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  • From: "Peter Kirk"<peter_kirk AT sil.org>
  • To: <b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Tower of Babel, dating of primeval history
  • Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 21:16:14 -0500


I don't quite follow your logic here. If verse 9 is indeed a later
addition to an earlier etiological story (and I take Jonathan's point
that according to Gunkel it is not), then there is nothing to link
this story to the ziggurat of Babylon rather than to any one of the
other ziggurats of southern Mesopotamia. There is indeed "no reason to
rule out the etenemanki ziggurat", but also no reason to choose this
one rather than any other. And as many other ziggurats were around at
a much earlier time, we have nothing left to date verses 1-8, and no
reason to date them to the 7th century BCE rather than the 15th or
25th.

Peter Kirk


______________________________ Reply Separator
_________________________________
Subject: Tower of Babel, dating of primeval history
Author: <nor AT iol.ie> at Internet
Date: 19/01/2000 23:08


In identifying the 'tower of Babel story with the Ziggurat of Etemenanki, I
offe
r the following comments

Verse 11:9 itself appears to me as being a secondary addition to the 'Babel'
per
icope, its sole function seems to be an attempt to unambiguously link the
etiolo
gical story of verses 1-8 to a known place. The verse repeats what has gone
bef
ore 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.

The tower is certainly identified with Babylon, the traditional association
of t
he noun Babel with the verb balal is merely a convenient word play, we are
told
that it was already called Babel and then given the 'confuse' explanation, if
th
e Babel was inspired by balal I would expect the sentence to have reversed
itsel
f i.e. and so it was called Babel also the verb balal is not used in verse 7.
Th
e author is unambiguous about its designation (he even tells us that it is on
th
e plain of Shinar) , the 'confuse' part appears secondary.

There is no agreed etiological focus of the story, it could be merely to
describ
e where languages come from, or the development of different races, or a
story o
f the Hubris of mankind or as is obvious an amalgamation of all.

The etiological focus of the story can support an identification with Babylon
wi
thin the pre-post exilic period. More probably the pre, as the Hubris aspect
ca
n be seen as a sneering attack on Babylon with its famed ziggurat. Which in
its
very name suggests the reason for gods destruction of it (house of the
frontier
between heaven and earth) and the biblical motivation for its destruction The
id
entification of many different cultures although not as important an aspect,
may
represent the cosmopolitan nature of Babylon, which would have been at its
stro
ngest in the time since Nebuchadnezzer until after the restoration from exile.

However, even if verses 1-8 are an originally independent pericope, and I
know t
hat even its unity has been open to question , the identification with
Babylon s
tands. Most probably an identification with its time of greatest wealth and
pre
stige, i.e. from Nebuchadnezzer on. I can see no reason to rule out the
etenema
nki ziggurat unless you assume an early dating. for all of verses 1-9.

Of note is verse 11:7 'let us go down and confuse their language' this
dovetai
ls with gen. 3:22 'the man has become like one of us' and bears comparison
with
the story of the Nephilim in 6:1-4. Interestingly all these sections are
linked
with the idea of Hubris, and all these sections can be placed within a
pre-post
exilic context. e.g.. the deuteronomistic like treatment of crime and
punishmen
t.

As for the notion that for one reason or another the author would not
criticize
Babylon, consider Isa 46:1-2 which is very derogatory towards Babylon.


Best regards

Noel O Riordan





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