פרשת נח תשט"ו - מגדל בבל

NIMROD AND THE TOWER OF BABEL
Noah brought his sons and his grandsons, and he blessed them with their (several) settlements, and he gave them as an inheritance all the earth. He especially blessed Shem and his sons, (making them) dark but comely, and he gave them the habitable earth. He blessed Ham and his sons, (making them) dark || like the raven, and he gave them as an inheritance the coast of the sea. He blessed Japheth and his sons, (making) them entirely white, and he gave them for an inheritance the desert and its fields; these (are the inheritances with) which he endowed them.
RABBI ELIEZER said: They begat their sons and increased and multiplied like a great reptile, six at each birth, and they were all one people, and one heart, and one language, as it is said, "And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech" (Gen. xi. 1). They despised the pleasant land, as it is said, "And it came to pass, as they journeyed in the east" (ibid. 2). They went to the land of Shinar, and found there a large stone, very extensive, and the whole plain, and they dwelt there, as it is said, "And they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there" (ibid.). Rabbi 'Aḳiba said: They cast off the Kingdom of Heaven from themselves, and appointed Nimrod king over themselves; a slave son of a slave. Are not all the sons of Ham slaves? And woe to the land when a slave rules, as it is said, "For a servant, when he is king" (Prov. xxx. 22). Rabbi Chakhinai said: Nimrod was a mighty hero, as it is said, "And Cush begat Nimrod, who began to be a mighty one in the earth" (Gen. x. 8). Rabbi Jehudah said: The coats which the Holy One, blessed be He, made for Adam and his wife, were with Noah in the ark, and when they went forth from the ark, || Ham, the son of Noah, brought them forth with him, and gave them as an inheritance to Nimrod. When he put them on, all beasts, animals, and birds, when they saw the coats, came and prostrated themselves before him. The sons of men thought that this (was due) to the power of his might; therefore they made him king over themselves, as it is said, "Wherefore it is said, Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord" (ibid. 9). Nimrod said to his people: Come, let us build a great city for ourselves, and let us dwell therein, lest we be scattered upon the face of all the earth, as the first people (were). Let us build a great tower in its midst, ascending to heaven, for the power of the Holy One, blessed be He, is only in the water, and let us make us a great name on the earth, as it is said, "And let us make us a name" (ibid. xi. 4). Rabbi Phineas said: There were no stones there where-with to build the city and the tower. What did they do? They baked bricks and burnt them like a builder (would do), until they built it seven mils high, and it had ascents on its east and west. (The labourers) who took up the bricks went up on the eastern (ascent), and those who descended went down on the western (descent). If a man fell and died they paid no heed to him, but if a brick fell they || sat down and wept, and said: Woe is us ! when will another one come in its stead? And Abraham, son of Terah, passed by, and saw them building the city and the tower, and he cursed them in the name of his God, as it is said, "Swallow up, O Lord, divide their language" (Ps. lv. 9). But they rejected his words, like a stone cast upon the ground. Is it not a fact that every choice and good stone is only put at the corner of a building? and with reference to this, the text says, "The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner" (ibid. cxviii. 22). Rabbi Simeon said: The Holy One, blessed be He, called to the seventy angels, who surround the throne of His glory, and He said to them: Come, let us descend and let us confuse the seventy nations and the seventy languages. Whence (do we know) that the Holy One, blessed be He, spake to them? Because it is said, "Go to, let us go down" (Gen. xi. 7). "I will go down" is not written, but "Go to, let us go down." And they cast lots among them. Because it is said, "When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance" (Deut. xxxii. 8). The lot of the Holy One, blessed be He, fell upon Abraham and upon his seed, as it is said, "For the Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance" (ibid. 9). The Holy One, blessed be He, said: The portion and lot which have fallen to Me, My soul liveth thereby, as it is said, "The lots have fallen unto me in pleasures; yea, I have a goodly heritage" (Ps. xvi. 6). The Holy One, blessed be He, descended with the seventy angels, who surround || the throne of His glory, and they confused their speech into seventy nations and seventy languages. Whence do we know that the Holy One, blessed be He, descended? Because it is said, "And the Lord God came down to see the city and the tower" (Gen. xi. 5). This was the second descent. And they wished to speak one to another in the language of his fellow-countryman, but one did not understand the language of his fellow. What did they do? Every one took his sword, and they fought one another to destroy (each other), and half the world fell there by the sword, and thence the Lord scattered them upon the face of all the earth, as it is said, "So the Lord scattered them abroad on that account, upon the face of all the earth" (ibid. 8). Rabbi Meir said: Esau, the brother of Jacob, saw the coats of Nimrod, and in his heart he coveted them, and he slew him, and took them from him. Whence (do we know) that they were desirable in his sight? Because it is said, "And Rebecca took the precious raiment of Esau, her elder son" (ibid, xxvii. 15). When he put them on he also became, by means of them, a mighty hero, as it is said, "And Esau was a cunning hunter" (ibid. xxv. 27). And when Jacob went forth from the presence of Isaac, his father, he said: Esau, the wicked one, is not worthy to wear these coats. What did he do? He dug in the earth and hid them there, as it is said, "A noose is hid for him in the earth" (Job xviii. 10).

And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

בני האדם THE CHILDREN OF MAN (ADAM) — But whose children could they have been (except the children of man, i.e. human beings) — perhaps the children of donkeys or camels? But it means the children of Adam Harishon who proved himself ungrateful when he said, (Genesis 3:12) “The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, [she gave me of the tree etc.]”. These people, also, were ungrateful, rebelling against the One who had showered kindness upon them and had rescued them from the Flood (Genesis Rabbah 38:9).

אשר בנו, which they had commenced building; [they never got to finish it. Ed.] בני האדם, they are appropriately referred to as בני האדם, “children of Adam,” having followed their own instincts and inclinations instead of heeding G’d’s instructions, just as their forefather Adam had done. G’d had wanted them to populate the earth, and they had chosen to concentrate in a miniscule part of the earth. It is interesting that before G’d brought on the deluge, the Torah did not describe Him as “descending” as it did here or in connection with the Sodomites. Instead, the Torah there spoke about what G’d had seen, i.e. ראיה, instead of ירידה. (Genesis 6,5) The reason is that the deluge was something everybody knew about, seeing it was experienced by everybody. The whole point of G’d “descending,” is in order to examine a state of affairs which is not so widely known, so that it needs investigation. Something known to everybody does not require examination to determine if it is true. Concerning all these expressions, the bottom line is that the Torah uses a syntax familiar to people on earth, even if it does not accurately reflect G’d’s thoughts and feelings.

So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth; and they left off to build the city.

ויפץ ה' אתם משם SO THE LORD SCATTERED THEM ABROAD FROM THENCE—In this world (Sanhedrin 107b). What they had said. (Genesis 11:4) “lest we be scattered abroad” really happened to them. This is what Solomon said, (Proverbs 10:24) “What the wicked fears will come upon him” (Midrash Tanchuma, Noach 18).

וכאשר יענו אתו AND AS THEY AFFLICTED THEM — In whatsoever matter it was that they set their hearts upon afflicting them so was the heart of the Holy One, blessed be He, set upon multiplying them and making them grow apace.

כן ירבה signifies: so they multiplied and so they grew apace (i. e. God’s determination was carried out, the imperfect tenses of the verbs denoting the continuance of the increase and growth). This is the real meaning; but there is a Midrashic explanation of these imperfect tenses: The Holy spirit (God) said this: You say פן ירבה, “lest they increase”, but “I” say כן ירבה, “thus will they assuredly increase” (Sotah 11a).