Noach (parsha) - in Classical Rabbinic Interpretation - Genesis Chapter 11

Genesis Chapter 11

The Tosefta taught that the men of the Tower of Babel acted arrogantly before God only because God had been so good to them (in Genesis 11:1–2) as to give them a single language and allow them to settle in Shinar. And as usage elsewhere indicated that "settle" meant "eat and drink" (see Exodus 32:6), this eating and drinking was what led them to say (in Genesis 11:4) that they wanted to build the Tower.

Rabbi Levi, or some say Rabbi Jonathan, said that a tradition handed down from the Men of the Great Assembly taught that wherever the Bible employs the term "and it was" or "and it came to pass" (וַיְהִי, wa-yehi), as it does in Genesis 11:2, it indicates misfortune, as one can read wa-yehi as wai, hi, "woe, sorrow." Thus the words, "And it came to pass," in Genesis 11:2 are followed by the words, "Come, let us build us a city," in Genesis 11:4. And the Gemara also cited the instances of Genesis 6:1 followed by Genesis 6:5; Genesis 14:1 followed by Genesis 14:2; Joshua 5:13 followed by the rest of Joshua 5:13; Joshua 6:27 followed by Joshua 7:1; 1 Samuel 1:1 followed by 1 Samuel 1:5; 1 Samuel 8:1 followed by 1 Samuel 8:3; 1 Samuel 18:14 close after 1 Samuel 18:9; 2 Samuel 7:1 followed by 1 Kings 8:19; Ruth 1:1 followed by the rest of Ruth 1:1; and Esther 1:1 followed by Haman. But the Gemara also cited as counterexamples the words, "And there was evening and there was morning one day," in Genesis 1:5, as well as Genesis 29:10, and 1 Kings 6:1. So Rav Ashi replied that wa-yehi sometimes presages misfortune, and sometimes it does not, but the expression "and it came to pass in the days of" always presages misfortune. And for that proposition, the Gemara cited Genesis 14:1, Isaiah 7:1 Jeremiah 1:3, Ruth 1:1, and Esther 1:1.

Rabbi Johanan said in the name of Rabbi Eleazar the son of Rabbi Simeon that wherever you find the words of Rabbi Eleazar the son of Rabbi Jose the Galilean in an Aggadah, make your ear like a funnel (to receive the teaching). (Rabbi Eleazar taught that) God bestowed greatness on Nimrod, but Nimrod (did not humble himself, but) said, in the words of Genesis 11:4, “Come, let us build ourselves a city.”

The Mishnah taught that the generation of the dispersion has no portion in the world to come. The Gemara asked what they did to justify this punishment. The scholars of the academy of Rav Shila taught that they sought to build a tower, ascend to heaven, and cleave it with axes, that its waters might gush forth. In the academies of the Land of Israel, they laughed at this, arguing that if the generation of the dispersion had sought to do so, they should have built the tower on a mountain. Rabbi Jeremiah bar Eleazar taught that the generation of the dispersion split into three parties. One party sought to ascend to heaven and dwell there. The second party sought to ascend to heaven and serve idols. And the third party sought to ascend and wage war with God. God scattered the party that proposed to ascend and dwell there. God turned into apes, spirits, devils, and night-demons the party that sought to ascend and wage war with God. As for the party that sought to ascend and serve idols, God responded, in the words of Genesis 11:9, “for there the Lord did confound the language of all the earth.” It was taught in a Baraita that Rabbi Nathan said that the generation of the dispersion were all bent on idolatry. For Genesis 11:4 says, “let us make us a name,” while Exodus 23:13 says, “and make no mention of the name of other gods.” Rabbi Nathan reasoned that just as the word “name” indicates idolatry in Exodus 23:13, so does the word “name” in Genesis 11:4. Rabbi Jonathan taught that a third of the tower was burned, a third sank into the earth, and a third still stood at his time. Rav taught that the atmosphere of the tower caused forgetfulness. Rav Joseph taugh that Babylon and the neighboring city of Borsif were both evil omens for the Torah, because one soon forgets one's learning there. Rabbi Assi said that the name “Borsif” means “an empty pit” (bor shafi), for it empties one of knowledge.

Rabbi Phineas taught that the land of Babel had no stones with which to build the city and the tower. So they baked bricks until they built the tower seven miles high. The tower had ramps on its east and its west. Laborers took up the bricks on the eastern ramp, and people descended on the western ramp. If a man fell and died, the laborers paid him no heed, but if a brick fell, they sat and wept, asking when another brick would come in its stead.

Rabbi Simeon bar Yohai taught that the report of Genesis 11:5 that "the Lord came down to see the city and the tower" was one of ten instances when the Torah reports that God descended.

Rabbi Johanan taught that wherever heretics have taken Biblical passages as grounds for their heresy, another passage nearby provides the refutation. Thus (the heretics questioned the use of the plural with regard to God in Genesis 11:7): “Come, let us go down and there confound their language.” (But nearby, in Genesis 11:5, it says in the singular): “And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower.” Rabbi Johanan taught that God says, “let us,” in the plural in Genesis 11:7 (and elsewhere) to show that God does nothing without first consulting God’s Heavenly Court.

The Sages taught that the God who punished the generation of the Flood and the generation of the Dispersion would take vengeance on people who renege on their word after money has been paid.

The Gemara asked what the name Babel (which can mean “to mix” or “confound,” as in Genesis 11:9) connotes. Rabbi Johanan answered that Scripture, Mishnah, and Talmud was intermingled (in the study reported in the Babylonian Talmud).

The Gemara taught that Abraham asked God if God would ever punish Israel for its sins as God did to the generation of the Flood or the generation of the Dispersion, and God replied that God would not. God told Abraham that God had provided the order of sacrifices for Israel in the Torah, and whenever Jews read these passages, God would consider it as if they had offered the sacrifices, and God would pardon them for all their iniquities.

The Gemara taught that Sarah was one of seven prophetesses who prophesied to Israel and neither took away from nor added anything to what is written in the Torah. (The other prophetesses were Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Huldah, and Esther.) The Gemara derived Sarah’s status as a prophetess from the words, "Haran, the father of Milkah and the father of Yiscah," in Genesis 11:29. Rabbi Isaac taught that Yiscah was Sarah. Genesis 11:29 called her Yiscah (יִסְכָּה) because she discerned (saketah) by means of Divine inspiration, as Genesis 21:12 reports God instructing Abraham, "In all that Sarah says to you, hearken to her voice." Alternatively, Genesis 11:29 called her Yiscah because all gazed (sakin) at her beauty.

Rav Nahman said in the name of Rabbah bar Abbuha that the redundant report, "And Sarai was barren; she had no child," in Genesis 11:30 demonstrated that Sarah was incapable of procreation because she did not have a womb.