The Tower

The path connecting Hod and Netzach is represented by the tarot card of the Tower. The image on the Tower tarot card is of a tower being struck by a lighting bolt, representing the power of God. There is a man and a women falling from the tower. Some people have interpreted these people to represent Adam and Eve and their falling to represent the Fall of Man. This is an acceptable interpretation because the card obviously symbolizes the judgment of God.

The Tower card represents God’s judgment on sin. The tower may be looked at as the Tower of Babel where man defied the commandment of God and built a tower for man’s own glory. God scattered the people at the Tower of Babel, which may be represented by the fact that the people falling are on opposite sides of the tower. Towers are associated with strongholds and protection.

The people falling were dwelling safely and comfortably in the materialistic building made with human hands, when God’s judgment came on them quickly and removed the crown from their tower, and they learned that there is no escaping the judgment of God (Matthew 24:38-39).

Revelations 3:11 “Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.”

A crown is being blown off of the top of the tower, which could be interpreted as the people losing their Crown of Life, or it might represent the majesty of the material world man created being destroyed (Romans 8:6). There are clouds on the card that are raining fire from the heavens, which is another key indicator that this card denotes the judgment of God on the earth.

Genesis 19:24-25 Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.

Psalm 11:6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.

Leviticus 10:2 And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.

Fire and brimstone raining on cities from the heavens is associated with God’s judgment, it is the method God used to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah when they became consumed by wickedness. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed when God found less then ten righteous people living in them (Genesis 18:32). Lot and his family were spared (Genesis 19:29). The Tower card can also be associated with the day of the Lord and Armageddon.

Zephaniah 1:15-18 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

The above description of the day of the Lord has several similarities to the Tower Tarot card. It is a day of clouds and thick darkness (Zephaniah 1:15). God’s wrath will be against the fenced cities and the high towers (Zephaniah 1:16). The materialism of the people will not be able to save them from the fire of the Lord’s jealousy (Zephaniah 1:18). The people are judged because of their sins (Zephaniah 1:17).

Isaiah 30:13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.

Isaiah 30:25 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.

Ezekiel 28:17-18 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

In Isaiah (above) the high wall breaks unexpectedly in an instant due to the people’s iniquities causing it and the towers on high mountains fall. The Ezekiel verses (above) speak of the pride and vanity that people exhibit when they glory in their own creations. The people are worldly or materialistic, and are corrupted by the wisdom they believe themselves to possess. They are similar to the scientists of today that consider themselves to be too intelligent to believe in God, and marvel in their own works, theories, or so-called discoveries. Because of the erroneous arrogance of these people God will cast them to the ground and devour them with fire. He will knock them off of their high horses.

The path of the Tower on the Qabalah connects Hod (Glory) and Netzach (Victory). This path connects the Pillar of Severity and the Pillar of Mercy. The destruction of the Tower represents God’s Glory through the judgment of the Pillar of Severity, which we have covered above. This path also connects to the Pillar of Mercy and represents the Victory, Mercy, and Protection God offers His believers.

2 Samuel 22:51 He is the tower of salvation for his king: and showeth mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed for evermore.

2 Samuel 22:3-4 The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence. I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

Psalm 18:2-3 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

Proverbs 18:10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

The Lord is a Tower of Salvation to His people. He will shield and protect those who trust in Him. In the past towers where used as strongholds and watchtowers to allow the people to see when danger was coming and to protect them from it.

Judges 9:51-55 But there was a strong tower in the city, and all the men and women-all the people of the city-fled there and shut themselves in; then they went up to the top of the tower. So Abimelech came as far as the tower and fought against it; and he drew near the door of the tower to burn it with fire. But a certain woman dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech's head and crushed his skull. Then he called quickly to the young man, his armor bearer, and said to him, "Draw your sword and kill me, lest men say of me, 'A woman killed him.' So his young man thrust him through, and he died. And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed, every man to his place.

In the above verses the people used a tower as a stronghold. Abimelech was the leader of the invading army and had his skull crushed by a stone a woman dropped from the top of the tower. Abimelech was so consumed with vanity that he had his armor bearer kill him with a sword so that people would not say that a woman had killed him. Even at the time of his death he was more concerned about what people thought then he was about his own life. Once their leader was dead the invading army departed and the people that fortified themselves in the tower were safe. Similarly, Christ is a tower of salvation to His people.

The path connecting Hod and Netzach crosses the path of Temperance, which connects Yesod and Tiphareth. Temperance represents the Great Work of purifying your soul, which requires you to be disciplined and to be baptized with fire. Christ warns people to think carefully before they begin this journey and likens it to deciding whether or not to begin building a tower.

Luke 14:27-28 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

The path connecting Hod and Netzach represents the refuge of God, and His wrath. The very first tower mentioned in the Bible is the famed Tower of Babel.

Genesis 11:4 And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."

The Tower of Babel represents the vanity of man. Man wanted to build a tower that could reach into the heavens so that he could make a name for himself. Man was glorying in his own abilities and arrogance. The tower was to be a rallying point to prevent people from scattering abroad. This was in direct defiance to the commandment of God.

Genesis 9:1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.”

God instructed the descendants of Noah to multiply, and venture out to fill the earth. The Tower of Babel was being erected to prevent people from scattering abroad.

Genesis 11:5-9 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

The Lord came down to see the tower that was being built in defiance of His commandment, and was displeased with the people. He confused the people’s speech by making them all speak different languages. The people were unable to work together and were scattered abroad. The people ceased building the city of Babel (Genesis 11:8), and it was probably abandoned because the people would have viewed it as being cursed.

The Tower of Babel was erected sometime between 2000 and 5000 B.C. Nimrod one of the descendants of Noah establish the city of Babel, as well as other cities (Genesis 10:9-10) after the flood. The exact location of the Tower of Babel is not known. It was built in the land of Shinar in Mesopotamia. According to an article in learnersonline (1) the Ziggurat located in Ur of the Chaldeans may likely be the famed Tower of Babel.

Ur of the Chaldeans was the birthplace of the biblical patriarch Abramham (Genesis 11:28). Abraham’s call to leave the city of Ur is the very next event in the Bible after the people at the Tower of Babel were scattered. Ur was the capital city of Samaria, Babylonia, and later Mesopotamia. Ur was a port city and a major source of trade in the area.

One of the problems archeologist face in trying to determine the locations of ancient societies is that cities were commonly abandoned and then later reinhabited under a different name. Hundreds maybe even thousands of years went by between the Tower of Babel and Abraham’s call out of Ur of the Chaldeans. It is possible that Ur was built on the site of the lost city of Babel. Ur of the Chaldeans is located approximately 120 miles south of modern day Baghdad in Iraq.

Another possible location of the Tower of Babel is the ancient city of Babylon, which is located approximately 80 miles south of modern day Baghdad. Some believe that King Nebuchadnezzar built the city of Babylon (Daniel 4:30) on top of the former city of Babel. The city of Babylon that was built by King Nebuchadnezzar was built over a thousand years after Abraham left Ur of the Chaldeans. Ur of the Chaldeans, or Babylon could have been built on the ruins of the ancient city of Babel, or Babel may still remain buried under the sand waiting to be discovered.

The exact location of the Tower of Babel is not known, however we do have a good idea of what it looked like. The Tower of Babel was most likely a Ziggurat, which is the only type of towering structure that existed in that time period. Ziggurat’s existed in both Ur of the Chaldeans and later on in Babylon. The Ziggurat that was built in Babylon is alleged to have been built on top of the earlier Ziggurat in the city of Babel. The Ziggurat in Ur of the Chaldeans was the temple of the Moon god Nanna of the Samarians, and later was used to worship the Babylonian equivalent Sin (2).

The term Babilu as used by the Babylonians means, “Gate of god.” The Babylonians and the Sumerians before them believed these Ziggurats to be the home of their gods. The Greek word Babel meaning, “to confuse”, is a play on the words Babilu and Babel. The people of the time practiced idolatry in these Ziggurats, it is fitting and expresses a since of humor for God to have scattered these people by confusing (Babel) their language. The people built a city in defiance of God, so God rebuked them using the very name of the city they were building.

The Ziggurat that exists today in Ur of the Chaldeans may not be the actual Tower of Babel, but it is the closest example we have today of what the famed tower might have looked like. Ur of the Chaldeans and the Tower of Babel are of particular interest to me, because I am currently living within two miles of the Ziggurat in Ur of the Chaldeans. I have walked through what is believed to be the family home of the Biblical patriarch Abraham, and I have stood on the top of the Ziggurat of Nanna.

It is at the Tower of Babel that all of the different languages spoken throughout the world were born. The different languages caused the people of the time to be scattered and separated them. I am currently living 40 miles south of the ancient city of Babylon and within 2 miles of Ur, where I am deployed with the Coalition Forces in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. God has given me an extraordinary opportunity to see people from many different nations around the world, speaking several different languages, come together to rebuild Iraq and witness the rebirth of a nation.

At the dining facility I sit at tables and eat with people speaking several different languages, and coming from all over the world working together in the name of freedom. I was able to see what the Tower of Babel looked like, and stand in the very home that Abraham grew up in.

You may be wondering what the Coalition Forces being in Iraq has to do with the Tower Tarot card. On September 11, 2001 terrorist flew two civilian airliners into the sides of the Twin Towers in New York. This created a scene similar to the one on the Tower tarot card. The Twin Towers were burning, people were leaping to their deaths to escape the flames, and both towers ended up collapsing. This event did not happen at night and fire didn’t rain out of the heavens, because the attack on the Twin Towers was not from God but from men. This event marked the beginning of the War on Terrorism, which is one of the reasons the Coalition Forces are in Iraq.

The Coalition Forces are in Iraq to aid the legitimate Iraqi government in the rebirth of its nation. Terrorist and insurgents threaten the Iraqi government and its people in an effort to thwart the establishment of a legitimate government. The same terrorist organization that sent two planes crashing into the Twin Towers in New York continue to threaten the nations of many of the Coalition Forces; warning that if they do not remove their forces from Iraq then their countries will face terrorist attacks also. These terrorists are kidnapping and murdering innocent civilians from all nations (Exodus 21:16, 21:14). As long as terrorists believe they can make a profit by abducting and brutally murdering innocent civilians, no one will be safe anywhere on the planet.

The Tower of Babel was erected, people were separated, and their languages confused, because they built a city in defiance of God out of evil motives. Today in this same area, people that were scattered and still speak different languages; have come together to build a nation in defiance to the evil that threatens it.

Governments and soldiers are said in the Bible to be ministers of God. They exist to keep the peace, but when it is necessary they also serve as ministers of God’s wrath against evil.

Romans 13:3-4 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.

The Coalition Forces are made up of people from several different nations throughout the world. They have come hear to protect the Iraqi people from those that want to seize control of their country and bring them into bondage. The Coalition Forces are here to ensure justice and freedom for the Iraqi people; knowing full well that they may not return to their families and children and may be required to make the final sacrifice.

John 15:12-13 This is my commandment, that ye love one another, even as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which I command you.

1 John 3:16 Hereby know we love, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.