Prior to the descent of the Tabernacle from Heaven, God had not reestablished the sanctuary where He linked Heaven with Earth, and so it was natural that the human family would attempt to reestablish that link on its own terms and so attempt to seize a position in the Heavenly Court. Adam had desired to be “as a god”, referring to a member of the heavenly council. The Sethite families had given their daughters to the “Sons of God”, another reference to members of that heavenly court (compare the language of Dt. 32:8-9, Job 1-2) as an attempt to marry into the heavenly throne-room and seize the inheritance in that fashion. Here, we see the participation of the Joktanite priestly family in the construction of the false ladder to heaven. Joktan must have been the firstborn because of Peleg’s being named after the event of the judgment on Babel. Thus, he was born after his brother’s clans had officiated as the priestly family at Babel. Peleg’s bloodline is traced in Genesis 11 down to Abram. Abram is led out of Mesopotamia and into the land of Canaan where he builds an altar and “calls on the Name of the Lord” the same phrase being used to describe the ministry of Seth in Genesis 4. We are therefore invited to see a continuity in the roles of Seth and Abram. Additionally, God promises to Abram to make a “great name”, the same purpose for which the architects of Babel had acted.
The central sanctuary, according to Deuteronomy 12, is the place where God makes His “Name dwell.” The identity of God as Lord, Creator, and Sovereign is rooted and grounded in the concrete link He has with the creation through its ladder to heaven. In Genesis 14, when Abram arrives at the city of Jerusalem, he is given Bread and Wine by the high priest of that city, identified by his throne-name Melchizedek, meaning “king of righteousness.” Some Syriac Christian traditions, represented by St. Ephrem the Syrian, identify Melchizedek with Shem the son of Noah and heir to the high priesthood transmitted by Adam through the line of Seth. The bringing out of Bread and Wine to Abram is highly significant, for in Genesis 9 Noah’s investiture of authority was signified by his consumption of wine in sabbatical rest. Melchizedek pronounces a blessing upon Abram which resembles the blessing pronounced by Noah on Shem. The transmission of priestly office thus passes to the children of Abraham. The essential characteristic of this unique calling is its link with the world’s single ladder to heaven. In Genesis 28, Jacob sees a vision of the ladder to heaven in a text which echoes Genesis 11 in reversal. Jacob’s ladder to heaven is “truly the gate of heaven” as the name Babel means “gate of God.” The reference to its gates provides an additional link with the gates of Eden. After this vision, Jacob prophetically names the city “Bethel” meaning “house of God.” And indeed, Bethel is one of the locations at which the Tabernacle dwells.