One
of the most ambitious projects attempted by Nimrod was the great
tower. This event occurred about 400 years after the
flood. We don’t really know if there were predecessors to
Nimrod’s tower, but it became the pattern for numerous other pagan
temples and shrines during the following centuries. Ostensibly
Nimrod constructed the tower to escape any future floods and ascend
to the heavens, but the real motive was probably to increase his
power and control over the people, and to increase his influence and
fame. Mormon informs us that Nimrod was inspired to build the tower by Satan (Hel. 6:28.)
The
idea of worshiping in the high places had apparently been a tradition
since the beginning of time. This was usually done on some high
mountain. But if your abode is not close to a mountain, why not
build an artificial mountain, which is exactly what the tower was
meant to be. This was, of course, the purpose of all subsequent
imitations. These stepped towers or pyramids, found originally in
the area of ancient Mesopotamia, have come to be known as ziggarats,
and we can still find the ruins of a number of these in this area.
Ruins of such towers are also found in many other parts of the world
including North and South America, China, and a modified version in
Egypt.
The
pyramids were usually constructed of mud bricks (called adobe in the
Americas), although in the original tower we are told that they used
fired bricks, with pitch or asphalt for mortar. The fired bricks
were most likely used to face the mud brick core of the pyramid. Most
of these zuggurats were constructed with three levels with a small
temple structure placed on top. The temple was only meant for the
use of the priests to perform their rituals. Access to the top was
by means of stepped ramps, usually on three sides of the pyramid.
Sometimes the surface of the pyramid would be smoothed and covered
with plaster.
It
is likely that idolatrous religious rites were conducted on these
towers including human sacrifice. We have the more recent examples
of such sacrifices among the Maya and Aztec peoples in ancient
Mexico.
The
scriptures indicate that the tower was an affront to God, and was one
of the factors for the subsequent confusion of tongues and dispersion
of the population. It is not likely that the Lord was offended by
such a puny challenge to his power, but more likely he was responding
to the pride and presumption of the people in even thinking that they
could so easily avoid his wrath for their iniquities. In response,
he punished them for their iniquities, and for their earlier refusal
to disperse and populate the world.
We
find a number of versions of the tower story in the Bible and the
Apocrypha, and many more examples in the ancient legends and
traditions of cultures around the world. I will review several of
these to flesh out our story.
First
the short Biblical account from Genesis 11:
1
AND the whole earth was of one language, and of 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
And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn
them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for
mortar.
4
And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top
may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be
scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
Several
things are significant in this relation. First, in the beginning,
they all spoke the original language. This was probably the Adamic
language that would have been passed down through Noah following the
flood.
Second,
they used their most abundant resource, clay, to make the stone
(brick) to built their structure. The brick was mortared together
with “slime” or tar (bitumen), which was abundant in this area,
where there are many natural oil seeps.
Third,
this city and tower were built on a plain in the land of Shinar
(Sinar, Sennaar, or Sumer) which was located west of the original
landing place of the ark. We are told that they journeyed from the
east to arrive at this site (this has implications for the original
location of Ararat). Nimrod constructed his first cities on this
plain (And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and
Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Gen. 10:10). At the time,
these cities were located at the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers which emptied into the Persian Gulf. However, over the
centuries, this gulf has been filled in with sediments until the
sites of these cities are now about 200 miles inland.
Fourth,
their listed purposes were to build a tower to reach into heaven,
make a name for themselves, and avoid being scattered abroad over the
earth. Many have interpreted the phrase “unto heaven” to mean
that the tower would reach into the stratosphere. This was not the
intention at all. It was to be an artificial mountain and stretch
upward into the sky similar to a mountain peak. Throughout the
history of the earth people have gone to the “high places” to
commune with deity. This was to be such a place. The height was
relative. It only needed to be higher than the surrounding area. In
their pride, they wanted to make a name for themselves, to rise above
their peers, to become famous. Lastly they resisted the Lord's
command to spread out and populate the earth. Instead, they
congregated and formed strong cities, not trusting in the Lord, and
fearing oppression from their enemies.
The
Book of Jasher gives us additional information:
And
king Nimrod reigned securely, and all the earth was under his
control, and all the earth was of one tongue and words of union. And
all the princes of Nimrod and his great men took counsel together;
Phut, Mitzraim, Cush and Canaan with their families, and they said to
each other, Come let us build ourselves a city and in it a strong
tower, and its top reaching heaven, and we will make ourselves famed,
so that we may reign upon the whole world, in order that the evil of
our enemies may cease from us, that we may reign mightily over them,
and that we may not become scattered over the earth on account of
their wars. And they all went before the king [Nimrod], and they
told the king these words, and the king agreed with them in this
affair, and he did so. And all the families assembled consisting of
about six hundred thousand men, and they went to seek an extensive
piece of ground to build the city and the tower, and they sought in
the whole earth and they found none like one valley at the east of
the land of Shinar, about two days' walk, and they journeyed there
and they dwelt there. And they began to make bricks and burn fires
to build the city and the tower that they had imagined to complete.
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... And they built the tower and
the city, and they did this thing daily until many days and years
were elapsed. (Jasher
9:20-25, 31).
In
addition to the information from Genesis, Jasher gives us some
additional facts. At the time the tower was begun, Nimrod had
established his kingdom and his reign was secured. He had control
over a vast area and a large population. The people were united by a
common language. It seems in this account, that the idea was
suggested to Nimrod by his counselors and advisors who were of the
family of Cush. Jasher emphasizes the need they had to protect
themselves from their enemies, and their desire to rule over them and
expand their kingdom. Here we get some idea of the size of the
population. Jasher mentions 600,000 men who were laboring on this
project. With their wives and children, this group would have
numbered at least two and a half million people. Many of these could
have been slaves or conscripted laborers. It seems that the location
of the tower was chosen after Nimrod had established his original
four cities. It was apparently a choice location and two days walk
from their original residence. From the beginning of this project,
their motivation was in opposition to God and his commandments. The
project was under construction for a long time. One source mentions
forty years.
Flavius Josephus, the Jewish historian in his book Antiquities of the Jews, gives us a slightly different slant on the story of the tower:
Now it was Nimrod who excited them [the people of Shinar] to such an affront and contempt of God [such as refusing to spread abroad in the earth]. He was the grandson of Ham, the son of Noah, a bold man, and of great strength of hand. He persuaded them not to ascribe it [their prosperity] to God, as if it was through his means they were happy, but to believe that it was their own courage which procured that happiness. He also changed the government into tyranny, seeing no other way of turning man from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence on his power. He also said he would be revenged of God, if He should have a mind to drown the world again; for that he would build a tower too high for the waters to be able to reach! and that he would avenge himself on God for destroying their forefathers. Now the multitude were very ready to follow the determination of Nimrod, and to esteem it as a piece of cowardice to submit to God; and they built a tower, neither sparing any pains, nor being in any degree negligent about the work; and, by reason of the multitude of hands employed in it, it grew very high, sooner than anyone could expect; but the thickness of it was so great, and it was so strongly built, that thereby its great height seemed, upon the view, to be less than it really was. It was built of burnt brick, cemented together with mortar, made of bitumen, that it might not be liable to admit water (Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book I, Ch. 4).
In this account, Nimrod is responsible for motivating the people to build the tower. He persuaded his subjects to ignore God and his blessings, and convinced them that they were solely responsible for any good that came into their lives. He changed the government into tyranny (it had apparently been a more benevolent monarchy before this) in order to turn the people away from God and his inspired servants. He wanted to take revenge on God (or at least this is what he told the people) for having destroyed the Adamic age in the flood. In this account, the people willingly follow Nimrod's lead and regarded anyone who didn't cooperate as a coward.
Were Jared, Moriancumer, and their friends involved in the construction of the tower? Were they complicit with Nimrod and his followers in their evil intent? The Book of Mormon only gives a vague reference to the association of the Jaredites with the tower. It indicates that they came from the location of the tower and that they were somehow associated with the people who built the tower, but it never tells us that they were directly involved in the actual construction. However, it is likely that if they were in the immediate area, that they would have been required to participate in the labor and the provision of materials, even if they didn't share the common belief or attitude. If nothing else, they would have been “taxed” to some degree or other to fund and support the project. Later examples of such projects required that the general population provide so many bricks during a given time period to build the pyramid.
From other sources we learn that the Jaredites may have actually been involved in the construction of the tower. Lorenzo Boturini, who was an expert on the ancient Mexican writings and their interpretation, states that according to the writings the ancestors of the Toltecs (who would likely have been the Jaredites) helped in the construction of the tower (Idea de una Nueva Historia General de la América Septentrional. Madrid, 1746, p. 111). Mariano Veytia, who also specialized in collecting and interpreting the ancient Mexican picture drawings, states that according to the Indian traditions the ancestral Toltecs were present at the construction of the tower (Ancient America Rediscovered, p. 193). Veytia also refers to one of the Indian legends which states that their ancestor, whom they called “Tepanahuaste [he would likely have been Moriancumer], which means the Lord of the Hollow Pole, and that Tepanahuaste was at the construction of the great wall, as they called the tower of Babel, and with his own eyes he saw the confusion of tongues (p. 47).” This event seemed to have great significance to the Indians and “They would include this event of the confusion of tongues on their charts, painting a round hill on the front of which a medal is seen placed, and a face is engraved on it, like that of an old man with a long beard, and outside the medal there are many tongues that surround it and form a border (Veytia p. 48).” This symbol for the tower came to be a standard symbol among the Toltecs and later Aztecs, who used it to refer to any town, as most towns among them would have its own tower or pyramid. The attached illustration is a similar depiction of the tower (or broken hill), from the Boturini Codex with the image of the Lord in the center and the tongues, or speech, emanating upward to the left.
There is a possibility that Abraham may have also been involved in the history of the tower (Refer to the related blog). I have suggested that the attempted sacrifice of Abraham may have been at this very tower. The altar, where he was to be sacrificed, was situated by Potiphar's Hill, which was located in Ur of the Chaldeas (see Abr. 1:10, 20). Potiphar's Hill may have been the Sumerian, or Egyptian, name for the tower. As I have theorized, Abraham's attempted sacrifice and rescue may have been the catalyst for the destruction of the tower and the subsequent dispersion.
