The origin of Babel

The story of the Tower of Babel, the story of the prophet Daniel, and the book of Revelation are connected. Here is how.

The Tower of Babel

After a long genealogy after the flood, the people decide to build a great building that would reach to the sky.

• To make a name for themselves
• To have a central point that is not scattered

For this they have a huge building project. And now the fun begins. When they wanted to build this to the sky, God came down!! to have a look at this, mocking the efforts and the threat of the people. But what does it mean that God is concerned that nothing is impossible for them? Probably that they are convinced that they can do everything without Him.

Moreover, everything they want to achieve has not been achieved, on the contrary.

• They wanted to make a name for themselves. Obviously, this did not work, but God made a name out of Abraham.
• They wanted to avoid dispersion, but that is exactly what happened when God divided their languages. This was only reversed at Pentecost.

Daniel in Babel

When Israel went into exile in Babylon, it was mentioned that this Babel was in the land of Sinear, where the towering Babel was. This connects the two.

But pride is also a common factor between the two and that their short existence was ended by God. Daniel’s Babel lasted less than 100 years until it was defeated by Cyrus, who was called by God.

Babel in the Book of Revelation

In the book of Revelation, the Babel was also strongly linked to the Babel of Daniel.

• We have the theme of pride.
• A quick fall of Babel
• God’s people living in exile