The Swift Digression of Humankind in the Godless City of Babel

The Godless City

With remarkable conciseness the opening chapters of Genesis introduce a story that looks forward to the creation of an exceptional city where God and humanity will live in harmony. Specific references to the city are muted, but the garden of Eden narrative sets the scene for what is to follow. Unexpectedly, however, the garden is invaded by a wily predator that deceives the human couple into disobeying their Creator. By submitting to the seductive prompting of the mysterious Serpent, Adam and Eve fail to fulfill their duty as God’s vice-regents. Their authority to rule over the earth, delegated to them by God, passes to the Serpent (cf. Eph. 2:2). Consequently, they become subservient to it.

In view of God’s aspirations for humanity, it is noteworthy that one of the activities associated with Cain is the building of a city. Genesis 4:17 states briefly: “Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.” The Hebrew text does not say explicitly that Cain “built a city.” Rather, it implies that he was building a city (cf. NIV). City building was in his DNA, a fact that is no surprise when we consider God’s design for humanity. However, it is noteworthy that Cain names the city after his son, Enoch. By doing so he glorifies his own offspring rather than the One who has equipped him to be a city builder. Cain’s actions anticipate the creation of further cities, but, as we shall see, this does not necessarily bode well for humanity.

References to city building do not figure prominently in Genesis 5–10. Rather, attention is given to how people fill the earth with violence (Gen. 6:13), resulting in God’s punishing them by sending a flood. When Noah and his family emerge from the safety of the ark, God reaffirms to them the creation mandate to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth (Gen. 9:1; cf. Gen. 9:7). This marks a new beginning for the earth, but, unfortunately, people continue to live in opposition to God.

The City of God and the Goal of Creation

T. Desmond Alexander

Linking the garden of Eden to the New Jerusalem, this volume traces the theme of city throughout Scripture—revealing God’s plan for his people in the great city to come.

Babel, the City of Pride

If God’s intention in making the earth is the creation of a city, Genesis 11 introduces a short account that is highly ironic.

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then 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.” And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 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. (Gen. 11:1–9)

This brief episode describes how humans set about building a city with a tower that will reach up to the heavens. They do this intentionally so that they will not be dispersed throughout the whole earth. This reverses the divine plan, for God is interested in making the whole earth his residence by filling it with holy people. In marked contrast, the people of Babel attempt to access heaven and avoid populating the earth. Babel epitomizes the antithesis of what God desires.

Although the Genesis 11 report of the building of Babel is exceptionally brief, nine verses in all, this city casts a long shadow over the whole of the Bible. It does so for a number of reasons. At the outset, Babel has to be viewed as the prototypical Godless city. In Babel we see people uniting as one to make a name for themselves by building a tower that reaches up to heaven itself. Their ambition is clearly motivated by pride in their ability to achieve great things. While in Genesis 3 Adam and Eve aspired to become like God, the inhabitants of Babel now seek to establish themselves as supreme not only on earth but in heaven as well. With incredible arrogance they attempt to build a tower that will enable them to take control of heaven itself. The building of Babel typifies two different characteristics of humanity: (a) the capacity of people to achieve great things; (b) the arrogance of those who have turned away from God.

What a wealth of human meanings converge in the single image of Babel! It is an ambivalent image, evoking powerful feelings of a wide range. On one side we can see the human longings for community, achievement, civilization, culture, technology, safety, security, permanence and fame. But countering these aspirations we sense the moral judgment against idolatry, pride, self-reliance, the urge of material power and the human illusion of infinite achievement.¹

While in one sense the construction of Babel is a natural consequence of people using divinely given abilities, they do so without regard for the One who gifted them. Their aspirations are to replace God, not only on earth, but in heaven as well. Constructed by people for people alone, Babel is a mockery of what God intended when he created humans and commanded them to fill the earth. As we shall see, the phenomenon of Babel is not restricted to Genesis 11. Babel typifies every proud human enterprise that seeks to exalt the creature over the Creator.

Babel/Babylon

The use of “Babel” as the city’s name in Genesis 11 is an anomaly. For centuries this city has been designated “Babel” in English. This name is derived from the Hebrew title for the city, babel. However, babel, which occurs over two hundred times in the Hebrew Bible, is almost always translated into English as “Babylon.” Remarkably, in the whole of the Old Testament there are generally only two exceptions to this rule. These are Genesis 10:10 and Genesis 11:9, and even here a few English translations replace Babel in Genesis 10:10 with Babylon (e.g., NIV; JPS). Babel should be called Babylon.²

When we name the city “Babylon,” a highly significant pattern begins to emerge. Babel is not only the antithesis of the holy city that God desires to build upon the earth, but it is also its great rival and opponent. This is an especially significant theme, appearing in both Testaments. More shall be said about this later.

Babel typifies every proud human enterprise that seeks to exalt the creature over the Creator.

Babel/Babylon: The Kingdom of Nimrod

Babel/Babylon takes on added significance when we observe that the city is also associated with aggressive human leadership or kingship. This link may not appear very obvious, for Genesis 11:1–9 contains no reference to any king. However, Babel/Babylon is first mentioned in Genesis 10:8–12 in association with the powerful hunter Nimrod:

Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.

Within Genesis 10 this passage stands apart. Genesis 10:8–10 focus on Nimrod, about whom a few selected details are recorded. In most English versions, Nimrod is taken to be the subject of Genesis 10:11. However, it is more likely that Genesis 10:11 refers to the activity of Asshur, who founds cities in northern Mesopotamia.³

Nimrod is designated a powerful or mighty man, a hunter in the sight of the Lord. This description ought to be viewed negatively. While the Hebrew text may legitimately be translated in this context “in the sight of the Lord,” it may also imply “against the Lord.”⁴ This latter sense seems more appropriate in the context of all that is said in Genesis 1–11. Nimrod’s aggression as a person runs totally counter to what God intended when at creation he commissioned people to rule the earth on his behalf. His forceful nature recalls the violence of previous generations, who provoked God to anger.

Through the use of force, Nimrod founded an extensive kingdom that includes Babel/Babylon. He is also a role model for Asshur. Undoubtedly, this tradition of kingdom building through aggression lived on in these cities. Later in history, the inhabitants of both Babylon and Nineveh descended in destructive power on the kingdoms of Israel and Judah; the Assyrians destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel, and, at a different time, the Babylonians decimated the southern kingdom of Judah.

God intended humanity to rule over the earth in peace, but Nimrod uses power to establish a kingdom that is a distortion of the kingdom that God wants to create on the earth. By linking Nimrod to Babel/Babylon, the author of Genesis introduces the idea of two contrasting cities and kingdoms. Due to the rebellion of Adam and Eve, God’s desire to establish his kingdom on the earth through the construction of a city is thwarted. Instead of ruling as his viceregents, humans oppose God and establish alternative kingdoms.

Conclusion

When we grasp the true intention of the human city builders of Babel/Babylon, it is clear that their project is not as innocent as it may seem at first. On the contrary, what we have here is an account in which all the God-given abilities of humans are deliberately focused on creating a society that has no need of God. Confident in their own capacity to meet every challenge, the inhabitants of Babel/ Babylon view the Creator as irrelevant. In light of God’s initial creation project, the account of Genesis 11:1–9 is a stark reminder of how perverted human nature has become.

To hinder human aspiration to work together in opposition against the One who created them, God prevents people from understanding each other by introducing multiple languages. This leads to the creation of different ethnic groups and nations, who struggled to comprehend one another. Nevertheless, although God intervenes to halt the Babel/Babylon project by scattering the city’s inhabitants throughout the earth, the human ambition to construct alternative, godless cities remains. Babel typifies every social enterprise that seeks to exalt the creature over the Creator. From Genesis to Revelation, Babel/Babylon features prominently as the symbol of humanity’s attempt to govern themselves without reference to and in defiance of God.

There’s a possibility that Genesis 1–2 introduces a story that anticipates the creation of an extraordinary city where God will dwell in harmony with humanity. Against this background, it is noteworthy that the last episode in the primeval era (Genesis 1–11) concerns the construction of a city. This metropolis, however, is the antithesis of what God desires. In the light of this, the rest of Genesis starts a process that will result in the creation of an alternative city where God will dwell on earth in harmony with people.

Notes:

Anonymous, “Babel, Tower of,” in Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, ed. L. Ryken, J. C. Wilhoit, and T. Longman (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1998), 67.
As in HCSB.
Cf. KJV; NJB; NJPS. If the Hebrew name ʾaššûr denotes a person, and not a place, then Asshur is responsible for building a number of important cities, including Nineveh, RehobothIr, Calah, and Resen.
Cf. Mary Katherine Hom, “‘ . . . A Mighty Hunter before YHWH’: Genesis 10:9 and the Moral-Theological Evaluation of Nimrod,” VT 60 (2010): 63–68.

This article is adapted from The City of God and the Goal of Creation by T. Desmond Alexander.

T. Desmond Alexander (PhD, The Queen’s University of Belfast) is senior lecturer in biblical studies and director of postgraduate studies at Union Theological College in Belfast. Alexander is the chairman of the Tyndale Fellowship for Biblical and Theological Research, served as coeditor of The New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, and has written many volumes in the area of biblical theology. T. D. is married to Anne, and they have two adult children.