Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 126, No. 1 (Spring, 2007), pp. 29-58
Israel’s Narative
The story of Babel is so deeply indigenous in cultural detail, geographical context, literary shape, and religious perspective that it can be described only as a thoroughly Israelite narrative. (52)
Late in Israelite history, with the rise of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in the late seventh and early sixth centuries b.c.e., Babylon takes on a new adversarial role. Babylon becomes Israel's enemy, and, after its destruction of Jerusalem in 586, Israel's archenemy, its enduring symbol of ruthless imperial power (Isaiah 13; 14; Jeremiah 51; Psalm 137). Read from this perspective, as scholars customarily have, Genesis 11 is regarded as a satire on Babylon and its culture: on its religion, its zig gurat, its imperial schemes, or its prideful pretensions.65 This Neo-Babylonian lens is particularly important for the newer, postcolonial reading of Genesis 11 as a cri tique of empire.66 But as we have seen in the analysis above, Gen 11:1-9 does not present Babel as the symbol of empire or critique it as such. Rather, by means of eti ology and literary structure, the story describes Babel as the cradle of civilization, the point of origin of the world's different cultures (53)
The fragmentary genealogical materials from J (10:8-19, 21, 24-30; 11:28-30), which are embedded in the Priestly geneal ogy that now frames the story of Bab el (10:1-32; 11:10-32), contain select details of cultural diversification between Babel and the origins of Abraham's family in Mesopotamia (ll:28-30). (54)