Parable of the Babylonian Pandemonium. Tower of Babel

Babel. The Bible tells about the construction by post-Flood people of a tower in Babylon, which, according to the builders, was supposed to reach the sky (Gen. XI, 1-9). According to the biblical story and later Jewish traditions, the culprit of the enterprise was Nimrod. Having founded a strong state, he became proud of his first success and planned to found a world monarchy, contrary to the will of God, which determined the descendants of Ham (to which Nimrod belonged) to be slaves of others. And so, for this purpose, as a sign of their power and as the center of world power, the Hamites decided to build a “tower as high as the heavens.” The enterprise, therefore, was not only insane and impracticable, but also contrary to divine destiny. Therefore, when work began to boil, bricks were fired and earth resin was prepared, the Lord decided to punish the builders. He confused their language so that they ceased to understand each other and were unable to continue building, and then little by little they scattered throughout the entire earth.

From an archaeological point of view, the biblical story has been the subject of many studies to determine which of the Babylonian ruins most closely resembles the Tower of Nimrod. There are several such ruins near the city of Gilla, located on the site of ancient Babylon. The first serious researcher of the Babylonian ruins, Rawlinson, believed that the remains of the Tower of Babel should be sought in Niffer, about 140 miles southeast of Gilla, where there is a mass of bricks cemented with earthen resin, as the Bible says. But this opinion, which does not find confirmation in the authoritative testimonies of ancient writers, was abandoned, and now the opinions of researchers are divided between two other ruins, which have much more right to be identified with the Tower of Babel. One of these ruins is located north of ancient Babylon and is still known among the local Arabs under the name Babil, and the other is southwest of it, on the right bank of the Euphrates, and is called Birs-Nimrud among the Arabs, i.e. Tower of Nimrod. Both ruins are grandiose and show that an unimaginable amount of labor and millions of bricks went into the construction of these structures. The last one is especially majestic, and since its Arabic name directly coincides with the biblical reference to Nimrod, most researchers are inclined to identify this particular ruin with the Tower of Babel. The same opinion is supported by one wedge-shaped inscription of Nebuchadnezzar, which states that the king, having found the ruins of the tower of the seven luminaries in Borsippa (a suburb of Babylon), restored it. At present, Birs Nimrud is a bare hill 235 feet high. At first glance it appears to be a simple earthen mound, but excavations have revealed that it is the remains of a brick-built building. On the top of the hill, in the shape of a dilapidated castle, stands the remains of a tower, projecting 40 feet above the general mass of ruins. According to the description of Herodotus (I, 181), Birs-Nimrud (the temple of Bel) was based on a stage in width and length (more than 600 feet), and according to Strabo, it was the same in height. According to Rawlinson's rough calculations, such a construction should have required at least 35 million. bricks of the largest size. The enormity of the ruins can be judged by the fact that Alexander the Great, in order to restore the building, used 10,000 people for two months to remove only the rubbish that fell from it in his time.

According to the biblical view, at first all people spoke the same language. This was a great blessing, as it made mutual relations between them unhindered; but they abused this blessing, and as punishment God confused their languages, so that they ceased to understand each other and from their different dialects, heterogeneous languages were subsequently formed. Multilingualism, according to the biblical view, is, therefore, a punishment of God imposed on people in order to complicate their relations with each other, since, due to the sinful inclination of the human heart, people primarily use such relations for evil. In connection with the biblical view, there is a New Testament legend that when, in order to spread Christianity, it was necessary to remove the obstacle presented by multilingualism for preaching to different peoples, the apostles were given the gift of tongues, i.e., the ability to understand, which had once been taken away from people, was restored universal human language (Acts II, 2 – 11).

The legend of the Babylonian pandemonium, with the accompanying consequences, was preserved in the traditions of other peoples - and above all among the Babylonians themselves. This could already be judged by the testimony of two Greek writers who drew their information about Babylonia from native sources - Polyhistor and Abydenus, of whom the first conveys the Babylonian tradition in a form very close to the biblical legend. But recently, authentic Babylonian tablets have been discovered, now located in Britain. museum. Although these slabs are badly damaged, the cuneiform writing has been preserved to such an extent that the general meaning of the text can be reproduced. It says that Babylon was inclined to sin, the great and small in it began to build some kind of stronghold, but God in his anger decided to bring fear to them, made their language strange and thus made it difficult for the further success of the work (“Records of the Past” ", VII, 131 and 132). Echoes of the same tradition were preserved among the Egyptians, who attributed the dispersion of peoples to the indignation of wicked people against the gods; among the Greeks, who preserved the legend of the Akkadians, who once had the proud idea of penetrating into the dwelling of the gods through the great tower, and even in the New World - among the Mexicans and various Indian tribes.

Literature. Wed. Lucken, "Traditionen des Menschengeschlechts" (1869); Lenormant, "Origines de l'histoire"; in Russian literature: A. Lopukhin, “Biblical history in the light of the latest research and discoveries” (vol. I, 214 – 230); N. Astafiev, “Babylonian-Assyrian antiquities” (p. 57).

Myths and legends of the peoples of the world. Biblical tales and legends Nemirovsky Alexander Iosifovich

Babel

Babel

At that time the whole earth had one mouth and one speech. When people moved from the East, they came across a valley in the country of Shinear and settled there. And they decided: “Let’s make bricks and burn them on fire.” And they began to use bricks instead of stones, and earthen resin replaced their lime. And they said to each other: “Let us build a city with a tower reaching to heaven. By doing this we will create a name for ourselves and will not scatter without a trace across the surface of the earth.”

And God came down to look at the city and the tower that the sons of men were building, and when he saw it he thought: “That’s how it is! They are now one people, speaking the same language, and if they take on anything or conceive anything, there will be no obstacles for them in any way. Let us go down to them and confuse their language there, so that one does not understand the speech of the other.”

And God scattered them from there throughout the whole earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was given the name Babel (“Babylon”), for God confused the language of all those living on earth there and scattered them throughout the entire earth.

Tower of Babel

From the book The Bible retold to older children author Destunis Sophia

V. Sacrifice of Noah. Noah curses Ham's offspring. Pandemonium of Babylon. Mixing of languages. So a terrible punishment was accomplished over the people of their Just Creator! All humanity and all the evil from it were wiped off the face of the earth. The longsuffering of the Lord did not fail until

From the book The Bible retold to older children. Old Testament. Part one. [(Illustrations - Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld)] author Destunis Sophia

From the book The Holy Biblical History of the Old Testament author Pushkar Boris (Bep Veniamin) Nikolaevich

Babylonian pandemonium and the dispersion of nations. Life 11But people did not immediately settle on the earth. At first they lived in the Ararat Valley as one large family and spoke the same language. Wanting to return to the homeland of their fathers, people began to move to the Senaar Valley,

From the book Lessons for Sunday School author Vernikovskaya Larisa Fedorovna

Pandemonium of Babylon Soon people multiplied again after the flood. At first they all spoke the same language, were one people and lived together in the valley of Shinar, near the Euphrates River, but then God was pleased to spread the human race throughout the entire earth, and this is how it happened

From the book God's Law author Slobodskaya Archpriest Seraphim

The Babylonian Pandemonium and the Dispersion of People The multiplied descendants of Noah lived together for a long time in one country, not far from the mountains of Ararat, and spoke the same language. When the human race became numerous, the evil deeds and strife between people increased, and they

From the book Proverbs of Humanity author Lavsky Viktor Vladimirovich

Pandemonium of Babel You can understand language with your inner consciousness. This quality was communicated through the high priestess and gave an excellent consequence. Ambassadors from distant countries spoke to her in their own language, and she understood them. A legend was created about the eternal language of Babylon. But the people

From the book Bibliological Dictionary author Men Alexander

BABYLONIAN PANELESS legend Gen. 11:1–9 about the construction of a huge tower (glorious pillar), which was interrupted by God. The story is placed after the genealogy of the peoples who scattered across the earth after the *Flood. People who had “one language and one dialect” came from the east to the land

From the book The Explanatory Bible. Volume 1 author Lopukhin Alexander

Chapter 11 Pandemonium of Babel 1. Throughout the whole earth there was one language and one dialect “There was one language and one dialect throughout the whole earth...” Having given a general picture of the geographical settlement of primitive humanity, the writer of everyday life returns back to explain it to us

From the book Old Testament with a smile author Ushakov Igor Alekseevich

Pandemonium of Babel Throughout the entire earth, people had one language and one dialect. I’m not afraid to assume that it was nothing other than Hebrew. And so all this Noah’s seed-tribe, moving from the east, found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And people decided to do

From the book Myths and Legends of the Peoples of the World. Biblical stories and legends author Nemirovsky Alexander Iosifovich

Pandemonium of Babylon At that time the whole earth had one mouth and one speech. When people moved from the East, they came across a valley in the country of Shinear and settled there. And they decided: “Let’s make bricks and burn them on fire.” And they began to have bricks instead

From the book Fundamentals of Orthodoxy author Nikulina Elena Nikolaevna

Babylonian Pandemonium and the Dispersion of Nations People did not settle across the earth right away. At first they lived in the Ararat Valley as one large family and spoke the same language. Then they began to move to the Senaar Valley (Genesis 11.2), located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers

From the book Bible Stories author Shalaeva Galina Petrovna

Pandemonium of Babel More time has passed. Again there were many people on earth. But they remembered that God sent a flood to punish people. Fathers told their children about this, and when they grew up, they passed these stories on to their children. And so people lived together, cheerfully and understood each other.

From the book The Illustrated Bible. Old Testament author's Bible

The Babylonian Pandemonium - the confusion of languages and the dispersion of peoples. The whole earth had one language and one dialect. 2 Moving from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to each other: Let us make bricks and burn them with fire. And they began to have bricks instead

From the book The Wisdom of the Pentateuch of Moses author Mikhalitsyn Pavel Evgenievich

Chapter 8. Pandemonium of Babylon: God’s punishment or the birth of linguistics? Subsequently, the descendants of the sons of Noah began to quickly multiply and populate the empty territories. At first there was no clearly defined national difference between them, a common mentality and

From the book Explanatory Bible by Lopukhin. OLD TESTAMENT.GENESIS author

Chapter 11. 1. Pandemonium of Babylon. 1. There was one language and one dialect throughout the entire earth. “There was one language and one dialect throughout the entire earth...” Having given a general picture of the geographical settlement of primitive humanity, the writer of everyday life goes back to explain it to us

From the book The Explanatory Bible. Old Testament and New Testament author Lopukhin Alexander Pavlovich

VI Descendants of Noah. Genealogy of peoples. Pandemonium of Babylon and the scattering of nations. The beginning of idolatry After the flood, everyday life began again, with its usual worries and labors. Noah was an example of piety, hard work and other virtues for his children. But

Tower of Babel - a challenge to the Gods.

In the previous article we examined the possible historical foundations of the myth about. I thought, but there are many such biblical stories. One of them is the story of the Babylonian pandemonium. This myth is usually presented as a cautionary tale of what human pride has led to. People set out to reach God by building a high tower, and for this they were punished. What is most interesting, based on the stories of the Old Testament, is not the first time that God (Gods) punish people for their desire for knowledge.

And so, let's first give the text of this myth itself:

The whole earth had one language and one dialect. Moving from the East, they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to each other: Let us make bricks and burn them with fire. And they used bricks instead of stones, and earthen resin instead of lime. And they said: Let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose height reaches to heaven; and let us make a name for ourselves, before we are scattered over the face of all the earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men were building. And the Lord said: Behold, there is one people, and they all have one language; and this is what they began to do, and they will not deviate from what they planned to do. Let us go down and confuse their language there, so that one does not understand the speech of the other. And the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth; and they stopped building the city. Therefore the name was given to it: Babylon, for there the Lord confused the languages of all the earth, and from there the Lord scattered them throughout all the earth... (Genesis 11:1-9)

In one of the articles, authored by LAI (Laboratory of Alternative History), I came across a rather interesting discussion about how “a single language could be mixed and scattered throughout the entire earth.” I’ll give a few short excerpts from it to make it clear what we’re talking about (full text of the article redov.ru/kulturologija/obitaemyi_ostrov_zemlja/p10.php)

Briefly, the reasoning in the article boils down to the following statements: The texts of the Bible have been studied in great detail and they contain a contradiction: “...even before the story of the Babylonian pandemonium, the Bible mentions the existence of not one, but many languages, and speaks of this as something self-evidently: “This is the genealogy of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham and Japheth. After the flood, their children were born […]. From these the islands of nations were inhabited in their lands, each according to his own language, according to his tribes, among his nations" (Genesis: 10,1,5)" (P. Ricoeur, "Translation Paradigm"). How can this be?.. Either “one language, one dialect”, then “each according to his own language”... This is no longer just “inconsistency”. It turns out to be an inconsistency. But researchers find a way out, arguing that there could be a great variety of dialects and adverbs, but writing was uniform, and it was the basis for people’s understanding of each other. A significant part of the conclusions of historians and linguists about the similarity of ancient “languages” is based on the facts of the similarity of the written languages of cultures.

There is another important detail in one of the studies of the texts of the Old Testament: “The beginning of the story about the Tower of Babel in the Russian translation is as follows: “On the whole earth there was one language and one dialect.” This translation is incorrect. The original Hebrew says: “And the whole earth had one language with few words” [Gen. 11:1]” (E. Mendelevich, “Traditions and Myths of the Old Testament”) An interesting phrase - “one language with few words” - isn’t it?.. The 10th millennium BC turns out to be an important moment in the history of mankind.

At this time, something like a “revolution under external influence” is happening - the Gods are passing on to people a single “gentleman’s set of civilization” with a single written language, which, as a “side effect,” determines, in addition to the similarity of the main processes occurring and the similarity of elements of cultures in different regions, also providing people (different nations speaking different languages!) opportunities to communicate with each other and understand (!) each other. A period is coming, which is often called the “Golden Age” in ancient legends and traditions - people live next to the civilizing gods, calmly work for them and use the knowledge given to these gods...” The author of the article cites parallels in archaeological and linguistic research, where indicates the similarity in the semantic pictographic writing of different, distant peoples of antiquity. That is, it is indicated that during the period equated to the history of the Babylonian pandemonium, there was a change in writing from pictographic (semantic) to phonetic, a transition to a more variant letter. Gradually, more variability appears in the writing of signs, thus the people who use them to write texts become increasingly distant; after a certain time, the meaning of the transmitted text for a distant group of people is already lost.

Thus, the change in the writing system led to the separation and branching of various forms of not semantic writing, which was understandable to many, but phonetic writing, built not on an image - a pictogram, but on phonetics - sound. In the myth, people dared to challenge God(s), and this is rebellion and disobedience of slaves, if you accept the point of view that people were created by extraterrestrial intelligence to be used as labor. But if slaves rebel, they naturally suppress it.

Now I would like to move on to the other side of this story. Let's find historical parallels to the most legendary tower. (illustration - modern reconstruction of the ziggurat temple complex in Babylon) . A similar theme is present in the legends of peoples living in different parts of the Earth. And although the legends about the Tower of Babel are not as numerous as, for example, about the Flood, there are still quite a lot of them and they are the same in meaning. Thus, the legend of the pyramid in the city of Choluy (Mexico) tells about ancient giants who decided to build a tower to heaven, but it was destroyed by celestials. The legend of the Mikirs, one of the Tibetan-Burman tribes, also tells of the giant heroes who planned to build a tower to heaven, but whose plan was stopped by the Gods.

Finally, in Babylon itself there was a myth about the “great tower”, which was “the likeness of heaven.” According to the myth, its builders were the underground gods of the Anunnaki, who erected it for the purpose of glorifying Marduk, the Babylonian deity. The construction of the Tower of Babel is described in the Koran. Interesting details are contained in the Book of Jubilees and the Talmud, according to which the unfinished tower was destroyed by a hurricane, and the part of the tower that remained after the hurricane fell into the ground as a result of an earthquake. It is significant that all attempts by the Babylonian rulers to recreate even smaller versions of the tower failed. Due to various circumstances, these buildings were destroyed.

There is another important detail in the study of the Old Testament text of the legend about the Tower of Babel. The researchers found that in the canonical text of the Bible, two legends about Ancient Babylon were combined into one story: about the construction of the city and the confusion of languages, as well as about the construction of the tower and the dispersion of people. These legends were dated to the beginning of human history - immediately after the flood. The Bible considers God's intervention to be the root cause of the linguistic and territorial disunity of people. According to the first legend, a city was built, according to the second - a tower to heaven. Both the city and the tower were thought of as the first great construction of the human race. But the city was built by sedentary peoples who spoke the same language and knew how to burn brick, and the tower was built by nomads from the East. The city was built for human habitation and for the sake of eternal glory, then the tower is like a landmark so as not to scatter. According to the authors of the biblical text, God was not pleased with the arrogant plans for large construction. He interfered in people's affairs. By his will, those who built the city ceased to understand each other, and those who erected the tower were scattered.

Thus construction was stopped. The city, which should have become a monument of eternal glory, received an inglorious name. According to scientists, in the Bible the West Semitic name of the city of Babylon - Bab El ("Gate of God") is interpreted as a play on the word of a late, East Semitic root with the meaning "to interfere." The Babylonian custom of constructing eternal monuments to oneself in the form of buildings and cities seems to the author of the biblical text to be sinful arrogance. God (Yahweh) in this myth is depicted very anthropomorphically, that is, similar in his reactions to a person: he is credited with ignorance of the thoughts and deeds of people and even fear of them. Well, it’s already absurd to attribute such human qualities to God. Therefore, the one who is mentioned in the text of the legend is not God, but perhaps, as in the case of the legend of the Flood, an extraterrestrial intelligence.

It is believed that both stories associated with Babylon arose under the impression of a huge but unfinished brick city and a tower lying in ruins. According to the German scientist G. Gunkel, the legends were inspired by historical reality. They talk about the multi-story temple of the god Marduk in Babylon. This temple was crowned with a tower. Archaeological excavations by R. Koldewey, A. Parro and others confirmed that the legend of the Tower of Babel reflected the construction of ziggurats in Babylonia, which were buildings of ritual and temple significance of gigantic proportions.

Mark Twain, who traveled around the East at the end of the 19th century, describes the ruins of the Tower of Babel as two tiers of brickwork, “dissipated in the middle by earthquakes, scorched and half melted by the lightning of an angry God.” Indeed, archaeologists have found traces of exposure to enormous temperatures inside and outside the tower. According to E. Tseren’s description, “the fire heated hundreds of bricks, melting the entire frame of the tower, which from the heat turned into a dense mass similar to molten glass.” What is this, heavenly punishment for the consciousness of man of those times, or evidence of conflicts, wars between extraterrestrial civilizations? Why not, at least studies of such material evidence based on the mythology of the ancients are being conducted by alternative historians.

I would also like to bring to your attention a video lecture on the topic “The Tower of Babel.” In it I heard a lot of sober thoughts about the peculiarities of translation from ancient languages and the change in meaning in different translations of the same text. And also many other interesting statements.

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Babel

More time has passed. There were many people on earth again.

But they remembered that God sent a flood to punish people. Fathers told their children about this, and when they grew up, they passed these stories on to their children.

So people lived amicably, cheerfully and understood each other, since they spoke the same language. They worked well and learned a lot.

Judge for yourself. People learned to burn bricks and build tall houses from them. Of course, they had not yet invented spaceships or even airplanes, but they were still proud of how smart they were and how much they knew and could do.

And everyone thought what they could do to leave a memory of themselves for all time. And they came up with:

- Let's build a tower. High, very high. Up to the sky!

No sooner said than done. They found a big mountain and started building. People worked very cheerfully and amicably: some mined clay, others sculpted bricks from it, others fired them in ovens, others carried bricks to the mountain. And there others took these bricks and built a tower out of them.

People came from all over and also got involved in the work. There were a lot of people who wanted to build a tower, and they had to live somewhere. So a city appeared around the tower. They called it Babylon.

God watched the work for a long time, wanted to understand what people were doing and why they were building such a high tower.

“It’s unlikely that they are going to live in it,” he reasoned, “such a tower is inconvenient for housing.” (After all, there were no elevators then, and it was difficult to climb the stairs so high.) Just build like that? For what?

Finally, God understood why people were building this tower. They want to show how smart and omnipotent they are.

He didn't like it. God does not like it when people are needlessly proud and exalt themselves.

And what did he do to stop them?

No, he did not destroy the tower, but acted differently.

At that very moment a strong, strong whirlwind arose and carried away all the words that people spoke to each other. Twisted and twirled them. And he mixed everything.

When the whirlwind calmed down and everything became quiet around, people went back to work. But what is this?!

They stopped understanding each other. Each one spoke in some unfamiliar and incomprehensible language.

And the work, of course, went wrong: one asked the other to do something, and the other did the opposite.

They shouted from below:

- Take the bricks!

And from above they passed the bricks back.

They toiled and toiled so much, and they gave up everything. Now one concern remained - how to find in this pandemonium those who spoke the same language.

So all the people dispersed in small groups to different corners of the earth and began to live separately, each group in its own side (country). And then they completely separated themselves from each other with borders.

The tower began to gradually collapse.

And from the name of the city of Babylon, where God confused all languages to punish people for their insolence and pride, came another expression that you may be familiar with: “Babylonian pandemonium.”

Since then, people have lived on earth differently: in one country some laws and rules are established, in another - others.

And people themselves are different: smart, stupid, cheerful and sad, evil and kind.

Only there is one common law for everyone, which God established - evil people are punished sooner or later. And it is true. But if a person realizes his mistakes and repents, God forgives him.

The Lord God is patient. He hopes that people will gradually change and take care not only of their body, but also of their soul. They will think and reflect more about the meaning of life, about why they were born into the light of God. After all, probably, not only to eat, drink and have fun. But not just to work days and nights.

A person is born to fulfill his destiny in life. Everyone has their own. But all people should have one common purpose - to do only kindness and goodness to each other. After all, it's not that difficult.

The Spirit of God lives in every person. But people are blind and do not understand this. And when they see the light and understand, they will change.

The Lord God could establish the Kingdom of God on earth by force, but he does not want to do this. People must understand for themselves what is good and what is bad. The only problem is that each person has his own understanding of what is good. All people wish themselves well, but they understand it in their own way.

For some people, a good life is when you can walk, relax, celebrate and do nothing all the time.

Others believe that in order to make a good life for themselves, they can deceive other people, rob and even kill.

The Lord God wants it to be equally good for everyone. And this can happen if every person thinks not only about himself, but also about other people. This is not so difficult if you follow the ten rules that the Lord commanded us all to follow.

These rules are called "commandments."

This text is an introductory fragment. From the book The Bible retold to older children author Destunis Sophia

From the book The Bible retold to older children. Old Testament. Part one. [(Illustrations - Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld)] author Destunis Sophia

From the book The Holy Biblical History of the Old Testament author Pushkar Boris (Bep Veniamin) Nikolaevich

From the book Lessons for Sunday School author Vernikovskaya Larisa Fedorovna

From the book God's Law author Slobodskaya Archpriest Seraphim

From the book Proverbs of Humanity author Lavsky Viktor Vladimirovich

From the book Bibliological Dictionary author Men Alexander

From the book The Explanatory Bible. Volume 1 author Lopukhin Alexander

From the book Old Testament with a smile author Ushakov Igor Alekseevich

From the book Myths and Legends of the Peoples of the World. Biblical stories and legends author Nemirovsky Alexander Iosifovich

From the book Fundamentals of Orthodoxy author Nikulina Elena Nikolaevna

From the book Bible Stories author Shalaeva Galina Petrovna

From the book The Illustrated Bible. Old Testament author's Bible

From the book The Wisdom of the Pentateuch of Moses author Mikhalitsyn Pavel Evgenievich

From the book Explanatory Bible by Lopukhin. OLD TESTAMENT.GENESIS author

From the book The Explanatory Bible. Old Testament and New Testament author Lopukhin Alexander Pavlovich

In chapter 11 we find a biblical legend dedicated to the construction of the Tower of Babel / Pandemonium of Babel.

Biblical legend about the Tower of Babel.

Tower of Babel. Hendrik III van Cleve, 1563

After the Great Flood, only members of his family managed to escape. Accordingly, humanity in the years after the Flood was represented by one people speaking one language. Humanity spread across the earth, but they had a common language. When Noah and his family left the Ark, God commanded them:

“Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”

However, Noah's descendants moved east and decided to build a city and a tower

"before being scattered over the face of the whole earth."

The descendants of Noah decided to build the city of Babylon (“the gate of the gods”) and a tower to heaven. These people wanted to elevate themselves with a tower to heaven, or, as the Bible says, “to make a name for themselves.” Surprisingly, the phrases “Tower of Babel” and “Babylonian Pandemonium” are not mentioned in the Bible. In the Bible we only find “city and tower.” According to the Bible, the city of Babylon received the name "Babel" from the Hebrew word ball, that is mix and confuse.

The tower was supposed to elevate man, but not God, so the Lord was angry. God interrupted the construction of the Tower of Babel by creating different languages so that the builders could not communicate. People, having ceased to understand each other, left Babylon and scattered across the Earth.

The story of the Tower of Babel is a biblical version of the emergence of different languages.

Interesting fact: Chapter 10 of Genesis tells about the descendants of Noah; about 70 of them are mentioned. Interestingly, there are also about 70 separate language groups on Earth.

The story of the Tower of Babel in biblical and apocryphal texts.

The story of the Tower of Babel appears in several texts:

Genesis. Beginning of Chapter 11:

1 Throughout the whole earth there was one language and one dialect.

2 Traveling from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

3 And they said to one another, “Let us make bricks and burn them with fire.” And they used bricks instead of stones, and earthen resin instead of lime.

4 And they said, “Let us build ourselves a city and a tower, its height reaching to heaven, and let us make a name for ourselves, before we are scattered over the face of all the earth.”

5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men were building.

6 And the Lord said, Behold, there is one people, and they all have one language; and this is what they began to do, and they will not deviate from what they planned to do;

7 Let us go down and confuse their language there, so that one does not understand the speech of the other.

8 And the Lord scattered them from there throughout all the earth; and they stopped building the city [and the tower].

9 Therefore the name was given to it: Babylon, for there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord scattered them throughout all the earth.

Book of Jubilees. Chapter 10.

Gives the most detailed description of the construction of the tower.

“Behold, the sons of men became evil through the vile plan that they would build themselves a city and a tower in the land of Sinaar, for they moved from Ararat east to Sinaar.” For in his days they built a city and a tower, saying, “We will ascend by it to heaven.” And they began to build in the fourth week, and baked (bricks) with fire, and the bricks served them instead of stone, and the cement with which they strengthened the gaps was asphalt from the sea and from the water sources in the land of Sinaar. And they built it for forty-three years. And the Lord our God said to us: “Behold, this is one people, and they began to do this! And now I will not leave them! Behold, we will come down and confuse their languages, so that they will not understand each other and will be scattered among countries and nations, and may their plan never be realized until the day of judgment!” And the Lord came down, and we came down with Him, to see the city and the tower which the sons of men were building; and He destroyed every word of their tongue, and no one understood the word of another. And so they refused to build the city and the tower. For this reason, the entire country of Sinaar was named Babel (Babylon). For thus God destroyed all the tongues of the sons of men; and from there they were scattered to their cities according to their languages and nations. And God sent a strong wind against their tower and threw it to the ground. And so she stood between the country of Asshur and Babylon in the land of Sinaar; and they called it the name of the ruin.

Greek apocalypse of Baruch. Chapter 3.

And I asked the Angel: “Please, sir, tell me who these people are?”

And he said: “These are the ones who gave advice to build the tower.

They themselves, whom you see, drove out many men and women to make bricks.

The woman alone, who was making bricks, when the time came for her to give birth, they did not allow her to leave, but while making bricks, she gave birth and carried her child in a towel, and made bricks.

And Yahweh appeared to them and changed their tongues when the tower reached a height of three hundred and sixty-three cubits.

And taking a drill, they began to try to drill into the sky, saying: “Let's see if the sky is clay, copper or iron.”

Seeing this, God did not allow them, but struck them with blindness and multilingualism and left them as you see them.”

The story of the construction of the Tower of Babel from the point of view of Christian morality.

The story of the Tower of Babel highlights the stark contrast between man's view of his own accomplishments and God's view of those accomplishments. The Tower of Babel was supposed to be humanity's first great construction project, but it wasn't.

According to the Bible, people used brick instead of stone and tar instead of mortar for construction—they used “man-made” rather than natural “God-given” materials. The people did not trust the Lord in their construction, and therefore they failed. The Tower of Babel was created by people to draw attention to their abilities and achievements, not to give glory to God.

However, the history of the construction of the Tower of Babel also teaches us that in unity is our strength. However, this power is not always for the benefit of a person. The book of Genesis says:

… And the Lord said: Behold, there is one people, and they all have one language; and this is what they began to do, and they will not deviate from what they planned to do.

By this, God indicates that when people are united in their goals, they can accomplish impossible feats, noble and ignoble.

The Bible teaches that there is strength in unity, but we must be careful: unity of purpose in worldly affairs can ultimately be destructive. Division and one's own point of view in worldly affairs are sometimes preferable to great universal feats for the glory of idolatry and apostasy. For this reason, God sometimes intervenes in human affairs to prevent further human arrogance. God thwarts people's plans so that they do not transgress God's limits.

The story of the Tower of Babel is also interesting in the sense that here for the first time the Lord speaks of himself in the plural person, referring to the Trinity:

... let us go down and confuse their language there ...

The story of the Tower of Babel continues the theme of competition between man and God, begun in. Josephus explains the construction of the tower as an arrogant act of defiance against the God of the arrogant tyrant Nimrod. The Bible does not directly indicate that Nimrod ordered the construction of the Tower of Babel, but many other sources link its construction to Nimrod.

Some researchers, historians and biblical scholars have an alternative point of view on the meaning of the episode of the construction of the Tower of Babel. They see the Lord's punishment not as punishment for pride, but as God's understanding of the need for cultural differences. These scholars present Babylon as the cradle of all civilizations.

What do scientists say about the Tower of Babel?

One possible approach to the story of the Babylonian Pandemonium is a literal approach. If one accepts that the Tower of Babel is a historical fact, then one would expect that some remains or ruins of the Tower of Babel exist and will be found. However, the remains of the Tower have not been found by archaeologists.

However, perhaps the story still has a historical background. Many scientists, including biblical scholars, compare the Tower of Babel with the ancient buildings of Mesopotamia - ziggurats. Ziggurats also served for religious ceremonies. The Jews who fell into Babylonian captivity were undoubtedly aware of these buildings.

A candidate for the title of the Tower of Babel is the ziggurat of Etemenanki in Babylon. It was a ziggurat dedicated to Marduk, the patron god of Babylon, the supreme deity of the Babylonian pantheon. It is known that this highest ziggurat was located in Babylon. The tower was probably higher than 90 meters. The time of construction is unknown, but it is known for certain that in the 18th century BC. the tower already existed. The tower (ziggurat) was destroyed, or rather dismantled, by Alexander the Great for the purpose of its reconstruction. However, the plans were not destined to come true due to the death of Alexander. The ruins of the ziggurat were discovered by the German scientist R. Koldewey in 1897-1898.

Ziggurat of Etemenanki in Babylon.

Astronomical version.

There is another explanation (pseudo-scientific?) of the Babylonian pandemonium, this time from the point of view of astronomical phenomena. It is known that at the time of the supposed construction of the Tower of Babel, disturbances in the atmosphere of Jupiter affected the movement of Mercury, pushing it closer to the Sun. In its new orbit, Mercury came into close contact with Earth. Their magnetospheres touched each other, causing a surge of electromagnetic energy towards the Earth. Perhaps this phenomenon influenced the thinking of people on Earth. This version takes place, since it has been proven that with electric shock a person can lose speech and memory. If a similar electromagnetic surge was observed in Babylon, then this could be the reason for the confusion of languages and the Babylonian Pandemonium.

Who is the author of the story about the construction of the Tower of Babel?

The tradition is to attribute the authorship of Genesis, and indeed the entire Pentateuch, to Moses; however, at the end of the 19th century a different hypothesis was put forward ( documentary hypothesis) about the existence of four primary sources, called sources J, E, P and D. According to this version, the story of the Tower of Babel came to us from source J (Yahwist).

Phraseologism Tower of Babel.

What does the phraseological unit Tower of Babel mean?

Definition 1.

The Tower of Babel is a tall building or structure.

Definition 2.

The Tower of Babel is a grandiose project, the implementation of which is problematic.

Definition 3.

The Tower of Babel is an undertaking that will die due to excessive pride and arrogance.

Phraseologism Pandemonium of Babel.

Pandemonium of Babel meaning 1.

The word pandemonium means the construction of a pillar (the Church Slavonic name for a tower).

Expression Babel means confusion, disorderly, fussy, disordered activity that is not capable of leading to positive results.

Pandemonium of Babel meaning 2.

Phraseologism Babylonian pandemonium - means polyphonic noise, turmoil, din, chaotic gathering of people.

Stories about the Tower of Babel in culture.

Painting.

The story of the construction of the Tower of Babel is reflected in many paintings. For example, the Tower of Babel is the subject of three paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The first painting was created after Bruegel’s visit to Rome and was a miniature on ivory. Unfortunately, this picture has not reached us. Two other paintings, painted in 1563, survive.

These paintings are called “Tower of Babel” and “Little Tower of Babel”

Small Tower of Babel
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1563 (Rotterdam)

Tower of Babel. Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1563 (Vienna)

Bruegel's depictions of the Tower of Babel deliberately resemble the Roman Colosseum, which Christians have long seen as a symbol of pride.

Lucas Van Valckenborch, a contemporary of Bruegel, also depicted the Tower of Babel in his canvases.

Tower of Babel. Lucas van Valckenborch, 1595

Tower of Babel. Lucas van Valckenborch, 1594

The story of the Tower of Babel is common in Christian iconography.

Tower of Babel in literature.

The story of the Tower of Babel has received widespread understanding in world literature. He was addressed by Franz Kafka in the parable “Coat of Arms of the City”, Thomas Mann in the novel “Joseph and His Brothers”, Andrei Platonov in the story “The Pit”, Ray Bradberry in the dystopian novel “Fahrenheit 451”, Clive Lewis in the novel “The Vile One” power”, Victor Pelevin in the novel “Generation P”, Neal Stevenson in the novel “Avalanche”, etc.

Tower of Babel in music.

The most famous interpretation of the plot of the construction of the Tower of Babel in music is the oratorio “The Tower of Babel” by A. Rubinstein. The Tower of Babel is often mentioned in popular music (Elton John, Bobby McFerrin, Bad Religion, Aquarium, Kipelov, etc.)

Parable of the Babylonian Pandemonium. Tower of Babel

Babel

Biblical legend about the Tower of Babel.

The story of the Tower of Babel in biblical and apocryphal texts.

The story of the construction of the Tower of Babel from the point of view of Christian morality.

What do scientists say about the Tower of Babel?

Who is the author of the story about the construction of the Tower of Babel?

Phraseologism Tower of Babel.

Phraseologism Pandemonium of Babel.

Stories about the Tower of Babel in culture.

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