The Tower of Babel

The story of the Tower of Babel is one of the best-known Old Testament accounts. It is found inthe Book of Genesis and follows theFlood episode .

Under the leadership of Nimrod (a descendant of Noah), men decided to build a tower so high that it would enable them to reach Heaven and escape another flood. God, to punish man's vanity and self-importance, blurs their previously unique language.

This myth, often associated with the building of the Tower of Babylon in Mesopotamia under Nebuchadnezzar II, once again recounts man's pride and temptation to equal God. The name Babel ("Gate of Heaven" in Akkadian, "to confuse, to mumble" in Hebrew) remains synonymous with the confusion of languages, the inability to get along.

The biblical story of the Tower of Babel: Genesis 11:1-9

"All the earth then had the same language and the same words.

As the men moved eastward, they found a plain in Mesopotamia and settled there.

They said to each other: "Come on, let's make bricks and bake them! "The bricks served as stones, and the bitumen as mortar.

They said: "Let's build ourselves a city, with a tower whose top is in the heavens. Let's make a name for ourselves, so we won't be scattered all over the face of the earth. "

The Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men had built.

And the Lord said: "They are one people, they all have the same language: if they start like this, nothing will stop them from doing whatever they decide.

Come on, let's go down and confuse their language so that they don't understand each other. "

From there, the Lord scattered them all over the face of the earth. So they stopped building the city.

That's why it was called Babel, for there the Lord confused the tongues of the inhabitants of all the earth; and from there he scattered them over the whole face of the earth."

(translation: aelf.org)

Pride and excess

This tower was not intended to go to God, but to equal him; not to get closer to him, but to be able to do without him.
"Let's make a name for ourselves. Men wanted to exist on their own. To rise socially, rather than spiritually.

God blurred tongues; diversity imposed a necessary humility and thus preserved us from totalitarianism.
God didn't allow the Tower of Babel to be built, and yet, today, God is inviting mankind to unite and reach for Heaven. But this time, not through a building of stone, but through the living body of his Son.
Through Christ, we can hear each other again, and emerge from confusion. We are united again, but this time under the name of Jesus .

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With Hozana, pray and walk with texts from the Bible

To get closer to God, it's essential to listen to his Word. This Living Word is the glue that binds us together. On Hozana, you'll find numerous suggestions for discovering, meditating and praying from the Bible. Among other things, you can choose to :
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