Babel, where God decides human cooperation is a bad idea...

As we move into the eleventh chapter of Genesis, we find that humanity has not yet divided into different nations/peoples. People had spread throughout the earth, but as of yet, only have one shared language. This is another story that reinforces the idea that at some point we were utterly unified as a species.

And what did we do with this unity? Well, tradition suggests that we used it to try and usurp God's power and authority. But I'm not sure the text entirely supports that analysis. Yes, the people do say they want to make a name for themselves to avoid being wiped from the face of the earth, but considering how recently the earth was destroyed in a flood, perhaps they ere just trying to ensure survival if it happened again.

And when God witnesses this joint endeavor, it really makes him nervous. He worries that if humanity works together that we can accomplish anything: "Nothing they propose to do will now be impossible for them."

And so he confuses the channels of communication, so that we are unable to understand each other. This is done to prevent us from accomplishing whatever we put are mind to. Thus making us all the more reliant on the divine figure, and tempering our destructive aims.

But the people of Babel were not destroying. They were building a community together-- one that had the potential to include the world. One in which people were apparently living in harmony. And God decided to prevent this from happening.

Now I recognize that this is a fable, and that it most likely sought to explain why we have so many different tongues, but as I look over my own life and realize how many arguments have their beginnings in communication failures, I wonder what the world would be like if we did have the ability to know what someone else meant-- even when we do speak the same language.