Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Jonathan D. Safren" <yonsaf AT beitberl.beitberl.ac.il>]

> Noel O'Riordan wrote:
>
> In identifying the 'tower of Babel story with the Ziggurat of Etemenanki, I 
> offer the following comments
>
> Verse 11:9 itself appears to me as being a secondary addition to the 
> 'Babel' pericope, its sole function seems to be an attempt to unambiguously 
> link the etiological story of verses 1-8 to a known place.  The verse 
> repeats what has gone before in verse 7 and 8. taking a leaf from the 
> synchronic school, I would consider the verse to be a literary repetition 
> to enhance the understanding of the text.

Before making a comment like that you should have read and digested the 
Introduction to Hermann Gunkel's 1922 commentary on Genesis. You would then 
have realized that 11:9 is an integral part of the legend and why.
Sincerely,
--
Jonathan D. Safren
Dept. of Biblical Studies
Beit Berl College
Beit Berl Post Office 44905
Israel