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.
Let us build us a city. The city was in the immediate neighbourhood, if not on the very site of Babylon-the nucleus and origin of that famous capital. Arab tradition makes Calneh, the modern Niffer, the site of the primitive Babel; and in accordance with that tradition the Septuagint speaks of Calneh as the place where the tower was built. (chalanees ou ho purgos ookodomeethee, Isaiah 10:9.)
And a tower whose top may reach unto heaven. It cannot be supposed that they entertained the insane project of raising it to the skies, as the fabled giants are said to have done. The phrase was a figurative mode of expressing great altitude (cf. Deuteronomy 1:28; Isaiah 14:13). The city was, of course, for inhabitation; but what the tower was designed for has been made a subject of much unsatisfactory discussion.
Josephus, whom many writers in modern times have followed, says ('Antiquities,' b. 1:, ch. 4:), that it was reared as a place of security against a second deluge. But that is a view altogether inadmissible; because not only does the context not indicate any such reason, but God had given an express promise to Noah that a similar judgment should not again occur during the existing economy of Providence; and besides, if the people had been actuated by a desire to provide against a recurrence of a flood, they would have erected their tower on the summit of some Alpine mountain, and not in a low champagne country like Babylonia.
A more probable theory is, that since the Chaldeans cultivated astronomy early, they might have contemplated the erection on their level plains of a grand observatory; or, since the Zabian idolatry arose in that country, they might have required a temple for the worship of the host of heaven. [Perhaps the true motive of the builders may be found in the word migdaal (H4026), the tower of fortified cities and fortresses (Judges 8:9; Judges 9:26; 2 Chronicles 14:6), or a fortress itself (1 Chronicles 27:25; Proverbs 18:10).] It was therefore the fortresses (Judges 8:9; Judges 9:26; 2 Chronicles 14:6), or a fortress itself (1 Chronicles 27:25; Proverbs 18:10).] It was therefore the acropolis of the rising city.
And let us make us a name - i:e., get renown (Jeremiah 32:20; 2 Samuel 7:23). Perizonius, followed by others, renders the Hebrew х sheem (H8034)], a sign: 'let us make us a beacon or rallying point.' In the far-stretching, unoccupied, level plains of the country, no eminence rose within the limits of the horizon to serve as a natural landmark to guide the path of the wanderer; and whether any might have gone to distant pastures with their flocks, or extended their excursions in the pursuits of the chace, they were as uncertain of the homeward way in that trackless region as mariners on the wide ocean without the compass. There was no means, therefore, better fitted to guide them than the erections they contemplated.
They had already enjoyed the benefits resulting from a permanently settled and stationary society; they saw that mighty works-works which would endure for ages and gain great fame to the founders of them-were only to be accomplished by the united energies of a large body of men; and therefore they resolved to provide for themselves and their posterity a lasting establishment in a land, the extent and fertility of which appeared sufficient for long to contain their population, however greatly it might increase.
Lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. The Septuagint renders this clause, [pro tou diaspareenai heemas.], and the Vulgate follows it, [antequam dividamur], before we are scattered. But this is an erroneous translation. [The Hebrew idiom requires that pen (H6435) with the maqqeph (-), after verbs of fearing, hindering, caution, and the like, should be rendered that not, or "lest," as our translators have done.] The whole strain of the context shows that the object of the builders, in the erection of the tower, was to prevent the occurrence of the dreaded dispersion.
What was the cause of their fear? Either the attacks of wild beasts or the trouble and dangers connected with a separation. The prevalence of such feelings indicated a distrust of God's promise (Genesis 9:2), as well as a love of ease and pleasure, more than a regard to the declared will of God (Genesis 9:1). Pride, selfishness, and vain glory were the ruling motives that influenced the confederacy; and whether idolatry had anything to do with this movement or not, it is evident that the spirit of true religion was extinguished in the hearts of men who deliberately adopted and persisted in a course of action designed to defeat or defer the divine intentions, that they should, by occupying the earth, diffuse the knowledge of divine truth and the blessings of civilization. According to the divine purpose, men were to fill the earth - i:e., to spread over the whole earth; not, indeed, to separate but to maintain their inward unity notwithstanding their dispersion. But the fact that they were afraid of dispersion is a proof that the inward spiritual bond of unity and fellowship, not only the oneness of their God and their worship, but also the unity of brotherly love, was already broken by sin. Consequently, the undertaking, dictated by pride to preserve and consolidate by outward means the unity which was inwardly lost, could not be successful, but could only bring down the judgment of dispersion (Keil).