Reading for May 13th

 Read Genesis 11.1-9. In 11.1-9:The tower of Babel and the confusion of human language. This story of the tower of Babel explains the geographical scattering of humans and the division of human speech into many different languages (Gen 10). Like that of the garden of Eden, the story continues the theme of God's limits on excessive human pride and presumption. In verse 2: The land of Shinar is Babylon (10.10). In verse 4: A tower with its top in the heavens probably alludes to the very high pyramid-like structures called a ziggurat. The tall structure functioned as a temple in which to worship the gods in ancient Babylon. In the story, however, the human's root desire is not to worship the gods but to make a name for themselves. In verse 7: God says, let us go down. he is speaking to a divine council of advisers as in 1.26. In verse 9: The name Babel in the language of Babylon means "Gate of God," which would be appropriate for a temple. However, the Hebrew storyteller links the name instead with the Hebrew word "balal" ("to confuse"). Comments or Questions..