The Tower in Shinar
The first eleven chapters of Genesis function as a prologue to the entire book. The first two chapters tell the story of Creation and the third chapter of the Fall. Before we get to the story of Abraham (chap 12), there are three cataclysmic judgments of God against mankind. The first judgment is at the Fall (3). The second judgment against mankind is the flood in Noah’s day (6-9). And the third judgment is at the Tower of Babel (11).
The emphasis of the story at the Tower of Babel was the unwillingness of mankind to fill the earth (1:28). The story begins: “the whole earth had one language and the same words” (11:1). The people migrated from the east, came to the land of Shinar “and settled there” (11:2). They said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth” (11:4).
The Lord was displeased with their plans and confused their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech (11:7). Confounding their language became a highly effective way to stop work on their project. “So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth” (11:8, 9).
What was the purpose of the Tower? Many artists’ renderings of the Tower render it as a ziggurat—very much like others of its kind in that era. John Walton, a professor at Wheaton College, argues that many assume the purpose of a tower of this kind was to climb up into the heavens. But, according to Dr. Walton, if the Tower of Babel was built for the same reason as the ziggurats of the time, its was more like a “ladder” for God to come down and to dwell among the men.
If Dr. Walton is correct, that puts a slightly different slant on the purpose of the Tower. It also ties in well with the problem introduced in the opening chapters of Genesis. God and man dwelt together and communed in the Garden. God’s presence was manifested in the Garden, but in the Fall things changed. We no longer see God communicating with Adam in the same intimate way He did before the Fall.
Was the Tower a way of trying to get God to dwell with mankind again? They refused to disperse over the face of the whole earth, and built a Tower for God to come down to dwell with man. Of course, this is conjecture because the Genesis account nowhere says what the purpose of the Tower was apart from making a name for themselves. The purpose is being supplied by comparing it with other ancient ziggurats.
Let’s take this one step further. In Deuteronomy 12:8-14, we are told that everyone did “whatever is right in his own eyes” (12:8). Israel was informed that when they crossed the Jordan River to take possession of the Land promised to Abraham, and they were at rest from all their enemies, they would go “to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the Lord” (12:11).
If it is true that the Tower represented a means for God to reestablish his presence, a presence lost since Genesis 3, this adds another dimension to the story. What a way to make a name for yourself (Genesis 11:4)!
Deuteronomy 12 presses home the point that God would reestablish some kind of presence among the people, but it would be a place of His choosing—and the land of Shinar was not that place.
We must wait for the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles to discover that Jerusalem is the place God chose to dwell among His people.