Wednesday, December 7, 2016

The Tower of Babel

What if the story had played out differently?


11 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 
2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there 
3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. 
4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 
5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 
6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 
7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 
8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 
9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. 
Genesis 11:1-9
What if Yahweh had not been threatened by human striving?  What if He had let us build a tower to heaven?  What might He have taught us?  Read Ted Chiang's Story of Babylon in Stories of Your Life and Others and find out.  Clever and satisfying stuff.