asscending a rebuilt ziggurat stairway (what the ancients thought was a gateway to the heavens or to...
TRANSCRIPT
Asscending a rebuilt ziggurat stairway (what the ancients thought was a gateway to the heavens or to the gods)
Staircase Parallel (Chiasm) Structure of Gen 11:1-9
A: All the earth had one language (v. 1)B: there (v. 2)
C: One to another (v. 3a)D: Come, let us make bricks (v. 3b)
E: Let us make for ourselves (v. 4a)F: City and tower (v. 4b) God came down (v.
5a)F: City and tower (v. 5b)
E: Man has built (v. 5c)D: Come, let us confuse (v. 7a)
C: One to another, the language (v. 7b)B: From there (v. 8)
A: Confused the language of the whole earth (v. 9)
On
e lan
gu
ag
e o
n e
art
h
On
e t
o a
noth
er
Com
e,
let
us
bu
ild u
p
Let
us
make
for
us
Cit
y a
nd
tow
er
G
od
cam
e d
ow
n
Cit
y a
nd
tow
er
see w
hat
man
bu
ilt
Com
e,
let
us
con
fuse
O
ne
to a
noth
er
Man
y lan
gu
ag
es
on
eart
h
Note the structure on its
side and its similarity to
ancient stepped-pyramid temples
(houses built to meet the gods and/or reach heavens like
Babel in other ancient pagan
religions)
One
lang
uage
on
eart
h
O
ne t
o an
othe
r Com
e, le
t us
bui
ld u
p
Let
us m
ake
for
usCity
and
tow
er
G
od c
am
e d
ow
n
City
and
tow
er
see
wha
t m
an b
uilt
Com
e, le
t us
con
fuse
O
ne t
o an
othe
r
Man
y la
ngua
ges
on e
arth
One la
ngua
ge o
n ea
rth
O
ne to
ano
ther
Come,
let u
s bui
ld u
p
Let u
s mak
e fo
r us
City a
nd to
wer
God
cam
e dow
n
City a
nd to
wer
see
what m
an b
uilt
Come,
let u
s con
fuse
O
ne t
o an
othe
r
Many
lang
uage
s on
earth
One language on earth (v. 1-2) One to another (v. 3a)
Come, let us build up (3b)Let us make for us (v. 4a)
City and tower (v. 4b) God came down (v. 5a) City and tower (v. 5b)
see what man built (v. 5c)Come, let us confuse (v. 7a)
One to another (v. 7b)Many languages on earth (v. 9)
God overturns man’s plans in Genesis 11:1-9
Ancient clay tablets instructing future kings of Babylon to rebuild Babel.
Some believe Hammurabi rebuilt it around the time of Jacob in Genesis (see Bodie Hodge, The Tower of Babel, p. 62)
Reconstruction of tower in Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar (“house … of heaven and
earth”)
Associated with the temple of Marduk, Esagila (“the building whose top is in heaven”)
Saddam Hussein hoped to rebuild the tower (note the Babel symbol on Iraqi
currency)
Great Ziggurat at UR
Zigurrat remains in Ur from time of Abraham, ca. 2000 BC (modern Iraq, upper destroyed levels re-drawn above)
Ziggurat-style “step pyramid” remains in Saqqara Egypt from before the time of Abraham (built not long after Babel)
Later Mayan “house of gods” (temple)Similar structure with stairway to worship
U.S. government building in Laguna Niguel, CA, Chet Holifield Federal Building
(also called “the Ziggurat Building”)
“The Ziggurat” West Sacramento, from river, headquarters of CA Department of General
Services
The European Parliament building in France was modeled after an unfinished Tower of Babel from Bruegel’s famous painting (on the left), as one writer said, ‘in the symbolic hope of ending the curse of linguistic limitation’
European Union poster (on right) modeled after classic painting of Babel (on left)
Closer view of European Union poster (note the crane in the background and reference to Genesis 11 in the lower right: “many tongues, one voice,” their hope to reunite like Genesis 11, to resume what God stopped?)