TOXGUES, CONFUSION OF
TONGUES, GIFT OF
793
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nations, and diversity of language, is an element in His providential plan for the development and progress of humanity'.
7. No Bab. parallel to Gn II'"' has as yet been discovered.
The reference in the fruenientary Brit. Mua. Inscription (K. 8«5(), tr. by O. Smith, Chald.-Gt-n. 160, and mentioned in UC.M 153. is very uncertain ; for though the inscr. does seem to speak of the erection of some building in Babylon by the order of the king, which offended the gods, so that they 'made an end by night' of the work done by day, the crucial words, rendered 'strong place' and 'sjteech,* are (as is admitted for the latter [tullu] by Smith himself, p. 163) both extremely doubtful : see Delitzsch's note in the Germ. tr. of Smith's book, p. 310 ; and for tdzimtu, 'strong place,' Del. UWB 37, where it is tr. H'r/i- kiage : Cf. the transcr. and tr. by Boscawen in TSBA v. (1877) p. 303 ft. (where, however, p. 303, ' speech ' for irulik, 'counsel' {llWli 413), is (juite gratuitous).
In the Jewish Ilagj^ada of a later age, the tower was said to have been destroye<l by mighty winds : see the Orac. SihiiU. iii. 97 ff. (whence Jos. Ant. l. iv. 3 [the quotation j = Alex. Poh histor ap. Svricell. Chrun., ed. Dindorf, L 81 C), and Juhilees' 10'9-M (tr. Cliarles, JQKvi. 208 f.): cf. (from Abydenus) Kus. Prap. £v. ix. 14 = Eus. CAron., Schoene, i. 33 = SynceU. I. 81 D, and (from Eupolenius ap. Alex. Polyhistor) ix. 17. 1. From the (act that m Jos. and Abyd. (toI< uti/Mvt Stein fieiSutrae a^arfii- •i'eu ri ^,j^a,»;,u«) the pluml ' pods ' is used, Stade (I.e. p. 161 f.) conjectured that these authorities have presen-ed reminiscences of an older polytheistic version of the tradition.
In fact, though the narrative plainly presupposes a knowledge of Babylonia, it does not seem itself to be of Babj-lonian origin : if any Bab. legend lies at the basis of it, it must have been strongly Heb- raized. As Gunkel has remarked, the narrator speaks as a foreigner rather than as a native : the unfavourable light in wliich the foundation of Babylon is represented ; the idea that the erection of wliat (ca; Ay/).)can hardly have been anything but a Bab. zikkurat (or pyramidal temple-tower*) was interrupt eil by (ea; Ay;(.) a Bab. deity ; the mention, as of sometliing unusual, of brick and bitumen, as building materials, and the false etymology of tlie name ' Babel,' are all features not likely to h,ave originated in Babj'lonia. It does, however, seem a probable conjecture (Ewald, Jahrh. ix. [1858] l'2f., Schrader, Dillm.) that some gigantic tower-like building in Babylon, which had either been left nnlinished or fallen into disrepair, gave rise to the legend. The tower in question has often Ijeen supposed to be luriminanki, the zikkurat of E-zida, the great temple of Nebo, in IJorsippa (a city almost contiguous to Babylon on the S.W.), the ruined remains of whicli form the huge pyramidal mound now called liirs Nimroud. "YXub zikkurat, remarkably enough, Nebuchadnezzar states had been built partially by a former king, but not comideted : its 'head,' or top, had not been set np ; it liad also fallen into disrepair ; and Neb. restored it.t Others regard it as an objection to this identification that E-zida was not actually in Babylon; and prefer to think of Itiminanki, the zikkurat of E-sagil, the famous and ancient leiiipio of Marduk in Babj'lon itself, the site of whieli is generally J considered to be hidden under the m.as- Bive oblong mound called Babil, about 20 miles N. of Birs Nimroud. § Schrader does not decide between E-zida and li-sagil : Dillm. thinks E-s.-igil the more likely, but leaves it open whether, after all, the Heb. legend may not have referred to some halt-niined ancient building in Baliylon, not other- wise known to us. The high antiqiiity of Babylon, and the fact that it was the chief centre of a region in wliidi tlie Hebrews placed the cradle of the human race, would lit it to be regarded as the
• Jastrow, IteL of Bah. and An. p. 81.'. fT.
t The inscr. is tr. In KAT' 124 f., KIB iii. !, pp. B3, 55.
1 Sec, however, llommol In voL L p. 'ilS* ; and Babvlox, { 8, In the kncyd. Blbl.
i Sec the plan of Babylon and It* environs In Smith's DB, 9.V. ; or in the Enctjcl. Bibl. ».p. Views of the two mounds referred to may be seen in Smith, ji.v. • Baliel,' and 'Babel (Tower of)' ; Kiehm, 11 WB, l.v. ; or Ball's Liyht froln the Haat, pp. 2211, 221.
point from which mankind dispersed over the earth.
See, further (besides the Conim.). Cheyne, art. * Babel (Tower of)' in the Encycl. BtU. ; and Vr. Wuiccster in Oenesut in th« Lujht of Modern Knowledge (New York, lUOl), 491 ff.
S. R. DllIVKR.
TONGUES, GIFT OF.— i. The Bihlical Evi- dence.— [a) Acts of the Apostles. On the lirst day of Pentecost alter tlie liesurrection and Ascension (Ac 2'^-), the disciples, about 120 in number (1"), were assembled together. 'Suddenly there came from heaven a sovmd as of the rushing of a mighty wind, and it lilled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of lire ; and it [sc. 7Xu.'crcra] sat upon each one of them. And they were all lilled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues as tlie Spirit gave them utter- ance.' Two wonders are here described — the vision of the fiery tongues, aiiparent to all in the house, but, as it seems, to them only ; and the speaking ' with other tongues,' which was, as the sequel shows, apparent to others also. The latter (v.") consisted in 'speaking the mighty works of God.' It was not, at lirst at any rate, addressed to those outside. But ' when tliis sound was heard, the multitude came together,' and Jews, then present at Jerusalem from every nation under heaven, beard to their astonishment the brethren speaking in their own respective languages (vv. "■''-). Some, however, ' mocking, said. They are tilled with new wine.' In reply to these latter, St. I'eter inter- prets the phenomenon by recalling the prophecy of Joel, which speaks of an outpouring of the Spirit in the latter days, which shall cause the servants and lianduiaidens of the Lord to see visions and to projjhesy(vv. '■'■"'), and deduces it from the Messianic olhee of Jesus, in whose exaltation this promise of the Holy Spirit is fuUilleil (v.**). The phenomenon of the liery tongues reappears no more in the s.acred narrative ; but that ot speaking with tongues is repeated (Ac 10"- '"') upon the conversion of the Gentile household of Cornelius, who with a sudden inspiration of the Holy Spirit 'speak with tongues and glorify God.' This is clearly the same pheno- menon as is described in Ac 2", and the iilentity is expressly asserted by St. Peter (11'°) Cia-wtp lai iip' j;/xds tv dpxi- The ' speaking with other tongues ' is therefore a recurrent phenomenon in the Apos- tolic Church ; and a<;cordinglv w'e read of the twelve disciples at Ephesus (11)''), that ' when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them ; and they spake with tongues and lirophesied.' In this pa.ssage tlie phenomenon is for the first time expressly associated with the exercise of the prophetic gift. (On Spitta's analysis of the sources of Ac 2^"- see Knowling, p. luo).