No Thin Tower

For years I imagined the tower of Babel being tall and thin, much like towers you see attached to European castles. And being in the middle of an empty plain with nothing else around it, just a tower.

Well, I was wrong on two fronts. First, I overlooked two key phrases in the story - 'they dwelt there', and 'to see the city.' The people found the Plain of Shinar in the Fertile Crescent area and settled there under their family leader Nimrod. Then the Lord came down to see the city Nimrod's people were building. Somehow my brain had never wrapped itself around that part of the story. Now reading that part carefully, I see the name of one of the cities in the area was Babel. . .duh, the Tower of Babel.

By the way, did you know that Babel is Hebrew for Babylon. It's no wonder the Hebrews hated Babylonians. They were a reminder of the ill-fated tower and of man's attempt to reach into heaven to make a name for themselves.

As for my tall thin tower theory, well. . .In reading A Visual Guide to Bible Events and the Chronological Study Bible I learned there are towers, known as ziggurats, throughout the Fertile Crescent that were usually built for kings, nations, or idols. The oldest one found so far only goes back as far as the Nebuchadnezzar era.

Just how wrong was I about the size? Here's a description of a tower that CSB says was found in an ancient Babylonian writing. The base of this tower was two hundred and ninety-five feet squared. (That's a football field length squared.) There were seven platforms that were one hundred and eight feet tall, with ramps and stairs between the levels. Of course, each platform up was slightly smaller than the lower platform. And the last platform held a temple.

Ok, well, I'm not an engineer and that's why I wasn't thinking like one. So the tower must have been massive if they were planning to reach all the way into heaven.