They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. The LORD said,
“Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.
Genesis 11:4-6
Before discrediting Biblical Cosmology, consider the following. As Christians, we believe the Bible is the inerrant Word of God (2 Tim 3:16, 2 Peter 1:20-21). As a result, we believe people like Adam and Methuselah lived nearly a millennium (Gen 5:5, Gen 5:27), fallen angels procreated with human women and produced a race of demonic superhuman giants (Gen 6:1-5), a catastrophic flood subsequently engulfed the earth (Gen 7:17-24), and ancient Babylonians built a tower nearly reaching Heaven (Gen 11:1-9).
Contrary to modern claims that Genesis is a poetic rendering of fables, the Messiah Jesus, the Apostle Peter, and Jude affirmed the stories as valid historical events (Matt 24:37-39, 2 Peter 2:4-6, Jude 1:4-16). Moses also testified that he “wrote down everything the LORD had said” (Ex 24:4) and again Jesus confirms this is true (John 5:46).
In light of these supernatural beliefs, and many more—Christ’s healings & resurrection, Resurrection of Believers, Millennial Kingdom, New Heaven & Earth—is believing we live on a stationary (1 Chron 16:30) circular (Isa 40:22, Job 38:13-14) landmass covered by a molten glass (Job 37:18) dome (Eze 1:26) known as the “firmament” (Gen 1:6-7) really that big of a stretch? God made us a terrarium, and its existence points us to His existence (Rom 1:20). In fact, the Bible presents us with the Firmament (Gen 1:6) before it introduces us to the promised Messiah (Gen 3:15).
If we believe the Bible, we believe the earth was created before the sun (Gen 1:10), the sun was set inside the firmament and not 93 million miles away (Gen 1:14-18), the sun geocentrically circuits the earth within the firmament (Ps 19:4-6), and the sun—not earth—stood still in Joshua during the war with the Amorites (Josh 10:13). Moreover, observable science testifies to a small close sun due to the existence of Crepuscular Rays.
If there is a firmament with waters above it, what are the stars? Job indicates they are angels singing (Job 38:4-7). Before concluding this to be another laughable archaic “poetic” rendering of the cosmos instead of literal scientific fact, look into Sonoluminescence—the emission of light from imploding bubbles in a liquid when excited by sound—popularly named “Star in a Jar.” Sound in water makes stars.
There’s many other flat earth evidences witnessed by genuine scientific experiments—observable, testable, repeatable, and falsifiable—such as bouancy, density, and mass accounting for everything “gravity” accomplishes, the lack of curvature in geological surveys when earth ought to be curving 8in per mile squared (m² * 8), water always finding level, the unmoving Polaris known as the “North Star”, atmospheric lensing distorting objects at extended distances, and more.
Which brings me to my primary question in this post, why did God intervene at the Tower of Babel? If wicked men were building a tower into the vacuum of space, where they would simply suffocate and die, why confuse their language and halt the project?
At Babel, Nimrod and mankind as a whole intended to enter Heaven itself (Gen 11:4)—this Hebrew word “šāmayim” in this verse is the same “Gate of Heaven” in Gen 28:17 and the same “God in Heaven above” in Deut 4:39. God considered their plan to enter Heaven through the Firmament to be possible and took action (Gen 11:6-7). Man continues this nonsense to this day—we’ve launched nuclear weapons at the firmament during Operation Fishbowl (Operation Dominic I, 1962), just to see what would happen, of course.
The Book of Jasher 9:20-39 affirms this intent to make war in Heaven and sheds light on additional surrounding events. Before discrediting the book, you ought to know that the Book of Enoch is referenced or quoted in Jude 1:4, 1:6, 1:13, 1:14–15, 2 Peter 2:4, 3:13, and John 7:38. Likewise, the Book of Jasher is referenced or quoted in Josh 10:13, 1 Sam 1:18, & 2 Tim 3:8. The Biblical Canon is it’s own discussion we’ll table for now.
What are we to do with the Tower of Babel built to enter Heaven narrative? A fable or historical event? As for me and my house,
It’s a historical fact.
“Above the dome that was over their heads was something like a throne that looked like a sapphire. On it, above it, was what appeared to be a person.
I saw what looked like gleaming, amber-colored fire radiating from what appeared to be his waist upward. Downward from what appeared to be his waist, I saw what looked like fire, giving a brilliant light all around him. 28 This brilliance around him looked like a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day. This was how the appearance of the glory of Adonai looked. When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of someone speaking.”
Ezekiel 1:26-27 CJB
