Myths and Legends

Tower of Babel

Ever wonder why people speak different languages? Well, the Bible actually has a story to explain what happened. According to the story, a united humanity in the generations following the Great Flood, speaking a single language and migrating eastward, comes to the land of Shinar (שִׁנְעָר‬). There they agree to build a city and a tower tall enough to reach heaven, which had the results they didn't expect. 

So, as stated before, this takes place a couple of generations after God hit the reset button and makes me question how much incest went on seeing how it was only Noah's family (that we know of). Basically, everyone knew everyone. And it was a peaceful time. Any disagreements were settled with staring contests and life was great. I should mention this takes place in what is now known as  Babylon. It all started with a King named Nimrod, possible the origin of that insult.And everyone in the whole world spoke the same language.

Then King Nimrod decided he wanted to be famous( and we've all seen how well that normally ends). He wanted everyone to know him and how great he was. He convinced the people that lived in Babylonia that, they too could be great if they built a tower that went all the way to heaven. So the people went to work making bricks for the Tower of Babel. It was hard work but the people wanted everyone to know that they made the tower that reached heaven, so they just worked that much harder. The people also convinced themselves that by building the tower that would stay united. Since they already spoke the same language, now they would be building the tower together. Their pride had taken over and all they were thinking about was that they'd be known in all the world for building the biggest and best tower ever.

God, on the other hand, was in his office sorting through some prayers when he got word of the tower. So He pops down as not God and was like," What's this for? New temple?" And some one was like, "No, it's so when people come into town and see how awesome we are."

God was like," I could have sworn I fixed this a few centuries ago."

So God sent a question to his group chat with other angels to ask what he should do. Some suggested that they start babbling.....you sneaky bastards....So God was like, "I can do you one better" and POOF, no one could understand each other. It's interesting because when the people starting building the tower of Babel, Babel meant "gateway to God" but after God mixed up their language it meant "confusion". Even the word babble that we use today is said to come from that day when everyone was babbling with confusion. This was the beginning of the languages. Imagine what would've happened if the people didn't try to build the tower in the first place and they focused on God instead. Maybe we would all speak the same language today.From there the Lord scattered the people all over the whole earth.

Now there is some evidence that the tower actually existed. Some modern scholars have associated the Tower of Babel with known structures, notably the Etemenanki, a ziggurat dedicated to the Mesopotamian god Marduk by Nabopolassar, the king of Babylonia circa 610 BCE. The Great Ziggurat of Babylon was 91 meters (300 ft) in height. Alexander the Great ordered it to be demolished circa 331 BCE in preparation for a reconstruction that his death forestalled.

Although not mentioned by name, the Quran has a story with similarities to the biblical story of the Tower of Babel, although set in the Egypt of Moses: Pharaoh asks Haman to build him a stone (or clay) tower so that he can mount up to heaven and confront the God of Moses. 

This is the story that was told to me when I asked( I was like 6) why a friend's parent didn't speak English, instead of a simple they're from a another country or was having a private conversation. It's interesting due to many language ( both dead and still spoken) have similar grammar structure and sound patterns, yet are unique to the region. For example, there is at least 35 dialects of Chinese. Also this can also be a story about hubris and how it can be man's downfall....and now we have people calling the cops on people for speaking Spanish.