Chapter 7. 3
Tower of Babel
Ziggurat, Nimrod
Queen
of Heaven, Nimrod, Deities, Construction, and Purpose
A little Background
The term “Tower of Babel”
is not found in scripture, but is the popular term used for the ziggurat
structure built by Nimrod in the plains of Shinar; which is another name for
Babylon. Shinar means “summer”; so this culture was referred to as
Summero-Babylon or Sumerians. Balal, the city’s name in Akkadian means the “Gate of God”.
It had been about 100 years since the flood of Noah and about 30,000
people participated in this tower project; practically the whole human race. They were driven with an intense desire to
perpetuate their name; to “Make a name for themselves.” The irony is, that they thought their temple
was a huge, massive sky scraper;[1] but
God saw it as so small that God in a hyperbole; tongue in cheek said He had to
come down to earth just to get a glimpse of it.[2]
Nimrod
Noah had a son named Ham,[3]
who for an indecent act, his descendants were cursed by Noah. One of Ham’s descendants was Nimrod
who was known as a mighty hunter against the Lord; God saw him as a hunter and murderer of his people,
Nimrod wanted to set himself up as the universal monarch.
Note:
Many students of the Word believe Nimrod was a Nephilim; a giant who was trying
to kill off all the other giants so he would be supreme; a god. There is wording in the Book
to suggest this.
Noah worshiped
Jehovah the one true God, but Nimrod didn’t see it that way; he thought of
himself as a god. Nimrod eventually had many names due
to the confusing of the languages by God, one of which was Baal who they worshiped.
Rebellion – Stay together;
make a name for ourselves
The descendants of Noah
began to spread abroad, but stopped in the plain of Shinar (summer) and decided
this was a good place to settle and build a city.[4] Nimrod wanted to be the universal monarch, which
was God’s prerogative alone. He wanted
to be a powerful leader and didn’t need the help of God; he was self-sufficient.
God had commanded man to increase in number and to FILL the earth;[5] however
they wanted to settle down in one place and stay together and make a name for themselves and to establish their “importance”
in the sight of man and God.[6] The tower was a token of their oneness of
purpose, but also a symbol of defiance
of God.
Let’s build a city
Balal, the city’s name in Akkadian means the “Gate of God”,
but in Hebrew it was called Babel meaning “To mix” or “Confusion”, because God confounded
their languages there. Make no mistake
this was not total gibberish, this was the sudden and immediate institution of
the multiplicity of the languages of the world.
What was the original language? Various claimants have come forward claiming
to be the original tongue, but this one great primordial language was broken
and lost in the catastrophe at Shinar which was a necessary consequence of the
fall. Their actions were “only the
beginning” of their ungodly projects. Their
plans not only included building a city, but also a tower, and not just an
ordinary tower, but one that would stagger the mind and bring them notoriety.
This was not only a defiance of God, but was in completion with Him.[7] It was a monument to their pride, ambition,
energy, daring genius, and resources; but eventually it was just a monument to
their folly. In their arrogant and proud
ways they thought they could get themselves to heaven with a tower.
The Tower of Babel became the SYMBOL of the “Pride of Man” and his inevitable
fall. It was a MONUMENT not to their ingenuity, but to their Sin.
The
Temple
The Tower was a place for worship of their gods;
a place where the gods would come down and have intercourse with man. Nimrod’s wife was Semiramis who was worshipped as
the “Queen
of Heaven”. She
purports to have had a male child conceived miraculously, named Tammuz
who was considered “the savior of the world”; a FALSE messiah. He was
killed
by a wild beast and came back to life.
The SEVEN levels corresponded to their SEVEN major gods.
The Babylonian national god was called Marduk,
but just to be sure they had all their bases covered, they also worshiped Ea;
the god of
wisdom, spells and incantations, Sin; the moon god, Shamash; the sun god and god of
justice, Ishtar the goddess of love and war, Adad;
the god of
wind storm and flood and of course
there was Marduk’s
son Nabu
who was the
scribe and herald of the gods.
Note: They had deliberately excluded the God of Noah,
which Abraham later would reinstate. The
Babylonians also worshiped, Dagon the fish god, a cult whose priest wore
crowns with the inscription “Keeper of the
Bridge”. The bridge
between man and Satan. “The bridge”
is used in the New Age movement today.
Their temple services were held in open
courts with sacrifices of burnt offerings.
They had secret
and mysterious rites used in idol
worship with priests who practiced the sprinkling of holy water. They had an order of temple “VIRGINS” dedicated to religious prostitution.
The word Babylon is not so much about the city of Babylon,[8]
but the religious wickedness embodied in the name “Babylon” that permeated the
nations; Mystery
Babylon. The many references
to Israel as “Babylon”
is because they
whored after other gods. The
mystery is revealed in the last days; the worldwide apostate church will reject
Christ and follows after the Antichrist.
Course Corrector – Sin leads to punishment
The sin was not building the
city or the tower; the sin came with the purpose of making a name for themselves
and not filling the earth as commanded; God manifestly intervenes in the
situation.
God REJECTED their nation and
their efforts; they deserved death, but God in His mercy only confused their
language. They were incapacitated,
leaving off building the city and the tower because they could no longer
communicate with each other.
Their spirits were dampened and they saw the “Hand of God” had come against
them. They departed in companies
according to their family and tongue and resettled in far off countries
Ironically;
on the day
of Pentecost the language barrier
that divided men and nations was removed in order to provide the “Good News”
message to everyone in their own language.[10]
Construction
In the Akkad language the tower is called a “Ziggurratu;” progressive terraces. Many of these towers had the inscription “E-dur-an-ki”;
“The house of the bond between heaven and earth”.
Webster: Ziggurat: a high massive TEMPLE TOWER of the ancient
Babylonians in the form of a terraced pyramid with each story smaller than the
one below it.
With pride, arrogance, and self-glorification, they wanted to build a
tower that was so tall that it would reach up into the heavens. The Hebrew word for heavens; “shamayim” simply means
Most ziggurats were SEVEN STORIES TALL with each story
smaller than the one below it creating a stair step appearance with each
outside level painted a different color. The First level belonging to Saturn was black, the second level Jupiter
was orange, the third that of Mars was Red,
the fourth, which was the sun was Golden, the fifth was Venus
which was white, the sixth was Mercury which was blue and the seventh was
the moon and it was
silvery green.
Greek writings indicate this one was EIGHT
STORIES
tall including a sanctuary. That would
make each story 37.5 feet tall, but it certainly could also have had
Some Ziggurats were “cone shaped” with ramps and stairs that wound
around them. It was referred to as “the winding road”.
(I think the
Beetles sang about this long and winding road)
Their soil was very fertile with very little stone, so their
construction material was not stone as the Egyptian pyramids were made of, but
with one foot square flat bricks of
sun dried as well as fire baked clay
hardened in charcoal-fired kilns. According
to the document “Babylonian Epic of Creation”, they “molded bricks” for one
year before they even started construction.
For mortar they used bitumen,
a petroleum tar like “asphalt”
substance that oozed and bubbled up from the ground.[12] After about a week the asphalt, also called
slime, would harden forming a tight resilient bond. Bitumen is the same substance used by Noah in
the construction of the Ark.
The
Bible does not tell us how far
along they were in the construction of the city and the tower. Scripture just says that they stopped building
the “city” leading the student to believe the tower could have been finished.
Purpose and Use
They
studied the movement of stars which gave them the ability to make
precise calendars. This Tower in Babylon
was a high landmark that had a defensive significance with elevated positions
for sentries and could provide refuge for the population during an attack. This was the most imposing structure in the
country, it symbolized security and was
a rallying point in the extensive plain of Shinar (summer)
The
Take Away
God commanded the descendants
of Noah to fill the earth, but in defiance they settled in the plain of
Shinar, wanting to make a name for themselves. Understand
this principal; “where God leads, He provides”; but they did
not trust God for His provision nor His protection.
While it is true, that these guys were star gazers, astrologers and
worshipped every pagan god they could think of; that was not why God confused
their language. Their sin against God
was not the building of the city of Babylon or the Tower of Babel, but that of DISOBEDIENCE. Clearly evil continued to increase from
the time of the flood.
The writer of Genius, in humor made fun of their “brick instead
of stone” and went on to say the tower was so small
that God had to come down to earth to just get a glimpse of it. God separated the people by families and
language; and without being able to communicate they left off building the
city. The city and the tower however were completed,
but much later.
They were a smart creative people; they developed accurate calendars and
the art of kiln fired furnaces to harden brick.
They used a sharp tool to
inscribe in clay, documenting their culture.
These fire baked tablets left in the dry sand lasted for thousands of
years.
Their contribution of the ziggurat was duplicated in many cultures; some
were even cone shaped.
The families were dispersed throughout the
earth with their language becoming the barrier between the nations. The original language was lost forever in the
catastrophe at Shinar.
On the Day of
Pentecost this barrier was
removed
and each man
heard in their own language
the Good News message of Jesus Christ.
That message is
still true today and
can be
understood in any language.
[1] Genesis 11:4 – Let’s
build a tower that reaches the heavens
[2] Genesis 11:5 – Where is
this tiny thing city and tower
[3] Genesis 6:10 – Noah had a
son named Ham -- Genesis 10:6 – Ham had a son
named Cush -- Genesis 10:8-10 – Cush’ son Nimrod was the builder of Babylon
[4] Genesis 11:1-2 – They
moved eastward and stopped in Shinar -- Genesis 10:9-10 – Nimrod build the city
of Babylon
[5] Genesis 1:28 – God
commanded them to fill the earth.
[6] Genesis 11:4 – Let’s not
be scattered, but let us make a name for ourselves
[7] Psalms 127:1 – Babylon’s
efforts were apart from God
[8] Genesis 11:9 - It was
called Babel because God confused their language there
[9] Genesis 11:8-9 – God
rejected their plans and scattered them
[10] Acts 2:4 – Day of
Pentecost disciples spoke in everyone’s language
[11] Genesis 11:4 – Lets build
a tower that reaches the sky
[12] Genesis 11:3 – Made
bricks from mud and for mortar they used tar that oozed up
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