Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 2.pdf/442

396 Tower of

Yiiwh

said,

-THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Babel,

"Let us go down, and there confound Consequently they were scattered abroad upon the face of all the earth " and they left their language."



off to

build the city. "

The name

called "Babel," because there one language of the earth.

of

it

was therefore

Yhwh confounded the

it

was mainly Nimrod who persuaded

Tower, while other sources assert, on the contrary, that Nimrod separated from the builders (compare Ginzberg, "Die Haggada bei den Kirchenvittern," pp. his contemporaries to build the

rabbinical

88, s»).

JB.

J.

R. El. xxiv.,

396

I.

In Rabbinical Literature



M. P.

The Midrashim

give different accounts of the real cause for building the Tower of Babel, and of the intentions of its builders. It was regarded even in the Tannaite tradition as a rebellion against God (Mek., Mishpatim, 20, ed. Weiss, p. 107; Gen. R. xxxviii. 9), and the

Midrash records that the builders of the Tower, TOSH in, "the generation of secession "in the Jewish sources, said " He God lias no right to choose the upper world for Himself, and to leave the lower world to us; therefore we will build us a tower, with an idol on the top holding a sword, so that it may appear as if it intended to war with God " (Gen. R. xxxviii. 7; Tan., ed. Buber, Noah, xxvii. et seq.). The building of the Tower was meant to bid defiance not only to God, but also to Abraham, who later

called

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—



exhorted the builders to reverence therefore the Bible

Six hundred thousand men ("Sefer ha-Yashar," were engaged for forty-three years (Book of Jubilees x.) in building the Tower. Building of The Tower had reached such a height the Tower, that it took a whole year to hoist up necessary building-material to the top; in consequence, materials became so valuable that they cried when a brick fell and broke, while they remained indifferent when a man fell and was 12n)

killed.

They behaved

also very heartlessly

toward

the weak and sick who could not assist to any great extent in the building they would not even allow a woman in travail to leave the work (Greek ApocaGod at first permitted the lypse of Baruch iii.). people to continue with their work, waiting to see

whether they would not desist from their sinful undertaking, and when they still continued, He endeavored to induce them to repent (Gen. R. I.e. Tan. I.e.; Mek., Beshallah, Shirah, 5), but all in vain. The confounding of the languages before that they then compelled them to give all had spoken Hebrew up the work, many also perishing on the occasion for if any one received stones instead of mortar through the misunderstanding of his fellow-workers, he grew angry and threw the stones upon the one who had given them ("Sefer ha-Yashar," 12?/). part of the builders were changed into apes, evil spirits, demons, and ghosts walking by night (Sanh. I.e. Greek Apocalypse of Baruch ii.), and the rest were scattered over the whole earth. The mighty

—

—

A



Tower was blown down by winds

Tower

of Babel.

(From the Sarajevo Hasrgadab.)

(Gen.

xi. 1)

speaks of the

DHnX

D'HTl/'one speech,"

which is interpreted as signifying speech against " the One," against God, and against His one, only follower (compare Ezek. xxxiii. 24). The passage furthermore mentions that the builders spoke sharp words D'TPI = DHPIK against God, not cited in the Bible, saying that once every 1,6.16 years according Olam, 1,6-"j6 years elapsed between the to Seder Creation and the Flood — heaven tottered so that the water poured down upon the earth, therefore they would support it by columns that there might not be similarly Tan. I.e. another deluge (Gen. R. I.e. Josephus, "Ant." i. 4, § 2). Some among that sin^ ful generation even wanted to war against God in heaven (Sunh. 109«, and the passage from the SibylThey line Books iii. 100, cited by Josephus, I.e.). were encouraged in this wild undertaking by the fact that arrows which they shot into the sky fell back dripping with blood, so that the people really believed that they could wage war against the inhabitants of the heavens ("Sefer ha-Yashar," Noah, According to Josephus and Pirke ed. Leghorn, 12&).

—

—

—

'





(Sibyllines

I.e.

Josephus, I.e.; Mek., Beshallah, 4, ed. Weiss, 37); according to the opinion of others, one-third of the building was consumed by fire, one-third sank into the earth, and one-third remained standing (Sanh. I.e.; Gen. R. I.e. 8). In order to convey an idea of the height of the Tower, it is said that to any one who even now stands upon the ruins, tall palmtrees below him appear like grasshoppers. This remnant of the Tower is said to be at Borsippa. Although the generation of the builders of the Tower was much more wicked than that which perished during the Flood, the punishment of the latter was much more severe, because they were robbers, while the former lived in peace with one another, and peace is of such supreme importance that God spares even idolaters so long as they live peaceably (Gen. R.

I.e.

BiBLioCrRAPiiY

7).

Compare Languages, Seventy.

Ginzberg, Die

Hagaada

Tjei

den Kirchen-

vUtcrit, pp. kx, 91-94. J.

SR.

In

L.

Mohammedan

Literature

story about Babel had reached



G.

That some

Mohammed

appears

but it was in a singularly imperfect form and was confused by him with another story about Khordad and Mordad, two of the Parsi Amshaspands. The one reference appears in Koran to be certain

(sura

ii.



96):

" But they followed that which the Satans recited against the kingship of Solomon— and Solomon was no unbeliever, but the