frequently shows, it wrought
into one fabric the earlier explanations of the diversities of human
speech and of the great ruined tower at Babylon. The name Babel (bab-el)
means "Gate of God" or "Gate of the Gods." All modern scholars of note
agree that this was the real significance of the name; but the Hebrew
verb which signifies TO CONFOUND resembles somewhat the word Babel, so
that out of this resemblance, by one of the most common processes in
myth formation, came to the Hebrew mind an indisputable proof that the
tower was connected with the confusion of tongues, and this became part
of our theological heritage.

In our sacred books the account runs as follows:

"And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

"And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a
plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

"And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them
thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.

"And they said, Go to, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top
may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered
abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

"And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the
children of men builded.

"And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one
language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained
from them, which they have imagined to do.

"Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may
not understand one another's speech.

"So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the
earth: and they left off to build the city.

"Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there
confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord
scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." (Genesis xi, 1-9.)

Thus far the legend had been but slightly changed from the earlier
Chaldean form in which it has been found in the Assyrian inscriptions.
Its character is very simple: to use the words of Prof. Sayce, "It takes
us back to the age when the gods were believed to dwell in the visible
sky, and when man, therefore, did his best to rear his altars as near
them as possible." And this eminent divine might have added that it
takes us back also to a time when it was thought that Jehovah, in order
to see the tower fully, was obliged to come down fro