This is The Towers and Nimrods of our Life that Separate us From God. It is the 9^th Reading or Parashah in our 3-year Torah Reading Cycle.

 

I will be reading from the Robert Alter Translation of Torah, reading our focus verses with commentary as we go along.

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11:1  And all the earth was one language, one set of words.

 

 

[”One language or speech” means “few words” or small vocabulary.]

 

 

11:2  And it happened as they journeyed from the east that they found a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there.

 

This “Plain of Shinar” appears to be the cradle of the most ancient of civilizations.

 

 

11:3  And they said to each other, “Come, let us bake bricks and burn them hard.” And the brick served as stone, and bitumen served them as mortar.

 

The bricks used in ziggurat construction was customarily composed of clay formed into bricks that was sun-dried. These were then baked for purposes of making the sun-dried, baked bricks more durable. Bitumen, or slime, was used as mortar or cement to bind the bricks together.

 

 

11:4  And they said, “Come, let us build us a city and a tower with its top in  the heavens that we may make us a name, lest we be scattered over all the earth.”

 

It is believed by conservative biblical commentators within our Faith Community that the description of the tower’s top reaching or scaling the heights of the heavens was common hyperbolic literary license used by the ancients to describe Mesopotamian ziggurat of the day. And the reason for the hyperbole is that in most cases, these ziggurat served as a lasting monument to a nation people’s culture and purpose which is  suggestive of the phrasing in our text of the Babylonians wanting to “make a name for themselves.”

 

The description of the tower rising with its top in heaven could be literal, if we choose to believe some of the fantastic extra-biblical accounts of the tower’s dimensions. Or it simply means that the tower was fortified and tall as other such edifices were in Deuteronomy 1:28. The ideology behind the ancients seeking to make a name for themselves seems more akin to the people seeking to be a powerful, secure and united citizen nation.

 

 

11:5  And the LORD  came down to see the city and the tower that the human creatures had built

 

Yehovah sees for Himself the extent of human rebellion portrayed here at the tower construction site before rendering judgment.

 

This seems to conjure up more questions than answers as to the nature of Elohim. If Yehovah is indeed omniscient (which I whole-heartily believe He is), why then would He feel the need to come down to earth to see for Himself the extent of human rebellion and depravity before responding to the rebellion with judgment? Would He not have already possessed full knowledge and understanding of what humanity had accomplished? Of course He would have!

 

Or is this possibly saying to those of us with eyes to see and ears to hear, that Elohim has and will always intervene into the affairs of His human creation? That He’s not aloof as most might feel and think Him to be?

 

This use of anthropomorphic descriptors as this would certainly cause the people of Yah to remember that despite the evil and lawlessness that may be ongoing round about them, Yah sees all and He will respond in a time and manner of His choosing. Yah is an Elohim of heart testings. He gives humanity just enough rope I which to hang itself before stepping in to sort things out and mete out justice and righteousness accordingly.

 

 

11:6 And the LORD said, “As one people with one language for all, if this is what they have begun to do, now nothing they plot to do will elude them.

 

Humanity here is united in an unholy endeavor. Unabated in the thrust of their united purpose, to storm heaven and unseat Yehovah, or simply to unseat Yah as Elohim in their lives altogether, humanity would certainly lead to both its physical and spiritual destruction.

 

 

11:7  Come, let us go down and baffle their language there so that they will not understand each other’s language.”

 

“Let us go down” may be another hint of the existence of a heavenly council, consisting of Yehovah as Creator and King of the Universe; and created beings of angelic or some other spiritual existence, all who support and carry out Yehovah’s Will and purpose in the earth. Of course, there remains insufficient information to confirm or even deny such thinking.

 

Clearly, there’s an expressed polemic against urbanism and trust in human ingenuity and accomplishments at work here.  It was not Abba’s Will for humanity to be urbanized. Urbanization leads to a great many spiritual and physical problems that serve only to lead citizenry further and further away from Yah and His Ways.

 

Interestingly, Messianic Author and Teacher Tim Hegg downplays any expressed or perceived notion that the tower was of any great importance in terms of its size. He describes the building of the tower as “puny.’ So puny, he states, that the building effort required Yah to come down and see it for Himself. Hegg contends that the text should not be taken literally, but taken more from a satirical sense. A mockery of the tower as being unworthy of Yah’s attention or of Yisra’el as a foe.

 

 

11:8  And the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth and they left off building the city.

 

 

11:9  Therefore, it is called Babel, for there the LORD made the language of all the earth babble. And from there the LORD scattered them over all the earth.

 

The diversity of language is not a blessing or even a good thing to have been experienced by humanity. But rather, it is another judgment against humanity that was meted out and piled on to the human condition by Elohim in response to humankind’s transgressions, revolt, impiety and immorality. Clearly, it was Elohim’s original Purpose and Will that humanity  be of one language/tongue. But more so, that humanity would be fruitful, multiple and swarm the earth to borrow the terminology employed by Robert Alter in his translation of these post flood commandments of Yehovah to the sons of Noah.

 

Here’s a question for you: What was the sin did the people of Babylon commit? Yehovah didn’t prohibit them building the tower did He? No. There is no scriptural proof that such a prohibition from Yehovah existed.

 

So maybe it’s not accurate to see the confounding of the single human language as a form of judgment  that Yehovah meted out or rendered unto humanity in response to their building of the Tower of Babel. But rather, the confounding of the language was a form of necessary course correction for humanity that Abba placed upon humanity.

 

You know, there have been times in my life where I have endeavored to do certain things—career wise; purchase-wise; relationship wise; etc. And despite my best efforts, those endeavors came to naught. And although those things seemed good to me at the time, I believe Yehovah, in His infinite wisdom and righteousness, influenced my efforts such that those endeavors came to naught for my own good. Who knows where I’d be if those things that I aspired to do would have caused me to be helplessly lost and never to enter into covenant relationship with the Almighty. So from time-to-time, I believe Abba employs course corrections for us to ensure that we get on or remain on His track.

 

Just thoughts and reflections.

 

 

Verses 10 through 32 entails the 10-generation lineage of Shem up through Avraham.

 

There is a distinction from this lineage account and the one given in chapter 10 that detailed what is popularly referred to as the Table of Nations.

 

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Extra-Biblical Resources Contribution to this Parashah

 

Jasher 7

 

The Book of Jasher intricately attaches the infamous Nimrod to the entire Tower of Babel Story, which I find to be quite interesting. And of course, if you’ve been in our faith community any length of time, you would know that Nimrod is held responsible by a great many commentators and teachers for introducing paganism, idolatry and tyranny to ancient Mesopotamia. And from there, as detailed in books like Alexander Hislop’s well known book “The Two Babylons,” paganism grew throughout the world and has since infiltrated every aspect of humanity, including religion. It is said by many that Nimrod, his wife Semiramis and son Tammuz, are essentially the reason for the season: for Christmas and all its trappings; Easter; Greek and Roman mythology; Eastern Religions; etc., just to name a few. Some have pegged Nimrod as being a Nephilim, cuing in on such phrases as “…he (Nimrod) began to be a mighty one in the earth” (Gen. 10:8).

 

I’m not entirely sure if the allegations of Nimrod being a Nephilim are true. But I do believe in the Biblical description of Nimrod as one who became a mighty hunter—hunter of animals and eventually humans: That he likely became a tyrannical overlord in his day and that he founded a number of fortified cities, the most notable being that of our focus passage today: Babylon or Babel.

 

Jasher pinpoints Nimrod’s birth and day as the time in post-flood human history where “the sons of men AGAIN began to rebel and transgress against Elohim.”

 

Nimrod descended from Ham’s line, Nimrod being the son of Cush.

 

The text notes that Nimrod sacrificed unto Yehovah of the animals he hunted. Furthermore, Nimrod is described as being strengthened of himself, and “rising up from amongst his brethren” and fighting the “battles of his brethren against all their enemies round about.” And it is in the context of these conquests that Jasher notes Nimrod received Yah’s favor, Nimrod, being “prospered” as the text notes in the battles he waged against the enemies of his brethren. This conquering spirit and life led to Nimrod reigning over a people in the earth. Thus, as young men would be trained and groomed for warfare, it became customary, according to the text, that they would be trained in the spirit and likeness of Nimrod, their leader.

 

The people admired him so much that they officially crowned him as their king. Thus, Nimrod is said to have established a formal government over his subjects, consisting of princes, judges and rulers. And one of those rulers happened to be Terah, Avraham’s father.

 

The text goes on to entail that Nimrod oversaw the building of an extensive, elaborate city that he called Shinar, the name of which has something to do with Nimrod’s enemies having been routed and destroyed. And thus, Nimrod dwelt and reigned in Shinar “securely” as the text describes, his kingdom becoming great.

 

Jasher then takes a very interesting turn, whereby it denotes that Nimrod’s fame and greatness caught the attention of “all nations and tongues” on the earth. And thus, the whole earth came under Nimrod’s lordship/kingship, with Shinar being sort of this central capitol of the known world.

 

The text states:

 

“…and Nimrod reigned in the earth over all the sons of Noah, and they were all under his power and counsel.”

 

At this point in post-flood history, humans spoke just one language.

 

Consequently, as the text continues, Nimrod in his greatness moved away from the worship of Yehovah. In so doing, Nimrod is described as being “more wicked than all the men that were before him, from the days of the flood until those days.” Of course, such life-behavior inevitably led Nimrod to making for himself and the people he ruled over, idols made of wood and stone. (Where would he get such a notion or inclination to do such a thing?) This of course led Nimrod and the whole of his subjects to rebel against Yehovah.

 

Jasher notes that the tower of babel was a concept created by officials of Nimrod’s government who sought to build the structure to enlarge their nation’s fame or make a name for themselves and to provide protection from their enemies and not be scattered upon the face of the earth.

 

Interestingly, Jasher words the building of the tower as being to that people “a transgression and a sin” and that their building of the structure was “against the Lord God of heaven” whom they imagined in their hearts they were warring against. The people imagined that they were ascending to heaven to fight  Yehovah and ultimately they were ascending to heaven to depose Yehovah and put in His place over creation their gods and serve them accordingly. It wasn’t just the tower that became a concern to Yehovah, it was the whole building of this monolithic city and Yah recognized the evil of the people’s thoughts that operated in conjunction with their works in building the city and tower.

 

The building of the project is said to have taken the builders some time to construct: Years. And the building project consumed the people such that the building went on non-stop, daily, without end. There are other aspects of this rendering of the story that we won’t get into, but suffice to say that at the point that Abba takes notice of the situation along with the elders of heaven, that He intervenes in the affairs of Nimrod’s people to put a stop to the building project.

 

Jasher details that Yehovah’s confounding of the people’s tongue or language not only stymied communications between the people in their building of the tower, it also led to violence between them. In fact, the Jasher account entails that Yehovah smote certain of the people who were behind the evil intention to unseat Him and destroy Him, while others’ skin color was changed and still others were simply scattered throughout the earth.

 

All in all, when the people saw what happened as a result of their evil intentions to build the tower, they abandoned the building of the tower. The story goes on to entail that the earth opened up and consumed a third of the tower, while a fire from heaven consumed a third part of the tower, while yet the remaining third part of the tower remained visible to the writer of Jasher in his day. Of the size of the tower that remained, Jasher records that it takes a person three days to walk around the circumference of it. Of the number of lives lost in the whole Tower of Babel affair, it was great, but the number is unknown.

 

But, believe it or not, the story of Nimrod did not end with the confounding of the language of the people and the destruction of the tower by Yehovah. In fact, Jasher entails that Nimrod remained and ruled from Babel. The text describes Nimrod as being unrepentant and that he continued to rule wickedly along with his son, Mardon. Another name the text renders unto Nimrod is Amraphel.

 

The remaining story is long and there is a story also involving Nimrod and Avram that must be told at another time as it falls outside our Genesis 11 account.

 

Jubilees 10

 

The Book of Jubilees takes an interesting road in explaining how humanity devolved into being utterly evil, despite Noah being righteous and passing down to his sons the Truth and righteous ways of Yehovah.

 

According to Jubilees, Noah’s sons actually came and complained to Noah that their sons were being led astray by demons. These demons, according to Noah’s sons, were “leading astray and blinding and slaying his son’s sons.”

 

After the death of Noah, his descendants (not sure how many because the text doesn’t tell us) traveled eastward from the Mountains of Ararat/Lubar, over to Shinar. And the people built unto themselves a city and a tower. Unlike the Genesis and Jasher accounts, Jubilees is silent as to why the people endeavored to build their city and the tower, although the text states the people said “Go to, let us ascend thereby into heaven.” Some have concluded that this implies an intention on the part of the people of Shinar to storm heaven and unseat Yehovah from His throne as Creator. But there is nothing beyond this statement to this effect.

 

The text, however, is quite detailed as it relates to the tower’s dimensions, which we won’t discuss here.

 

Nevertheless, Jubilees stays pretty much aligned with the Genesis storyline as it relates to the confounding of the peoples’ language and their scattering upon the face of the earth. However, Jubilees does mention that the tower was overthrown by a wind from Yehovah.

 

Interestingly, I could find no direct link between Nimrod and the Tower of Babel here in the Jubilee text leading up to the confounding of the language.

 

Here’s something to think about: Where did the post-flood descendants of Noah learn enough about engineering to build a structure such as the Tower of Babel? Assuming stories of the tower being of great height and strength are in fact true, one would have to conclude that the post-flood ancients possessed great knowledge that were passed down from generation to generation. However, at some point a great amount of that knowledge was lost. Simply consider the Egyptian pyramids: Even to this day, there is no widely accepted explanation as to how they were built.

 

Some have offered that the Watchers of Enoch’s day passed on such technological knowledge to humans. Scripture does not confirm nor deny such thinking. But clearly, even our heavenly Father was somewhat impressed by the advancements that humanity had become capable in making, stating of His human creation: “…and this is what they begin to do; and now, nothing will be withholden from them, which they purpose to do” (11:6).

 

Antiquities of the Jews 4 Josephus

 

Josephus annotates a number of key post-flood, historic human trends:

 

• Noah’s descendants descended from the mountains (presuming the Mountains of Ararat) down to the plains of Shinar.
• There was a hesitancy to transition from the mountains to the plains for some time due to the fear that Yah might send forth another Great Flood and having their numbers separated and divided.
• Nevertheless, Yah’s expressed Will was for humanity to populate the whole of the earth.
• The descendants of Noah had developed a “contempt of Yah.

 

Leading this contempt of Yah was Nimrod, grandson of Ham.

 

Josephus describes Nimrod as being of great physical strength. He despised Yehovah to such a degree that he convinced the people that the source of their wellbeing was due to their own wherewithal. In other words, Yehovah had nothing whatsoever to do with their wellbeing.

 

Concerned that the people would ultimately fear and trust Yehovah, Nimrod resorted to establishing a tyrannical government over the people. Nimrod’s aim was to force the people to place their trust and wellbeing in him. Does this not sound very similar to what we’re seeing played out in many of the Western Governments of this world today?

 

To appease the people even further, Nimrod promised to avenge them if Yehovah “should have a mind to drown the world again; for that he would build a tower too high for the waters to be able to reach! And that he would avenge himself on God for destroying their forefathers.”

 

And so Josephus entails that the people loyally followed after Nimrod and began to build the tower. Josephus details that the tower was of great height, width and strength.

 

Josephus does discuss the confounding of the language, but he also makes the point that Yehovah was not incited to the place where He sought to destroy humanity.

 

It is interesting that Josephus does mention Sibyl Oracle that mentions the tower and the confusion of the language:

 

“When all men were of one language, some of them built a high tower, as if they would thereby ascend up to heaven; but the gods sent storms of wind and overthrew the tower, and gave everyone his peculiar language; and for this reason it was that the city was called Babylon.”

 

But for this part, this is where the story of Nimrod begins and ends it would seem.

 

Our parashah is a commentary on humanity’s continuous moving away from and resistance to Yehovah-government rule, choosing instead that of man-ruled government.

 

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Thoughts and Reflections on our Parashah and Practical Halachah

 

The ancient Mesopotamian ziggurat should serve as a reminder to us of humanity’s impiety and its desire to “make a name for itself” and be united under a central purpose that is utterly devoid of Yehovah Elohim. Of that central purpose, depending upon what resource you study and read, they include the goal of storming the gates of heaven; unseating Yehovah as Elohim of elohim from His throne; installing their own elohim to worship in Yehovah’s place; to escape the threat of another Great Flood; to revolt against and defy Yehovah’s commandments and turn completely away from anything having to do with Yah and His Ways. Although fascinating to those who get some sense of intellectual stimulation from the study of ancient civilizations, these structures are nothing more than symbols and ancient testimonies to humanity’s utter disregard for and hostility towards Yehovah and His Ways. They are clear indicators of the extent to which humanity will alienate itself from the Creator of the Universe, as well as they should serve as reminders of Yah’s wrath against the unrighteous  (reference Romans 1:18-32). These edifices in all reality should never be revered as marvels of human ingenuity and accomplishment as the worlds of science and archeology would have us embrace. They should, instead, be objects of derision and cause those who are Elohim-Conscious to be all the more fearful of our holy and righteous Elohim.

 

Much of humanity in those days built their trust and hope in these structures and the human leaders that governed their societies. But our hope and trust, conversely, is to be built upon Yahoshua our Messiah: His Person and Ministry; and upon our Creator and His Ways. There should be no edifices, monuments or symbols to look upon to bolster and affirm our reverence and loyalty to Yehovah, such as crosses, church edifices, religious relics and clergy. No. Our hope and trust, as the psalmist so poignantly asserted:

 

Is [to be] built on nothing less than Y’shua’s blood and righteousness. [For] we dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Yahoshua’s Name. [For it is] on Messiah the solid rock we stand, [because] all other ground is sinking sand” (Robert Critchley).

 

So, in our thoughts and reflections on this parashah for this Shabbat, I would endeavor to ask ourselves: How many towers have we, and possibly are now, building in our lives for the expressed purposes of rebelling against Yehovah? How tall and fortified are those towers? What do those towers represent to us  or do for us? Do they provide us a sense of security or purpose? Or do they simply fulfill a desire or perceived need in our lives? How do those things add to or take away from our trusting, obedient covenant relationship with the Eternal?

 

And when I mention towers here, I’m talking about those things we allow and foster in our lives—even our day-to-day walk with Messiah—that consume us; that influence us; that have the inherent tendency to take our eyes, hearts and minds off our covenant relationship with the Almighty. Things like technology; social media; possessions and riches; relationships; careers; religion; politics; ideologies and the like. No. For the average of us, we don’t necessarily erect ziggurat or towers today. Those are of a bygone era. Our towers of today are a bit more sophisticated and less obtrusive. They tend to define who we are and where we think we’re going? They also serve to unite us with others of like mind and heart.

 

However, over time, these towers in our lives serve only to distance us from our Creator. They blind us to our dire need for a savior and a deliverer. They tell us that we make our own way—we make our own name for ourselves: Yehovah has no say in what I do with my life. He’s not in control. I’m in control. But deep down within the very depths of our souls, we are wired to realize that we are not in control. Our very existence is entirely reliant upon Yehovah’s providence and goodness.

 

 

All ancient accounts of the tower builders in Nimrod’s day was that they had devolved to that of being a Godless and inhumane people. In fact, humanism, albeit humanism in its nascent form, was at the very heart of their tower-building efforts.

 

Those individuals who died in the course of their tower building, such as those that fell or were fatally injured in connection to the building efforts, were of no concern to their fellow tower builders. But rather, the breaking of a single brick, as reported in some extra-biblical accounts, became an occasion of great sorrow and grief to the entire building effort.

 

So again, in our thoughts and reflections on this parashah this Shabbat, I ask: What does this say about the society we dwell in today? Do we mourn and consternate over lost elements of the emerging towers we’re building in our lives? Or rather, do we even care about the souls that are lost every single day to the overall tower building efforts of this humanistic-based world we dwell in? What do the prayers to our just and holy Elohim evidence of the things that exist in our hearts and minds to that end?

 

That which ultimately befell the Tower of Babel in our parashah, so will the towers and ziggurat of modern humanity. These too will become relics of a dispersed and cursed people along with their descendants.

 

Some rabbinic sages did not hold the popular view that the tower was intended to be a platform by which humanity might ascend and war against the Creator. Some viewed the tower along the simple ideological premise that it served as a “rallying point” for the ancients who sought to “make a name for themselves” and remain united under one centralized humanistic government.

 

This I contend, could just as easily been the thinking of a great many in that day as well. And this ideology certainly plays into the modern ideology of the global elite: To create a system of government that elevates them while eliminating those who they view as expendable and useless. These, of course, have no mind or thought for the things and ways of Yehovah. But, like the ancients of Shinar and Babylon, they will be brought down and ultimately dispersed.

 

The flood did not in any way alter the depraved heart of humanity as indicated by previous textual mention that “the thoughts of his (that being humanity’s) heart were only evil continually.” And this clearly seems to have remained the case here. The thoughts of humanity’s heart remained evil continually beyond the Great Flood within the persons of Noah’s descendants.

 

In thinking and reflecting on this conundrum, I can’t help but wonder why Yah chose not to use the flood as His opportunity to transform the human heart—starting with Noah and His sons—and through that transformative process, usher in the paradise that was lost and His government as was the original plan at creation?

 

I guess it’s reasonable to conclude that it simply wasn’t time and it wasn’t His Plan to work salvation, restoration and redemption in this specific manner.

 

Even after the flood, hasatan still possessed the title deed to this earth as well as he would continue to hold sway over humanity as a whole. Therefore, Yah who does everything within the confines of Truth and Righteousness, will bring about the paradise that was lost and the redemption of humanity legally; all the while respecting humanity’s freewill to choose.

 

Nevertheless, humanity’s natural bent is to always be in contention with and hostile towards Yehovah and His Ways (Rom. 8:7).

 

The previous parashah explained how humanity recovered from the devastating flood, evolving into a unified nation people who were generally hostile towards Yehovah.

 

This parashah, in great part, explains how the human race of nations evolved and separated into nations that ultimately became enemies of Yehovah, and the emergence of the one nation from that sea of nations that would produce The Seed that would crush the head of the serpent and bring about a nation people loyal to and governed by Yehovah.

 

Many have concluded that Avraham was alive for the last 58-years or so of Noah’s life. And look just how far humanity in those handful of years had devolved to levels reminiscent of the days prior to the Flood. Noah was the only one of his generation who found favor in Yah’s eye because of His unwavering faith and trust in Yehovah and the covenant relationship He shared with Yehovah.

 

Scripture suggests, and certain extra-biblical texts describe Noah having preached a message of salvation to humanity for 120-years, which none of his contemporaries would receive. Avram was the only one of his generation who appeared to have found favor in Yah’s eyes, as least as far as scripture reveals. For we find in Acts 7 that Yehovah revealed Himself to Avram before Avram departed Mesopotamia. Avram would have been about 48-years of age at that time.

 

Despite what may appear to be the case of humanity being entirely and utterly separated form Yehovah, Yah always possesses unto Himself a remnant that images and glorifies Him in the earth.

 

Humanity unified themselves in their rebellion against Yah through their culture, who some believe is manifested in their single language), their ziggurat or tower, and their disregard or contempt of Yehovah. Over a brief period of time, these adopted the erroneous mindset and heart (perspective) that their wellbeing was a product of their own efforts; ergo humanism.

 

Humanism fueled and sustained the people’s mundane and often arduous existence. Consider just how purposeless a life that sets out to intentionally deprive itself of the presence and governance of Yah?

 

 

The urbanization of humanity served to garner dependence of its citizenry through human ingenuity and brutal leadership. In such a paradigm, Yehovah has no place.

 

What does that say about modern western urbanization of humanity? Government and society becomes the perceived source of human sustenance, provision and protection.

 

Conversely, the rural existence, that being the spreading out of humanity to live out their days in peace and labor and reverence of Yah, garners reliance and trust (I.e., faith) in Yehovah. For humanity in such a paradigm, realizes that it has no control over the elements and other natural circumstances that may or may not affect their overall wellbeing.

 

Yah’s expressed concern that “nothing which they purposed to do would be impossible for them” is a clear statement against humanity’s inherent purpose and desire to reverse Yah’s human created purpose, which was for humans to exist in a trusting relationship with Him. Yah’s Will was always for humanity to be united in a covenant relationship with Him.

 

Despite humanity’s disregard for the Creator’s commandment that it be fruitful, multiply and “swarm”/fill the earth, in their unifying themselves in the Plain of Shinar, humanity ended up doing things Yah’s way anyway. For Yah confounds the single language of humanity, which had the after-effect of causing separation and dispersion among the nation peoples of the plain. The one thing that incites separation in a people the most is culture. In this sense, culture was primarily the people’s language and singleness of purpose around rebelling against Yehovah.

 

Thus, a common reference spoken by any group of unified people against another group of unified people is that of “those people” over there…and such.

 

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