The builders of the Tower of Babel were not just confused. They were transformed. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, when God confounded their language, He also changed their form into that of monkeys. Brothers could not recognize each other. When builders ordered stones, workers brought water. When they asked for water, they received stubble.
The tower itself was a massive undertaking, seventy steps high, with the ascent from the east and the descent from the west. The builders' priorities were revealing: if a man fell from the tower, nobody cared. But if a single brick fell, they wept bitterly and cried, "When, oh when, will another be brought up?" Bricks mattered more than people.
Their ambitions went beyond architecture. The builders planned to "take axes and break open the firmament" so the waters above would drain below, preventing God from ever sending another flood. They intended to wage war against heaven itself and establish themselves as gods. God's response was decisive. He declared He would scatter them, destroy some by water and others by fire, and strike them with thirst, "but Abram, My servant, I shall select."
God revealed that the land He intended for Abraham had been spared even during the flood. He never sent the deluge upon it. Now He would bring Abraham there, make a covenant with him and his descendants forever, and be their God for eternity. Abram had cursed the builders in God's name, but they ignored him. So God descended with seventy thousand angels and shattered their single language into seventy tongues. The tower was abandoned. The people were scattered across the earth.
XXX. (1) It came to pass, after these things, that the
people did not turn from their evil counsels, but coming to
their princes, they said, ' Behold, will not man be able to
conquer the world? Come and let us build for ourselves
a city and tower, the top of w^iich shall reach heaven, so
that it shall stand for ever.' (2) And it happened, when
the}^ began to build, that God saw the city and the tower,
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and said, ' Behold this people is of one speech; now the
earth will not bear them, neither will the heaven support
them. (3) Therefore I shall scatter them over the whole
earth, and shall confuse their tongue, so that one shall
neither be able to recognise his brother nor under-
stand the speech of his neighbour. (3) And I will order
them to the clefts, and they shall prepare for themselves
dwellings made of reeds and straw, and they shall dig for
themselves caves and holes in the dust, and the beasts of
the field shall dwell among them. There they shall remain
all their days, and shall not again counsel such a deed.
And I will fight (or: I will draw near unto) them with
shields (or: thorns^ mr^'a), and I shall destroy one portion
by water and another by fire, and I shall destroy them with
thirst, but Abram, My servant, I shall select; I shall bring
him out of their land to the land upon which my eyes have
long dwelt. (4) And when the people sinned and I brought
a flood upon them, this land was not destroyed, for I did
not cause the flood to descend upon it in My wrath, and I
shall bring thither Abram, My servant, and shall make a
covenant with him and his seed for ever, and I shall bless
him and be to him a God for ever.'
(5) And it came to pass, when they commenced to build
the tower, that God confused their tongue and changed
their form into that of monkeys, so that one could not
recognise his own brother nor could one man understand
the language of his neighbour, so that when the builders
ordered the people to bring stones they brought water, and
when they told them to bring water they brought stubble.
In this way their evil intentions were frustrated, and they
ceased building the tower, and the Lord scattered them
over the face of the whole earth. (6) For they had said,
' Come and let us build for ourselves a city, and let us take
axes and break open the firmament so that the water flow
from there and descend below, that He may not do unto us
as He did to the generation of the flood. And let us wage
war with those in heaven and establish ourselves there as
Gods.' (7) But how could they build the city, since they
had no stones? They made bricks from clay and pitch,
and burnt them as a potter burns his pots in the oven
and hardens them. In this ^ay they made the bricks,
and built the city and the tower exceedingly high, with
seventy steps. The ascent was made from the east and the
descent was from the west. If a man fell therefrom they
did not heed it much, whereas if a brick fell, they wept
bitterly and said, ' When, oh, when, will another be brought
up?' (8) When Abram saw their wicked ways he cursed
them in the name of the Lord, but they did not pay atten-
tion to his words. The Lord then descended with the
seventy (thousand) angels that surround His throne, and at
that time of the dispersion He confounded their tongue
into seventy different languages.
