Katalepsis

Here, we are treated to the story about the Tower of Babel. After the flood, the world has but a single language. As they begin to populate the earth again, they decide to build themselves a city with a large tower that “reaches the heavens.” This tower can be thought of as something like a “staircase to the heavens,” seen in Egpytian and Mayan religious buildings.

God comes down and has a fit. He sees the tower and he realizes that human beings are powerful. f they are well-organized, they will be able to accomplish anything:

The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.

Hilarious. God comes across here as an American slave-master, ensuring that his “slaves” are not united by a language or education that might disrupt the power structure. Indeed, he is afraid of what might happen should his creation be allowed to work together. So what does he do? He messes with their language so that they no longer are united by a common language. He even separates the people and scatters them all over the earth so that they will not be able to collaborate. This is why it is called the Tower of Babel—because it is where God confused everyone so that they couldn’t communicate with one another and rise up. Thanks God.

11.10-32 The Line of Shem: How we get to Abram.
What follows the relatively exciting story of the Tower of Babel is another lineage, this time explaining how we can derive Abram from Shem. There is not much to report, other than the fact that human beings are still curiously living in excess of 200 years—well past God’s implemented “cut-off.” Abram’s father is Terah, who eventually moves the family to Haran. Abram is married to Sarai, whom we are told is barren