We could discuss it further if you came up with some evidence that God did stuff at Babel because he was afraid, perhaps. If not, then we can call it a day, bearing in mind that it has got slightly off-topic.
Gosh, I thought the plain reading of the passage was dripping with god's anxiety over the whole affair. Add to that the other support I gave regarding the Eden incident and yhwh's generally crabby demeanor throughout the OT was pretty substantial evidence.
Let's look at the story more closely. The people were building a city and a tower. yhwh came along - that is, came down - and said, "what do we have here?" And from whence did he come down? Why, his abode in heaven, of course. And it is interesting he had to do that to see what was going on. One assumes an omniscient being would not need to 'come on down' to see what's what in the middle east.
So, he sees what's doing and says, "if they can do this, they can do anything. Let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." (Wait. Us? Yeah, us. Plural. Interesting.) And then
they (whomever
they are) confuse the language.
Why? Why would he not want them to achieve their plans? Why would he want to hinder them? And why would he not do similar things later, like at the dawn of the industrial revolution or the invention of the internal combustion engine or the integrated circuit or when man went to the moon? We are talking about one, shitty little bronze age tower. Unless heaven was less than about 500 feet high, they weren't going to succeed anyway. Their crappy bricks with tar as mortar would collapse under their own weight. So, why throw a wrench into the works?
I think the key is back in Eden. yhwh was afraid of people once they gained the godly ability of moral judment. "they will become like us," he exclaimed to the other gods. So, what? What is so horrible about that? As I pointed out already, that would only matter to yhwh if he did not want them to be equals and if he did not want to relenquish his power over them. So, knowing this, and that people would have the ability to do anything they planned, informs us that ywhw is indeed afraid of us. Plus, he didn't want them in heaven. That's his neighborhood.
And in any event, what's wrong with having pride in their achievement?
Of course, all that up there, is just literary analysis. Here's what I think of this stupid story in a historical context: given the cutsey pun on the word babel, it is a folktale to explain a big city and different languages in a way that puts their little, local god at the center of things. Because that is what most of the OT is. Adam is a cutsey pun. Eve is a cutsey pun. Jacob is a cutsey pun. Lots of crap in the OT are cutsey puns and the stories are the folktales of a primitive and backward people to explain things with their little local god at the center of it.
Have you ever read "Jesus and the Eyewitnesses" by Richard Bauckham.
I've not nor have I heard of it. Was it good? Should I read it?
I'll take it you mean Jesus Christ unless you specifically start discussing Jesus Barabbas or some Spanish football players.
heh.
http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Soccer-Action-Figure-Victory/dp/B000SB61EU
It seems to me that Genesis 11 is speaking about mankind getting too big for its boots.
How so?
If my kids got too big for their boots when they were smaller, I would try to stop them overdoing it, perhaps showing them that they aren't necessarily God's gift to the world (though I can't actually remember them doing that I'm glad to say).
What do you mean? Like, say, they built a big Lego thing and so you made the go into different rooms to make sure they could not build another big Lego thing until they grew up? That makes no sense.
I cannot see a good parent stifling his childrens' skill or talent or knowledge like that. Yet this is exactly what yhwh did. I don't get it when xians compare god to a father. If he's a father, someone should call child services.
