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It is written:
Genesis 11:1-9-Now the whole earth had one language and 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 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” 5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the LORD said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
Many have heard of the phrase, “The Tower Of Babel.” It is often o considered a myth, where God scattered humanity and confounded their language because they were building a ziggurat type structure to Heaven, and He was afraid they would accomplish this and so intervened.
This is not an accurate portrayal of what the Bible teaches.
There are many truths about the Tower of Babel which are largely either unknown or rejected.
To explore and uncover some of these truths, we must journey back to the events before the Tower Of Babel.
The Bible teaches in Genesis 6:1-4 that there were several fallen angels (sons of God) who rebelled against God by having children with humans (the nephilim).
Genesis 6:1-4-Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. 3 And the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
We are told more detail about these fallen angels in some extra-biblical non-canonical books, known as First Enoch, Jasher, and Jubilees.
What are the facts behind these books?
The Bible references First Enoch over one hundred times: and even though this book is not inspired Scripture, the Bible encourages people to study from it. One researcher has noted:
“Though claims have been made for the canonicity of 1 Enoch by some early Church Fathers, it was not considered to be Scripture by any of the ancient traditions. The traditional thirty-nine books that we now call the Old Testament, was referred to in the New Testament and other Second Temple literature as “the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms” (Luke 24: 44).[ 22] There is no manuscript or historical evidence that 1 Enoch was ever a part of this traditional threefold designation. The earliest manuscripts we have of Old Testament canonical writings are from 400-300 B.C. from the library of Qumran.[ 23] But as Bauckham points out, the Enoch literature and other apocryphal works at Qumran were evidently valued as literary works by the Essene community but were not included in their canon of Scripture.[ 24] The Septuagint (LXX) was considered the authoritative Greek translation from around 200-100 B.C. and was quoted or alluded to by Jesus and the apostles.[ 25] The LXX did include additional apocryphal books along with the traditional threefold division, but 1 Enoch was not one of them.[ 26] The Hebrew Masoretic texts (MT), compiled between A.D. 500 and 900 by Jewish scribes, is considered by both Christians and Jews to be one of the most authoritative set of manuscripts reflecting the ancient Jewish canon.[ 27] 1 Enoch was never a part of this set. The only manuscript collection that does include 1 Enoch as canonical is the Ethiopic canon of the Coptic Church. But this designation was solidified sometime in the 13th century A.D. in response to Western pressure and under Muslim influence.[ 28]”. (Brian Godarwa, The Book of Enoch: Scripture, Heresy or What? (Chronicles of the Nephilim), 11 (Kindle Edition))
Regarding Jasher, the Bible refers to this book also on numerous occasions.
For example:
Joshua 10:13-So the sun stood still, And the moon stopped, Till the people had revenge Upon their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.
The book of Jasher does record this event:
Jasher 88:63-64-“…and Joshua said in the sight of all the people, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of Ajalon, until the nation shall have revenged itself upon its enemies… And the sun stood still in the midst of the heavens, and it stood still six and thirty moments, and the moon also stood still and hastened not to go down a whole day. And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened to the voice of man, for the Lord fought for Israel.”
Again, we are told in 2 Samuel:
2 Samuel 1:18-and he told them to teach the children of Judah the Song of the Bow; indeed it is written in the Book of Jasher:
Jasher records:
Jasher 56:9-“…only teach thy sons the use of the bow and all weapons of war, in order that they may fight the battles of their brother who will rule over his enemies.”
In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul prophesies that during the Christian Age, many people will grow worse and worse. In this context, he writes:
2 Timothy 3:8-Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith;
We will search the Old Testament in vain trying to find Jannes and Jambres. However, the book of Jasher educates us as to the identity of these two individuals:
Jasher 79:27, 36-“And when they had gone Pharaoh sent for Balaam the magician and to Jannes and Jambres his sons, and to all the magicians and conjurors and counsellors which belonged to the king, and they all came and sat before the king… And Aaron hastened and threw the rod out of his hand before Pharaoh and before his servants, and the rod turned into a serpent.”
Jubilees is another non-inspired book referenced in the New Testament. It is especially alluded to in the Book of Revelation.
One scholarly work has noted:
“The book of Jubilees is a second-century BC retelling of Genesis and the first half of Exodus. The 50-chapter work seeks to clarify the meaning of these earliest parts of the Bible, particularly the significance of the Mosaic legislation for the Hebrew patriarchs, that is, prior to its receipt at Sinai. For according to Jubilees, “This law is for all the generations forever” (15: 25). Although Hebrew manuscripts of Jubilees were discovered in Qumran, the book has survived primarily in Ethiopic. Jubilees does not include any visions, heavenly journeys, or large-scale rehearsals of sacred history, so it is not an apocalypse by genre—rather, it is rewritten Scripture. However, the book contains many themes shared by the apocalypses (esp. 1 Enoch), so it is widely considered apocalyptic in its theological orientation. 1 For our purposes, we will focus on two apocalyptic subjects that occur prominently in Jubilees—the activity of heavenly beings and the function of heavenly books. Heavenly Beings. Angels appear early and often in Jubilees, even in the book’s retelling of the creation narrative. 2 The account commences with the creation of the heavens, the earth, and the waters, but is followed immediately by the creation of the heavenly host, including no less than nineteen different classes of angels (2: 2). 3 Preeminent among them are “the angels of the presence.” These are high-ranking spirits who primarily serve before God “in his sanctuary” (31: 14) and who together with “the angels of sanctification” form the “two great [angelic] classes” (2: 18). In Jubilees, however, angels are not restricted to heaven, for they also carry out errands on earth. For example, the angels known as the Watchers, who eventually receive divine punishment for disobedience (5: 1–5), were originally sent to earth to “instruct the children of men, and . . . [to] do judgment and uprightness on the earth” (4: 15). Other angelic groups are also highlighted for their involvement with various people groups. One especially instructive section reads: 27 Before the angels of the presence and the angels of sanctification he has sanctified Israel, that they should be with him and with his holy angels. . . . 31 And he sanctified [Israel], and gathered [them] from amongst all the children of men; for there are many nations and many peoples, and all are his, and over all has he placed spirits in authority to lead them astray from him. 32 But over Israel he did not appoint any angel or spirit, for he alone is their ruler, and he will preserve them and require them at the hand of his angels and his spirits, and at the hand of all his powers in order that he may preserve them and bless them, and that they may be his and he may be theirs from henceforth forever. (15: 27–32) According to this extraordinary passage, various celestial beings have been assigned specific responsibilities in relation to particular people (cf. Deut 32: 8 LXX; Dan 10: 13–21; 12: 1). On the one hand, demonic beings (“ spirits in authority”)—“ those which were put under [the] hand” of prince Mastema, “the chief of the spirits” (10: 7; 11: 5)—rule over the nations “to lead them astray” (15: 31). Good angels, on the other hand, provide a protective service for God’s people (15: 32), though none of these beings, strictly speaking, rules over Israel, because God himself rules the nation. Heavenly Books. One other service provided by angels in Jubilees is worth noting—the mediation of heavenly books. Although the concept of heavenly books originates early in Israel’s sacred writings (Exod 32: 32–33), the notion becomes a recurring apocalyptic motif during the Second Temple period. Several kinds of heavenly tablets receive mention in Jubilees, including the book of life (30: 19–23), the book of destruction (36: 10), and the book of deeds (4: 17–23; 39: 6). These books serve various purposes in Jubilees and related literature. Yet regardless of what kind of heavenly document an author has in view, “the heavenly book motif,” as Leslie Baynes explains, “always functions to grant divine authority to whatever claim is asserted by the text that appeals to it.” 4 At least one additional kind of heavenly book surfaces in Jubilees, what Baynes labels “the book of fate.” 5 This is a record of historic events, from creation to new creation, presented in advance to a special recipient. The book of Jubilees itself purports to be a copy of this very document, which was given to an angelic mediator who then dictated it to Moses on Mount Sinai: 27 And [God] said to the angel of the presence: “Write for Moses [the history] from the beginning of creation till my sanctuary has been built among them for all eternity.” . . . 29 And the angel of the presence who went before the camp of Israel took the tables of the divisions of the years—from the time of the creation . . . [until] 6 the day of the [new] creation when the heavens and the earth shall be renewed and all their creation according to the powers of the heaven. . . . 2: 1 And the angel of the presence spoke to Moses according to the word of the Lord, saying: “Write the complete history of the creation . . .” (1: 27–2: 1) According to Jubilees, Moses is presented through angelic mediation a record of human history. This he transcribes and must impart to stiff-necked Israel (1: 7), so that despite their rebellion and eventual exile the nation “will recognize that [God is] more righteous than they” and “that [he will be] truly with them” (1: 6). The implications of such a claim are astonishing. This suggests not only that God is unswervingly faithful to his covenant promises, but that the book of Jubilees itself reliably and authoritatively attests to God’s predetermined cosmic plan. As James VanderKam explains, “What could be more authoritative than a book written by Moses, dictated to him by an angel of the very face of God, based on the unimpeachable contents of the heavenly tablets, and mandated by God himself?” 7 This revelation, promising as it does both joy and anguish for Israel, has been entrusted to a single human being, Moses, who thereby possesses not only the heavenly tablets of fate but also the supreme authority they convey. The reader’s mandate is clear: take heed of the authoritative word of Moses. Revelation 10: 1–11 “I TOOK THE LITTLE SCROLL FROM THE ANGEL’S HAND AND ATE IT” Heavenly Beings. Jubilees and Revelation employ many of the same apocalyptic themes, not least the angelic activity and heavenly writing. Indeed, angels are as equally pervasive in Revelation as they are in Jubilees. Just as Jubilees locates angels in God’s heavenly presence, so John refers to the heavenly angelic host who, “numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand,” surround the throne in order to praise the Lamb and worship God (Rev 5: 11–12; 7: 11–12; cf. 8: 2–3). And just as Jubilees reports angels rebelling against God and deceiving the nations, so Revelation narrates the exile of angels from heaven and their leading people into evil (9: 11; 12: 7–9; 16: 13–14; 18: 2). Finally, just as Jubilees describes angels protecting Israel, so Revelation casts angels superintending churches (1: 20; chs. 2–3). Beyond these parallels, God’s angels in Revelation fulfill additional acts of divine service. John sees angels communicating with and guiding him (1: 1; 19: 9; 21: 9; 22: 1, 6–11, 16), proclaiming important messages (5: 2; 14: 6–9; 18: 1–3; 19: 17), executing divine judgment (7: 1–2; 9: 14–15; 14: 15–19; 15: 1; 15: 6–16: 12; 16: 17; 17: 1–18; 18: 21), even directly combating Satan and his demons (12: 7–9; 20: 1–3).” (Ben C. Blackwell, John K. Goodrich, and Jason Maston , Reading Revelation in Context: John’s Apocalypse and Second Temple Judaism 95-98 (Kindle Edition); Grand Rapids, MI; Zondervan Academic)
While many in our age object to using non-inspired books and works to better understand God’s Word, it is worth noting that the Word of God itself utilities such and sets this example for us!
According to First Enoch, there were two hundred fallen angels who entered into this contract against God as recorded in Genesis 6:1-4.
“When the sons of men[ 17] had multiplied, in those days, beautiful and comely daughters were born to them. 2/ And the watchers, the sons of heaven, saw them and desired them.[ 18] And they said to one another, “Come, let us choose for ourselves wives from the daughters of men,[ 19] and let us beget children for ourselves.” 3 And Shemihazah, their chief, said to them, “I fear that you will not want to do this deed, and I alone shall be guilty of a great sin.” 4 And they all answered him and said, “Let us all swear an oath, and let us all bind one another with a curse, that none of us turn back from this counsel until we fulfill it and do this deed.” 5 Then they all swore together and bound one another with a curse. 6/ And they were, all of them, two hundred, who descended in the days of Jared onto the peak of Mount Hermon. And they called the mountain “Hermon” because they swore and bound one another with a curse on it.” (George W.E. Nickelsburg, James C. VanderKam, 1 Enoch: The Hermeneia Translation, 23-24 (Kindle Edition); Minneapolis, MN; Augsburg Fortress)
The Nephilim were so wicked that they continued to corrupt, enslave, and even cannibalize humanity as they turned mankind against God.
“These and all the others with them took for themselves wives from among them such as they chose.[ 22] And they began to go in to them, and to defile themselves through them, and to teach them sorcery and charms, and to reveal to them the cutting of roots and plants. 2 And they conceived from them and bore to them great giants. And the giants begot Nephilim, and to the Nephilim were born †Elioud†. And they were growing in accordance with their greatness. 3 They were devouring the labor of all the sons of men,[ 23] and men were not able to supply them. 4/ And the giants began to kill men and to devour them. 5/ And they began to sin against the birds and beasts and creeping things and the fish, and to devour one another’s flesh. And they drank the blood. 6 Then the earth brought accusation against the lawless ones. The Secrets the Watchers Reveal [24] 8: 1 Asael taught men to make swords of iron and weapons and shields and breastplates and every instrument of war. He showed them metals of the earth and how they should work gold to fashion it suitably, and concerning silver, to fashion it for bracelets and ornaments for women. And he showed them concerning antimony and eye paint and all manner of precious stones and dyes. And the sons of men made them for themselves and for their daughters, and they transgressed and led the holy ones astray.[ 25] 2/ And there was much godlessness on the earth, and they made their ways desolate. 3 Shemihazah taught spells and the cutting of roots. Hermani taught sorcery for the loosing of spells and magic and skill. Baraqel taught the signs of the lightning flashes. Kokabel taught the signs of the stars. Ziqel taught the signs of the shooting stars. Arteqoph taught the signs of the earth. Shamsiel taught the signs of the sun. Sahriel taught the signs of the moon. And they all began to reveal mysteries to their wives and to their children.[ 26] 4 (And) as men were perishing, the cry went up to heaven. The Intercession of the Four Archangels 9: 1 Then Michael and Sariel[ 27] and Raphael and Gabriel looked down from the sanctuary of heaven upon the earth and saw much bloodshed on the earth. All the earth was filled with the godlessness and violence that had befallen it.” (George W.E. Nickelsburg, James C. VanderKam, 1 Enoch: The Hermeneia Translation, 24-26 (Kindle Edition); Minneapolis, MN; Augsburg Fortress)
The Lord brought the Flood upon the Earth to cleanse it of the wickedness. The Nephilim were killed in the Flood, and in death, their spirits were left in the world to become demons.
1 Enoch 15:8-12-My judgment for the giants is that since they are born from flesh they will be called evil spirits and will remain on the earth. 9 Because they were created from above, from the holy Watchers, at death their spirits will come forth from their bodies and dwell on the earth. They will be called evil spirits. 10 The heavenly spirits will dwell in heaven, but the terrestrial spirits who were born on earth will dwell on earth. 11The evil spirits of the giants will be like clouds. They will afflict, corrupt, tempt, battle, work destruction on the earth, and do evil; they will not eat nor drink, but be invisible. 12 They will rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them.
The book of Jubilees records:
Jubilees 7:21-27-“21. For owing to these three things came the flood upon the earth, namely, owing to the fornication wherein the Watchers against the law of their ordinances went a whoring after the daughters of men, and took themselves wives of all which they chose: and they made the beginning of uncleanness.[ ccc] 22. And they begat sons the Nâphîdîm[ ddd], and they were all unlike, and they devoured one another: and the Giants slew the Nâphîl, and the Nâphîl slew the Eljô, and the Eljô mankind, and one man another. 23. And every one sold himself to work iniquity and to shed much blood, and the earth was filled with iniquity. 24. And after this they sinned against the beasts and birds, and all that moveth and walketh on the earth: and much blood was shed on the earth, and every imagination and desire of men imagined vanity and evil continually. 25. And the Lord destroyed everything from off the face of the earth; because of the wickedness of their deeds, and because of the blood which they had shed in the midst of the earth He destroyed everything. 26. “And we were left, I[ eee] and you, my sons, and everything that entered with us into the ark, and behold I see your works before me that ye do not walk in righteousness; for in the path of destruction ye have begun to walk, and ye are parting one from another, and are envious one of another, and (so it cometh) that ye are not in harmony, my sons, each with his brother. 27. For I see, and behold the demons have begun (their) seductions against you and against your children, and now I fear on your behalf, that after my death ye will shed the blood of men upon the earth, and that ye, too, will be destroyed from the face of the earth.[”. (Ken Johnson, Ancient Book of Jubilees, 38-39 (Kindle Edition); BibleFacts Ministries: BibleFacts.org)
These “demons” are referenced 111 times in the Gospels as Jesus and His Apostles confronted them with the power of God.
However, what is especially interesting for our purposes in the study of the Tower of Babel is the fate of these two hundred fallen angels (the Watchers).
We are told:
1 Enoch 21:1-10-“Then I proceeded to a place where nothing was completed. 2I saw there something horrible, a place with neither heaven nor earth, but an awful, terrible void. 3There, seven stars of the heaven were bound together in it, like great mountains and burning with fire. 4Then I exclaimed, “For what sin are they bound here?” 5Then Uriel, who was with me, and was chief over them, said, “Enoch, why do you ask, and why are you so anxious? 6These are the stars of heaven which have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and are bound here till ten thousand worlds[ lxiv], the time entailed by their sins, are consummated.” 7From there I went to another place which was still more horrible than the former. There I saw a great blazing fire, and the place was divided and went down as far as the abyss. It was full of great descending columns of fire. I could not even guess how far down they went. 8Then I said, “How fearful is the place and how terrible to look upon!” 9Then Uriel said to me, “Enoch, why are you so afraid of this terrible place of pain?” 10He said unto me, “This place is the prison of the angels, and here they will be imprisoned forever.”” (Ken Johnson, Ancient Book of Enoch, 36-37 (Kindle Edition))
Both Peter and Jude refer to these events:
2 Peter 2:4-6-For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly;
Jude 6-7-And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
The famous linguist, Kenneth Wuest, shows that the sin of the angels in these passages was similar in nature to the sins of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah:
“From the apostasy of Israel, Jude turns to the sin of the angels. He describes them as those who “kept not their first estate.” The word “estate” is the A.V. translation of archē. The word means first of all, “beginning.” Thus does the A.V. understand it. The angels left their first or original status as angels, their original position, to violate the laws of God which kept them separate from the human race, members of which latter race occupy a different category among the created intelligences than that of angels….The second meaning of archē is derived from the first, namely, “sovereignty, dominion, magistracy,” the beginning or first place of power. The word is translated “principalities” in Eph 6:12, and refers to demons there. Thus, this meaning of archē teaches that these angels left their original dignity and high positions. Archē is used, in the Book of Enoch (12:4) of the Watchers (Angels) who have abandoned the high heaven and the holy eternal place and defiled themselves with women (Mayor). This original state of high dignity which these angels possessed, Jude says, they did not keep. The verb is tēreō, “to guard.” The verb expresses the act of watchful care. That is, these angels did not fulfil their obligation of carefully guarding and maintaining their original position in which they were created, but transgressed those limits to invade territory which was foreign to them, namely, the human race. They left their own habitation. “Habitation” is oikētērion, “a dwelling-place,” here, heaven. “Their own” is idion, “one’s own private, personal, unique possession,” indicating here that heaven is the peculiar, private abode of the angels. Heaven was made for the angels, not for man. It is the temporary abode of the departed saints until the new heavens and new earth are brought into being, but man’s eternal dwelling-place will be on the perfect earth (Rev 21:1-3). “Left” is apoleipō. The simple verb leipō means “to leave.” The prefixed preposition apo makes the compound verb mean “to leave behind.” These angels left heaven behind. That is, they had abandoned heaven. They were done with it forever. The verb is aorist in tense which refers to a once-for-all act. This was apostasy with a vengeance. They had, so to speak, burnt their bridges behind them, and had descended to a new sphere, the earth, and into a foreign relationship, that with the human race, foreign, because the latter belongs to a different category of created intelligences than they. These angels are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness. “Reserved” is tēreō, and is in the perfect tense. That is, they have been placed under a complete and careful guard, with the result that they are in a state of being under this complete and careful guard continually. These angels are carefully guarded in everlasting chains. “Chains” is desmos, “a band or bond.” The word does not indicate that the angels are chained, but that they are in custody, detained in a certain place. The custody is everlasting. The Greek word is aidios, “everlasting.” “Darkness” is zophos, “darkness, blackness,” used of the darkness of the nether world…This verse begins with hōs, an adverb of comparison having the meanings of “in the same manner as, after the fashion of, as, just as.” Here it introduces a comparison showing a likeness between the angels of verse 6 and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah of this verse. But the likeness between them lies deep-er than the fact that both were guilty of committing sin. It extends to the fact that both were guilty of the same identical sin. The punctuation of the A.V. is misleading, as an examination of Greek text discloses. The A.V. punctuation gives the reader the impression that Sodom and Gomorrah committed fornication and that the cities about them committed fornication in like manner to the two cities named. The phrase “in like manner” is according to the punctuation construed with the words “the cities about them.” A rule of Greek grammar comes into play here. The word “cities” is in the nominative case. The words “in like manner” are in the accusative case and are classified as an adverbial accusative by Dana and Mantey in their Manual Grammar of the Greek New Testament (pp. 91, 93). This latter construction is related syntactically, not with a word in the nominative case but with the verbal form in the sentence. All of which means that the words “in like manner” are related to the verbal forms, “giving themselves over to fornication” and “going after strange flesh.” In addition to all this, the Greek text has toutois, “to these.” Thus, the translation should read, “just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them, in like manner to these, having given themselves over to fornication and having gone after strange flesh.” The sense of the entire passage (vv. 6, 7) is that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them, in like manner to these (the angels), have given themselves over to fornication and have gone after strange flesh. That means that the sin of the fallen angels was fornication. This sin on the part of the angels is described in the words, “going after strange flesh.” The word “strange” is heteros, “another of a different kind.” That is, these angels transgressed the limits of their own natures to invade a realm of created beings of a different nature. This invasion took the form of fornication, a cohabitation with beings of a different nature from theirs. This takes us back to Gen 6:1-4 where we have the account of the sons of God (here, fallen angels), cohabiting with women of the human race.” (Kenneth Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies In The Greek New Testament, (E-Sword Edition, emphasis added-M.A.T.))
These two hundred angels were chained in the realm called Tartarus (2 Peter 2:4). According to the terminology of this word in the Greek-speaking world outside the New Testament, this was a terrible realm:
“To the Greeks, Hades was the realm of the dead, similar to the Jewish concept of Sheol. Tartarus was a level below Hades reserved for supernatural threats to the Olympian gods, “as far beneath Hades as heaven is above earth.”[ 5] It’s where the king of the Greek gods, Zeus, banished his father, Kronos, and most of the Titans after the Olympians successful rebellion. It’s described as a dismal place, even more depressing than damp, moldy Hades: [The hundred-handed Hekatonkheires] overshadowed the Titans with their missiles, and hurled them beneath the wide-pathed earth, and bound them in bitter chains when they had conquered them by their strength for all their great spirit, as far beneath the earth as heaven is above earth; for so far is it from earth to Tartarus. For a brazen anvil falling down from heaven nine nights and days would reach the earth upon the tenth: and again, a brazen anvil falling from earth nine nights and days would reach Tartarus upon the tenth. Round it runs a fence of bronze, and night spreads in triple line all about it like a neck-circlet, while above grow the roots of the earth and unfruitful sea.[ 6] (Emphasis added) Note the parallels between the words of the Greek poet Hesiod and the epistles of Peter and Jude: A group of gods rebelled and suffered the consequences—imprisonment in a very dark place far below the earth. Here’s the point: Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle Peter specifically linked the angels who sinned with the former gods of the Greeks, the Titans. We know Peter’s angels are the Watchers, the sons of God from Genesis chapter 6, because they’re clearly the same ones mentioned by Jude, who gave us an important clue to their identity: And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. (Jude 6–7, ESV; emphasis added) The sin of the angels was like that of Sodom and Gomorrah—“ sexual immorality” and “unnatural desire.” The only place in the Bible where that happened was Genesis 6: 1–4. So, the Watchers of Genesis are the Titans of Greek myth. And those fallen angels still have a role to play in our future.” (Derek Gilbert, Last Clash of the Titans: The Second Coming of Hercules, Leviathan, and the Prophesied War Between Jesus Christ and the Gods of Antiquity, 12-13 (Kindle Edition); Crane, MO; Defender Publishing)
Now, here is where all of this ties together with the events of Genesis 11 and the Tower of Babel: there is evidence from both the book of Jasher and some ancient archaeological excavations that the people in Genesis 11 were attempting to free these two hundred fallen angels from the realm of Tartarus.
According to the book of Jasher:
Jasher 9:25-26-“And the building of the tower was unto them a transgression and a sin, and they began to build it, and whilst they were building against the Lord God of heaven, they imagined in their hearts to war against him and to ascend into heaven. 26 And all these people and all the families divided themselves in three parts; the first said We will ascend into heaven and fight against him; the second said, We will ascend to heaven and place our own gods there and serve them; and the third part said, We will ascend to heaven and smite him with bows and spears; and God knew all their works and all their evil thoughts, and he saw the city and the tower which they were building.” (Ken Johnson, Ancient Book Of Jasher, 35 (Kindle Edition): Biblefacts.org)
Notice that one goal of the builders of the Tower of Babel was to “place” their “own gods there and serve them.” They had a desire also to war against God.
The Tower of Babel was connected somehow with unleashing the “gods” into the world.
What is especially fascinating, however, in this connection are the archaeological discoveries regarding these matters.
“Remember, the oldest and largest ziggurat in Mesopotamia was at Eridu, the first city built in Mesopotamia. In recent years, scholars have learned that the name “Babylon” was interchangeable with other city names, including Eridu. So “Babylon” didn’t always refer to the city of Babylon in ancient texts. Even though Eridu never dominated the political situation in Sumer after its first two kings, Alulim and Alalgar, the city of Enki was so important to Mesopotamian culture that more than three thousand years later, Hammurabi, the greatest king of the old Babylonian empire, was crowned not in Babylon, but in Eridu—even though Eridu had ceased to be a city about three hundred years earlier. Even as late as the time of Nebuchadnezzar, 1,100 years after Hammurabi, the kings of Babylon still sometimes called themselves LUGAL.NUNki—King of Eridu. Why? What was the deal with Eridu? Yes, it was the first city, the place where “kingship descended from heaven,” a city possibly built by Cain or his son, and maybe named for Cain’s grandson, Irad. Think about that for a moment. Eridu—its name interchangeable with Babylon—may have been established by the first murderer on earth. It may have been Cain, not Nimrod, who founded the original Babylon! Archaeologists have uncovered eighteen levels of the temple to Enki at Eridu. The oldest levels of the E-abzu, a small structure less than ten feet square, date to the founding of the city around 5400 B.C. Fish bones were scattered around the building. Enki seems to have been a fan of Euphrates River carp. Now, stop and take that in: The first small shrine to Enki may have been built by Cain or one of his immediate descendants. And consider that the spot remained sacred to Enki long after the city was deserted around 2000 B.C. The temple remained in use until the fifth century B.C., nearly five thousand years after the first crude altar was built to accept offerings of fish to the god of the subterranean aquifer, the abzu. Now, at this point we should tell you that abzu (ab = water + zu = deep) is very likely where we get our English word “abyss.” Ah, the fog lifts! Another clue: The name Enki is a compound word. En is Sumerian for “lord” and ki is the word for “earth.” Thus, Enki, god of the abzu, was “lord of the earth.” Do you remember Jesus calling someone “the ruler of this world”? Or Paul referring to “the god of this world”? Who were they talking about? Yeah. Satan. ************ Here’s another piece to our puzzle: Nimrod was second generation after the Flood. His father was Cush, son of Ham, son of Noah. In Sumerian history, the second king of Uruk after the flood was named Enmerkar, son of Mesh-ki-ang-gasher. Enmerkar is also a compound word. The prefix en means “lord” and the suffix kar is Sumerian for “hunter.” So Enmerkar was Enmer the Hunter. Sound familiar? Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” (Genesis 10: 8–9, ESV, emphasis added) The Hebrews, doing what they loved to do with language, transformed Enmer—the consonants N-M-R (remember, no vowels in ancient Hebrew)—into Nimrod, which makes it sound like marad, the Hebrew word for “rebel.” Now, get this: An epic poem from about 2000 B.C. called Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta preserves the basic details of the Tower of Babel story. We don’t know exactly where Aratta was, but guesses range from northern Iran to Armenia. (Which would be interesting. Not only is Armenia located near the center of an ancient kingdom called Urartu, which may be a cognate for Aratta, it’s where Noah landed his boat—the mountains of Ararat. So it’s possible Nimrod/ Enmerkar was trying to intimidate the people—his cousins, basically—who settled near where his great-grandfather landed the ark. But we just don’t know.) Wherever it was, Enmerkar muscled this neighboring kingdom to compel them to send building materials for a couple of projects near and dear to his heart. Some background: The poem refers to Enmerkar’s capital city Uruk as the “great mountain.” This is intriguing, since Uruk, like most of Sumer, sits in an alluvial plain where there are precisely no mountains whatsoever. Uruk was home to two of the chief gods of the Sumerian pantheon, Anu, the sky god, and Inanna, his granddaughter, the goddess of war and sex. (And by sex, we mean the carnal, extramarital kind.) While Anu was pretty much retired (like the later Canaanite god El), having handed over his duties as head of the pantheon to Enlil, Inanna played a very active role in Sumerian society. For example, scholars have translated ritual texts for innkeepers to pray to Innana, asking her to guarantee that their bordellos turn a profit. Apparently, part of the problem between Enmerkar and the king of Aratta, whose name, we learn from a separate epic, was Ensuhkeshdanna, was a dispute over who was Inanna’s favorite. One of the building projects Enmerkar wanted to tackle was a magnificent temple to Inanna, the E-ana (“ House of Heaven”). He wanted Aratta to supply the raw materials. Apparently, this wasn’t only because there isn’t much in the way of timber, jewels, or precious metal in the plains of Sumer, but because Enmerkar wanted the lord of Aratta to submit and acknowledge that he was Inanna’s chosen one. And so Enmerkar prayed to Inanna: My sister, let Aratta fashion gold and silver skillfully on my behalf for Unug (Uruk). Let them cut the flawless lapis lazuli from the blocks, let them …… the translucence of the flawless lapis lazuli ……. …… build a holy mountain in Unug. Let Aratta build a temple brought down from heaven—your place of worship, the Shrine E-ana; let Aratta skillfully fashion the interior of the holy jipar, your abode; may I, the radiant youth, may I be embraced there by you. Let Aratta submit beneath the yoke for Unug on my behalf.”…“No, the transgression of Nimrod was much more serious. Besides building a fabulous temple for the goddess of prostitutes, he also wanted to expand and upgrade the abzu—the abyss. Let the people of Aratta bring down for me the mountain stones from their mountain, build the great shrine for me, erect the great abode for me, make the great abode, the abode of the gods, famous for me, make my me prosper in Kulaba, make the abzu grow for me like a holy mountain, make Eridug (Eridu) gleam for me like the mountain range, cause the abzu shrine to shine forth for me like the silver in the lode. When in the abzu I utter praise, when I bring the me from Eridug, when, in lordship, I am adorned with the crown like a purified shrine, when I place on my head the holy crown in Unug Kulaba, then may the …… of the great shrine bring me into the jipar, and may the …… of the jipar bring me into the great shrine. May the people marvel admiringly, and may Utu (the sun god) witness it in joy.[ 10] (Emphasis added) That’s the issue Yahweh had with it right there. This tower project wasn’t about hubris or pride; it was to build the abode of the gods, an artificial mount of assembly, right on top of the abzu.”…“Without getting bogged down in details, we can draw a few broad conclusions from the tale: The king of Uruk, whom we believe was Nimrod, wanted to build a fabulous temple to the goddess of sex and war as a centerpiece of his capital city. More important, Enmerkar/ Nimrod wanted to rebuild and expand the ancient, pre-flood temple of Enki, the god Sumerians thanked for the gifts of civilization (the mes) and for creating the apkallu (the Watchers)—even though their intervention in human affairs, according to later Babylonian myth, was responsible for the flood. But there’s another fascinating detail recorded in Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta: In the story, Enki confused the speech of humans, who had formerly spoken the same language. Once upon a time there was no snake, there was no scorpion, There was no hyena, there was no lion, There was no wild dog, no wolf, There was no fear, no terror, Man had no rival. In those days, the lands of Subur (and) Hamazi, Harmony-tongued Sumer, the great land of the decrees of princeship, Uri, the land having all that is appropriate, The land Martu, resting in security, The whole universe, the people in unison To Enlil in one tongue [spoke]. (Then) Enki, the lord of abundance (whose) commands are trustworthy, The lord of wisdom, who understands the land, The leader of the gods, Endowed with wisdom, the lord of Eridu Changed the speech in their mouths, [brought] contention into it, Into the speech of man that (until then) had been one.[ 12] (Emphasis added) The elements of the Babel account are all there in Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta: The pride that drove Nimrod to dominate the known world, construction of a tower/ ziggurat that Yahweh found offensive enough to bring to a halt (building the abode of the gods over the abyss!), and the supernatural confusion of languages that gave the tower its Hebrew name, Babel. In the view of this author, the evidence is compelling. It’s time to correct the history we’ve been taught since Sunday School: Babel was not at Babylon, it was at Eridu. The tower was the temple of the god Enki, Lord of the Earth, the god of the abyss. Its purpose was to create an artificial mount of assembly, the abode of the gods, to which humans had access. That was something that Yahweh could not allow.” (Derek Gilbert, The Great Inception: Satan’s Psyops from Eden to Armageddon, 64-73 (Kindle Edition); Crane, MO; Defender Publishing)
The Bible records that the events in the building of the Tower of Babel were to elevate mankind and protect him from another possible world-wide Flood. However, we also see from the extra-biblical books which the Bible endorses and which archaeological findings confirm that the Tower of Babel was an attempt of sinful mankind to free the wicked fallen angels (“gods”) from Tartarus.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.
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