Genesis 11, verses 1 to 9, narrate the following story:
1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward,[a] they found a plain in Shinar[b] and settled there. 3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 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.” 5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” 8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel[c]—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
One would ask, what constitutes a myth?
A myth is a story that tries to explain phenomena in a society. Britannica Encyclopedia explains, “Every myth presents itself as an authoritative, factual account, no matter how much the narrated events are at variance with natural law or ordinary experience.” Myths often involve gods, heroes, supernatural beings, and events that are not based on historical or scientific facts but are somewhat symbolic. Their primary role is to attempt to give answers to phenomena and events that puzzle people. For instance, you could say that the story of the Tower of Babel is a myth that tries to explain why people have different languages.
Genesis tells us that ancient people, using bare hands and basic tools and without modern machinery, built a tower so tall that it almost touched God’s residence, the sky or heaven. I use the words skies and heaven interchangeably because it is also the case with different bible versions. In verse 4, most talk about heaven, while others use the term skies.
Taller than modern-day skyscrapers
“Moses” wants us to believe that the tower of Babel was taller than modern-day skyscrapers.
This is a real image of Dubai Skyscrapers as seen from above the clouds.
The image suggests that “Moses” did not even mean the skies but rather the clouds. If that were the case, what “Moses” thought to be heaven would be the upper surface of the clouds, as seen in the above image. It is a scenic view, and it is not surprising that perplexed people would think that there’s a God who sits on the clouds.
As of 2024, the tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa, towering 825 meters (2700 feet) above the ground. It does not stand in isolation, as many others all over the globe follow closely from New York to Hong Kong and so on. Even with its magnificent size, the Burj Khalifa is far below the average level at which commercial flights fly. Aero Class explains that most commercial flights fly between 9000 and 13000 meters (30000 – 42000 feet) above the ground. This is more than ten times the height of the tallest building in the world. It would mean that humankind has already flown above heaven, as the author of Genesis 11 envisioned. We haven’t discussed the Space Station revolving over 400km (250 miles) from Earth or the James Webb Space Telescope sailing at 1.5 million km (1 million miles).
No longer annoyed
If God was annoyed by the people’s attempt to build a tall tower that almost reached his residence as claimed in the old book, then he would have been much more frustrated to find out the existence of Burj Khalifa and thousands of other skyscrapers that would be much taller than the tower of babel. He would be even more annoyed to find out that humans are flying far above his residence on any other day or at least cutting through his space while polluting it with smoke.
Similarly, if different languages emerged from the scattering, how then are the Ameru, Agikuyu, and Aembu, who live around the same region, have languages so closely related yet distinct? The answer is simple. Language development is a continuous and spontaneous process, and even today, newer languages are emerging while others disappear, merge, or split. For instance, Swahili is relatively young, and we can tell it emerged from the interactions between the Arabs and the Bantus of East Africa. We can tell so with certainty because it borrows its words from both sides. Claiming that it resulted from the crash at Babel is ludicrous.
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