Di Tower of Babel

Brick by brick, one tower dey climb enter di sky on top one flat plain. Thousands of hands dey build am. Everybody dey speak di same words, and everybody want di same tin. Make we make name for ourselves.

After di big flood, Noah family grow become many families, and God don tell dem make dem fill di earth. For dat time, Genesis talk say, di whole world get one language and di same way of talking. As people dey travel, dem find one wide plain for di land of Shinar and dem settle there. Shinar na di old name for di land between di two big rivers, di Tigris and di Euphrates, for di place wey we dey call Iraq now. Na flat land wey good for farming, with river mud everywhere, and stone almost no dey.

Di people get one idea. Come, make we mould bricks and bake dem well well. Dem use brick instead of stone, and tar instead of cement. Then dem get bigger idea. Come, make we build city for ourselves, with one tower wey go reach heaven, so dat we go make name for ourselves. If not, dem go scatter us for all over di earth. So di work start. Di kilns dey burn day and night. Workers dey call each other across di scaffolding. Di walls dey rise. Everybody dey understand everybody, and e be like say nothing fit stop dem.

But listen how Genesis tell wetin happen next, almost with small smile. Di Lord come down to see di city and di tower wey di people dey build. Dem dey try build reach heaven, and God must come down just to look am. Then di Lord talk, If as one people wey dey speak one language dem don start to do dis one, then nothing wey dem plan to do go hard for dem. Come, make we go down go confuse dia language, so dat dem no go understand each other.

Imagine di building site di next morning. One worker call for more bricks, and di man wey dey near am just dey look am, e no understand. Somebody shout warning, and nobody understand am. Dem no fit share plans. Dem no fit follow instructions. Voices dey rise for plenty different languages. Di building stop. And di very tin wey di builders fear come happen. Di Lord scatter dem from there go all over di earth, and dem stop to build di city.

Na why, Genesis talk, dem call di city Babel, because na there di Lord confuse di language of di whole world. For Hebrew, Babel sound like balal, di word for confuse. Di people want make big name for demself. Instead, dem come know dia city for confusion. And see something wey good to notice. Just one chapter after, God talk to one man wey dem dey call Abram and e make am one promise. I go make your name great, and through you all di families of di earth go dey blessed. Di name wey di builders try grab for demself, God choose to give am as gift.

Di building details for dis story fit old Mesopotamia well well. Di plain between di rivers no get good stone for building, so people mould bricks from mud, and for important buildings dem bake dem hard for kilns and join dem with bitumen, one natural tar wey dey come out from ground for dat area. Cities there build big temple towers wey get steps, wey dem dey call ziggurats. Di remains of one big ziggurat still stand for Ur for southern Iraq, wey di archaeologist Leonard Woolley dig out for di nineteen twenties and nineteen thirties. And Babel na di same Hebrew name wey di Bible use for Babylon.

Di Tower of Babel. You go find am for Genesis chapter eleven, verse one to nine. Di builders want reach heaven and make name for demself, and God must come down just to see dia tower. So see one question wey you go carry dey go. Wetin you dey build your life make people know you for, and who dey get di glory?