CITIES Why in Crisis?

"Come on!  Let us build ourselves a city and also a tower with its top in the heavens, . . . for fear we may be scattered over all the surface of the earth." -Genesis 11:4. 

THESE words, spoken over 4,000 years ago, heralded the building of the great city of Babel. 

Babel, later called Babylon, was located on the once fertile plains of Shinar in Mesopotamia.  Contrary to popular opinion, though, it as the not the first city of Bible record.  Cities actually got their start before the Flood of Noah's day.  The murderer Cain founded the first one on record.  (Genesis 4:17)  This city, called Enoch, was probably little more than a fortified settlement or village.  Babel, on the other hand, was a great city-a prominent center of false worship that featured a spectacular religious tower. However, Babel and its infamous tower stood in utter defiance of God.   (Genesis 9:7) So according to the Bible, God intervened and confused the language of the builders, putting an end to their ambitious, religious scheme.  God "scattered them from there all over the surface of the earth," says Genesis 11:5-9. 

Not surprisingly, this led to the spread of cities. After all, cities afforded protection from enemy attack. Cities provided locations where farmers could store and distribute their produce.  The advent of the marketplace also allowed many  city dwellers to pursue livelihoods other than farming.  Says the Rise of Cities:  "Once freed from the constraints of a hand-to-mouth existence, city dwellers could turn their hands to a plethora of specialized trades:  basketry, carpentry, and stone working-whatever the market could hold."

Cities served as an efficient distribution center for such goods.  Consider the bible account of a severe famine in Egypt.  The prime minister, Joseph, found it expedient to settle the people in cities.  Why?  Evidently  because  this made for a more efficient distribution of the remaining food supplies. -Genesis 47:21. 

Cities also enhanced communication and interaction between people at a time when transport was slow and limited.  This, in turn, accelerated the rate of social and cultural change. Cities became centers of innovation and promoted technological development. As new ideas  flowed freely, innovation in scientific, religious, and philosophical  thought emerged. 

Next time: CITIES Why in Crisis?/Unfulfilled Dreams

From the Awake! magazine