When I read just this little tekst, it seems incomprehensible. Was God jealous because of their aspiration to remain a united people ? Of their possibilities to achieve anything they could think of ?
And why would he do such a mean thing as to confuse their language ? So that they would become dispersed, more vulnerable and probably would engage in more conflicts between them than would have occurred if they would still speak one language ?

In sources that I read later it is assumed that it was their pride (hoogmoed) that let to their fall: their presumption to be able to reach until heaven. It is also argued that it was God's wish that they should diperse all over the earth, rather than stick together in one place (see Genesis 9:2, reading: God blessed Noach and his sons and said: become numerous and occupy the earth). However, I find no clear link in the bible text between this statement and the story of Babel 2 pages further on.

From a present day environmental point of view this latter argument may seem bizarre anyway, at least when overseeing the current consequences for the earth and it's nature.
Now one might wish that they had stayed together around that tower, nicely united by one language, not polluting and destroying the rest of the earth. In reality, not a single language has stopped the Chinese, Portugese, the Dutch or any other nation to sail out and conquer the world. Not to forget the French, Spanjards and English who imposed their language in remote lands.

Ofcourse, when reading all this, one cannot help to think of the recent destruction of the Twin Towers in New York in september 2001.

De Vries (1953), p.22 says that the name Babel means confusion. The tower became the shame of the city, an eternal memory of a foolish endeavour of small people who did not wish to reckon with God.

I have no idea what the relation is (if any) between the word Babel and Babylon, a major city in Mesopotamia. However there are many links, not the least being that we speak of the Babylonian confusion of tongues (een Babylonische spraakverwarring). Is Babel the same city as Babylon ? Who can tell me ?

Hall, (1993), p. 338 tells us more about more wordly explananations of the story of the Tower of Babel and also speaks about Babylon.
Nimrod, the legendary conqueror of Babylon is supposed to have been in charge of the building of the tower. Hall does not say if this took place in Babylon, however.
He writes that the Babylonian confusion of tongues could be a refelction of the impressions that shepards from the desert experienced in a city with a great diversity of people and languages.

According to Hall, the tower is generally drawn or painted in 2 different manners. The tower can be depicted with a road that leads to the top in a spiral, or with floors becoming smaller the higher they are. The idea of different languages is often symbolised by depicting people of different races.
However, the origin of the tower of Babel was the "zikkoerat", a gigantic brick sanctuary, typical for the large Sumerian cities of Mesopotamia. A staircase led from the ground to a temple above, where a holy marriage between the god and a priestess was performed.

Anyone who can help me (well documented) with this story is invited to write to me: email
 

Sources:
Bible, book Genesis

Hall (1993), Hall's Iconografisch Handbook, Onderwerpen, symbolen en motieven in de beeldende kunst, transalated by Theo Veenhof, Leiden, The Netherlands: Primavera pers. ISBN: 90-74310-05-2
(Original title: Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art, published by John Murray in London).

Vries, Anne, de, Groot Vertelboek voor de Bijbelse Geschiedenis, met illustraties van C. Jetses, Kampen: J.H. Kok, 7e druk, 1953.

"Babylon" Vertaalbureau in en uit alle talen (translation bureau)
Den Haag, 1928, brief met orderbevestiging
Vignette (4 by 2 cm) of the tower of Babel amidst 2 halve globes; VF-: 2 archive holes (one torn into the edge) and some rust traces, one dirty corner in lower border. price: 45 Euro.

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