it forms a kind of era, ending one epoch—the epoch of the universal history of all humanity—and beginning another—the history of one chosen race of Shem, from which through Abraham and David the promised Messiah Himself was to be born. The historical authenticity of this event is confirmed by many concordant traditions of antiquity and results of modern scientific excavations in the East. Among the ancient traditions of special attention, the account of Abydenos, cited by Eusebius in his “Preparation for the Gospel,” deserves consideration, where, among other things, we read the following remarkable words: “soon after the flood there appeared on earth people, proud of their strength and stature, despisers of gods, who planned to build a very high tower in the place where Babylon now is, intending thereby to ascend to heaven itself. And behold, when their construction was already approaching heaven, the gods sent strong winds, which scattered this tower. The ruins of it stand to this day and are called Babel, because up to that time all people spoke one language, and now there was inflicted upon them confusion of many and different languages.” Brief, but even closer to the Bible, excerpts from this history were found by the English scholar George Smith in the cuneiform texts included in the so-called “Chaldean Genesis.” That same scholar, conducting his famous excavations, discovered also the ruins of this tower near the ruins of ancient Babylon. Judging from the description of Herodotus and Pliny, this famous tower was repeatedly enlarged and rebuilt, having in the flourishing period of its history the significance of the principal temple or pantheon of the Babylonian deities, namely—the seven planetary deities, with each of these deities dedicating a separate floor of the tower, painted in its own distinctive color.

The Genealogy of the Semites

Genesis 11:10–11. These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood; and after he begat Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years and begat sons and daughters. Here begins a new toldoth—the genealogy of the Semites, which has a direct and immediate relation to the line of the chosen people. The genealogy of Shem comprises seventeen verses (11–27 inclusive) and in its first half represents a repetition of what has already been said above Gen 10:22-25; but this repetition is far from literal: it omits much, namely—all that has no direct relation to the line of Terah and Abraham, and adds even more, namely—all the chronological dates, according to the scheme adopted in such genealogies. By its content and form, the genealogy of Shem closely adjoins such a genealogy of Seth Gen 5 and as it were forms its direct continuation. Therefore, all that has been said by us concerning the meaning and sense of that genealogy, about its persons and numbers, is fully applicable to this one: in it we ought just as much to see the framework of the most ancient history of the Semites and pay attention not so much to the numbers as to the analysis of the biblical names themselves and their general sequence. As for the numerical data, in this genealogy too, like the previous one, they do not inspire much confidence, since in all three principal recensions of the text they are indicated differently (the total duration of this period, determined according to the years of the birth of the patriarchs, will be 390 years according to the Hebrew text, 1040—according to the Samaritan, and 1270—according to the LXX). This once again convinces us that in the Bible there is no strict and exact chronology, and the one that exists either has suffered greatly from various causes or has been introduced into it later; fortunately, all this—let us repeat once more—does not relate to the essence of faith and has no special significance for us.

Genesis 11:12–13. And Arphaxad lived thirty-five years and begat Shelah. And after he begat Shelah, Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years and begat sons and daughters. And Shelah lived thirty years and begat Eber. And after he begat Eber, Shelah lived four hundred and three years and begat sons and daughters. In these two verses, the difference existing between the two principal texts—the Hebrew and the LXX—in the enumeration of patriarchs attracts attention: in the Hebrew original, Shelah immediately follows Arphaxad, whereas in the LXX text between them is placed another Cainan. Referring to the fact that many of the ancient Greek codices, the text of the book of Chronicles and the genealogy of the Lord in the evangelist Matthew 1 Chr 1:24, Matt 1:1-17, as well as Josephus and Philo do not make such an insertion, most commentators are inclined to see a later interpolation here and give preference to the Hebrew text. But we, relying on the authority of the LXX and the Evangelist Luke Luke 3:36, rather agree to see an intentional omission in the Hebrew Bible than an insertion in the Greek, and it is not difficult to explain the motives of such an omission, namely—the desire to achieve the decimal number of patriarchs, as more convenient for remembering.

Genesis 11:14–26. And Shelah lived thirty years and begat Eber. And after he begat Eber, Shelah lived four hundred and three years and begat sons and daughters. And Eber lived thirty-four years and begat Peleg. And after he begat Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty years and begat sons and daughters. And Peleg lived thirty years and begat Reu. And after he begat Reu, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years and begat sons and daughters. And Reu lived thirty-two years and begat Serug. And after he begat Serug, Reu lived two hundred and seven years and begat sons and daughters. And Serug lived thirty years and begat Nahor. And after he begat Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years and begat sons and daughters. And Nahor lived twenty-nine years and begat Terah. And after he begat Terah, Nahor lived one hundred nineteen years and begat sons and daughters. And Terah lived seventy years and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. The meaning of the names “Shem,” “Arphaxad,” “Cainan,” “Eber,” and “Peleg” is already known to us from the foregoing: the first means—“name,” the second—“neighbor of the Chaldeans,” the third—“possession,” the fourth—“a pilgrim, settler, wanderer,” the fifth—“division, dispersal.” No less significant in its meaning is the series of remaining names of this genealogy; so, the name, for instance, “Shelah,” according to a more probable explanation, indicates him as a “messenger, or settler,” perhaps from the southern limits of the land of Arphaxad; “Reu” means “friend”—perhaps he gave his name to the subsequently well-known “Rages of Media.” The name “Serug” means “strength, power” and indicates, consequently, the strength and significance of this tribe; the name “Nahor” means “fighter,” probably manfully defending the interests of his race from the attacks of neighboring peoples. Finally, the name Terah, according to the opinion of Ewald, comes from the verb tarach, meaning “to turn, to settle, to depart,” and thus it foretold his future fate—as a settler from Ur of the Chaldeans.

The Genealogy of Terah, Father of Abraham

Genesis 11:27. These are the generations of Terah: From this point begins a new biblical section—toldoth, or genealogy of Terah, the father of Abram. The biblical historian, as exegetes have noted, with remarkable gradualism approaches the history of the father of the faithful—Abraham: he progressively narrows the circle of Semitic genealogies and now, at last, takes the very house and family in which Abram was born. And Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran begat Lot. And here the biblical historian does not directly take Abram alone, but indicates also his family situation, enumerates his brothers, not forgetting to mention also his nephew—Lot. “Abram”—which means “father of exaltation”—is placed here in the first position not because he was older than the others, but, clearly, on account of the special importance of his theocratic role. The name of Abram’s second brother—Nahor—is already known to us, since it was obviously given in honor of the grandfather Gen 11:24; and the name of Terah’s third son—Haran, or Harran—has in the Bible, besides a personal meaning, also a local significance (topographical)—in the latter sense the term Harran denotes the northwestern part of Mesopotamia. Abram stands here in the center of all, as the ancestor of the chosen race, Nahor is introduced as the grandfather of Rebekah Gen 22:20-23, and Haran as the father of Lot.

Genesis 11:28. And Haran died before his father Terah, that is, “in the presence of his father,” as it stands in the LXX (ἐνώπιον τοῦ πατρὸς ἀυτοῦ), in his presence. The biblical historian notes this fact, probably with the purpose of showing that afterward, in the land of his new settlement, Abram settled already alone. in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldeans. This is a particularly important biblical detail, showing that the homeland of Abraham was the distant land—the land of Ur of the Chaldeans. According to the most reliable assumption of such outstanding orientalists as G. Smith and Rawlinson, the biblical Ur of the Chaldeans is nothing other than the city of Khur—the famous ancient capital of Chaldea, located not far from the modern locality of Mugheir, in the region of southern Babylonia. Such close ethnographic connection of the ancestor of the Hebrew people with ancient Chaldea, and through it with Babylonia and Assyria, has very great significance and provides the best explanation for that remarkable agreement which is observed between the narratives of biblical primitive history and the most ancient traditions of Chaldea, or between the first chapters of the book of Genesis and the data of the “Chaldean Genesis.” Evidently, all this—the traditions that came from one common first source; but whereas the darkness of pagan Chaldea has managed to obscure and disfigure much in these primeval tales, the pure light of revealed truth continued to be preserved in the line of the chosen people and so came down to Moses, who committed it to writing under the special guidance of the Spirit of God.

Genesis 11:29. And Abram and Nahor took themselves wives; the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; Interested in every detail concerning the person and family of Abram, the biblical historian notes also the fact of the marriage of Abram and the surviving brother—Nahor. “Sarai”—the name of Abram’s wife, according to a more accurate translation, means “lady”; from the twentieth chapter, verse 12, we see that she was a relative of Abram—either a half-sister (from different mothers), or even a niece, being the sister of Milcah and the daughter of Abram’s already dead brother—Haran Gen 20:12.

Genesis 11:30. And Sarai was barren; she had no child. An important detail that prepares for the subsequent narrative Gen 16:1.

The Departure of Terah from Ur to Haran

Genesis 11:31. And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram his son, and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; but when they came to Haran they settled there. Moses does not here explain to us the motives for Terah’s settlement from his homeland, but in another place Gen 15:6-7 he himself partly indicates, and other sacred writers speak directly, that this was done by him in accordance with a special divine command Nehem 9:7; Acts 7:3-4, which, evidently, had the purpose of preserving the house of Terah from infection by the universal idolatry Josh 24:2-3. From the southern region of Ur of the Chaldeans, Terah with all the family members enumerated here moved northward to the land of Canaan, that is, to the regions of Syria and Palestine; but during the course of this settlement they made a more or less prolonged stop in Haran, a region lying on the river Belias, directly on the path between Nisibis and Gargamis, frequently encountered in cuneiform texts and also well known for the famous battle of Crassus with the Parthians.

Genesis 11:32. And Terah died in Haran. Even Terah himself, as one touched by idolatry Josh 24:2, was not destined to see the promised land, but was appointed to die on the way to it—in Haran.