Untitled Sermon (2)

The departure from the knowledge of the true God begun at Babel continued until, by the time of Abram, virtually the entire race, including even Abram’s immediate ancestors, had become idolaters.

James Montgomery Boice

Third, the reference to “a great name” alludes back to the story of the tower of Babel and possibly also to the “men of renown” mentioned in 6:4.

T. Desmond Alexander

Babel/Babylon typifies every social enterprise that seeks to exalt the creature over the Creator. From Genesis to Revelation, Babel/Babylon features prominently as the symbol of humanity’s attempt to govern themselves without reference to and in defiance of God.

Alexander D. Davidson

Daniel 1:2 tells us that Nebuchadnezzar took the articles from the Jerusalem temple to “the temple of his god in Babylonia.” As the NIV footnote tells us, the word translated “Babylonia” is the word Shinar, not the typical word Babel. This rare reference intends to draw our attention back to Genesis 11:2 and the Tower of Babel (here too called “Shinar”) story. As Jin Hee Han points out, this connects Nebuchadnezzar’s act with “the primeval hubris of the place where humans built the tower of Babel.”4

Tremper Longman III