yet the Apostles were Galileans. Some analysts of this “speaking-with-tongues” phenomenon have wondered whether the Apostles were using Koine Greek — a simplified version that resembles classical Greek in much the same way that Pidgin resembles standard English, and which was widely used and understood throughout the Roman Empire.
GLOSSOLALIA
Psycho-linguistics experts have investigated numerous cases of glossolalia, a state in which a subject with no apparent conscious knowledge or recollection of another language can apparently speak it fluently. In the most interesting reports of glossolalia, some subjects have been able to speak their mysterious unknown language but have not known the meaning of the words they were saying. At other times subjects appear to have been able to understand the meaning, but have not been able to reply in the strange language.
The precise nature of the neurological and physiological processes involved in speaking and understanding a given set of audible signals (or visual symbols in the case of a written language) is complex and controversial. Most linguistic scientists would probably agree that the process is basically an associative one: a distinct, discrete sound, or sound pattern, becomes associated with an object (noun) or an activity (verb). If different human groups evolved at different sites at different times, their chosen sound patterns for denoting different actions and different objects would in all probability be totally arbitrary, with the exception of certain onomatopoeia.
If, however, the Eden origins of Homo sapiens are to be taken literally and historically, then a single “language of Eden” would be the logical sequel.
Investigation seems to suggest, rather tantalizingly, however, that the oldest roots of modern languages do tend to converge in the remote past. DNA investigations have also indicated the possibility of a common ancestor — maybe from the vicinity of the Olduvai Gorge.
The word Babel seems to have been derived from an ancient Hebrew root meaning “to confound” or “to confuse” and would seem to refer to the story of the tower that was never completed because its builders lost the power to understand one another’s languages.
It has been suggested that slaves taken by the Babylonians to carry out their grandiose building projects were dependent upon interpreters among the Babylonian overseers. If a slaves’ rebellion — or an outbreak of plague — led to the deaths of these interpreters, almost total confusion would have ensued, leading to probable abandonment of the site.
The Babylonians referred to their city as Bab-ili, Babila, or Babilam, meaning “the gate of God.” It was also known as Babilani — “the gate of the gods.” The ancient Akkadians called it Ka-dingira, which also meant “the gate of god,” as well as Tin-tir —“the seat of life.” Its other titles included E or E-ki, meaning “house” or “hollow place.” Yet another ancient title was Su-anna, meaning the city with the high defence.
The mysterious “they” of Genesis 2, verses 2–9, may refer solely to the Cushites, followers of Nimrod, the much acclaimed “mighty hunter” of Chapter 10, listed in the ancient genealogies as the great-grandson of Noah through Ham’s line. They seem to have referred to themselves as the people of Kingi-Ura, and are known in some scholarly circles as the Sumero-Akkadians. It is likely that they migrated to Shinar from some original location in the northeast of Mesopotamia.
Their building materials were mainly bricks and bitumen, and their earliest city layout seems to have been a relatively basic collection of dwellings scattered around a central temple-tower which they called the Zikkuratu.
Part of the mystery of the city of Babel and its vast tower is its great age. It is mentioned before Erech, Akkad, and Calneh in the account in Genesis 10, and almost certainly predates them by many centuries. The Greek historians of Alexander’s time questioned the Babylonians about it, and were given a nominal date of 2230 B.C. The city is undoubtedly much older than that.
The principal god of Babylon was known as Merodach and the city was regarded as his sacred dwelling in a very special and particular way. It was often referred to as “Babilu mahaz Marduk” which translates as “Babylon the stronghold of Merodach.”
This Merodach had a consort called Zir-panitum, the principal goddess of Babylon. Innana, Nana, or Ishtar was also regarded as one of the most important patron deities of ancient Babylon.
The great Hammurabi, known in Babylonian as Kimta-rapastum, was king of Babylon round about 2120 B.C., and was a clearly established member of the Babylonian Dynasty.
Throughout the ensuing centuries, there was continual war between Babylon and Assyria. The great city and its magnificent temples were destroyed and rebuilt on numerous occasions, any of which could have been the inspiration of the Tower of Babel story.
Nebuchadnezzar was a particularly vigorous rebuilder and restorer, as Daniel, chapter 4, verse 30, clearly indicates. Antiochus Soter was probably the last Babylonian king to carry out any restorations. The bold and decisive Xerxes plundered Babylon and intrepidly carried away the golden statue from the Temple of Belus, which Darius had hesitated to remove for religious reasons. By the time Alexander the Great got there, the city was in ruins once again. He originally decided to restore Babylon’s former glories, but even Alexander’s brilliant imagination drew back from the awesome logistics of a task that would have needed ten thousand labourers simply to clear away the rubble before the rebuilding began. After the death of Alexander, the decay and desolation of Babylon continued for many centuries.
TOO MANY RUINED TOWERS?
The biblical mystery of the Tower of Babel and its alleged consequences for global languages remains unsolved. It is not that there are no ruined Babylonian towers to which archaeologists can refer: there are, if anything, rather too many.
While the Israelites were undertaking their long journey through the wilderness after Moses had led them out of Egypt, their central place of worship was the Tabernacle, and the holiest object within the Tabernacle was the Ark of the Covenant, the Hebrew title of which can also be interpreted as the Ark of the Testimony. Together with the Mercy Seat situated on its lid, this ark was the centre of the Israelites’ sacred mystery.
As far as can be ascertained from Exodus, chapter 25, it was cuboid in shape, 1 ½ cubits wide, 1 ½ deep, and 2 ½ long. The biblical cubit was approximately forty-five centimetres or eighteen inches — the length of a human forearm from elbow to fingertips. It was made of fine acacia wood overlaid with gold on both sides.
The Mercy Seat was placed above the ark, and supported a cherub at each end. It was regarded as the symbolic throne of God. When the ark was in place within the Tabernacle, or later within the Holy of Holies in the Temple, a luminous cloud known as the Shechinah was seen to hover above it, and was clearly distinguished from the familiar smoke created by incense.
Tower of Babel.
ACACIA WOOD
Acacia wood, a genus of the mimosa family, or Mimosaceae, is found mainly in Africa and Australia, as well as in the Middle East. Acacia flowers tend to be small and fragrant, and are almost always yellow or white. One variety found in the Sudan is the source of gum arabic, used as glue or as an emulsifier in sweets, inks, adhesives, and chemical products. The bark of most acacias is also a rich source of tannin. The acacias yield interesting and unusual wood, particularly appropriate for the sacred Ark of the Covenant.
