This is what is doubtless meant by Gen. xi. 4, “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower whose top _may reach_ unto heaven.” The words “_may reach_” are in italics. There is nothing in the verse which relates to the height of this tower. It merely says וְרֹאשׁוֹ בַשָּׁמַיִם, _and his top with the heavens_, _i.e._ with the pictures and the stars, just as we find them in the ancient temples of Denderah and Esnéh in Egypt. This tower, with its planisphere and pictures of the signs and constellations, was to be erected like those temples were afterwards, in order to preserve the revelation, “lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” This is corroborated by Lieut.‐Gen. Chesney, well known for his learned researches and excavations among the ruins of Babylon, who, after describing his various discoveries, says,(13) “About five miles S.W. of Hillah, the most remarkable of all the ruins, the _Birs Nimroud_ of the Arabs, rises to a height of 153 feet above the plain from a base covering a square of 400 feet, or almost four acres. It was constructed of kiln‐ dried bricks in seven stages to correspond with the planets to which they were dedicated: the lowermost black, the colour of Saturn; the next orange, for Jupiter; the third red, for Mars; and so on.(14) These stages were surmounted by a lofty tower on the summit of which, we are told, were the signs of the Zodiac and other astronomical figures; thus having (as it should have been translated) _a representation of the heavens_, instead of ‘a top which reached unto heaven.’ ” This Biblical evidence carries us at once right back to the Flood, or about 2,500 years B.C. This tower or temple, or both, was also called “_The Seven Spheres_,” according to some; and “The Seven Lights,” according to others. It is thus clear that the popular idea of its height and purpose must be abandoned, and its astronomical reference to revelation must be admitted. The tower was an attempt to preserve and hand down the antediluvian traditions; their sin was in keeping together instead of scattering themselves over the earth. Another important statement is made by Dr. Budge, of the British Museum.(15) He says, “It must never be forgotten that the Babylonians were a nation of star‐gazers, and that they kept a body of men to do nothing else but report eclipses, appearances of the moon, sun‐spots, etc., etc.” “Astronomy, mixed with astrology, occupied a large number of tablets in the Babylonian libraries, and Isaiah, xlvii. 13, refers to this when he says to Babylon, ‘Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now thy astrologers (marg. _viewers of the heavens_), the star‐gazers, the monthly prognosticators stand up.’ The largest astrological work of the Babylonians contained seventy tablets, and was compiled by the command of Sargon of Agade thirty‐eight hundred years before Christ! It was called the ‘Illumination of Bel.’ ”