The Tower of Babel (part 1)

An expositional study taught by
Harry Morgan

For those of you online post your comments or questions
in the “comment section” on your screen. As time
affords they may be read to the class.

4 great events recorded in Genesis 1–11:
 Creation of the universe
 Fall of man
 Flood
 Tower of Babel

“The whole earth had one language” (v 1)
“there” (v. 2)
“each other” (v 3)
“Come, let us make bricks” (v 3)
“let us build for ourselves” (v 4)
“a city and a tower”
“the Lord came down…”
“the city and the tower”
“which mankind had built”
“come … let us mix up” (v 7)
“each other’s language”
“from there” (v 8)
“the language of the whole earth” (v 9)

“He was called Phaleg, because he was
born at the dispersion of the nations to their
several countries; for Phaleg among the
Hebrews signifies division.”
Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews Book 1,
Chapter 6, Section 4

Bishop James Ussher estimated the date
for the Tower of Babel to be 106 years after
the Flood. He based this on the Genesis
genealogies and on Egyptian historian
Manetho’s statement (3rd century BC) that
the confusion of language at Babel
occurred in the fifth year of Peleg’s life.

 Human Arrogance (1–4)
 Heaven’s Awareness (5)
 Heaven’s Reversal (6–9)

1. List all the similarities you can find between
the fall of Adam in Genesis 3 the judgment of
Babel in Genesis 11:1-9.
 Creation & Recreation
 Man’s Rebellion
 Divine Judgment
 Divine Redemption

1. List all the similarities you can find between
the fall of Adam in Genesis 3 the judgment of
Babel in Genesis 11:1-9.
#3 – Temptation, false wisdom. Adam and Eve were faced
with the temptation to be like God if they ate from the tree
of knowledge. The serpent’s words were subversive and
crafty with the intent being to undermine God.
#11 – The people were also tempted to be as God by
building a city and a tower to make a name for themselves
by giving themselves a uniqueness, prominence and
superiority.
Kathryn Griffin responded:

1. similarities between Genesis 3 & 11:1-9.
#3 and #11 – Persuasion and cunning language. “You
will be like God,” (eating the fruit and building a city &
tower). The insinuation and jab against God is that
something important has been withheld from them.
#3 and #11 – Consequences. God gives consequences
but more importantly, Adam and Eve and the people in
#11 lose their chance to have a relationship with God
and his blessings.

#3 – Pride. Adam and Eve ate the fruit so as to be as
wise as God and in all regard, Godlike.
#11 – the people wanted to make a city (another name
for their own form of government) and a tower to make
a name for themselves, which would elevate them to
heaven and enable them to be remembered forever,
thereby never dying (Godlike).

#3 – Pride. Eating the fruit was a willful act on the part
of Adam and Eve and was without God’s consent,
permission, guidance or wisdom.
#11 – the people said to each other , “Come …” and
began building a city and tower. Their action was
without God’s consent, permission guidance or wisdom.
#3 and #11 – Personification of God. God walks in the
garden before speaking; and God views the city and
tower before speaking.
#3 and #11 – God uses the word “us” when speaking of
Himself. See #3:22 and #11:7.

2. What is the significance of “the whole earth
(having) the same language and vocabulary”? (
1 Now the whole earth had one language
and one speech.
“one language“ = one lip
“one speech” = same vocabulary

3. Identify how the word “language” or
“tongues” is used in the Bible. Explain the
correlation between this passage and other
references in the scriptures to “tongues”?
 God had a message for the people (9:1,7)
 The people rejected God's message (11:4)
 God caused tongues to be heard as a sign of
His judgment (11:9)
 God caused dispersion (11:8)
Genesis 11

 God had a message for the people (28:1)
 The People rejected God's message (28:15)
 God caused tongues to be heard a as sign of
His judgment (28:49)
 God caused dispersion (28:64,65)
Deuteronomy 28
 God had a message for the people (4:1)
 The People rejected God's message (5:3)
 God caused tongues to be heard as a sign of
His judgment (5:15)
 God caused dispersion (5:19)
Jeremiah 5

Note: This beautiful, refreshing passage describes
Messiah's reign over Israel. The absence of foreign
tongues will be an indication or a sign of God's
abundant blessing upon His people, Israel.
 Verse 17 “Your eye shall see the King in His
beauty.."
 Verse 19 “You shalt not see a fierce people,
a people of a deeper speech that you
cannot perceive; of a stammering tongue,
that you cannot understand."
Isaiah 33

Mark 16
17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My
name they will cast out demons; they will speak with
new tongues;
 God had a message for the People (Mt. 11:28 Cf.
Jer. 4:1; Isa. 28:12)
 The People rejected God's message (Mt. 23:37)
 God caused tongues to be heard as a sign of His
judgment (Mt. 3:38; 24:2; Acts 2:4-12; 10:44-47)
 God cause dispersion (Mt. 27:25)
Acts 2

Gentiles in the house of Cornelius received
the message of the Gospel. This is the first
time Gentiles are recorded to be saved during
the Church Age. The authenticity of salvation
among those Gentiles was verified by the gift
of tongues to a prejudice, Hebrew-Christian
named Peter and those with him. The
incident is of such importance that Peter
repeats the event with detail in Acts 11:15-17
Acts 10

"Certain disciples' do not refer to Christ's
disciples but rather disciples of John the Baptist.
For they had "not so much as even heard
whether there is any Holy Spirit" having only
the baptism of "John's baptism ... unto
repentance" rather than the baptism of the
spirit of God in to the Body of Christ in
regeneration. The authenticating sign once
again was tongues.
Acts 19

1 Corinthians 12-14
 The sign of tongues was mentioned only to the
church of Corinth. While it cannot be stated that
tongues did not exist in other congregations,
evidently, it was not as prominent as at the
Corinthian Church. Why? Acts reveals that for
several years the Corinthian church met in the house
next door to a Jewish synagogue (Acts 18:7).
Tongues authenticated the Christian testimony of
that assembly.
 The gift of tongues is mentioned to the Church of
Corinth because of the abusive practice of tongues
speaking. Though divinely given this gift, as other,
may be practiced with the wrong motive (I Cor. 13)
or with the wrong method and manner (I Cor. 14).

4. What are the arguments for the current (April
2017) “English Language Unity Act”
introduced in the U.S. House of
Representatives (H.R. 997) and the U.S.
Senate (S. 678)? Read Senator Hayakawa’s
speech given in 1982 on this subject.
https://www.usenglish.org/

1 Now the whole earth had one language
and one speech.
9 Therefore its name is called Babel,
because there the LORD confused the
language of all the earth; and from there
the LORD scattered them abroad over the
face of all the earth.

“For then I will restore to the peoples
a pure language, that they all may call
on the name of the LORD, to serve Him
with one accord.
God promised that one day the whole earth will
again speak the same language.
Zephaniah 3:9

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak with other tongues, as the
Spirit gave them utterance. 5 And there were
dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from
every nation under heaven. 6 And when this
sound occurred, the multitude came together,
and were confused, because everyone heard
them speak in his own language. 7 Then they
were all amazed and marveled, saying to one
another, “Look, are not all these who speak
Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each in
our own language in which we were born?
Was God’s promise fulfilled at Pentecost?
Acts 2:4-13

5. In what ways is our modern age seeking for a
single language?

 “English Language Unity Act”
was introduced in the U.S.
House of Representatives
(H.R. 997) on April 2017 and
in the U.S. Senate (S. 678)
 Senator Hayakawa’s speech
given in 1982 on this subject.
https://www.usenglish.org/

6. Who were the people who “migrated from
the east”?
2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the
east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar,
and they dwelt there.
“migrated” (‫ע‬ַ‫ָק‬‫ג‬) = to pull up, as in pulling up
the stakes of a tent when a camp moves
“they” anticedant = descendants of Japheth
and Ham

6. Who were the people who “migrated from
the east”?
2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east
 Cherubim guarded at the “east of the garden of
Eden” (3:24)
 Lot left Abraham, traveling “eastward” (13:10–12)
 Abraham’s sons by Keturah were sent “away from
his son Isaac, eastward to the east country” (25:6)
 Jacob fled his homeland to “the land of the people
of the east” (29:1)

7. Where is “the land of Shinar”?
2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the
east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar,
and they dwelt there.
 “plain” ‫ָה‬‫ע‬ְ‫ק‬ ִּ‫;ב‬ not a valley between
mountain ranges, but a broad flat valley
 “settled” = “sit down”
 “Shinar” = Sumer, the Sumerians were the
predecessors of the Babylonians

7. Where is “the land of Shinar”? (2b)

8. Name the leader of the people who settled in
Shinar?
Nimrod was their leader, he descended
from Ham (8-12)
Peleg was born 101 years after the
Flood ended and 191 years before
Abraham’s birth (Gen. 11:10-26).
Nimrod could easily have been 70
years old at this point and well-
established as the world leader.

8. Name the leader of the people who
settled in Shinar?
This 8th century BC stone relief is
identified as Gilgamesh, king of Uruk in
southern Mesopotamia. His story is
known in the poetic Gilgamesh Epic. He
is described as part god and part man, a
great builder and warrior, and a wise
man in the story. Not mentioned in the
Bible, Gilgamesh is possibly identified
with Biblical Nimrod in Genesis 10:8-12.

Other names associated with Nimrod.
Nimrod
the Lord of heaven
Tammuz
the son or Messiah
Semiramis
queen of heaven
Israelites Baal Tammuz Ashtoreth
Phoenicians El Bacchus Astarte
Babylon Belus Tammuz Rhea, Ishtar
Assyria Ninus Hercules Beltis
Greece Zeus Dionysius Aphrodite
Rome Jupiter Attis Cybele, Diana
India Vishnu Krishna Isi, Devaki
China Pan-Ku Yi Heng-O
Mexico Teotl Quetzalcoatl Coattlicue

9. How was this individual similar to Cain? (Gen.
4:12; 9:1)
 Both built cities
 Both were rebellious to the Lord
because both were told to roam
but did not

10. List all the plural personal pronouns (e.g.
“we”, “us”) mentioned in verses 3 and 4.
Why is this significant?
3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us
make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had
brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4
And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city,
and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us
make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered
abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

11. What was the reason for making “oven fired
bricks”?
brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.

Are the Pyramids in Egypt made of similar
composition as the Ziggurats in Babylon?
Cecile B. DeMille’s 1956 film The Ten Commandments, while
not specifically about the construction of the Great Pyramids,
has contributed to the common image in many of our minds
explaining the construction of the pyramids.

"Maybe the ancient Egyptians didn't just leave us
mysterious monuments and mummies. Maybe
they invented concrete 2,000 years before the
Romans started using it in their structures."
Linn Hobbs, professor of materials science at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The idea that some pyramid blocks were cast of
concrete-like material was aggressively advanced in the
1980s by the French chemical engineer Joseph
Davidovits, who argued that the Giza builders had
pulverized soft limestone and mixed it with water,
pulverized soft limestone
and mixed it with water,
hardening the material with
natural binders that the
Egyptians are known to have
used for their famous blue-
glaze ornamental statues.

In 2006, research by Michel Barsoum at
Drexel University in Philadelphia found
that samples of stone from parts of the
Khufu Pyramid were "microstructurally"
different from limestone blocks.
Barsoum, a professor of materials engineering, said
microscope, X-ray and chemical analysis of scraps of
stone from the pyramids "suggest a small but
significant percentage of blocks on the higher
portions of the pyramids were cast" from concrete.

12. What is asphalt? Why is this significant?
brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.

13. List their intentions. What is the significance
of the order of their mention?
4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a
city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let
us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered
abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

“Now we have some so-called reconstructionists in our
midst… Does anyone understand that the only thing being
reconstructed right now is The Tower of Babel?”
Don Thomson

 Religious - Humanism
 Economic - Collectivism
The Tale of Two Cities
Babylon & Jerusalem

14. Describe the “tower” they built in Shinar?

The Tower of Babel
A Prototype for all Others

CENTRALAMERICA
Belize
(Maya Sites)

CENTRALAMERICA
Guatamala
(Maya Sites)

15. Describe other towers of similar shape found
throughout the world. What other names
are these towers called?

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The Tower of Babel (part 1)

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