Chapter 11 of the book of Genesis begins as follows:
And the whole earth had one language and unified things. (Genesis 11:1)
One language is understandable at the beginning of humanity, but what "things" were they? Our story takes place a few decades after the birth of Abraham, the future patriarch. So let's start by placing the events in time according to the biblical chronology which is easy to establish because the text gives us the years of birth and lifespan of each character since Adam:
- year 0 (3760 BCE): creation of Adam
- year 930 (2830 BCE): death of Adam
- year 1558 (2202 BCE): birth of Shem, son of Noah
- year 1656 (2104 BCE): the Flood begins
- year 1657 (2103 BCE): end of the Flood
- year 1658 (2102 BCE): birth of Arphaxad, son of Shem
- year 1948 (1812 BCE): birth of Abraham, son of Terah, in Ur
- (1792 BCE): beginning of the reign of Hammurabi
- year 1996 (1764 BCE): Tower of Babel
At the time of the Tower of Babel, when Abraham was 48 years old, a king had risen over Mesopotamia and had succeeded in unifying into a single empire all the city-states of this great fertile valley, including Ur, Abraham's birthplace, which was one of the oldest cities in this region of Lower Mesopotamia. It was the first time that such a unified empire had been established. And to rule it, despite the divergences in local beliefs and traditions, a single code of laws was needed for all its peoples. The Bible calls this great unifier Nimrod (נמרד) and presents him thus:
He began to be a mighty one in the earth. (Genesis 10:8)
His biblical name is in fact a nickname, derived from the Hebrew and Chaldean root m-r-d (מרד) which means 'rebellion'. Because, after establishing his empire, Nimrod had the vain ambition to defeat God. This root m-r-d also gave the name of the powerful creator god in the Babylonian pantheon: MaRDuk (he is also sometimes called Bel in the Bible, which gave Baal in ancient languages).
History knows him under the name of Hammurabi. He raised to power in 1792 BCE for 42 years, a ruling longevity sufficient to mark his time and History. The center of his empire was a new city that will be known as Babylon, named Babel in the Bible. The word Babel in Hebrew (בבל) has the same root as the word 'to confound' (לבלבל) and the rest of the story will justify it. The code of laws known as the Code of Hammurabi was found on an impressive stele more than two meters high and made to last because it is inscribed on a block of basalt (solid volcanic stone).
But the Code of Hammurabi was not the first in history. Because there had been the Code of Ur, this city-state that predated most of the new cities that Hammurabi had conquered like the rest of the regions of Mesopotamia. According to the text found by archaeologists, it was the founder of this city, Ur-Nammu, who had established the oldest code known to humanity. Hammurabi had undoubtedly borrowed the concept to establish his own code and, he alone, remained famous because, without a doubt, Hammurabi had demanded the suppression of all city codes in order to impose the unified code of his empire.
It was in Ur, a city founded after the Flood, where Abraham's family settled. His father, Terah, was the high priest and was responsible for making idolatrous statues for the city's worship. The name Terah (תרח) comes from the Hebrew word Yareah (ירח) which means Moon. Because, in Ur, the Moon was venerated, as this can be seen above on the seal of Ur-Nammu. Terah's eldest son was called Avram (who would later renamed Abraham, the patriarch): his name is written Av-ram (אב-רם) which means "supreme father". Because Avram was obviously destined to succeed his father in the priesthood of the city of Ur.
But where did the idea of developing a code of laws come from? We must go back to the episode of the Flood. After eradicating humanity, God gave seven laws to the survivors of the catastrophe, namely Noah and his three sons: these are known as the Noahide Laws. At the beginning of the post-Flood era, men followed these laws. And, in Ur, they had been established as a code for the city. Because, the founder of Ur was Arphaxad, son of Shem son of Noah: suffice to say that the memory of the Flood was still freshly anchored in the men of his generation. It is likely that this biblical Arphaxad is the historical Ur-Nammu. And, later, King Hammurabi had wanted to emulate the power of God and His laws, by building his own code of laws: thus men nicknamed him the mighty hunter before the Lord (Genesis 10:9). In the code of Hammurabi, we find in particular the principle of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth (in lines 196 and 200 of the code), directly borrowed from the code of Ur-Nammu:
If a man has torn out the eye of another man, he will have to weigh half a mina of silver (about 500g).
If a man has torn out the tooth of another man, he will have to pay two shekels of silver.
Now this principle of reciprocity finds its origin in the Noachide laws of the Bible:
He who sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed. (Genesis 9:6)
This type of law was already universally known in humanity, although not always followed obviously, and traces of it have been found as far as Canaan by a discovery in the ancient city of Hazor, in the north of Israel.
So here is the biblical expression of unified things explained. Let us now come to the one language.
Having built his city, which became the center of an empire, and after having established his laws, Hammurabi came to want to build a tower that would rise to the heavens, no doubt to rival God:
And they said: 'Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, with its top in heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.' (Genesis 11:4)
To put an end to human arrogance, God confused languages so that any common effort became impossible. And, worse, people no longer understood each other, they scattered over the earth.
Therefore the name of that city was called Babel (בָּבֶל), because there the Lord confused (בָּלַל) the language of all men and from there the Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of all the earth. (Genesis 11:9)
We can clearly see that the name 'Babel' was pejorative and the Bible sometimes uses derision to name places or people. Because in the Akkadian language, Babel was understood as Bab-El which means Gate of God.
Is there a historical or archaeological source for this biblical episode? First of all, there is the creation of the first empire and the unification of laws in the form of the Code of Hammurabi, which corresponds to what the Bible calls unified things. But archaeologists have also discovered a tablet in Mesopotamia: the Enmerkar tablet.
Here is an excerpt from this text that notes the diversity of languages caused by the gods and that vows to return to a single language:
At such a time, may the lands of Cubur and Hamazi, the many-tongued, and Sumer, the great mountain of the Me of magnificence, and Akkad, the land possessing all that is befitting, and the Martu land [the Amorites], resting in security - the whole universe, the well-guarded people - may they all address Enlil together in a single language! For at that time, [...] Enki, the lord of abundance and of steadfast decisions, the wise and knowing lord of the Land, the expert of the gods, chosen for wisdom, the lord of Eridug, shall change the speech in their mouths, as many as he had placed there, and so the speech of mankind is truly one. (Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, lines 134-155)
Furthermore, the father of history, the Greek Herodotus, who lived in the 5th century BCE, described the remains of Babylon (biblical Babel) and its famous tower which had then become a place of worship but, strangely enough for a place of worship in antiquity, no idols were there to be venerated! As if they did not want to provoke the wrath of the supreme God again:
These walls are the city's outer armor; within them there is another encircling wall, nearly as strong as the other, but narrower. In the middle of one division of the city stands the royal palace, surrounded by a high and strong wall; and in the middle of the other is still to this day the sacred enclosure of Zeus Belus [same as Bel or Baal], a square of four hundred and forty yards each way, with gates of bronze. In the center of this sacred enclosure a solid tower has been built, two hundred and twenty yards long and broad; a second tower rises from this and from it yet another, until at last there are eight. The way up them mounts spirally outside the height of the towers; about halfway up is a resting place, with seats for repose, where those who ascend sit down and rest. In the last tower there is a great shrine; and in it stands a great and well-covered couch, and a golden table nearby. But no image has been set up in the shrine, nor does any human creature lie there for the night, except one native woman, chosen from all women by the god, as the Chaldaeans say, who are priests of this god. (Herodotus, Histories, Book I, Chapter 181)
Note that this description of a tower with several floors or levels corresponds to the model of "ziggurat" discovered by archaeologists in Mesopotamia. In fact, the ziggurat of Babylon was called Etemenanki which means Temple of the Foundation of the Heavens and the Earth... This name is reminiscent of the biblical story with one God, Creator of the Heavens and the Earth (Genesis 1:1).
The episode of the Tower of Babel took place 1996 years after Adam, that is to say in the year 1764 BCE, or 340 years after the Flood. Avram, the future Abraham, was 48 years old, because he was born 1948 years after Adam. This chronology is easy to establish with the indications given in the book of Genesis.
Only one family retained the original language, which was Hebrew: it is the descendants of the patriarch Eber, grandson of Arphaxad. It is from this Eber that the word 'Hebrew' actually comes.
I hope that this article on the theme "the Bible is true" was of interest to you. Do not hesitate to send me your comments, while waiting for a next biblical episode proven by history and archaeology.
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Albert Benhamou
Private tour guide in Israel
February 2025
