![]() ![]() It is true that God expresses some concern about safeguarding the line between the human and divine spheres, perhaps even suggesting that the people pose some kind of threat to the divine realm ( Gen 11:6, Job 42:2). The standard answer is that the project of building a tower reaching the heavens is a symbol of humanity’s arrogant pursuit of fame and power-ideas closely linked in the ancient Near East. The literary and archaeological evidence suggests that the postexilic period is the most plausible setting for an author to write such a story.The use of fired bricks and bitumen for mortar was unknown in ancient Israel and introduces local Babylonian building techniques and color into the story. ![]() However, as the story is located in Babylon, the identification with Etemenanki is reasonable. Some scholars dispute the identification of the tower mentioned in Gen 11:1-9 with the ziggurat Etemenanki because the Hebrew word migdal can describe every form of tower and the expression “city and tower” could also refer to the city and its acropolis. ![]()
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