Pentecost Reversals and The Tower of Babel by Peter Bruegel

This coming Sunday the church observes the Festival of Pentecost. The traditional Old Testament reading is from Genesis 11:1-9, the account of the Tower of Babel. The question is, “What’s the connection of Babel to Pentecost?”

Why Genesis 11?

The traditional second reading for Pentecost is the obvious one, the account of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and Peter’s Pentecost sermon from Acts 2:1-21. The Gospel lesson from John 15:26-27 speaks of the one whom Jesus promised to send from the Father, the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, fulfilled at Pentecost.

The Old Testament reading from Genesis 11:1-9 is perhaps less obvious in its Pentecost connections.

Pastor Joel J. Gawrisch brings light to the many important connections between Babel and Pentecost:

The self-glorifying pride of sinful hearts can be seen in the account of the Tower of Babel. The one language of creation was misused as a tool to keep people unified in idolatrous work. Language and tongues are confused in order to bring people to carry out the will of the Lord and fill the earth.

At the same time, language and tongues would set apart the nation of Israel, limiting the proclamation of the Messianic promise through God’s chosen people. Centuries later, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit brings about not only a reversal of Babel but the proclamation of the promise fulfilled to the nations.

The Christ-promised coming of the Holy Spirit reverses the confusion of Babel as the disciples are given the gift of speaking in tongues. In a rush of wind and with tongues of flame the prophecy of Joel is fulfilled. The timidity of the Twelve dissolves in fiery witnessing to the Truth. What began in the streets of Jerusalem, is even now carried to the ends of the earth.

Fifty days have passed and the promised Holy Spirit is poured out upon the Bride of Christ. The once-hidden gospel is no longer the possession of a chosen few. For the Spirit enables the message of salvation to enflame hearts for bearing witness to the ends of the earth

Joel Gawrish in Planning Christian Worship Year C–Pentecost

The Tower of Babel in Art

Artwork featuring the account of the Tower of Babel is rare, but there is one piece which quickly rises to and stays at the top (pun not originally intended). Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s 1563 oil-on-wood painting “The Tower of Babel.”

Like many Renaissance-era religious paintings, the biblical account portrayed by Breugel has been transported through time and space to land in 16th-century Antwerp, Belgium. In addition to telling and showing the biblical story, Bruegel uses his painting as a social and political commentary on the world of his day.

Each section of the painting is worthy of close scrutinization and the observer must ask: “If Brugel was painting today in America how would he transpose the account for the contemporary viewer?” What details would he include? Would the tower be located in DC, NYC, or Silicon Valley?

The following Kahn Academy tutorial provides some great insights into the painting. If you would rather read about the artwork check out the description below the video.

Additionally, Cäcilia Bischoff, in “A Brief Guide to the Kunsthistorisches Museum” provides the following description.

King Nimrod, who appears as builder along with his entourage at the bottom left of the painting, is not mentioned in the biblical text. Only the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who collaborated with the Romans, combined records from different sources to create the legend that became accepted (Antiquitates Judaica I,4; 93–94 AD).

In the book illumination of the Early and High Middle Ages, local buildings that were less than monumental were used as models for the architecture of the Tower of Babel.

Starring in the 16th century, artists orientated themselves on the Mesopotamian type of step-shaped ziggurat (temple tower), which, however, was rectangular rather than round. Bruegel’s monumental composition had several forerunners in Netherlandish painting, but his work became the most famous classic among the Tower of Babel depictions and was frequently copied in many different variations. The sense of scale is provided by the flemish-style port city, which is impressively tiny in comparison to the tower.

With meticulous precision and encyclopedic interest Bruegel depicts an abundance of technical and mechanical details, from the supply of the building materials in the busy harbor to the various cranes and the scaffolding on the unfinished brick foundation. He sets the workers’ dwellings into the stone outer structure, which blends elements of classical with Romanesque architecture, and they appear to be more than merely temporary.

By anchoring the building on the rocky slope, Bruegel creates the impression of static equilibrium. Reaching up to the clouds, the building, however, is optically distorted and appears to have slightly sunk into the ground on the left side. This is an artistic gesture, on the one hand enhancing the impression of the building’s monumentality, and on the other hand alluding to human hubris and the impossibility of completing the tower because “the Lord confused the language of all the earth”. (Gen. 11:9.)

Cäcilia Bischoff, Masterpieces of the Picture Gallery. A Brief Guide to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 2010

Questions to Consider

(Please share your answers/thoughts in the comments below)

• What do you appreciate most about Bruegel’s Babel painting?
• If you were able to paint a modern-day masterpiece depicting the Tower of Babel, what approach would you take? (What would you change?)
• If you were to locate your depiction in modern America (or your country of residence) where would you place your tower?
• What would be going on around the building project?

Instead of following God’s commands, the tower builders were looking for personal praise and sustainable security.

• What modern-day towers do you have a tendency to build to “make a name for yourself” or to keep yourself feeling safe and secure?

God’s action of frustrating the plans of the Babel builders was not simply an act of punishing disobedience. It was also an act of pure mercy. He was putting an end to a project that could only hurt people and frustrate the good plans of a loving Father.

• In what similar merciful ways does our God act today?