Monday, August 9, 2021

Jeffrey Bradshaw on Genesis 11:9 and the Confounding of the Languages at the Tower of Babel

  

Genesis 11:9: How are we to understand the Lord’s confounding the language of the builders of the Tower of Babel in light of historical linguistics?

 

If we take the “one language” of Genesis 11:1 as being Sumerian, Akkadian, or even (as a long shot) Aramaic rather than a supposed universal proto-language, some of the puzzling aspects of the biblical account become more intelligible. For example, “Genesis 10 and 11 would make linguistic sense in their current sequence. In addition to the local languages of each nation, there existed ‘one language’ which made communication possible throughout the world”—or, perhaps more accurately, throughout the land. Strictly speaking, the biblical text does not refer to a plurality of languages but to the ‘destruction of language as an instrument of communication.’”

 

Hamilton (V.P. Hamilton, Genesis 1-17, p. 358) presents a reasonable view when he writes that it “is unlikely that Genesis 11:1-9 can contribute much, if anything, to the origin of languages. . . . [T]he diversification of languages is a slow process, not something catastrophic as Genesis 11 might indicate.” The common received interpretation of Genesis 11 provides “a most incredible and naïve explanation of language diversification. If, however, the narrative refers to the dissolution of a Babylonian lingua franca, or something like that, the need to see Genesis 11:1-9 as a highly imaginative explanation of language diffusion becomes unnecessary” (V.P. Hamilton, Genesis 1-17, p. 358).

 

Brant Gardner summarizes the take-home lesson of the Tower of Babel story (B.A. Gardner, Second Witnesses, 6:165): “[T]he confounding of languages is related to the mixing (confounding) of different peoples in creating this great tower of Babylon. From such a mixing of people who were attempting to build a temple to the heavens, Yahweh removed some of His believers [e.g., the Jaredites] for His own purposes.” (Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, “Frequently Asked Questions About Science and Genesis,” in David H. Bailey, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, John S. Lewis, Gregory L. Smith, and Michael R. Stark, eds., Cosmos, Earth, and Man [Science & Mormonism Series 1; Salt Lake City: The Interpreter Foundation and Eborn Books, 2016], 193-257, here, p. 227)