Editing Tower of Babel (section)

==Composition==
[[File:Hanging Gardens of Babylon.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Hanging Gardens of Babylon]]'' (19th-century illustration), depicts the Tower of Babel in the background.]]

=== Authorship ===
Jewish and Christian tradition attributes the composition of the whole [[Pentateuch]], which includes the story of the Tower of Babel, to [[Moses]]. Modern biblical scholarship rejects Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch but is divided on the question of its authorship. Many scholars subscribe to some form of the [[documentary hypothesis]], which argues that the Pentateuch is composed of multiple "sources" that were later merged. Scholars who favor this hypothesis, such as [[Richard Elliot Friedman]], tend to see Genesis 11:1–9 as being composed by the [[Jahwist|J or Jahwist/Yahwist source]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Friedman |first1=Richard Elliot |title=Who Wrote the Bible? |date=1997 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=0-06-063035-3 |page=247}}</ref>

[[Michael Coogan]] suggests that the intentional word play regarding the city of Babel, and the noise of the people's "babbling" is found in the Hebrew words as easily as in English, is considered typical of the Yahwist source.{{r|coogan|page1=51}} [[John Van Seters]], who has put forth substantial modifications to the hypothesis, suggests that these verses are part of what he calls a "Pre-Yahwistic stage".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Van Seters |first1=John |title=Abraham in History and Tradition |date=1975 |publisher=Echo Point Books & Media |isbn=978-1-62654-006-4 |page=313}}</ref> Other scholars reject the documentary hypothesis altogether. The "[[Biblical minimalism|minimalist]]" scholars tend to see the books of Genesis through 2 Kings as written by a single, anonymous author during the [[Hellenistic period#Judea|Hellenistic period]].

=== Historicity ===
Biblical scholars see the Book of Genesis as [[Mythology|mythological]] and not as an historical account of events.<ref>{{harvnb|Levenson|2004|p=11}} "How much history lies behind the story of Genesis? Because the action of the primeval story is not represented as taking place on the plane of ordinary human history and has so many affinities with ancient mythology, it is very far-fetched to speak of its narratives as historical at all."</ref> Genesis is described as beginning with historicized myth and ending with mythicized history.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Moye |first1=Richard H. |date=1990 |title=In the Beginning: Myth and History in Genesis and Exodus |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature |volume=109 |issue=4 |page=580 |doi=10.2307/3267364 |jstor=3267364}}</ref> Nevertheless, the story of Babel can be interpreted in terms of its context: Elsewhere in Genesis, it is stated that Babel ([[LXX]]: Βαβυλών) formed part of [[Nimrod (king)|Nimrod]]'s kingdom, which is located in Lower Mesopotamia.<ref>{{bibleverse||Genesis|10:10|HE}}</ref> The Bible does not specifically mention that Nimrod ordered the building of the tower, but many other sources have associated its construction with him.<ref name="JE" /> Genesis 11:9 attributes the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] version of the name, ''Babel'', to the verb ''balal'', which means ''to confuse or confound'' in Hebrew.<ref>{{bibleverse||Genesis|11:9|HE}}</ref> The first century Roman-Jewish author Flavius Josephus similarly explained that the name was derived from the Hebrew word ''Babel (בבל)'', meaning "confusion".<ref>Josephus, ''Antiquities'', 1.4.3</ref>