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Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume II

Book Sixteen — the tower of Babel and the division of tongues

{Upon those words, Genesis ch. 11: The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of Adam were building.}

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{Upon those words, Genesis ch. 11: The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of Adam were building.}1

Super illis verbis, Genes. cap. 11: Descendit Dominus ut videret civitatem et turrim quam aedificabant filii Adam.

CUM Deus praesens sit omnibus rebus (non enim longe abest ab unoquoque nostri, ut inquit Paulus; in ipso enim vivimus, movemur et sumus), cumque cernat omnia clarissime quae fuerunt, quae sunt et erunt („Nulla enim creatura invisibilis in conspectu eius; omnia autem nuda et aperta sunt oculis eius“): quid est quod Moses ait Deum descendisse ut videret aedificationem civitatis et turris, quasi e caelo (ubi erat) propter locorum distantiam vel impedimentum aliorum corporum aedificium illud videre non potuerit? Sed profecto figuratam esse hanc orationem Mosis — nec tam divinae naturae proprietati convenientem quam ad similitudinem humanae consuetudinis et ad humilitatem nostrae mentis et intelligentiae accommodatam — nullo modo dubitandum est. Loquitur enim scriptura de Deo quemadmodum hominibus qui secundum carnem sapiunt videri solet: quibus, cum Deus punit homines vel adiuvat, videtur descendisse ad homines; cum autem dissimulat et ad tempus praetermittit vel castigare vel auxiliari, in caelo residere videtur et non curare mortalia.
Since God is present to all things (for He is not far from every one of us, as Paul says; for in Him we live, move, and are), and since He discerns most clearly all things that have been, that are, and that shall be („For there is no creature invisible in His sight; but all things are naked and open to His eyes“): what is it that Moses says, that God came down to see the building of the city and the tower, as if from heaven (where He was), on account of distance of places or the obstruction of other bodies, He could not see that building? But assuredly it must by no means be doubted that this expression of Moses is figurative — not so much suited to the property of the divine nature as accommodated to the likeness of human custom and to the lowliness of our mind and understanding. For Scripture speaks of God as He is wont to seem to men who are wise according to the flesh: to whom, when God punishes or helps men, He seems to have come down to men; but when He dissembles and for a time forbears either to chastise or to help, He seems to reside in heaven and not to care for mortal things.2
SIGNATE autem dictum est descendisse eum ut videret, quo significaretur longanimitas Dei non festinantis ad supplicium de peccatoribus sumendum, sed, quamvis optime sciat peccata hominum, subinde tandem differentis et quasi tempus ad ea cognoscenda et perpendenda sumentis. Declaratur item iustitia Dei, qui nullum punit nisi prius aperte convictum peccati: id quod et in Adamo atque Cain et in Sodomitis animadvertere licet. Docemur praeterea non temere iudicium faciendum et sententiam pronuntiandam esse nisi causa prius bene cognita, nec ullum indicta causa damnandum. Iam sane quieverat ira Dei post diluvium, et placatus homini promiserat se nunquam in posterum genus hominum dissipaturum et perditurum diluvio. Sed ecce filii hominum denuo intolerandis maleficiis eum provocant, et ad indignationem et vindictam quasi compellunt. Descendit igitur Deus, quia talis causa erat ut eam indiscussam et iniudicatam caeleste iudicium nullo modo debuerit omittere. Novit quidem interdum Deus dissimulare et quasi non advertere peccata, sed cum vel ex ignorantia vel ex infirmitate peccatur; non autem cum ex malitia.
And it was said pointedly that He came down to see, that the longanimity of God might be signified — not hastening to take punishment of sinners, but, although He knows perfectly the sins of men, deferring them at last from time to time, and as it were taking time to know and weigh them. Likewise the justice of God is declared, who punishes no one unless first openly convicted of sin: which may be observed both in Adam and Cain and in the Sodomites. We are taught besides that judgment must not be made rashly nor sentence pronounced unless the cause be first well known, nor anyone condemned with his cause unheard. Now indeed the anger of God had been quieted after the flood, and, appeased, He had promised man that He would never thereafter scatter and destroy the race of men by a flood. But behold, the children of men again provoke Him with intolerable misdeeds, and as it were compel Him to indignation and vengeance. God came down, therefore, because the cause was such that the heavenly judgment ought by no means to have left it undiscussed and unjudged. God knows indeed sometimes to dissemble and as it were not to notice sins — but when one sins either from ignorance or from weakness, not when from malice.3
NEC emphasi caret quod subditur, „Ut videret civitatem et turrim quam aedificabant filii Adam“: nam illud „Filii Adam“ denotat conditionem hominis, humilem nempe ac vilem, ut qui e luto primum formatus sit et propter peccatum innumerabilibus sit aerumnis et vitiis obnoxius. Talis igitur creatura audet, incredibili audacia et superbia, contra voluntatem regnatoris caeli omniumque rerum conditoris civitatem et turrim aedificare? Vel illud „Adam“ non solum notionem hominis habet in commune, sed hic singulariter denotat primum hominem qui vocabulo Adam primus omnium est appellatus. Hunc enim illi specialiter imitabantur, dum nomen aeternum sibi facere et usque in caelum turrim aedificare voluerunt: similiter enim Adam fructum vetitum comedit, divinam scientiam concupiscens et affectans.
Nor is that which is subjoined without emphasis, „To see the city and the tower which the children of Adam were building“: for that „children of Adam“ denotes the condition of man — namely, humble and vile, as one who was first formed of mud, and, on account of sin, is liable to innumerable miseries and vices. Does, then, such a creature dare, with incredible audacity and pride, against the will of the ruler of heaven and the founder of all things, to build a city and a tower? Or that „Adam“ has not only the notion of man in common, but here singularly denotes the first man, who was by the word ‘Adam’ first of all called. For him they specially imitated, while they wished to make for themselves an eternal name and to build a tower up to heaven: for similarly Adam ate the forbidden fruit, coveting and aiming at divine knowledge.4
CETERUM ea quae nunc presse ac breviter dixi, ex Patribus et antiquis scriptoribus deprompta sunt. Beatus sane Augustinus dupliciter exponit quemadmodum intelligi possit Deum descendisse ut videret aedificationem illius civitatis: primum quidem ratione novi effectus quem in illo loco produxit (fecit enim, impediendo processum aedificii et unam eorum hominum linguam in multas et varias mirabiliter dividendo, ut plane intelligeretur ab omnibus sibi aedificium illud vehementer displicuisse); deinde intelligi potest propterea Deum descendisse, quia fecit ut Angeli de caelo descenderent et in locum illum irent et, conatus illorum hominum impedita aedificatione, irritos facerent. Caietanus propterea dictum esse putat Deum descendisse ad videndam aedificationem civitatis, ut significaretur Dei providentiam non tantum in rebus caelestibus consistere, sed quantum ad scientiam, efficientiam, directionem et ordinationem etiam ad infima et minima quae fiunt in terris descendere ac pertinere. „Descendit Deus,“ inquit Caietanus, „id est, habuit se ad similitudinem descendentis, quatenus extendit se non quidem corporali motu sed cura et providentia usque ad haec infima, humanas scilicet actiones et singularia haec corporea qualia sunt civitas et turris.“
But the things which I have now said concisely and briefly are drawn from the Fathers and ancient writers. Blessed Augustine indeed expounds in two ways how it can be understood that God came down to see the building of that city: first, by reason of the new effect which He produced in that place (for He brought it about, by hindering the progress of the building and by wonderfully dividing the one tongue of those men into many and various, that it might be plainly understood by all that that building had greatly displeased Him); next, it can be understood that God came down for this reason, because He brought it about that the Angels came down from heaven and went to that place and, the building hindered, made the endeavors of those men vain. Cajetan thinks it was said that God came down to see the building of the city in order to signify that God's providence consists not only in heavenly things, but, as to knowledge, efficiency, direction, and ordering, descends and pertains even to the lowest and least things that are done on earth. „God came down,“ says Cajetan, „that is, He held Himself after the likeness of one descending, inasmuch as He extends Himself — not indeed by bodily motion, but by care and providence — even to these lowest things, namely human actions and these singular corporeal things, such as a city and a tower.“5
BEATUS Chrysostomus, quem sequitur Rupertus, arbitratur ob eam causam inductum esse Deum a Mose quasi descendentem ad videndam aedificationem turris, ut inde omnes discerent quanta cum cogitatione et cautione quamque accurata consideratione utendum sit in cognoscendis, iudicandis et puniendis aliorum factis et erratis. Audi Chrysostomum: „Humano more,“ inquit, „loquitur scriptura cum ait descendisse Deum: verum non vult id humano more intelligi. Vult igitur hinc erudiri nos, ne unquam temere fratres condemnemus, neque solo auditu iudicemus, nec nisi prius compluribus argumentis certi reddamur. Vide praeterea quam non festinanter ad castigandos illos homines processerit Deus: neque enim statim ab initio illorum repressit insaniam, sed longanimi utens lenitate exspectavit dum malitiam illi suam opere declararent, et tunc demum conatus eorum impedivit. Nam ne quis dicere posset voluisse quidem illos, sed quae cogitaverant et animo designaverant nequaquam in actum et effectum explicuisse, idcirco praestolatus est Deus donec animo destinatum opus aggrederentur…“
Blessed Chrysostom, whom Rupert follows, judges that God was for this cause brought in by Moses as if descending to see the building of the tower, that all might thence learn with how great thought and caution, and with how careful consideration, one must proceed in knowing, judging, and punishing the deeds and errors of others. Hear Chrysostom: „In human fashion,“ he says, „Scripture speaks when it says that God came down: but it does not wish this to be understood in human fashion. It wishes, therefore, that we be instructed hence, never rashly to condemn brothers, nor to judge by hearing alone, nor unless we are first made certain by several arguments. See, moreover, how unhastily God proceeded to chastise those men: for He did not at once from the beginning repress their madness, but, using long-suffering gentleness, waited until they should declare their malice by the deed, and then at last hindered their endeavors. For lest anyone could say that they indeed wished, but had by no means brought what they had thought and designed in mind into act and effect, therefore God waited until they should set about the work destined in their mind…“6
„…et tunc eis demonstravit quam inutilia attentassent. Considera item divinae misericordiae excellentiam: permisit illos laboribus sese affligere, ut rerum experientia praeceptoris loco illis esset. At enim quia vidit malitiam eorum invalescere morbumque incrudescere, non usque ad finem designati operis pervenire eos passus est, sed in dissipando eorum consilio et opere impediendo suam declaravit bonitatem: non secus ac bonus medicus, videns morbum augeri et ulcus fieri incurabile, non diutius cunctandum ratus statim sectione utitur, ut omnem mali causam excidat.“ Ita Chrysostomus.
„…and then He showed them how useless were the things they had attempted. Consider likewise the excellence of the divine mercy: He permitted them to afflict themselves with labors, that the experience of the matter might be to them in the place of a teacher. But because He saw their malice grow strong and the disease worsen, He did not suffer them to come to the end of the designed work, but in dissipating their design and hindering the work He declared His goodness: just like a good physician who, seeing the disease increase and the ulcer become incurable, judging that he must delay no longer, at once uses the knife, that he may cut out every cause of the evil.“ So Chrysostom.7
VERUNTAMEN aliquot saeculis ante Rupertum et Chrysostomum hanc ipsam loci huius interpretationem et similia documenta scriptis suis prodidit Philo. Namque in eo libro quem scripsit De confusione linguarum, tractans Mosis verba quae sunt hoc loco de descensu Dei ad videndam civitatem, sic ait: „Figurate accipienda sunt haec. Nam credere Deum accedere vel recedere, descendere item vel ascendere, vel omnino moveri loco, impietatis est deportanda in extremas (ut vulgus loquitur) insulas Oceani. Sed ista humano more legislator de Deo dixit (quamquam is non humana forma et natura est praeditus), sed ad legentium et discentium utilitatem. Etenim Deus implet omnia, non contentus sed continens, qui solus ubique simul et nusquam est. Nusquam, quia ipse locum omnem et regionem creavit una cum corporibus; nefas autem est Creatorem intra ullam rerum ab ipso creatarum includi. Ubique vero, quia potentia sua per terram, aquam, aërem et caelum extensa nullam partem mundi destituit, sed omnia inter se invicem astringit invisibilibus vinculis, ne unquam dissolvantur.“
Nevertheless, some ages before Rupert and Chrysostom, this very interpretation of this place and similar lessons Philo set forth in his writings. For in the book which he wrote On the Confusion of Tongues, treating the words of Moses which are in this place about the descent of God to see the city, he says thus: „These things must be taken figuratively. For to believe that God approaches or withdraws, descends likewise or ascends, or is at all moved in place, is an impiety to be banished to the farthest islands of the Ocean (as the common people say). But the lawgiver said these things of God in human fashion (though He is not endowed with human form and nature), for the benefit of readers and learners. For God fills all things, not contained but containing, who alone is everywhere at once and nowhere. Nowhere, because He Himself created every place and region together with the bodies; and it is unlawful that the Creator be enclosed within any of the things created by Himself. But everywhere, because His power, extended through earth, water, air, and heaven, leaves no part of the world destitute, but binds all things together among themselves by invisible bonds, that they may never be dissolved.“8
„ERGO vocabula migratorii motus nequaquam Deo conveniunt. Sed nihilominus tamen dicitur Deus descendens visere, qui omnia, prius etiam quam fiant, clarissime praevidet: ut doceamur ne quis homo de absentibus rebus et incertis putet se certum posse iudicium facere, sed, propius introspecto negotio, diligenter cuncta perlustret. Visus enim certus adhibendus est potius quam fallax auditus. Quapropter in optime constituta Republica lege cautum est ne quis audita dicat pro testimonio, quia iudicium auditus naturaliter obnoxium est corruptioni. Hanc igitur nos censemus esse causam cur Deus descendisse dicatur ut civitatem ac turrim viseret.“ Haec Philo.
„Therefore the words of migratory motion by no means befit God. But nonetheless God is said to come down to inspect, who most clearly foresees all things even before they come to be: that we may be taught that no man should think he can make a certain judgment about things absent and uncertain, but, the matter being more closely looked into, should diligently survey everything. For certain sight must be employed rather than fallacious hearing. Wherefore in a best-constituted Republic it is provided by law that no one give for testimony things heard, because the judgment of hearing is by nature liable to corruption. This, then, we judge to be the cause why God is said to have come down to inspect the city and the tower.“ So Philo.9
BEATUS Basilius, super Psalmum trigesimum secundum explanans illum versiculum „De caelo prospexit Dominus, vidit omnes filios hominum; de praeparato habitaculo suo,“ discrimen ponit inter „Videre Deum de caelo quid agant homines“ et „Descendere Deum ut videat quid agant homines“: illud enim de bonis ait dici et in bonam partem accipi, hoc autem ad malos homines referri et ad malum eorum pertinere. Sic enim scribit: „Eos qui in propria manent animae dignitate et congruentia naturae faciunt, de caelo aspicit Deus. Eos vero qui ad extremum flagitiorum prolapsi sunt, descendendo dicitur invisere Deus. ‘Clamor,’ inquit, ‘Sodomorum multiplicatus est, et peccata eorum magna nimis; descendam itaque et videbo an secundum clamorem qui ad me venit perfecerint.’ Et rursus: ‘Descendit videre civitatem quam aedificabant filii hominum.’“ Sic Basilius.
Blessed Basil, on the thirty-second Psalm, explaining that verse, „From heaven the Lord has looked forth, He has seen all the children of men; from His prepared dwelling-place,“ sets a distinction between „God seeing from heaven what men do“ and „God coming down to see what men do“: for the former, he says, is said of the good and taken in a good sense, but the latter is referred to evil men and pertains to their evil. For he writes thus: „Those who remain in their proper dignity of soul and do things agreeable to nature, God looks upon from heaven. But those who have fallen to the extreme of disgraceful deeds, God is said to visit by coming down. ‘The cry,’ He says, ‘of the Sodomites is multiplied, and their sins are exceedingly grievous; I will go down therefore and see whether they have done according to the cry that has come to me.’ And again: ‘He came down to see the city which the children of men were building.’“ So Basil.10
SED haec observatio et documentum Basilii non est perpetuo verum in sacris literis…
But this observation and lesson of Basil is not perpetually true in the sacred letters…11
…Siquidem, ut saepe Deus dicitur descendere ad consideranda et punienda hominum peccata, ita quoque non raro descendere dicitur ad bonos et sanctos viros adiuvandos, consolandos et erudiendos. Hinc est illud apud Isaiam: „Utinam dirumperes caelos et descenderes.“ Et Mosi dixit Deus: „Vidi afflictionem populi mei in Aegypto, et clamorem eius audivi; et sciens clamorem eius descendi ut liberem eum.“ Et in libro Exodi scriptum est Deum descendisse super montem Sinai, videlicet ad loquendum cum Mose eumque erudiendum, ut per eum legem suam promulgaret Hebraeis.
…Inasmuch as, just as God is often said to come down to consider and punish the sins of men, so also He is not rarely said to come down to help, console, and instruct good and holy men. Hence is that in Isaiah: „Would that Thou wouldst break open the heavens and come down.“ And to Moses God said: „I have seen the affliction of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry; and knowing their cry, I have come down to deliver him.“ And in the book of Exodus it is written that God came down upon Mount Sinai — namely, to speak with Moses and to instruct him, that through him He might promulgate His law to the Hebrews.12
VERUNTAMEN hoc loco descensus Dei significat animadversionem divinam in superbiam aedificatorum illius turris. Certe Rabbi Moyses Aegyptius annotavit descensum Dei hic debere intelligi iram et vindictam Dei adversus homines malos qui in terris sunt. „Cum poena,“ inquit, „et ira Dei venit super gentes mundi, quam poenam antea praedixerunt prophetae ipsius, dicitur Deus descendere ad illas gentes, id est, visitare et punire eorum opera.“ Ergo quando dicitur, „Venite, descendamus et confundamus eorum linguam,“ hoc significat: Non amplius dissimulemus eorum scelera, sed quamprimum ea puniamus confundendo linguam eorum.
Nevertheless, in this place the descent of God signifies the divine animadversion upon the pride of the builders of that tower. Certainly Rabbi Moses the Egyptian noted that the descent of God here ought to be understood as the wrath and vengeance of God against evil men who are on the earth. „When the punishment,“ he says, „and wrath of God comes upon the nations of the world, which punishment His prophets foretold beforehand, God is said to come down to those nations — that is, to visit and punish their works.“ Therefore, when it is said, „Come, let us go down and confound their tongue,“ this signifies: Let us no longer dissemble their crimes, but let us punish them as soon as possible by confounding their tongue.13

Translator’s notes

  1. Gen 11:5 (verse lemma, for Disputation 5). ↩
  2. §64. Disp. 5. Since God is present to all and sees all (Acts 17; Heb 4), ‘God came down to see’ cannot be literal (as if distance hindered Him) — it is figurative, accommodated to human custom and our weak understanding: when God punishes or helps, He seems to ‘come down’; when He forbears, to ‘reside in heaven’ and not care. Margins: Acts 17; Heb 4. ↩
  3. §65. ‘He came down to see’ pointedly signifies God's longanimity (deferring punishment though He knows all) and His justice (punishing none unconvicted — Adam, Cain, Sodom): a lesson not to judge rashly nor condemn unheard. After the flood God's anger was appeased (the no-flood promise), but men again provoked Him by malice — so He ‘came down’ to judge. God overlooks sins of ignorance or weakness, not of malice. Margins: Gen 3; Gen 4; Gen 18. ↩
  4. §66. ‘Children of Adam’ is emphatic: it marks man's lowly, vile condition (formed of mud, liable to miseries and vices) — that such a creature should dare so proud a work against heaven's ruler. Or ‘Adam’ = the first man, whom they imitated: as he ate the forbidden fruit coveting divine knowledge, so they sought an eternal name and a tower to heaven. Margins: Gen 2; Gen 3. ↩
  5. §67. These points are from the Fathers. Augustine (City of God 16.5) two ways: God ‘came down’ (1) by a new effect there (hindering the work and dividing the tongues, showing His displeasure), (2) by sending the angels down to frustrate them. Cajetan: it signifies God's providence reaches not only heaven but even the lowest earthly things — ‘He held Himself like one descending,’ extending His care to human actions and corporeal things like a city and tower. Margins: Augustine, City of God bk. 16 ch. 5; Cajetan. ↩
  6. §68. Chrysostom (followed by Rupert): God is shown ‘descending’ to teach us to judge others' deeds with great care — never condemn rashly, nor by hearsay, nor without proof. And see God's unhasty justice: He did not at once repress their madness but waited (long-suffering) until they declared their malice by deed, lest any say their thought never reached act (continues p. 500). Margins: Chrysostom on Genesis homily 30; Rupert, Commentary on Genesis bk. 4 ch. 41. ↩
  7. §68 (concl.). Chrysostom: God let them toil so the experience might teach them; but, seeing their malice worsen like a disease, He did not let them finish — dissipating the design, showing His goodness like a good physician who, seeing an ulcer turn incurable, cuts at once to remove the cause. ↩
  8. §69. Philo (On the Confusion of Tongues), ages before Chrysostom/Rupert, gave the same reading: these are figurative — to believe God moves in place is impiety; Moses spoke ‘in human fashion’ for readers' benefit. God fills all (not contained but containing), ‘everywhere at once and nowhere’: nowhere (He made all place, and cannot be enclosed in His creatures), everywhere (His power through earth/water/air/heaven binds all by invisible bonds). Margins: Philo; an excellent view of Philo on God's immobility and why words of local motion are ascribed to God. ↩
  9. §70. Philo (cont.): words of motion do not befit God, yet He is said to ‘come down to inspect’ — to teach us not to judge absent/uncertain things, but to look closely (sure sight over fallible hearsay; good law bars hearsay testimony, hearing being corruptible). This is why God is said to ‘come down’ to see the city and tower. ↩
  10. §71. Basil (on Ps 32/33:13–14, ‘From heaven the Lord looked forth…’) distinguishes ‘God sees from heaven’ (of the good, in a good sense) from ‘God comes down to see’ (of the wicked, for their evil): the good He looks upon from heaven; those fallen to the extreme of vice He ‘comes down’ to visit — as with Sodom (Gen 18) and ‘He came down to see the city.’ Margins: Basil; Gen 18. ↩
  11. §72. But Basil's distinction does not always hold in Scripture (continues p. 501). ↩
  12. §72 (concl.). God is also often said to ‘come down’ to help, console, and instruct the good: Isa 64 (‘would that Thou wouldst rend the heavens and come down’); Exod 3 (‘I have come down to deliver’ His people from Egypt); and God ‘came down’ on Sinai to speak with Moses (Exod 19). Margins: Isa 64; Exod 3; Exod 19. ↩
  13. §73. Here the ‘descent’ signifies God's animadversion on the builders' pride. Rabbi Moses the Egyptian (Maimonides): God's ‘descent’ = His wrath and vengeance on evil men — when His foretold punishment comes on the nations, He is said to ‘come down’ to visit and punish their works. So ‘let us go down and confound their tongue’ = let us no longer overlook their crimes but punish them at once. Margin: Rabbi Moses the Egyptian. ↩