This first painting is by Pieter Bruegel the Elder who painted it in 1563. It is titled The Tower of Babel.
ADDENDUM TO CFM 46
This painting, titled Babel Revisited shows the Tower "built of collaged digital images of various buildings from crumbling cheap housing to neoclassical palaces and topped by skyscrapers reaching for the heavens." (Artist, Julee Holcombe, 2004) She writes: "Babel Revisited takes an allegorical gaze at history and modernity and how human beings, like nature, are doomed to the continual repetition of what has gone before."
The following was sent out with my to my email list. I usually try to add something a little different and in this case felt I should also include to the Ward Newsletter version. If you want to be added to the email list just send me an email at glromans@gmail.com.
I am in the process of reading a 12 pound, 600 page book titled "In God's Image and Likeness 2," which covers Enoch, Noah and the Tower of Babel. And it is a process. The book is massive, not only in size but also in content. It is a most interesting read, but with its detail, it is not a fast read. I started near the back of the book in the Tower of Babel section a month ago because I anticipated our study of Ether and the Tower. At this rate, and with other topics of study, I will probably be completed by the time we get to the Pearl of Great Price section of next year.
The authors, LDS scholars Larsen and Bradshaw, have written what is described as "the most comprehensive commentary ever published on the beautiful and doctrinally rich chapters of the book of Moses and the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible that relate the stories of Enoch, Noah, and the Tower of Babel. The commentary combines prophetic insights, excerpts from ancient texts, current scientific perspectives, and up-to-date biblical scholarship.
I will dwell more on the construction of the Tower here. Rabbinical writers Zlotowitz and Scherman, in Bereishis wrote this: "Many years were spent building the Tower. The ascending steps were on the east, and the descending steps were on the wst. It reached so great a height that it took a year to mount to the top. A brick was. therefore, more precious in the sight of the builders than a human being. If a man fell and died they paid no attention to him, but if a brick fell down they wept because it would take a year to replace it. They were intent. in their project that they would not permit a pregnant woman to interrupt her work when her hour of tavail came upon her."
The premise for building the tower is built on the false and fatal philosophy of the builders that through their own principle efforts they could reach an ascendancy and equity with God. The Hebrew Bible scholar and translator, Robert Alter, in The Five Books of Moses, wrote: "...the story exhibits an intricate antithetical symmetry that embodies the idea of 'man proposes, God disposes.' The builders say, 'come, let us bake bricks', God says, 'Come, let us go down'; they are concerned 'lest we be scattered,' and God responds by scattering them."
Their sheer rejection of following God and their arrogant supposition that they could obtain ascendancy over Him through their physical, earthly efforts were shown as they gathered people to work on their project, where God had instructed them to spread and populate, they sought to build a tower to ascend to heavenly heights instead of looking for God to come down, and their assumption that in doing so they would preserve their kingdom's language.
The American poet, Arthur Guiterman, 1871-1943, in "On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness" perfectly captured the frailty of their efforts:
"The tusks which clashed in mighty brawls
Of Mastodons are billiard balls.
The sword of Charlemagne the Just
Is Ferric Oxide, known as rust.
The grizzly bear, whose potent hug,
Was feared by all, is now a rug.
Great Caesar's bust is on the shelf,
And I don't feel so well myself."
The efforts of the Babylonian tower builders, though not succeeding, did result in God's rejection of their efforts, the destruction of their tower (perhaps by rain and the mighty wind that would blow the barges of the brother of Jared to the new land) and the separation of Jared, his brother and their families. And because of their faithfulness we have the book of Ether, which is another testament of Jesus Christ.
An interesting sidelight, and an indication of the depth of research of the writers, they comment on 17th and 18th century linguists who affirmed that French was closely related to Hebrew. The linguists of the time were thrus not much more advanced than the Madame from Versailles, who was overheard by Voltaire as saying: "What a dreadful pity that the bother at the Tower of Babel should have got language all mixed up; but for that, everyone would always have spoken French." (Guy Deutscher, The Unfolding of Language, 2005)
President Uchtdorf wrote: "Have you ever wondered what language we all spoke when we lived in the presence of God? I have strong suspicions that it was German, though I suppose no one knows for sure." (Your wonderful Journey Home, Ensign, May 2013, 125-129)
I hope you found this information interesting and that it contributed to the overall tone of the lesson. We are so fortunate to have all the modern resources to help aid us in our studies.