“If they are able to accomplish all this when they have just begun to exploit their linguistic and political unity, just think of what they will do later. Nothing will be unattainable for them!”
I realize he sounds like a poorly scripted tyrant in a videogame, but it’s the standard translation I have. Any guesses? How about if I feed you the next line of dialog?
“Let us go down and give them different languages so they won’t understand each other’s words.”
Yep, it’s the big guy, the man upstairs, the Fonz, Ronald McDonald. You know, G-O-D.
It’s from Genesis 11:6-7, one of the most perplexing passages in the Bible, and for that reason, also one of the most interpreted.
The boss man of the Old Testament shows a lot of emotion, usually a violent temper followed by a pang of regret. And the ancients acted like a battered spouse, always ready to forgive and forget.
But the Tower of Babel story is the only story I know where God acts a little scared, as if his battered victims are finally going to leave him.
Maybe the tower was a way out. Perhaps a spaceship, as the Raelians and others believe, or some kind of portal technology. Of course, that would make the god (or gods) of the Old Testament extraterrestrials. But who could believe that?
On that note: Happy Holidays!
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