The Ziggurat of Babel: Why YHWH Descends but Does Not Stay

There is little doubt that the Tower of Babel, described as having רֹאשׁוֹ בַשָּׁמַיִם, “its top in the heavens,” is a ziggurat.^[1]

^{בראשית יא:ד} וַיֹּאמְרוּ הָבָה נִבְנֶה לָּנוּ עִיר וּמִגְדָּל וְרֹאשׁוֹ בַשָּׁמַיִם וְנַעֲשֶׂה לָּנוּ שֵׁם פֶּן נָפוּץ עַל פְּנֵי כׇל הָאָרֶץ.

^{Gen 11:4} And they said, “Come, let us build us a city, and a tower with its top [lit. “head”] in the sky, to make a name for ourselves; else we shall be scattered all over the world.”^[2]

The Babylonian king Hammurabi (ca. 1792–1750 B.C.E.) uses similar terms to describe rebuilding a temple complex at Kish during the 36^th year of his reign:^[3]

Year in which Hammurabi the king restored (the temple) Emeteursag and built the ziggurat, the magnificent dwelling place of Zababa and Inanna, whose top [lit. “head”] is as high as heaven....^[4]

More than a millennium later, Assyrian king Esarhaddon (680–669 B.C.E.) reports of the temple for the god Assur, which included a nearby ziggurat:

^{Prism V:29–36} I raised the top of Esharra, the residence of the god Assur, my lord, to the sky. Above, I made it tower to the heavens, (and) below, I secured its foundations in the netherworld.^[5]

The specific mention of the tower within the city in the Babel story is also consistent with ziggurats being the dominant feature of Mesopotamian cities. Finally, while stone and mortar construction was preferred in the Levant, the builders at Babel plan to make bricks for the construction:^[6]

^{בראשית יא:ג} וַיֹּאמְרוּ אִישׁ אֶל רֵעֵהוּ הָבָה נִלְבְּנָה לְבֵנִים וְנִשְׂרְפָה לִשְׂרֵפָה וַתְּהִי לָהֶם הַלְּבֵנָה לְאָבֶן וְהַחֵמָר הָיָה לָהֶם לַחֹמֶר.

^{Gen 11:3} They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them hard.”—Brick served them as stone, and bitumen served them as mortar.

This is consistent with ziggurat architecture, which featured a brick structure filled with rubble; unlike a pyramid, there were no inside chambers.

The Purpose of Babel’s Tower

Though the true center of the temple complex was the temple, ziggurats served an important function in the sacred space: like an executive elevator, the stairways of the ziggurat provided a convenient way for the deity to descend to the temple to be worshiped.^[7] This purpose is evidenced in the Mesopotamian myth “Nergal and Erishkigal” where the messenger of the gods descends from heaven down to the netherworld by means of a stairway (Akk. simmiltu).

The name of the ziggurat at Sippar, “Sacred Place of the Pure Stairway (simmiltu) to Heaven,” also reflects this function.^[8] The Hebrew cognate for simmiltu,סֻלָּם (sullam),^[9] is also used for the ladder/stairway that Jacob sees in his dream at Bethel, where messengers from God use it to travel to and from heaven:

^{בראשית כח:יב} וַיַּחֲלֹם וְהִנֵּה סֻלָּם מֻצָּב אַרְצָה וְרֹאשׁוֹ מַגִּיעַ הַשָּׁמָיְמָה וְהִנֵּה מַלְאֲכֵי אֱלֹהִים עֹלִים וְיֹרְדִים בּוֹ.

^{Gen 28:12} He had a dream; a stairway was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky, and messengers of God were going up and down on it.

The symbol of the ziggurat thus spoke clearly to the biblical authors, who were familiar with its function. Though the Babel narrative does not describe its ziggurat as a sullam, the tower does reflect the understanding of a ziggurat’s purpose, as YHWH descends after the tower had been built:

^{בראשית יא:ה} וַיֵּרֶד יְ־הֹוָה לִרְאֹת אֶת הָעִיר וְאֶת הַמִּגְדָּל אֲשֶׁר בָּנוּ בְּנֵי הָאָדָם.

^{Gen 11:5} YHWH came down to look at the city and tower that man had built.

Babel’s tower is a stairway from heaven, inviting YHWH to descend to the temple that presumably would have been built within the city. YHWH, however, rejects the builders’ plans:

^{בראשית יא:ו} וַיֹּאמֶר יְ־הֹוָה הֵן עַם אֶחָד וְשָׂפָה אַחַת לְכֻלָּם וְזֶה הַחִלָּם לַעֲשׂוֹת וְעַתָּה לֹא יִבָּצֵר מֵהֶם כֹּל אֲשֶׁר יָזְמוּ לַעֲשׂוֹת. ^יא:ז הָבָה נֵרְדָה וְנָבְלָה שָׁם שְׂפָתָם אֲשֶׁר לֹא יִשְׁמְעוּ אִישׁ שְׂפַת רֵעֵהוּ.

^{Gen 11:6} And YHWH said, “If, as one people with one language for all, this is how they have begun to act, then nothing that they may propose to do will be out of their reach. ^11:7 Let us, then, go down and confound their speech there, so that they shall not understand one another’s speech.”

YHWH’s complaint about how humans הַחִלָּם לַעֲשׂוֹת, “have begun to act,” is vague, leaving the nature of YHWH’s objection unspecified.

What Did the Builders Do Wrong?

In announcing plans to build the city and tower, the builders offer two, interrelated, reasons for the construction:

1. וְנַעֲשֶׂה לָּנוּ שֵׁם, “So that we can make a name for ourselves”;
2. פֶּן נָפוּץ עַל פְּנֵי כׇל הָאָרֶץ, “Else we shall be scattered all over the world” (Gen 11:4).^[10]

Not Scattering

Starting with the latter, one popular interpretation identifies the attempt to avoid being scattered as the offense of the builders; they are disobeying the mandate given to humans at creation: מִלְאוּ אֶת הָאָרֶץ, “fill the earth” (Gen 1:28).^[11] Filling the earth, however, is accomplished by reproduction, not by geographical dispersion, as the full command is פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ וּמִלְאוּ אֶת הָאָרֶץ וְכִבְשֻׁהָ, “be fertile and increase and fill the earth and master it.”^[12]

In addition, desiring not to scatter is a natural impulse, since it would have brought discontinuity to the community by disrupting relationships and traditions being passed on. Abram and Lot, for example, do not want to separate but circumstances demand it (Gen 13:1–18).^[13] The plan to build a city would thus represent an attempt to ensure stability and order in the builders’ lives.

Making a Name

Another common interpretation is that the builders’ desire to “make a name” for themselves demonstrates hubris.^[14] In the ancient world, however, making a name was natural—associated with the idea that one might find benefit in the afterlife by one’s name being remembered—and was accomplished not only via conquests or great building projects, but also simply by having children.^[15]

The question is why making a name would be offensive to YHWH. The key to understanding this is noting that the people say that they want to make לָּנוּ שֵׁם, “a name for themselves.”

A Name for Themselves

This desire contrasts with the expected goal of building such a structure: making a name for the deity. In this case, if they are constructing a sacred space (as a ziggurat would suggest), then its objective should be making a name for YHWH.

The ideal that construction of sacred space ought to make a name for deity is reflected in ancient Near Eastern literature—for example, in the names of ziggurats or temples:

• “House of Fame,” at Nippur
• “House of the Exalted Name,” at Kish
• “House Chosen by Name,” at Hilpu[16]

It also appears in the Bible, as when Solomon declares his intention to build a temple for YHWH’s name:^[17]

^{מלכים ה:יט} וְהִנְנִי אֹמֵר לִבְנוֹת בַּיִת לְשֵׁם יְ־הֹוָה אֱלֹהָי כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר יְ־הֹוָה אֶל דָּוִד אָבִי לֵאמֹר בִּנְךָ אֲשֶׁר אֶתֵּן תַּחְתֶּיךָ עַל כִּסְאֶךָ הוּא יִבְנֶה הַבַּיִת לִשְׁמִי.

^{1 Kgs 5:19} “And so I propose to build a house for the name of YHWH my God, as YHWH promised my father David, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for My name.’”

The decision to build a ziggurat also suggests a second error by the builders. In the Mesopotamian world view, the gods had created humanity to meet their needs. This was the purpose of the rituals that humans performed for the gods. For example, in the Babylonian myth, Enuma Elish, the god Marduk declares:

^{Enuma Elish VI.7–8} “I shall create human beings,
They shall bear the gods’ toil and they [the gods] shall rest.”^[18]

In turn, the gods met the needs of humanity by providing for them and protecting them.

The ziggurat was an integral part of this system: It provided the stairway by which a deity would descend from heaven to inhabit an image that had been prepared to contain the deity’s essence. It was through that image that the deity would be cared for.^[19]

By constructing a ziggurat, the builders of the Babel account are seeking to initiate such a symbiotic relationship with YHWH, in which providing for the care and feeding of YHWH would mean that humans could expect to receive provision and protection from Him in recompense. The Babel narrative does not articulate this system, but it does not need to. The symbol of the ziggurat spoke clearly to Israelites familiar with its function.^[20]

This divine-human symbiosis,^[21] however, stands in contrast to a later biblical ideal, in which YHWH does not require humans to provide for His physical needs.^[22] Indeed, the psalmist specifically rejects this idea, as YHWH declares that sacrifices are not for His consumption:

‏^{תהלים נ:יב} אִם אֶרְעַב לֹא אֹמַר לָךְ כִּי לִי תֵבֵל וּמְלֹאָהּ. ^נ:יג הַאוֹכַל בְּשַׂר אַבִּירִים וְדַם עַתּוּדִים אֶשְׁתֶּה.

^{Ps 50:12} Were I hungry, I would not tell you, for Mine is the world and all it holds. ^50:13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of he-goats?

Thus, the builders’ offense in the story is two-fold: Not only would they diminish YHWH’s standing by inviting Him into a symbiotic relationship with humans, but their motivations are also flawed, because they are constructing the sacred space primarily to benefit themselves.^[23]

Between Eden and Babel

More broadly, by making a plan to re-establish YHWH’s presence in a sacred space designed by and focused on themselves, the tower builders repeat the error of the humans in the Garden of Eden, who sought wisdom for themselves, against YHWH’s warning.^[24]

At creation, YHWH places humans in the Garden of Eden and assigns them to tend it for Him:

^{בראשית ב:טו} וַיִּקַּח יְ־הֹוָה אֱלֹהִים אֶת הָאָדָם וַיַּנִּחֵהוּ בְגַן עֵדֶן לְעׇבְדָהּ וּלְשׇׁמְרָהּ.

^{Gen 2:15} YHWH God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden, to till it and tend it.

The Garden, by virtue of YHWH’s presence, is a sacred space in which YHWH and humans dwell together.

YHWH’s warning not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and bad (v. 17) prohibits the humans from seeking to possess wisdom for themselves, an act that would effectively make humans the center of wisdom and order, since they would become כֵּאלֹהִים יֹדְעֵי טוֹב וָרָע, “like gods, who know good and bad” (3:5).

Prompted by the serpent, however, the humans do eat from the tree (3:4–6), and as a consequence, YHWH casts them out of the garden and out of His presence (vv. 22–24).

YHWH’s Persistent Absence

In the chapters that follow, humans employ various strategies to bring order for themselves,^[25] but YHWH’s absence remains a persistent problem. Attempts to re-establish the divine presence among humans—Cain and Abel offer sacrificial gifts to YHWH (4:3–4), and the people begin to call on the name of YHWH (4:26)—fail, and the era of the Nephilim (which stretches from Adam to Noah), when the Sons of God cohabited with the daughters of men (6:4), provides only a lesser substitute for YHWH’s presence.^[26]

The great flood (chs. 6–9) represents a reversal of creation and a recreation of order, but YHWH does not reestablish His presence among humans in the aftermath. After the flood, humans make their boldest effort yet to re-initiate sacred space and regain the privilege lost at Eden.^[27]

In Babel narrative, YHWH descends to earth as the builders intended, but He is not pleased at their initiative to construct a sacred space and institute the divine-human symbiosis that the sacred space would facilitate. His decision to confuse the humans’ tongues (v. 7) is not itself a punishment; it is a means to stop the city building:^[28]

^{בראשית יא:ח} וַיָּפֶץ יְ־הֹוָה אֹתָם מִשָּׁם עַל פְּנֵי כׇל הָאָרֶץ וַיַּחְדְּלוּ לִבְנֹת הָעִיר.

^{Gen 11:8} Thus YHWH scattered them from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.

The scattering of humanity sets the stage for a programmatic counter-initiative by YHWH to establish His presence on Earth on His own terms.^[29] Following the events at Babel, YHWH chooses Abram as the first step in making the nation of Israel His people:^[30]

^{בראשית יב:א} וַיֹּאמֶר יְ־הֹוָה אֶל אַבְרָם לֶךְ לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ וּמִבֵּית אָבִיךָ אֶל הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ. ^יב:ב וְאֶעֶשְׂךָ לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל וַאֲבָרֶכְךָ וַאֲגַדְּלָה שְׁמֶךָ וֶהְיֵה בְּרָכָה.

^{Gen 12:1} YHWH said to Abram, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ^12:2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.

In the subsequent narratives, YHWH establishes a covenantal relationship with the Israelites, revealing himself to the ancestors (e.g., Gen 15, 17, 28) and at Sinai (Exod 19–24). He then commands the construction of a sacred space, the Tabernacle, on the corrected premise of a ritual system that does not presume a needy deity (chs. 25–31).^[31]

In this way the Tower of Babel offers a bridge to the stories of the ancestors: the failed human initiative to reestablish YHWH’s presence on Earth is followed by YHWH’s initiative that will lead to humans’ relationship in His presence and sacred space.^[32] The builders believed that they could bring order for themselves by having a god be beholden to them, thus making a name for themselves. YHWH’s plan brought relationship by means of the covenant and order by means of the torah.

Between Babel and Bethel

The Babel narrative stands in contrast with Jacob’s dream at Bethel, where, as part of the process of establishing the covenant, YHWH initiates the coming down via a stairway (Gen 28:12, cited above) and the recognition of sacred space at בֵּית אֵל (Bethel), “the abode of God”!

^{בראשית כח:טז} וַיִּיקַץ יַעֲקֹב מִשְּׁנָתוֹ וַיֹּאמֶר אָכֵן יֵשׁ יְ־הֹוָה בַּמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה וְאָנֹכִי לֹא יָדָעְתִּי. ^כח:יז וַיִּירָא וַיֹּאמַר מַה נּוֹרָא הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה אֵין זֶה כִּי אִם בֵּית אֱלֹהִים וְזֶה שַׁעַר הַשָּׁמָיִם.

^{Gen 28:16} Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely YHWH is present in this place, and I did not know it!” ^28:17 Shaken, he said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the abode of God, and that is the gateway to heaven.”

Significantly, it is YHWH who comes down, rather than the people attempting to go up. Jacob here sets up a pillar, anoints it with oil, and names the site Bethel (vv. 18–19).

YHWH is moving toward the establishment of His presence, beginning here with connection to the covenant with the patriarchs. The process will be completed when He descends to inhabit the Tabernacle at Sinai (Exod 40:34–35). The covenant thus has its focus in the re-establishment of access to YHWH’s presence on earth. He will dwell in the midst of His covenant people Israel; that is what they have been chosen for.