Hebrew narrative was designed to offer one central theme, but provided enough threads to apply to several different areas. So while we draw spiritual and religious lessons from the Tower of Babel narrative, there is a distinct political message, too:
Centralized power and wealth is inherently sinful.
Nimrod was building a giant ziggurat. The language used to divulge his purpose was symbolic; a tower to touch the heavens was not a literal attempt to climb into the sky, but to obtain guidance from the heavens. Doing this required an astrological observatory to obtain precise measurements of the heavenly bodies and their movements. This is no great mystery; astrology was born in that part of the world.
The secondary objective was to enslave the entire human population at that time under this religious-political regime with Nimrod at the helm. Having a single religion, with a single grand aspiration, would help to political unify his domain.
When God announced His dissatisfaction with things, we have to keep in mind there is one glaring sin at work here: He had commanded humanity to disperse and populate the whole world. Huddling on the Plain of Shinar around this ziggurat was not fulfilling that command. Despite the apparent meaning of various English translations, the tone of God’s concern was that they had broken His command, had committed themselves to a path from which there was no return, that there would be nothing to bring them back from yet another self-damnation. This, right after the Flood, which had been an attempt to clean the slate and start over with a very simple setting.
His solution is a glaring light shined upon the nature of their sin. God confused their language, but the word translated “language” carries far more heft than simply how people talk. It’s a word for all the things which identify a group of people in ancient times — language, culture, folkways, customs, means of living, etc. The whole point was decentralizing people into tribes. The primary threat was the centralizing of masses of humanity.
What kind of man was Nimrod to so desire this much power? He was a hunter, one who relentlessly pursued his quarry. This was not the fit image of a man ruling his people. The good leader was a shepherd, the model Jesus chose for Himself, the Good Shepherd. A hunter and warrior was trouble. To make the most of his ambitions, Nimrod needed every body he could get. That astrology temple would be the means to tie them together in one vast nation. It didn’t matter what Nimrod planned to do with such a powerful nation; just having one great kingdom was itself a sin.
God has shown His displeasure with that model of life. His Law of Noah cannot be fulfilled by a great, centrally ruled nation. It can only be accomplished when everyone is broke down into little tribes, scattered and divided. This prevents tyranny and oppression. You’ve seen the symbol of the Roman fasces — the bundle of sticks with the ax. It symbolizes strength in unity, but what sort of strength? That of the rod for beating, and the ax for execution. It’s the unity of domination and cruelty.
Unity under any human ability or talent is inherently evil. God has set the pattern, and will not ever grant long life to any single human government. They will always be torn apart one way or another. Simply trying to find a way past that tendency and seeking political unity is evil by definition. It’s not necessary to have war simply because you aren’t all united. There can be peace in division, so long as folks mind their own business. With large concentrations of wealth and power — they are inseparable — you cannot possibly have peace. That’s a part of the lesson of Babel.
