Lesson Fifteen: The Tower of Babel Narrative(Genesis, Chapter Eleven

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. This man and his family were the only exception to the general apostasy; God always reserves some, in the worst of times, for himself; there is a remnant, according to the election of grace; it was but a small one, and that now appeared; and this was owing to the grace of God, and His choice upon that, and not to the merits of the creature. This grace, which Noah found and shared in, was the favour and good will of God… (Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible, Genesis, Chapter 6) a. unceremonious/unchanging b. undemanding/wanting c. unpatriotic/unpredictable d. benevolent/kind e. none of the above 43. Which of the words best describe God in Genesis 6:5-7 (KJV) according to the lines below?

5

And Jehovah seeth that abundant [is] the wickedness of man in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart only evil all day.

6

and Jehovah repenteth that He hath made man in the earth, and He grieveth Himself -- unto His heart.

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And Jehovah saith, `I wipe away man whom I have prepared from off the face of the ground, from man unto beast, unto creeping thing, and unto fowl of the heavens, for I have repented that I have made them.' a. downhearted/disheartened b. unsympathetic/callous c. wroth/irascible d. loquacious/garrulous e. none of the above 44. Which of the words best describe Noah in Genesis 6:8-9 (KJV) according to the lines below?

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And Noah found grace in the eyes of Jehovah.

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These [are] births of Noah: Noah [is] a righteous man; perfect he hath been among his generations; with God hath Noah walked habitually. a. iniquitous/corrupt b. fallen/irreverent c. nefarious/ungodly d. principled/decent e. none of the above

Extended Learning Study Questions:

Video: Noah’s Ark Discovered Documentary! Evidence for Its Location, Genesis Flood! Proof Bible Is True! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f4uF4Va9gI)

Directions: Respond to the following questions based on the video presentation. 1. What is the difference between a historical narrative and a myth? 2. What is the meaning of geology? 3. Where is the Durupınar site found? 4. How does this site relate to the biblical account of the Great Flood? 5. Why is Mount Ararat significant to the Flood story? 6. What is known as “The Wall of Heaven”? 7. What happened in 1960 after an expedition group discovered a boat-shaped formation in the area? 8. What is the evidence of historical veneration for this site? 9. How did discoveries and research in the late seventies and eighties give credibility to the Flood narrative? 10. How did Ron Wyatt contribute to the authentication of the Flood story? 11. How do the discoveries and research of the Flood align with the Bible’s account of the deluge? 12. What are recent discoveries or research that support the biblical account of the Flood? 13. How has the Turkish government embraced the historic qualities of the biblical Flood story? 14. What is your overall response to the video? 15. How would you defend or refute the main points in the presentation?

For Reflection:

Write a reflection (essay) on the biblical character Noah in Genesis, Chapters 6-9 (three-five paragraphs). Use vocabulary terms from this lesson to elaborate on Noah’s dominant character traits. Give at least one example to support your reflection. Include an introduction, supporting details, and a conclusion to your essay. Follow writing guidelines at: Learn to Write a First Class Essay (https://www.researchprospect.com/essay-writing-guidelines/). Edit writing to correct errors in grammar, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, and clarity. Post the reflection on the discussion board. Label the post: A Reflection on the Biblical Character Noah (Genesis, Chapters 6-9).

A Closing Thought:

“The more this BIBLE enters into our national life, the grander and purer and better will that life become."

-David Josiah Brewer

Lesson Overview:

The Tower of Babel historical narrative in Genesis, Chapter 11 is an origin narrative meant to explain why people of the world speak different languages. This biblical account of the building of the Tower of Babel and God’s scattering of the people continues the overarching storyline about the relationship between God and humans. Students will examine the narrative from a literary and historical perspective.

Key Concepts:

overarching storyline, origin narrative, hubris, themes

Lesson Objectives:

Students will:  cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.  find a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text.  recognize and define literary terms common in writing.  find the meaning of words and phrases as used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings.  analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).  analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it.  analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums.  analyze multiple interpretations of a story.

Expected Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:  use online Bible study tools to access, read, interpret, and explain information.  summarize the main ideas in the biblical text (Genesis, Chapter 11).  recognize and define literary terms common in writing.  use information in biblical commentaries to support analysis, reflection, and research.  make inferences and draw conclusions based on explicit and implied information by using evidence from the text.

 state the writer’s intended purpose for writing the text.  synthesize information from various sources.  draw conclusions and make inferences from primary and secondary sources.  discuss the literary aspects of Creation narratives in Genesis, Chapters 6-9.  share information about assigned biblical passages logically and accurately.  edit writing for correct spelling, punctuation, grammar, sentence structure.

Duration: 3-4 hours

Materials:

 Podcast: “What’s So Bad About Babel” by the Bible Project (https://bibleproject.com/podcast/whats-so-bad-about-babel/)  Video: The Tower of Babel: Biblical Archaeology (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNc-hyIRrCs)  A computer with editing capability  Internet access  Notebook/paper/pen

Procedure:

 Read Genesis, Chapter 11. (Compare various translations.)  Add details to the chart below as you read the narrative.  Listen to the podcast: “What’s So Bad About Babel” by the Bible Project (https://bibleproject.com/podcast/whats-so-bad-about-babel/)  Respond to the study questions.  Edit your writing to correct errors.  Post the reflection on the discussion board.  Label the reflection: A Reflection on Babel (1)  Watch the video: The Tower of Babel: Biblical Archaeology (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNc-hyIRrCs .  Answer the study question(s).  Respond to the reflection question(s).  Post the reflection on the discussion board.  Label the reflection: A Reflection on the Tower of Babel (2).

Genesis, Chapter 11

Title of the Narrative Literary Themes Summary

"The Tower of Babel" (Gen. 11:1-9)  Strength in Unity  Origin of Different

Languages  The Sovereignty of

God  Vaunting

Ambition/Human

Pride  Crossing

Boundaries  Divine

Intervention This Pentateuch narrative begins with the whole earth having one language. As men migrate from the East, they find a plain in the land of Shinar and settle there. They say to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” They use brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they say, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” Then, God comes down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men have decided to build. So, God scatters them abroad from over the face of all the earth, and they cease from building the city. The name of the place became known as Babel because God confused the language of all the earth. (Genesis 11:1-9). This story explains the origin of different languages. Study Questions

True (A) or False (B)? 1. According to Genesis 10:910, Shinar is one of the Babylonian cities founded by King

Nimrod. 2. Historians believe that the location of the Tower of

Babel was in ancient

Mesopotamia on the eastern bank of the

Euphrates River. 3. The Tower was a type of stepped pyramid called a ziggurat that was common throughout ancient

Babylonia. 4. The Tower of Babel (2242

BC) was a post-Flood rebellion against God by

Noah’s descendants. 5. From their own egotism, pride, and rebellion, the people in the story plan to build a great tower. 6. The tower is offensive to

God because it is a monument to the people themselves for their own achievements rather than to honor God. 7. When God sees the intentions of people and the purpose of their efforts, His judgment against humankind comes forth. 8. At the center of the story is humanity’s transition from speaking one language and living in one place to speaking different

Study Questions

(Podcast: “What’s So Bad About Babel” by the Bible Project)

languages and living across the world. 9. In the narrative, the words of God suggest that people pose a threat to the order in the divine realm. 10. A recurring literary theme in the narrative centers on

God requiring humans to respect boundaries.

Directions: Write down whether the following statements are (A) CORRECT or (B) INCORRECT. 1. In the Tower of Babel narrative, humans unify in their efforts to build a tower. 2. In this story, humans stay scattered and unproductive. 3. The Babel idea to exercise human autonomy without God’s consent is a duplicate of the Eden narrative in Genesis, Chapter 3. 4. Based on the Tower of Babel story, humans can become dangerous when using a single unifying principle. 5. The story depicts humans as becoming unimaginative and nonproductive in their rebellion against God’s boundaries. 6. The Babel narrative shows that when humanity seeks unity apart from God, the result is usually wickedness. 7. In this narrative, since humans are created in the image of God, they adhere to what is good instead of evil. 8. Based on the story, when humans create their own definition of good and evil, they become a source of conflicts in their relations with God and with one another. 9. The narrative supports the premise that all humans bear the image of God, even when they speak in different languages. 10. According to the narrators of this podcast, Nimrod, the son of Cush is the father of the city of Babel. 11. Shinar is another name for Babylonia. 12. The Babel narrative accounts for separate languages that originated in Babylon. 13. The narrative relates a misguided attempt at human unity that fails without God’s permission. 14. Babylon stands for humanity’s attempt to deify its own cultural heritage and homogenize humanity. 15. To deify something is to make a god of it. 16. The people’s attempt to deify their own culture in the “Tower of Babel” story means that they worshipped their knowledge, beliefs, and constructions. 17. A homogenized group is uniform in structure and purpose.

18. The phrase "Tower of Babel" appears in the Genesis 11 narrative in biblical text. 19. The city Babel received its name from the Hebrew verb that means “to jumble” or “to confuse.” 20. The event involves the building of a city with a tower made of baked brick. 21. The narrative of the Tower of Babel is an etiology or explanation of why the world's people speak different languages. 22. Etiologies are narratives that explain the origin of a custom, ritual, geographical feature, name, or other phenomenon. 23. The story of the Tower of Babel explains the origins of the multiplicity of cultures. 24. One of the dominant themes in the story is about the tension between God and humanity when humans decide for themselves what is good and bad. 25. The theme about man’s independence of God appears in the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. 26. The Tower of Babel narrative centers on the consequences of mankind’s excessive pride. 27. In this narrative, humans make poor judgment when given autonomy. 28. The Tower of Babel story shows how overconfidence can drive people to overstep limits in a way that leads. to their downfall. 29. Various Bible scholars believe the tower of Babel episode marks the point in history when God divided the earth into separate continents. 30. The Tower of Babel is a metaphor for any project that aggrandizes its builders while doing so also suggests an inevitable fall.

Extended Learning Study Questions

(The Tower of Babel: Biblical Archaeology) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNc-hyIRrCs) 1. A ziggurat is a massive structure built in ancient Mesopotamia. 2. A ziggurat has a terraced compound of successively receding stories or levels. 3. The Sumerians believed that the gods lived in the temple at the top of the ziggurats. 4. Only priests and other highly revered individuals could enter the ziggurats. 5. Bible scholars believe that the Tower of Babel was a ziggurat. 6. In ancient Mesopotamia, fired brick technology existed around the end of the fifth millennium BC. 7. The Canaanites used fired bricks to structure their buildings. 8. The ancient Hebrew Scriptures were correct in relaying how the Mesopotamians built large structures. 9. The eleventh chapter of Genesis records the tower as having its tops “in the heavens.” 10. The writings of ancient Mesopotamia describe a temple with its “head in the heavens.”

For Reflection:

The 1st-century Jewish writer Flavius Josephus explained the construction of the Tower of Babel as a hubristic act against God that was ordered by the arrogant tyrant Nimrod. In