Legends of the Patriarchs and Prophets

XXIII

THE TOWER OF BABEL

First we will take Jewish traditions, and then Mahommedan legends. The Rabbis relate as follows: —

After the times of the great Deluge, men feared a recurrence of that great overthrow, and they assembled on and inhabited the plain of Shinar. There, they no longer obeyed the gentle guidance of Shem, the son of Noah; but they cast the kingdom of God far from them, and choose as their sovereign, Nimrod, son of Cush, son of Ham.279 Nimrod became very great in power. Having been born when his father was old, he was dearly beloved, and every whim had been gratified. Cush gave him the garment which God made for Adam when he was expelled from Paradise, and which Adam had given to Enoch, and Enoch to Methuselah, and Methuselah had left to Noah, and which Noah had taken with him into the ark. Ham stole it from his father in the ark, concealed it, and gave it to his son Cush. Nimrod, vested in this garment, was unconquerable and irresistible.280 All beasts and birds fell down before him, and his enemies were overcome almost without a struggle.

It was thus that he triumphed over the king of Babylon. His kingdom rapidly extended, and he became daily more powerful, till at last he was sole monarch over the whole world.281

Nimrod rejected God as his ruler; he trusted in his own might, therefore it is said of him, “He was mighty in hunting, and in sin before the Lord; for he was a hunter of the sons of men in their languages. And he said to them, Leave the judgments of Shem, and adhere to the judgments of Nimrod.”282

But Nimrod was uneasy in his mind, and he feared lest some one should arise who would be empowered by God to overthrow him; therefore he said to his subjects, “Come, let us build a great city, and let us settle therein, that we may not be scattered over the face of the earth, and be destroyed once more by a flood. And in the midst of our city let us build a high tower, so lofty as to overtop any flood, and so strong as to resist any fire. Yea, let us do further, let us prop up the heaven on all sides from the top of the tower, that it may not again fall and inundate us. Then let us climb up into heaven, and break it up with axes, and drain its water away where it can do no injury. Thus shall we avenge the death of our ancestors. And at the summit of our tower we will place an image of our god with a sword in his hand, and he shall fight for us. Thus shall we obtain a great name, and reign over the universe.”

Even if all were not inspired with the same presumption, yet all saw in the tower a means of refuge from a future deluge; and therefore they readily fell in with the proposal of the king. Six hundred thousand men were set to work under a thousand captains, and raised the tower to the height of seventy miles (i. e., fifty-six English miles). A great flight of stairs on the east side was used by those carrying up material, and a flight on the west side served those who descended, having deposited their burdens. If a workman fell down and was killed, no one heeded; but if any of the bricks gave way, there was an outcry. Some shot arrows into the sky, and they came down tinged with blood, then they shouted and cried, “See, we have killed every one who is in heaven.”283 Curiously enough a similar story is told by the Chinese of one of their earlier monarchs, who thought himself so great that he might war against heaven. He shot an arrow into the sky, and a drop of blood fell. “So,” said he, “I have killed God!”

At this time Abraham was forty-eight. He was filled with grief and shame at the impiety of his fellow-men, and he prayed to God, “O Lord! confound their tongues, for I have spied unrighteousness and strife in the city!”

Then the Lord called the seventy angels who surround His throne, that they should confuse the language of the builders, so that none should understand the other.

The angels came down, and cast confusion among the subjects of Nimrod, and seventy distinct languages sprang up, and the men could not understand each other; so they separated from one another, and were spread over the surface of the earth. The tower itself was destroyed in part. It was in three portions: the upper story was destroyed by fire from heaven, the basement was overthrown by an earthquake, only the middle story was left intact, – how, we are not informed.284

We will now take the Mussulman tradition. Nimrod, who, according to the Arabs, was the son of Canaan, and brother of Cush, sons of Ham, having cast Abraham, who refused to acknowledge him as supreme monarch of the world, into a burning, fiery furnace, from which he issued unhurt, said to his courtiers, “I will go to heaven and see this God whom Abraham preaches, and who protects him.”

His wise men having represented to him that heaven is very high, Nimrod ordered the erection of a tower, by which he might reach it. For three years an immense multitude of workmen toiled at the erection of this tower. Every day Nimrod ascended it and looked up, but the sky seemed to him as distant from the summit of his tower as it had from the level ground.

One morning he found his tower cast down. But Nimrod was not to be defeated so easily. He ordered a firmer foundation to be laid, and a second tower was constructed; but however high it was built, the sky remained inaccessible. Then Nimrod resolved on reaching heaven in another fashion. He had a large box made, and to the four corners he attached gigantic birds of the species Roc. They bore Nimrod high into the air, and then fluttered here and fluttered there, and finally upset the box, and tumbled him on the top of a mountain, which he cracked by his fall, without however materially injuring himself.

But Nimrod was not penitent, nor ready to submit to the Most High, therefore God confounded the language of his subjects, and thus rent from him a large portion of his kingdom.285

God sent a wind, says Abulfaraj, which overthrew the Tower of Babel and buried Nimrod under its ruins.286

Of Babel we find fewer traditions preserved amongst the ancient nations, than we did of the Deluge.

The Zendavesta makes no mention of such an event; and it is equally unknown to the Chinese books, though curiously enough, in Chinese hieroglyphics, the tower is the symbol of separation.287

The Chaldeans, however, says Abydessus, probably quoting Berosus, the priest of Bel, related, “That the first inhabitants of the earth, glorying in their own strength and size, and despising the gods, undertook to raise a tower whose top should reach the sky in the place where Babylon now stands; but when it approached the heavens, the winds assisted the gods, and overthrew the work of the contrivers; and its ruins are said to be still in Babylon; and the gods introduced a diversity of tongues among men, who till that time had all spoken the same language; and a war arose between Kronos and Titan. The place on which they built the tower is now called Babylon.”288

Alexander Polyhistor relates the events as follows, and quotes the Sibyl. “The Sibyl says, when all men had one speech, they built a great tower in order to climb into heaven, but the gods blowing against it with the winds, threw it down, and confounded the language of the builders, therefore the city is called Babylon.”289 The writings of this Sibyl, commonly called the Chaldean Sibyl, formed part of the sacred scriptures of the Babylonians. Eupolemus, quoting apparently Syro-phœnician traditions, relates the matter somewhat differently. “The city Babylon,” says he, “was built after the Deluge by those who were saved. But they were giants, and they built the famous tower then. But when this was overthrown by the will of the gods, the giants were scattered over the whole face of the earth.”290 The Armenian tradition recorded by Moses of Chorene, is to this effect: “From them (i. e., from the first dwellers on the earth) sprang the race of the giants, with strong bodies and of huge size. Full of pride and envy, they formed the godless resolve to build a high tower. But whilst they were engaged on the undertaking, a fearful wind overthrew it, which the wrath of God had sent against it, and unknown words were at the same time blown about among men, wherefore arose strife and contention.”291

The Hindu story of the confusion of tongues and the separation of nations is not connected with the erection of a tower, but with the pride of the Tree of Knowledge, or the world tree. This tree grew in the centre of the earth, and its head was in heaven. It said in its heart, I shall hold my head in heaven, and spread my branches over all the earth, and gather all men together under my shadow and protect them, and prevent them from separating. But Brahm, to punish the pride of the tree, cut off its branches and cast them down on the earth, where they sprang up as Wata trees, and made differences of belief and speech and customs to prevail in the earth, to disperse men over its surface.292

The Dutch traveller, Hamel van Gorcum, found a tradition of the Tower of Babel, in the seventeenth century, in the Korea, in the midst of a sect which had not adopted Buddhism, but which retained much of the old primitive Schamanism of the race. They said, “That formerly all men spake the same language, but, after building a great tower, wherewith they attempted to invade heaven, they fell into confusion of tongues.”293

The Mexican story was, that after the Deluge the sole survivors Coxcox and Chichequetzl engendered many children who were born dumb, but one day received the gift of speech from a dove, which came and perched itself on a lofty tree: but the dove did not communicate to them the same language, so they separated in fifteen companies. And Gemelli Carreri and Clavigero describe an ancient Mexican painting representing the dove with thirty-three tongues, answering to the languages and dialects he taught.294

At Cholula they related that Xelhuaz began to build a tower on Mount Tlalok to commemorate his having been saved along with his brothers from the Flood. And the tower he built in the form of a pyramid. The clay was baked into bricks in the province of Tlamanalco, at the foot of the Sierra Cocotl, and to bring them to Cholula a row of men was placed, that the bricks might be passed from hand to hand. The gods saw this building, whose top reached the clouds, with anger and dismay, and sent fire from heaven, and destroyed the tower.295

XXIV

ABRAHAM.296

Abraham or Abram, as he was first called, was the son of Terah, general of Nimrod’s army, and Amtelai, daughter of Carnebo. He was born at Ur of the Chaldees, in the year 1948 after the Creation.

On the night on which Abraham was born, Terah’s friends, amongst whom were many councillors and soothsayers of Nimrod, were feasting in the house. On leaving, late at night, they observed an unusual star in the east; it seemed to run from one quarter of the heavens to another, and to devour four stars which were there. All gazed in astonishment on this wondrous sight. “Truly,” said they, “this can signify nothing else but that Terah’s new-born son will become great and powerful, will conquer the whole realm, and dethrone great princes, and seize on their possessions.”

Next morning they hastened to the king, to announce to him what they had seen, and what was their interpretation of the vision, and to advise the slaughter of the young child, and that Terah should be compensated with a liberal sum of money.

Nimrod accordingly sent gold and silver to Terah, and asked his son in exchange, but Terah refused. Then the king sent and threatened to burn down and utterly destroy the whole house of Terah, unless the child were surrendered. In the mean time one of the female slaves had born a son; this Terah gave to the royal officers, who, supposing it to be the son of the householder, brought it before Nimrod and slew it.

Then, to secure Abraham, Terah concealed him and his mother and nurse in a cave.

But there is another version of the story, and it is as follows: —

Nimrod had long read in the stars that a child would be born who would oppose his power and his religion, and would finally overcome both.

Acting on the advice of his wise men, he built a house, sixty ells high and eighty ells broad, into which all pregnant women were brought to be delivered, and the nurses were instructed to put to death all the boys that were born, but to make handsome presents to the mothers who were brought to bed of daughters.

After seventy thousand male children had thus perished, the angels of heaven turned to the All Mighty, and besought Him with tears to stay this cruel murder of innocents.

“I slumber not, I sleep not,” God answered. “Ye shall see that this atrocity shall not pass unpunished.”

Shortly after, Terah’s wife was pregnant; she concealed her situation as long as was possible, pretending that she was ill; but when she could conceal it no more, the infant crept behind her breasts, so that she appeared to every eye as if nothing were about to take place.

When the time came for her delivery, she went in fear out of the city, and wandered in the desert till she lighted on a cave, into which she entered. Next morning she was delivered of a son, Abraham, whose face shone, so that the grotto was as light as though the sun were casting a golden beam into it. She wrapped the child in a mantle, and left it there to the custody of God and His angels, and returned home. God heard the cry of the weeping infant, and He sent His angel Gabriel to the cave, who let the child suck milk out of his fore-finger. But according to another account he opened two holes in the cave, from which dropped oil and flour to nourish Abraham. Others, however, say that Terah visited the cave every day, and nursed and fed the child.

According to the Arab tradition, which follows the Jewish in most particulars, the mother, on visiting the cave, found the infant sucking its two thumbs. Now out of one of its thumbs flowed milk, and out of the other, honey, and thus the babe nourished itself: or, say others, from one finger flowed water when he sucked it; from a second, milk; from a third, honey; from a fourth, the juice of dates; and from the little finger, butter.297

When Abraham had been in the cave, according to some, three years, according to others ten, and according to others thirteen, he left the cavern and stood on the face of the desert. And when he saw the sun shining in all its glory, he was filled with wonder, and he thought, “Surely the sun is God the Creator!” and he knelt down and worshipped the sun. But when evening came, the sun went down in the west, and Abraham said, “No! the Author of creation cannot set.” Now the moon arose in the east, and the stars looked out of the firmament. Then said Abraham, “This moon must indeed be God, and all the stars are His host!” And kneeling down he adored the moon.

But after some hours of darkness the moon set, and from the east appeared once more the bright face of the sun. Then said Abraham, “Verily these heavenly bodies are no gods, for they obey law: I will worship Him who imposed the law upon them.”

The Arab story is this. When Abraham came out of the cave, he saw a number of flocks and herds, and he said to his mother, “Who is lord of these?” She answered, “Your father Azar (Terah).” “And who is the lord of Azar?” he further asked. She replied, “Nimrod.” “And who is the lord of Nimrod?” “Oh, hush, my son,” said she, striking him on the mouth; “you must not push your questions so far.” But it was by following this train of thought that Abraham arrived at the knowledge of the one true God.

Another Rabbinical story is, that Abraham was only ten days in the cave after his birth, and then he was able to walk, and he left it. But his mother, who visited the grotto, finding him gone, was a prey to anguish and fear.

Wandering along the bank of the river, searching for her child, she met Abraham, but did not recognize him, as he had grown tall; and she asked him if he had seen a little baby anywhere.

“I am he whom you seek,” answered Abraham.

“Is this possible!” exclaimed the mother. “Could you grow to such a height, and be able to walk and talk, in ten days?”

“Yes, mother,” answered the youthful prodigy; “all this has taken place that you might know that there is but one living and true God who made heaven and earth, who dwells in heaven and fills the earth with His goodness.”

“What!” asked Amtelai, “is there another god besides Nimrod?”

“By all means,” replied the infant son; “there is a God in heaven, who is also the God who made Nimrod. Now go to Nimrod and announce this to him.”

Abraham’s mother related all this to her husband, who bore the message to the king. Nimrod, greatly alarmed, consulted his council what was to be done with the boy.298

The council replied that he had nothing to fear from an infant of ten days, – he, the king and god of the world! But Nimrod was not satisfied. Then Satan, putting on a black robe, mingled with the advisers of the monarch and said, “Let the king open his arsenal, arm all his troops, and march against this precocious infant.” This advice fell in completely with Nimrod’s own personal fears, and his army was marched against the baby. But when Abraham saw the host drawn up in battle array, he cried to heaven with many tears, and Gabriel came to his succor, enveloped the infant in clouds, and snatched him from the sight of those who came against him; and they, frightened at the cloud and darkness, fled precipitately to Babylon.

Abraham followed them on the shoulders of Gabriel, and reaching the gates of the city in an instant of time, he cried, “The eternal One is the true and only God, and none other is like Him! He is the God of heaven, God of gods and Lord of Nimrod! Be convinced of this, all ye men, women and children who dwell here, even I am Abraham, his servant.” Then he sought his parents, and bade Terah go and fulfil his command to Nimrod.

Terah went accordingly, and announced to the king that his son, whom the army had been unable to capture, had, in a brief space of time, traversed a country across which was forty days’ journey.

Nimrod quaked, and consulted his princes, who advised him to institute a festival of seven days, during which every subject and dweller on the face of the earth was to make a pilgrimage to his palace, and there to worship and adore him.