Hey everybody, Welcome back to Critical Thinking Aloud. We are going to be continuing in our study that has been answering the question Why is the World the way it is? We have laid a lot of foundation on this subject which we will be using to continue on in our study today so if you haven’t seen the first two installment, I would recommend you check those out first. Please click here for Part 1, or and here for Part 2.
As stated before in our previous episodes we are not seeking to answer this question merely with our 21st century christian perspective, but to go back to the original context of the Ancient Middle Eastern biblical authors worldview. We have been doing this to build a case that shows when we adopt their prespective we gain a much more robust understanding of the biblical narrative. This will prove just as true today as it has in our past teachings.
Here we go again
We stated in the last two episodes that the reason the world is the way it is today in the biblical authors and their initial readers worldview is because of
A proliferation of evil cause by three dual rebellions of both spiritual and human members of Gods family detailed in the opening chapters of the book of Genesis.
This is a big problem because God wants a big blended family of spiritual and physical beings that have chosen to love and obey Him with their own free will, whiling sharing His authority to bring Gods kingdom to the Earth. Gods desire to have this from the beginning was halted by the first dual rebellion that took place in His thrown room by the two beings He placed in the most exalted positions of creation.
The “Anointed Guardian Cherub” A.K.A. The Devil stabs God who he was created to serve in the back by staging a coup among the newly appointed rulers of the physical side of Gods family. Adam Eve, along with this spiritual outcast are all kicked out of Gods living space and left to fend for themselves in a fallen physical world.
Two important points to remember
Before we move on I do want to remind you guys of two important points to keep in the back of our minds.
The first is that while Human beings were still loyal to God and residing on His mountain in Eden we had access directly to Him and the Tree of Life. This means that while humans were in the garden and had access to God they inhabited both the spiritual and the physical world. This was only possible because of our proximity to the tree of life/the creator and therefor once removed mankind was bound to the physical world of Gods creation and subjected to death.
While access to God’s thrown room was barred and humanity is unable to inhabit the spiritual world with God, the bible relates to us that humanity is not simply left to their own devices permanently without God. Quite the opposite seems to be the case in the authors mind. Repeated accounts of God’s willingness to still interact with a now sinful humanity and have a relationship with those who desire His company is common throughout the biblical narrative.
The second point is that in these rebellion narratives we see the same motifs repeated over and over again. Not only are there simultaneous dual uprisings against God by both physical and spiritual members of His family but also a repetition of these other motifs as well. From the revolt there is a judgement subsequently pronounced, also a promise of redemption given to the physical side of Gods family while the spiritual side is doomed, and despite the sinful actions of these foolish humans, God gives back the Edamic mandate to share His authority while spreading His kingdom over the earth.
God separated the physical and spiritual world after the first rebellion and forbid the mixing of them again. He did this because they are different kinds and inhabit different living spaces, but also because as a direct consequence of the first rebellion on His mountain, when in the garden, both members of these worlds sinned together therefore these two spaces were separated. In light of this we also noticed a motif showing a desire to mix the spiritual and physical worlds together even though it had been forbidden by God.
Lastly it is noticeable in the text that while God keeps extending His hand in love of His creation to rule with them regardless of their mistakes, His image bearing physical side of the family has an unquenchable urge to forge Eden for themselves on their own terms, not their Creators.
You can’t miss it
The biblical authors used repetition to teach their audience important truths in their stories. As in first two accounts of these dual rebellions that took place in Genesis chapters 3, and Genesis chapter 6, today we will see this all unfold once again in this final chapter which we will examine to complete the three dual rebellions of Genesis 3-11.
Hold up! We are big advocates of context, so before we dive into the next story about the final dual sedition in Genesis chapter 11, let me fill you in on some context. Last time we finished our post remembering that after the flood God grated the same Edamic mandate to Noahs family.
“Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.”
Genesis 9:1-3
This is incredible, God tells Noah’s family the same thing He told Adam and Eve. Both are given dominion and were called by their Creator to “fill the earth” with their progeny while spending His kingdom. Over time Noahs family did grow into 70 nations described in Genesis chapter 10.
These 70 nations roughly span from the tip of Spain in the West to India in the East while including Asia Minor, The Middle East, and North Africa. This is the setting for all the Bible. Anywhere outside of this area is not addressed by the biblical authors. Not because they were unimportant but because they fall outside the scope of the biblical narrative.
* We will dedicate a whole episode of Critical Thinking Aloud to the setting of the bible, so if this is new to you for now just stick it in the back of your mind.
No Surprise
Within the boarders of Eden God told Noah and his family to go and spread His kingdom all over the earth with the authority He gave them. They were fruitful and they did multiplied but instead of filling the earth as God asked, these 70 nations did this.
“Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.”
Genesis 11:1-2
That’s right, they all decided to pick a nice cozy spot within the boarders of Eden and live in a big open plain together. As you can imagine this is not at all a good start to the story. Let’s continue.
They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
Genesis 11:3-5
Lets dive deeper
Ok first things first. How in the world are bricks baked in an oven cutting technology for these people? With all of our modern technological advancements, I know it’s hard for us to think of “baked bricks” as being a leap in technology. Hopefully it will help you to think about it like this. When you only have mud bricks to work with figuring out how to bake them and achieving a greater strength capacity is a big deal.
The ability of what you are able to achieve with these simple resources exponentially grows. Here is a short excerpt from the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible explaining this technological expansion.
“Stone is not readily available in the alluvial plain of southern Mesopotamia, so a logical economical choice is to use brick-there is plenty of mud. Mud brick, however, is not durable, so it was a great technological development to discover that baking the brick made it as durable as stone. This was still an expensive process, since the kilns had to be fueled. As a result, mud brick was used as much as possible, with baked bricked only for outer shells of important buildings or where waterproofing was desirable.”
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible page 29 (in the note on verse 11:3 section)
In Genesis 11:4 we read that the people wanted to build a city with a tower in it. In these days cities were not designed to be lived in, they were for public buildings. Here is another helpful quote from NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible to help you get your head around the nature of cities during this time period.
“People did not live in the city. Instead, it was comprised of the public buildings, such as administrative buildings, and granaries, which were mostly connected with the temple. Consequently, the city was, in effect, a temple complex.”
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible page 29 (in the note on verse 11:4 section)
Probably not what you are thinking
The text goes on to describe that these people wanted to build a tower that “reaches to the heavens”. Now we are going to have in our minds a way different structure than what was actually built. While we are probably thinking of modern towers like that of The Tower of London, The Eiffel Tower, or The Empire State Building, this type of structure are nothing like what these people were building. In short they wanted to build a temple complex known to us as a Ziggurat.
This structure is used to invoke deities to come down to earth thus being ostensibly a portal/gateway to the spiritual world. We know that this is what they created because we read in Genesis 11 verse 5 that “the Lord came down”. They achieved the intended purpose for which they built this temple, i.e. for a deity to descend, only to receive the adverse result of which they hoped.
The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible adds this
“Throughout Mesopotamian literature, almost every occurrence of the expression describing a building “with its head in the heavens” refers to a temple with a ziggurat.
The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible page 29 (in the notes on verse 4)
We can be certain that the structure these people were building was a ziggurat, not a conventional tower in our sense of the word. These people were trying to gain some sort of interaction with the spirit world once again.
The final part in this third dual rebellion sequence is that the people were trying to make a name for themselves. This is a common practice with in ancient civilizations. Think of the pyramid, and how that was built as a remembrance to the pharaoh of that time. In this worldview building a name for yourself is how you are remembered after you are gone. In certain cultures the amount you are remembered helps you in the afterlife or to gain entrance into the afterlife. Once more I will quote NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible in hopes it gives you a hand hold on this concept.
While there is nothing inherently evil or sinful in the desire to be remembered (e.g., God promises to “make your name great” for Abraham in Genesis 12:2 and David in 2Sam 7:9), this desire may become obsessive or motivate evil or sinful behavior.”
NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible page 29 (in the notes on verse 4) *Italicise mine
I Believe this is exactly what happened. In an attempt to make a name for themselves (become famous as to be remembered) they were trying to acquire eternal life by their own strength. In light of what we have learned throughout this series let’s lay it all out to see if we can notice the motifs being repeated again.
We have people who are living with in the ancient boarders of Eden, who have been given the same exact Edamic mandate that was given to Adam and Eve to multiply and fill the earth. After they multiply all of them then proceed to move to a plain to build a big temple complex (the city) so that they will not be scattered over the earth. Although access to the spiritual world had been forbidden for human beings and these two world must remain separated, these people with their new found technology built a stairway to the heavens (the Ziggurat/ a gateway to the spiritual world) to invoke deities to come down. The intent behind all of this was to make their name remembered so that they could be granted eternal life by their own strength.
What do you think God is going say about all this?
God’s had enough
Obviously this is a massive affront to our merciful God! After literally giving these people the earth, in the boarders of Eden, sharing His authority to rule over creation, and promises them He will one one day reconcile them from the fall by being able to inhabit the spiritual world once again by gaining access to His source of eternal life.
Despite all this they turn around and spit in His face. Humans continuously try to fashion an Eden by their own ardor with a blinding disregard for what God promises to do for those who would trust in His provision.
This is it for these reckless nations and their disregard. God scatters these people all over the face of the earth and confuses their language so as to stunt them from pulling off another stunt like this in the future. The motif continues but we will stop here for now and pick up next week as we carry on in the series of why is the world they way it is?
Citations:
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Grand Rapids, Michigan USA Zondervan 2016
We highly recommend this study bible for you learn more about the cultural context of the biblical authors and their initail hearers. You can support Critical Thinking Aloud by purchasing your copy through our affiliate links below.
U.K. Link for the NRSV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible
U.S. Link for the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible
U.S. Link for the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible Kindle Edition
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Check out this short video series on Spiritual beings by our friends over at The Bible Project by clicking here. They are amazing and super helpful to better grasp what we will be covering in this series.