Genesis 11:4

 Genesis 11:4

 

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.

 

 a. NLT: Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.” [Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.]

 

b. NIV: 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.” [THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.]

 

c. YLT: And they say, 'Give help, let us build for ourselves a city and tower, and its head in the heavens, and make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of all the earth.' [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

 

d. Amplified Bible: And they said, Come, let us build us a city and a tower whose top reaches into the sky, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the whole earth. [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

 

e. Septuagint: And they said, Come, let us build to ourselves a city and tower, whose top shall be to heaven, and let us make to ourselves a name, before we are scattered abroad upon the face of all the earth.

 

f. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/Writings: And they said, “Come, let us build us a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be disperses across the whole earth. [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE TANACH--STUDENT SIZE EDITION Copyright 1996, 1998 by Mesorah Publications, Ltd.]

 

1. “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven…”

 

a. [And they] said [Strong: 559 'amar aw-mar' a primitive root; to say (used with great latitude):--answer, appoint, avouch, bid, boast self, call, certify, challenge, charge, + (at the, give) command(-ment), commune, consider, declare, demand, X desire, determine, X expressly, X indeed, X intend, name, X plainly, promise, publish, report, require, say, speak (against, of), X still, X suppose, talk, tell, term, X that is, X think, use (speech), utter, X verily, X yet.]

 

b. go to [Strong: 3051 yahab yaw-hab' a primitive root; to give (whether literal or figurative); generally, to put; imperatively (reflexive) come:--ascribe, bring, come on, give, go, set, take.]

c. [let us] build [Strong: 1129 banah baw-naw' a primitive root; to build (literally and figuratively):--(begin to) build(-er), obtain children, make, repair, set (up), X surely.]

 

d. [us a] city [Strong: 5892 `iyr eer or (in the plural) par {awr}; or ayar (Judges 10:4) {aw-yar'}; from 5782 a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post):--Ai (from margin), city, court (from margin), town.]

e. [and a] tower [Strong: 4026 migdal mig-dawl' also (in plural) feminine migdalah {mig-daw- law'}; from 1431; a tower (from its size or height); by analogy, a rostrum; figuratively, a (pyramidal) bed of flowers:--castle, flower, tower. Compare the names following.]

f. [whose] top [Strong: 7218 ro'sh roshe from an unused root apparently meaning to shake; the head (as most easily shaken), whether literal or figurative (in many applications, of place, time, rank, itc.):--band, beginning, captain, chapiter, chief(-est place, man, things), company, end, X every (man), excellent, first, forefront, ((be-))head, height, (on) high(-est part, (priest)), X lead, X poor, principal, ruler, sum, top.]

 

g. [may reach unto] heaven [Strong: 8064 8064 shamayim shaw-mah'-yim dual of an unused singular shameh {shaw-meh'}; from an unused root meaning to be lofty; the sky (as aloft; the dual perhaps alluding to the visible arch in which the clouds move, as well as to the higher ether where the celestial bodies revolve):--air, X astrologer, heaven(-s).]

 

1). Genesis Record, Henry Morris, p. 270: “The tower was not designed to reach heaven except possibly in a figurative sense that is, to reach the spiritual resources available in the heavens. The words ‘to reach’ are not in the original. They would build a ‘tower unto heaven’, in thers words, a tower dedicated to heaven and its angelic host.”

 

2). Dake: From a Babylonian description discovered in 1876, “The tower itself was 300 feet high with decreased width in stages from the lowest to the highest point. On the top platform was a sanctuary for the god Bel-Merodach and signs of the zodiac.”

 

3). E.W. Bullinger, The Witness of the Stars, “This is what is doubtless meant by Genesis 11:4. “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven.” The words “may reach” are in italics. There is nothing in the verse which relates to the height of this tower. It merely says…and his top with the heavens, i.e. with the pictures and the stars, just as we find them in the ancient temples of Dendera and Esneh in Egypt. This tower, with its planisphere and pictures of the signs and constellation, was to be erected like those temples were afterwards, in order to preserve the revelation, “lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

 

a). Genesis Record, p. 264: “Romans 1:18-32 graphically describes the resulting moral and spiritual deterioration of Nimrod and his followers. Willfully leaving knowledge and worship of the true God and Creator, they begin instead to worship the creation. This soon led to pantheism and polytheism and idolatry. How much of this new system of religion came by direct communication with Satan himself we do not know, but there is abundant evidence that all forms of paganism have come originally from the ancient Babylonian religion. The essential identity of the various gods and goddesses of Rome, Greece, India, Egypt, and other nations with the original pantheon of the Babylonians is well established. These pagan deities were identified with the stars and planets, the host of heaven, with sun worshipping occupying a central place. This system was formalized in the zodiac, with its numerous constellations, a most remarkable construction which seems to have been the common possession of all the nations of antiquity. And behind this façade of images both on the star charts of the heavens and in their stone and metallic representations in the temples of “men and birds and four footed beasts and creeping things’ lurked a real ‘host of heaven’, the angelic and demonic host of Lucifer, the day star.

 

b). The Masks of God: Occidental Mythology, Joseph Campbell. “In Babylonian astronomy and mathematics from the archaic period of which practically all the high mythologies of both east and west had originated.”

 

c). Campbell’s quote seems to repeat what the Apostle John wrote in Scripture 2000 years ago.

 

(1)  Revelation 17:5 And upon her forehead [was] a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

 

2.   “…and let us make us a name…”

 

a. [and let us] make [Strong: 6213 `asah aw-saw' a primitive root; to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest application (as follows):--accomplish, advance, appoint, apt, be at, become, bear, bestow, bring forth, bruise, be busy, X certainly, have the charge of, commit, deal (with), deck, + displease, do, (ready) dress(-ed), (put in) execute(-ion), exercise, fashion, + feast, (fight-)ing man, + finish, fit, fly, follow, fulfill, furnish, gather, get, go about, govern, grant, great, + hinder, hold ((a feast)), X indeed, + be industrious, + journey, keep, labour, maintain, make, be meet, observe, be occupied, offer, + officer, pare, bring (come) to pass, perform, pracise, prepare, procure, provide, put, requite, X sacrifice, serve, set, shew, X sin, spend, X surely, take, X thoroughly, trim, X very, + vex, be (warr-)ior, work(-man), yield, use.]

 

b. [us a] name [Strong: 8034 shem shame a primitive word (perhaps rather from 7760 through the idea of definite and conspicuous position; Compare 8064); an appellation, as a mark or memorial of individuality; by implication honor, authority, character:--+ base, (in-)fame(-ous), named(-d), renown, report.]

 

1). Perhaps something to keep us together, a memorial, a rallying around, a sort of inspiration to keep us together.

 

3. “…lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

 

a. lest [Strong: 6435 pen pane from 6437; properly, removal; used only (in the construction) adverb as conjunction, lest:--(lest) (peradventure), that...not.]

b. [we be] scattered abroad [Strong: 6327 puwts poots a primitive root; to dash in pieces, literally or figuratively (especially to disperse):--break (dash, shake) in (to) pieces, cast (abroad), disperse (selves), drive, retire, scatter (abroad), spread abroad.]

* puwts] [Strong: a primitive root; to dash in pieces, literally or figuratively (especially to disperse):--break (dash, shake) in (to) pieces, cast (abroad), disperse (selves), drive, retire, scatter (abroad), spread abroad.]

 

b. upon [Strong: 5921 `al al properly, the same as 5920 used as a preposition (in the singular or plural often with prefix, or as conjunction with a particle following); above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications (as follow):--above, according to(-ly), after, (as) against, among, and, X as, at, because of, beside (the rest of), between, beyond the time, X both and, by (reason of), X had the charge of, concerning for, in (that), (forth, out) of, (from) (off), (up-)on, over, than, through(-out), to, touching, X with.]

c. [the] face [Strong: 6440 paniym paw-neem' plural (but always as singular) of an unused noun (paneh {paw-neh'}; from 6437); the face (as the part that turns); used in a great variety of applications (literally and figuratively); also (with prepositional prefix) as a preposition (before, etc.):--+ accept, a-(be- )fore(-time), against, anger, X as (long as), at, + battle, + because (of), + beseech, countenance, edge, + employ, endure, + enquire, face, favour, fear of, for, forefront(-part), form(-er time, -ward), from, front, heaviness, X him(-self), + honourable, + impudent, + in, it, look(-eth) (- s), X me, + meet, X more than, mouth, of, off, (of) old (time), X on, open, + out of, over against, the partial, person, + please, presence, propect, was purposed, by reason of, + regard, right forth, + serve, X shewbread, sight, state, straight, + street, X thee, X them(-selves), through (+ - out), till, time(-s) past, (un-)to(-ward), + upon, upside (+ down), with(- in, + -stand), X ye, X you.]

 

c. [of the] whole [Strong: 3605 3605 kol kole or (Jer. 33:8) kowl {kole}; from 3634; properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense):--(in) all (manner, (ye)), altogether, any (manner), enough, every (one, place, thing), howsoever, as many as, (no-)thing, ought, whatsoever, (the) whole, whoso(-ever).

d. earth [Strong: 776 'erets eh'-rets from an unused root probably meaning to be firm; the earth (at large, or partitively a land):--X common, country, earth, field, ground, land, X natins, way, + wilderness, world.]

 

1). They did not want to be separated even though the original divine mandate included spreading out over the face of the whole earth.

 

a). Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

 

2). One of the purposes of God in confusing their language was to prevent them from staying in one place.

 

a). Genesis 11:6- 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.

11:7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one anothers speech.

11:8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

11:9 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.

b). Back before I became a Christian I was deeply involved in the UFO phenomenon. Over the course of about a year and a half hundreds and hundreds of dollars were spent in the quest to find more information. During the search I ventured into many peripheral areas that I had no idea were linked, satanism, witchcraft, all kinds of paranormal, spiritually dark subjects. I became extremely interested in finding an extraterrestrial explanation for all religions, so I began researching particular mythologies, hunting for a possible link to UFO’s. That seed was implanted by reading Erich von Daniken’s book, Chariots of the Gods, and at least two others by him.  I began looking at The Golden Bough by James George Frazer, and The Masks of God by Joseph Campbell. (I had three of the four volume set).