How Pentecost Seeks To Reverse the Tower of Babel

Pentecost reversed Babel, allowing Peter to be understood by people from all over the world. "There were added in that day about three thousand souls." Acts 2:41

From Aleteia

By Philip Kosloski

When the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles on Pentecost, there was a reversal of what happened at the Tower of Babel in the book of Genesis.

In many ways, the New Testament is the fulfillment of the Old Testament, restoring humanity to the glory that God has destined us all to receive.

This even extends beyond the Gospel narratives into the Acts of the Apostles, where the work of the Holy Spirit is on full display.

The day of Pentecost in particular is an event that recalls various events in the Old Testament, such as the Tower of Babel.

From division to unity

One option for the first reading on the Vigil of Pentecost is from the book of Genesis, highlighting the events that unfolded surrounding the Tower of Babel:

The LORD came down to see the city and the tower
that the people had built.
Then the LORD said: “If now, while they are one people,
all speaking the same language,
they have started to do this,
nothing will later stop them from doing whatever they presume to do.
Let us then go down there and confuse their language,
so that one will not understand what another says.”
(Genesis 11:5-7)

This led to a division of the people and a division of language.

Fast forward to the Acts of the Apostles and the Holy Spirit does precisely the opposite:

Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire,
which parted and came to rest on each one of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in different tongues,
as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.
(Acts 2:3-4)

The Holy Spirit is an agent of unity, which, in the Mass of Paul VI, the Collect prayer for the Vigil of Pentecost highlights, connecting Pentecost to the Tower of Babel:

Almighty ever-living God,
who willed the Paschal ystery
to be encompassed as a sign in fifty days,
grant that from out of the scattered nations
the confusion of many tongues
may be gathered by heavenly grace
into one great confession of your name.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.

While its true that languages were not abolished on Pentecost and not everyone can speak in a variety of tongues, the spiritual truth is still valid.

The Holy Spirit seeks to collect everyone on the earth into a newfound unity of belief, where instead of trying to build a tower out of pride, we unite together in our worship of the one, true God.