Objections to the Bible: The Tower of Babel

[Garland-Green]

"Just how high did God fear they would build the tower?"


Artists inprepretation

The issue some has with the story of the Tower of Babel is more a misunderstanding of the text and the usage of the word 'heaven' then anything. God did not scatter them because they were able to build into God's heaven.

3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.


Heaven here is used as in meaning sky.

WHAT IS HEAVEN?

We often use the term Heaven loosely. The Bible actually refers to three heavens. The Bible uses the same word Heaven for three completely different places. And if you fail to make the distinction you can fall into doctrinal error.

We see the first Heaven in:

Gen 1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry [land] appear: and it was so.

Gen 1:20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

Jer 4:25 I beheld, and, lo, [there was] no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.

Dan 4:12 The leaves thereof [were] fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it [was] meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it.

From these verses we see the term Heaven used to describe our atmosphere. This is the heaven that we can see with our naked eyes.

The second Heaven is farther out than our atmosphere.

We see the second heaven in:

Gen 22:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which [is] upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

Neh 9:23 Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess [it].

From these verses we see heaven is used to describe the stellar heavens.

This is the heaven that we can see with telescopes. But even with the most advance telescopes we can only see a tiny fraction of the stellar heavens.

We see the third heaven in:

1Ki 8:27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?

1Ki 8:30 And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive.

1Ki 8:39 Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, [even] thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men wink

From these verses we see the term heaven used to describe the Abode of God.

This is the heaven that we see thru the eyes of faith.

It was the third heaven, it was the abode of God that Paul got caught up to.

2Co 12:2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth wink such an one caught up to the third heaven.

The word heaven is used in the Bible to describe three completely different places. The atmosphere, the stellar heavens, and the abode of God. When you see the word heaven in the Bible, you need to look at the context to tell which one is being referred to.

So basically they built a very tall tower to make themselves a name, that they would not be scatted around the world. Very prideful wouldn't you say?  

[Aquatic_blue]

Garland-Green

"Just how high did God fear they would build the tower?"

The issue some has with the story of the Tower of Babel is more a misunderstanding of the text and the usage of the word 'heaven' then anything. God did not scatter them because they were able to build into God's heaven.

3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.


Heaven here is used as in meaning sky.

WHAT IS HEAVEN?

We often use the term Heaven loosely. The Bible actually refers to three heavens. The Bible uses the same word Heaven for three completely different places. And if you fail to make the distinction you can fall into doctrinal error.

We see the first Heaven in:

Gen 1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry [land] appear: and it was so.

Gen 1:20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

Jer 4:25 I beheld, and, lo, [there was] no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.

Dan 4:12 The leaves thereof [were] fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it [was] meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it.

From these verses we see the term Heaven used to describe our atmosphere. This is the heaven that we can see with our naked eyes.

The second Heaven is farther out than our atmosphere.

We see the second heaven in:

Gen 22:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which [is] upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

Neh 9:23 Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess [it].

From these verses we see heaven is used to describe the stellar heavens.

This is the heaven that we can see with telescopes. But even with the most advance telescopes we can only see a tiny fraction of the stellar heavens.

We see the third heaven in:

1Ki 8:27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?

1Ki 8:30 And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive.

1Ki 8:39 Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, [even] thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men wink

From these verses we see the term heaven used to describe the Abode of God.

This is the heaven that we see thru the eyes of faith.

It was the third heaven, it was the abode of God that Paul got caught up to.

2Co 12:2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth wink such an one caught up to the third heaven.

The word heaven is used in the Bible to describe three completely different places. The atmosphere, the stellar heavens, and the abode of God. When you see the word heaven in the Bible, you need to look at the context to tell which one is being referred to.

So basically they built a very tall tower to make themselves a name, that they would not be scatted around the world. Very prideful wouldn't you say?

That's an interesting way to view it and I see how the Tower of Babel would be up for debate as to how high the tower was built or if they could really reach Heaven.

But yeah, if you could build something incredibly tall - even if it didn't reach completely to Heaven, people might've praised it or worshiped the tower instead of God as well. Pride would be a definite factor about it.

Thanks for the post. It's definitely worth studying further 3nodding  

[Garland-Green]

If you find out something interesting on the topic I would love to read it ^^  

[Aquatic_blue]

Garland-Green

If you find out something interesting on the topic I would love to read it ^^

Actually, I was looking through one of my husband's text books for Bible school, which mentions people building the Tower of Babel in order to "reestablish God's presence on earth" and hoping that God would come down from Heaven and take up residence in their city, but sadly their idea of God was already flawed.

I found that to be an interesting theory. It makes sense in a way...to build a tower hoping that God could come down from Heaven to their city and stay there and how someone could think that way if they didn't know God entirely. It's a possible thought and it definitely sounds silly so it would be a prideful thing to do and also a selfish thing, because maybe they thought if God took up residence in their city that they would become the only Holy place on earth and only concentrate on the people there. They indeed got God's attention - just not in the correct manner.  

[Garland-Green]

Aquatic_blue

Garland-Green

If you find out something interesting on the topic I would love to read it ^^

Actually, I was looking through one of my husband's text books for Bible school, which mentions people building the Tower of Babel in order to "reestablish God's presence on earth" and hoping that God would come down from Heaven and take up residence in their city, but sadly their idea of God was already flawed.

I found that to be an interesting theory. It makes sense in a way...to build a tower hoping that God could come down from Heaven to their city and stay there and how someone could think that way if they didn't know God entirely. It's a possible thought and it definitely sounds silly so it would be a prideful thing to do and also a selfish thing, because maybe they thought if God took up residence in their city that they would become the only Holy place on earth and only concentrate on the people there. They indeed got God's attention - just not in the correct manner.

Hehe. It does indeed sound silly, but it also sounds like something they would do not knowing God.

There is no explanation for what was the purpose of the tower clearly explained in the Bible. Personally I don't think it was the tower it self but the attitude of the people, and that now that they spoke one language and lived in one city there was nothing that would restrain them from coming up with all kinds of evil.

Some people theories that the tower was also built that the people would survive if there was another flood. Others think that it was designed to be a grand city, the seat of government, in order to prevent a general dispersion. This God would not permit, as he had purposed that men should be dispersed over the earth, and therefore caused the means which they were using to prevent it to become the grand instrument of its accomplishment.

Either way there are many plausible theories, and there are plenty of civilizations that would have been able to build most impressive towers even back then, bottom line these theories shows plausibility.  

[Rae of Hope]

That is really fascinating. I always found the story of the Tower of Babel to be really interesting, but this definitely sheds some new light on it.  

[Aquatic_blue]

Garland-Green

Aquatic_blue

Garland-Green

If you find out something interesting on the topic I would love to read it ^^

Actually, I was looking through one of my husband's text books for Bible school, which mentions people building the Tower of Babel in order to "reestablish God's presence on earth" and hoping that God would come down from Heaven and take up residence in their city, but sadly their idea of God was already flawed.

I found that to be an interesting theory. It makes sense in a way...to build a tower hoping that God could come down from Heaven to their city and stay there and how someone could think that way if they didn't know God entirely. It's a possible thought and it definitely sounds silly so it would be a prideful thing to do and also a selfish thing, because maybe they thought if God took up residence in their city that they would become the only Holy place on earth and only concentrate on the people there. They indeed got God's attention - just not in the correct manner.

Hehe. It does indeed sound silly, but it also sounds like something they would do not knowing God.

There is no explanation for what was the purpose of the tower clearly explained in the Bible. Personally I don't think it was the tower it self but the attitude of the people, and that now that they spoke one language and lived in one city there was nothing that would restrain them from coming up with all kinds of evil.

Some people theories that the tower was also built that the people would survive if there was another flood. Others think that it was designed to be a grand city, the seat of government, in order to prevent a general dispersion. This God would not permit, as he had purposed that men should be dispersed over the earth, and therefore caused the means which they were using to prevent it to become the grand instrument of its accomplishment.

Either way there are many plausible theories, and there are plenty of civilizations that would have been able to build most impressive towers even back then, bottom line these theories shows plausibility.

I've never heard the theory about surviving the flood, but considering how close those events were - it is a definite possibility. There are a lot of theories about it 3nodding

I agree about how it all boils down to attitude because what's in our hearts is what matters most. The whole "action and intent" is a good way to describe this. ^_^  

[Lupas Deva]

I don't think it was the fact that the tower had such a high height. I think that it was because everyone was working together.

Which makes me wonder if He will do a similar thing if the United Nations is given more authority to enforce their will.