ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Tokonaki Sanuali 28, 2023 

Building Blocks of Language

Ko e Makatu‘unga ‘o e ngaahi lea Faka-fonua

 GENESIS 11:3-4

AND THEY SAID TO ONE ANOTHER, "COME, LET US MAKE BRICKS, AND BURN THEM THOROUGHLY...COME, LET US BUILD OURSELVES A CITY AND A TOWER WITH ITS TOP IN THE HEAVENS."

 SENESI 11:3-4

Pea nau fepehē‘aki; ‘Ē, tau ngaohi maka ‘umea mu‘a, ‘o mātu‘aki ta‘o ke moho. Pea nau maka ‘aki ‘a e maka ‘umea, mo nau lahe ‘aki ‘a e kelepulu. 4Pea nau pehē, ‘Ē, tau langa mu‘a ha‘atau kolo, mo ha taua ke tau ki langi, pea tau ‘ai ke ‘iloa hotau hingoa, na‘a tau movete ‘i he funga ‘o māmani.

 The Tower of Babel story is riddled with Hebrew inside jokes. The most obvious is they're poking fun at the "great and glorious" city of Babel (Hebrew: Bavel), later called Babylon. It's called Bavel because the Lord balal ("confused") their language (v. 9). Also, God humorously had to come down (v. 5) to inspect this city, although its tower is supposedly "in the heavens" (v. 4). And, finally, the Lord chose to "confuse their language" (v. 7). The consonants in this form of the verb for "confuse," n-b-l, is a scrambling of the three consonants, l-b-n, in the word for brick. Because God n-b-l ("confused") their language, they could no longer use their l-b-n ("brick"). We might say that God destroyed the building blocks of their speech.

 All this humor at Babylon's expense is well earned. In the Bible, she is the symbol of evil, a world turned against God. Babylon, Israel's ancient enemy, is called the "mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations" (Rev. 17:5). In the end, however, she is "Fallen, fallen!" (18:2), but the victorious Christ has built for us the New Jerusalem, "coming down out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (21:2).

 Praise to you, O Christ, for building us Zion, the New Jerusalem, as our everlasting home with you.