![]() The Tower had reached such a height that it took a whole year to hoist up necessary building-material to the top in consequence, materials became so valuable that they cried when a brick fell and broke, while they remained indifferent when a man fell and was killed. Six hundred thousand men ("Sefer ha-Yashar," 12 a) were engaged for forty-three years (Book of Jubilees x.) in building the Tower. (From the Sarajevo Haggadah.) Building of the Tower. xxiv., it was mainly Nimrod who persuaded his contemporaries to build the Tower, while other rabbinical sources assert, on the contrary, that Nimrod separated from the builders (compare Ginzberg, "Die Haggada bei den Kirchenvätern," pp. They were encouraged in this wild undertaking by the fact that arrows which they shot into the sky fell back dripping with blood, so that the people really believed that they could wage war against the inhabitants of the heavens ("Sefer ha-Yashar," Noaḥ, ed. 109 a, and the passage from the Sibylline Books iii. Some among that sinful generation even wanted to war against God in heaven (Sanh. The passage furthermore mentions that the builders spoke sharp words-against God, not cited in the Bible, saying that once every 1,656 years-according to Seder 'Olam, 1,656 years elapsed between the Creation and the Flood-heaven tottered so that the water poured down upon the earth, therefore they would support it by columns that there might not be another deluge (Gen. ![]() 1) speaks of the, "one speech," which is interpreted as signifying speech against "the One," against God, and against His one, only follower (compare Ezek. The building of the Tower was meant to bid defiance not only to God, but also to Abraham, who exhorted the builders to reverence: therefore the Bible (Gen. 9), and the later Midrash records that the builders of the Tower, called, "the generation of secession" in the Jewish sources, said: "He-God-has no right to choose the upper world for Himself, and to leave the lower world to us therefore we will build us a tower, with an idol on the top holding a sword, so that it may appear as if it intended to war with God" (Gen. It was regarded even in the Tannaite tradition as a rebellion against God (Mek., Mishpaṭim, 20, ed. The Midrashim give different accounts of the real cause for building the Tower of Babel, and of the intentions of its builders. Fearful that the accomplishment of this project might embolden them to still more independent movements, Yhwh said, "Let us go down, and there confound their language." Consequently they were scattered abroad upon the face of all the earth "and they left off to build the city." The name of it was therefore called "Babel," because there Yhwh confounded the one language of the earth. The self-confidence and unity of the people were everywhere prominent. Yhwh came down to investigate the purpose of all this unusual enterprise. ![]() Apparently this was done to prevent their scattering abroad and losing their tribal unity, to make a great center about which they might gather, and to obtain for themselves a name. Here they built a city and a tower of such materials as a great river-basin would afford and the genius of man could manufacture. This community or clan settled permanently in the land of Shinar, not far from the Euphrates river. 1-9 is briefly as follows: The whole human race spoke one and the same language, and formed one community. The story of the building of the city and the Tower of Babel as found in Gen.
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