11/2/08

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Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology & the Ancient World
Brown University
Box 1837 / 60 George Street
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: (401) 863-3188
Fax: (401) 863-9423
[email protected]

Genesis 11:1-9.

(New International Version, http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=GENESIS%2011:1-9)

1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth." 5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." 8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

Observations:

Verse 3: The builders used brick instead of stone, which it seems was the material they were used to beforehand. A skyscraper has to accomplish things that a short, small building does not, so it requires a reevaluation of materials. This certainly connects to the movement from load-bearing masonry to steel skeleton construction outlined in my journal entry from 10/14/08.
Verse 4: The skyscraper is to be the central point of their new city - the beacon, the focus, the thing that brings fame to the city. It is also the thing which holds the people together? I plan to look at different translations, especially for this verse.
Verse 6: The skyscraper is viewed by God as an achievement that is potentially important enough that God has to come down and intervene against its construction. The skyscraper reaches towards God, threatens God, and makes God acknowledge the power of humans.

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