Genesis:
The Tower of Babel
Friday 28th August 2020
‘Stop your babbling! Oh you don’t half babble about
rubbish!’ In our biblical reflection today, we see the
origins of the word ‘babbling’ as we approach the Tower of Babel
and I invite you to read Gn 11:1-9. As always let’s begin in prayer.
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Come,
O Holy Spirit,
and
fill us with the gifts of knowledge and wisdom.
Strengthen
us, we pray, with heavenly grace,
so
that we may grasp with our minds,
treasure
in our hearts,
and
carry out in our deeds,
all
the teachings of your Holy Book
which
lead to salvation.
Amen.
Our story today begins in Babylon, present day
Iraq. You may remember from a few weeks ago that the city of Babylon became the
home for many Jews who were forced into exile after 596BC when the Babylonian
Empire conquered their Kingdom of Judah.
As you can see from the artists impression above,
Babylon was a city built in bricks and mortar. As there was no natural stone to
be found close to the city the inhabitants produced their own bricks from clay
and baked them in kilns.
For the exiled Jewish community, they found
themselves in a foreign world, that spoke a different language, worshipped many
gods and goddesses and whose culture was very different to their own. It was
during this period that the exiled community, who wanting to retain and keep
alive their faith which had been given to them by God, undertook to record and
express many of their divine revealed beliefs and teachings. It was the
surrounding environment of Babylon, their exiled city, that flavoured and
shaped many of their images.
For example, the inspiration for the Tower of Babel may have come from
the Babylonian temples of worship that were called ziggurats.
They were pyramid like structures, built of bricks
and mortar, that resembled mountains. Usually they were split into two
sanctuaries, a bottom level and an upper level. In both these spaces the
Babylonian gods were worshiped and believers, in solemn procession, would
ascend and descend the ziggurat.
We can see the environmental shaping and flavouring
of the exiles experience in Babylon within the first few lines of Gn 11.
‘Now
as they moved eastwards, they found a plain in the land of Shinar where they
settled. They said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and bake them in
the fire...Come let us build ourselves a town and a tower with its top reaching
heaven.’ (Gn 11:2-4)
What moves the people in the narrative to want to build a town and a tower? Disobedience, pride and ego. In other words, sin, that same sin that was brought into the world by Adam and Eve and has tainted each generation. God gave the command to Noah after the flood to ‘...be fruitful, multiply, teem over the earth and be lord of it.’ (Gn 9:7) The builders of the Tower of Babel decided, like Adam and Eve, to disobey God and make a name for themselves independently from the Creator. They chose not to multiply or teem over the earth but to settle in one place and their remain.
Not only did the people decide freely not to follow God’s command but they had the audacity to build a structure that they presumed would bring them to heavens and allow them to face God as equals! As always, God in his mercy corrects and re-directs His people back on to the right path.
‘Now the Lord came down to see the town and the
tower that the sons of man had built.’ (Gn
11:6) This is a good sentence to remind us of the poetic
language and imagery of parts of Genesis. God is is all powerful, all knowing
and all seeing or to be posh – omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent! He has
no need to ‘come down to see the town and the tower’, because He
sees and knows all things. However, in the imagery of the Old Testament by
giving God human qualities such as movement and form, it allows the poetry to
flow and attempts to convey abstract concepts into accessible pictures.
God was disappointed that the builders and people
of Babel did not wish to multiply and grow but follow their own destiny. He
decided to confuse their language so that they could not understand one
another. The Hebrew word for confused is balal and the name
Babylon which is babel means ‘gate of God’’. From
these word similarities and resemblances, it is possible to see where we get
the phrase ‘babbling!’ - A babbling person is one who cannot be
understood by another.
As you will have read, God made sure that His
actions had the effect of not only humbling His people and bringing them down
to earth but also forcing them to be more than just a single isolated
community. God intended His people to use their gifts and talents for the
greater good of all and not just use them for their own private and selfish
ambitions and wants. By causing confusion in language, God’s people had to work
together, share and communicate.
Maybe today we could look at our own babbling! How
often do our words hurt others? Are we all too ready to make comment and
judgement about people without knowing the full story? Do we curse and misuse
the gift of language in how we publicly talk? Do we babble in prayer or think
before we speak to God the Almighty? Have we used our words to heal, reconcile
and forgive?
The following wisdom is from the Book of Proverbs
in the Old Testament.
‘Through
his mouth the godless man is the ruin of his neighbour,
but
by knowledge the virtuous are safeguarded.’
(Pr 11:9)
‘Who
scoffs at his neighbour is a fool;
the
man of discernment holds his tongue.’ (Pr 11:12)
‘A
mild answer turns away wrath,
sharp
words stir up anger.’ (Pr 15:1)
‘Kindly
words are a honeycomb,
sweet
to the taste, wholesome to the body.’ (Pr 16:24)
‘There
is gold, and profusion of pearls,
but
lips that speak of knowledge, that is the priceless ornament.’
(Pr 20:15)
‘A
mace, a sword, a keen arrow,
such
is the man who bears false witness against his neighbour.’ (Pr
25:18)
Our next biblical reflection will be an encounter
with the great patriarch and our father in faith – Abraham.
God Bless and keep praying
Fr. O’Brien