Bible Studies

Gen 11 Tower of Babel Commentary

by Murray J Peat
01/29/20
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The Tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-9)

Commentary

Gen 11:1  And the whole land had one language and one speech. 

The whole land, not all of (Planet) Earth. It couldn't be Earth because in verse 2 it says they moved from the east. It wouldn't make sense for all the people on Earth to be moving from the east because then some of them would arrive in the east where others had set out from.

These people were all “sons of Adam” (verse 5.) The whole land had one language and that language was Hebrew because Elohim had named things in Genesis in the Hebrew language originally to Adam. Adam conveyed it to his 9 generations (one short of Noah) so Noah had Hebrew. Noah conveyed it to Abraham (they lived concurrently.)

Not only did the whole land have one language but also only one way of speaking so that all on that land understood everyone else. So there was no confusion in their speech and everyone used all the same words.

Gen 11:2  And it was as they moved tent from a part of the east, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and they remained there. 

Since this chapter falls during the description of Shem's descendants (see Gen 10:31 and Gen 11:10), it may be that the “they” are the “sons of Shem.”

The sons of Adam lived in tents and initially remained in an eastern part of that land. Time passed and, moving gradually westwards as climate and vegetation allowed, they arrived with their portable tents in the land of Shinar which was centred on Babylon. In today's geography, they moved from eastern Iraq to central Iraq.

Later, Noah's great grandson Nimrod (through Ham) was King over the land of Shinar and he built several towns there - Babel, Erech, Aaccad and Calneh (Gen 10:10).

Gen 11:3  And they said to one another, “Come, let's make brick and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and asphalt for mortar. 

Gen 11:4  And they said, “Come, let's build an encampment and a tower with its top to the sky. And let's make a name, lest we be dispersed over the surface of the whole land.” 

Gen 11:5  And Yahweh came down to see for himself the encampment and the tower which the sons of Adam had built. 

So the Sons of Adam (perhaps Sons of Shem) who had moved from the east, having arrived at Shinar, set up a tent base there and decided to build a large tower to the sky. The main purpose of this was to show anyone else who might attack them (like other sons of Noah or others outside this land), that they were powerful, and this authority would stop them from being overcome by others who might disperse them over the land.

However, they obviously had not counted on Yahweh coming down personally. This shows they had long distanced themselves from the close walk Adam and Enoch once had with Him. Their hearts had turned against Yahweh over the years and this plan to build such a tower showed the degree to which they had turned away.

Gen 11:6  And Yahweh said, “Behold! The people are united and all have one language, and this profanity they begin. Now nothing which they have planned to do will be withheld from them.” 

Yahweh is speaking to the council of Elohim. He is not speaking to the sons of Adam nor to Himself.

Yahweh sees the tribe of the Sons of Adam and confirms they have one language (Hebrew.) Yahweh sees the result of what they are planning and it goes against His plan for Him to be the one they look to, not to themselves. He knows that at the end of the day, Adamkind exist for Him not for others.

Gen 11:7  “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they cannot understand one another's speech.” 

The (council of) Elohim (no mention of a trinity) go down personally from their invisible residence in the sky. Their purpose is to confuse the Sons of Adam so they can't continue to build, but more importantly to rescue them from their own evil desires and teach them to trust Yahweh Elohim again.

Gen 11:8  So Yahweh dispersed them from there over the surface of all the land. And they quit building the encampment. 

Being confused and unable to communicate, the Sons of Adam stopped building the encampment (and tower.) Yahweh then scattered the Sons of Adam across the whole land.

Gen 11:9  Therefore the name of it is called Babel because Yahweh confused the language of all the land there. And from there Yahweh dispersed them over the the surface of all the land. 

Babel (babble) means confusion. The Sons of Adam then lived throughout the land; the land which Elohim had brought out of the sea (in Genesis 1) strictly for the Sons of Adam.

These sons bore many generations of Hebrew speakers with various dialects, all living on this land; until Yahweh Elohim chose Abraham to be the leader of a new generation of Sons of Adam, and through him and Isaac and Jacob, on down to Jesus.

Jesus came to reunify the believing Sons of Adam (through the line of Jacob) and to unconfuse their speech through his Holy Breath so that they all understood one another again (Acts 2:6) so that they could all worship Yahweh Elohim together. Thus their land would once more be reunified in one language (Hebrew) and one speech (dialect.)