This series “The Tower of Babel” is part of the Section “God and Man Learning to Work Together – The Journey Begins” and consists of fourteen posts. The series proposes new explanations for why God destroyed the Tower of Babel.

Review of the previous post

The previous post, Number 8 of 14, was the fifth of seven posts presenting some possible explanations for the God’s destruction of the Tower of Babel.

Preview of this post

This post, Number 9 of 14, is the sixth of seven posts presenting some possible explanations for the God’s destruction of the Tower of Babel.

III. Explanations for the story

1. Destruction of the Tower and the scattering of the people is God’s punishment for the pride and rebelliousness of humans.

As suggested by Bill T. Arnold in “Genesis,” (published by Cambridge University Press in 2009, pages 113-121, “The canonical location of 11:1-9 highlights the severity of the crime because it included an attempt to avoid scattering across the face of the whole earth in deliberate rebellion of the commands of Gen 1:28 and 9:1, to be fruitful and multiply, and to fill the earth.” with the “crime” being “the rebellious human behavior”.

In the same vein, the story of the Tower of Babel can be included with the story of the flood. In both instances, the human race, as a whole, rebelled against God and His rule, one by the mingling of godlike creatures and humans and the other with a planned attack on heaven. God punished both groups of humans. After the story of the Tower of Babel, God ceased trying to guide all of humanity, but selected one group, Jews, to guide and instruct that one group to teach the rest of humanity. The story of the Tower of Babel thus represented a turning point in the relations of God and man: from one of an overall relationship to one of a selected relationship with a group who would teach others.

Preview of the next post

The next post, Number 10 of 14, is the seventh of seven posts presenting some possible explanations for the God’s destruction of the Tower of Babel.