Babel tower and the origin of languages

For having violated the authority of their creator, the men were punished with their arrogance. Here, in essence, The origin of languages ​​according to biblical mythology.

What happened to Babel’s tower ?

The story of Babel’s tower is told in Genesis 11.1-9. After the flood, God gave this order to humanity: “Reproduce yourself, become numerous and fill the earth” (Genesis 9.1). Humanity has decided to do exactly the opposite: “They still say:” Let’s go ! Let us build a city and a tower whose summit touches the sky and make a name for us so as not to be dispersed over the entire surface of the earth. “” (Genesis 11.4) Men have decided to build a large city in order to assemble there, as well as a gigantic tower, symbol of their power, in order to make a name for themselves (Genesis 11.4). This tower is called Babel’s tower.

God reacted by confusing the languages ​​of men so that they can no longer communicate with each other (Genesis 11.7). Consequently, they gathered by language group, then installed together in other parts of the world (Genesis 11.8-9). God has confused languages ​​at the Tour de Babel to force humanity to obey his command to spread throughout the world.

Some biblical exegetes think that God has also created the different human races at the Tour de Babel. It is possible, but the text does not say it. It seems more likely that races already existed before and that God confused languages ​​at least partly according to these. At the Tour de Babel, the men divided according to their language (and perhaps their race) and installed in various regions of the world.

Genesis 10.5, 20 and 31 describes how Noah’s descendants spread around the world and “distributed by territory according to their language, grouped by clan in their nations”. How is it possible when God only confused their languages ​​in the Tower of Babel, in Genesis 11 ? Genesis 10 is the genealogy of the three sons of Noah, Sem, Cham and Japheth, on several generations. In view of the long life expectancy of the time (see Genesis 11.10-25), genealogies in Genesis 10 certainly cover several hundred years. The story of the Tower of Babel, in Genesis 11.1-9, is a more detailed overview of the episode of the confusion of languages. Genesis 10 talks about different languages ​​and Genesis 11 tells how they appeared.

What happened to Babel’s tower ?

Babel tower and the origin of languages

The other day, at work, a colleague was dealing with a Spanish speaking person.

He himself not speaking this language, he came to see me once the person left and asked me: “But why we don’t all speak the same language ? It would still be simpler ! »»

A relevant remark, which immediately told me about the history of Babel Tower (which I no longer remembered the details).

A good reason to refresh my memory, and share my discoveries with you by the way !

The story of the tower of Babel

The Bible says that shortly after Flood, The people of Babylon had the idea of ​​building such a gigantic building that he would reach the heavens. It is important to note that, according to legend, These people were the only on earth and only spoke one language, language Adamous (So ​​named in honor of the first of men, Adam).

The ambition of the Babylonian people was to reach paradise thanks to this tower located at Shinar, in Mesopotamia. This is why he baptized her “Babel”, this word meaning “Heaven gate”.

It was not to the taste of God, who saw in this construction the opposite of the commandments he had bequeathed to men. Indeed, he had ordered them disperse on earth in order to occupy it in full. Genesis 1:28:

God blesses them and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and master the. Take charge of the sea fish, the birds of the sky, and everything that crawls on the ground. »»

However, by building a tower where he would all come together, the men had clearly violates the divine will.

In addition, by wishing to occupy the same space as the creator, they would present themselves as its equal. An act of intolerable pride, especially since pride is one of the 7 capital sins.

To put men back on the right path, God therefore descended on earth and said:

“Here they are all they are one people and have one language; If they have done this for their beginning, nothing now will be impossible for them to accomplish. Let’s go ! Let’s go down and there, shroud their language, so they no longer hear language from each other. »»

And Yahweh dispersed them, from there, on the surface of all the earth, and they stopped building the city. »»

For having violated the authority of their creator, the men were punished with their arrogance. Here, in essence, The origin of languages ​​according to biblical mythology.

Since then, the man has tried to recreate a unique language which would allow everyone to understand each other and thus be able to communicate: Esperanto. But if the language is still spoken at present, languages ​​are not yet ready to disappear for its benefit.

And fortunately, because they are also part of our cultural diversity !

And you, did you know the history of the tower of Babel and its link with the origin of the languages ?

Associated researches :

• https: // www out-the-box fr/la-tour-de-babel-et-Lorigine-des-langues/
• Babel Tower
• Babel’s tower
• Diversiyed from the tower of the tower of Babel
• What was the language that people were called before the fall of the Babel tower?