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Josephus and Rabbinic tradition identify Nimrod as the instigator of the Tower of Babel, a detail absent from Genesis. Josephus calls him a tyrant and tractate Sanhedrin says the builders divided into factions, one intent on waging war against heaven.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 1.4.2
Classical
2 It was Nimrod, Ham’s grandson through Noah, a bold man of great physical strength, who convinced them to rebel against God, urging them to attribute their happiness to their own courage rather than to God. Gradually he converted their government into tyranny, the only way he could turn men from reverence for God, bringing them into constant dependence on his power. He also said he would seek revenge on God if He tried again to flood the world; by building a tower too high for the waters to reach and thus avenging their ancestors.
Date: 93-94 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Sanhedrin 109a
Babylonian Talmud
Rabbinic
§ The mishna teaches that the members of the generation of the dispersion have no share in the World-to-Come. The Gemara asks: What sin did they perform? Their sin is not explicitly delineated in the Torah. The school of Rabbi Sheila say that the builders of the Tower of Babel said: We will build a tower and ascend to heaven, and we will strike it with axes so that its waters will flow. They laughed at this explanation in the West, Eretz Yisrael, and asked: If that was their objective, let them build a tower on a mountain; why did they build it specifically in a valley (see Genesis 11:2)? Rather, Rabbi Yirmeya bar Elazar says: They divided into three factions; one said: Let us ascend to the top of the tower and dwell there. And one said: Let us ascend to the top of the tower and engage in idol worship. And one said: Let us ascend to the top of the tower and wage war. With regard to that faction that said: Let us ascend to the top of the tower and dwell there, God dispersed them. And that faction that said: Let us ascend to the top of the tower and wage war, became apes, and spirits, and demons, and female demons. And with regard to that faction that said: Let us ascend to the top of the tower and engage in idol wor-ship, it is written: “Because there the Lord confounded the language of all the earth” (Genesis 11:9). It is taught in a baraita: Rabbi Natan says: All of those factions intended to build the tower for the sake of idol worship. It is written here: “And let us make a name for us” (Genesis 11:4), and it is written there: “And make no mention of the name of the other gods” (Exodus 23:13). Just as there, the connotation of “name” is idol worship, so too here, the connotation of “name” is idol worship. Rabbi Yoḥanan says: The uppermost third of the tower was burned, the lowermost third of the tower was swallowed into the earth, and the middle third remained intact. Rav says: The atmosphere of the tower causes forgetfulness; anyone who goes there forgets what he has learned. As a result of the building of the tower, forgetting was introduced into the world. Rav Yosef says: Babylonia and the adjacent place, Bursif, are each a bad omen for Torah, i.e., they cause one to forget his knowledge. The Gemara asks: What is the meaning of Bursif? Rabbi Asi says: It is an abbreviation of empty pit [bor shafi].
Date: 450-550 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
“... The fact that this passage not only mentions Shinar but says that the “beginning” of Nimrod’s kingdom was Babel, seemed indisputably to connect Nimrod with the building project. Indeed, it was only reasonable to suppose that Nimrod was something like the leader or sponsor of the project, for why else would the city be called the “beginning of his kingdom”? Thus, interpreters determined that Nimrod must have been the one who conceived or commissioned the tower. And precisely for that reason, the rest of the above passage now seemed particularly interesting. For what was the Bible trying to say when it called Nimrod a “mighty man,” a “mighty hunter,” indeed, a “mighty hunter before the Lord”? ...”
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