Question: I’m really curious about something maybe you can answer it. Why did so many different civilizations like the ones in North America in ancient times South America and Egypt build pyramids? Why is there such a significance to these pyramids? I think it’s very strange maybe even spiritual how many different civilizations who never met each other somehow build the same kind of structures. I mean, what if God comes down and gives us a pyramid temple one day. Do we know the shape of the real temple in heaven? What if all these pagan religions were ripping off the Trinity?
Answer: Greetings and thank you for your question. It is certainly the case that the pyramid, or ziggurat, is a structure that appears across the world in various cultures. How can such a similar pattern be found in cultures than span the globe across the millennia? I believe the answer to that can be found in Genesis 11:1-9 and the account of the Tower of Babel. I will quote the passage at length below:
[1] Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. [2] And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. [3] Then they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. [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." [5] But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. [6] 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. [7] "Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." [8] So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. [9] 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. (Genesis 11:1-9 NKJV)
Now, we don't know exactly when this account took place, but if you hold to a young earth view, as I do, then the best estimates for the Tower of Babel would be around 2247 BC (or about 1757 years after creation). As the post-flood world begins to grow and expand, we see the people of the earth gather in the land of Shinar (Mesopotamia, modern day Iraq). Their purpose in gathering is to "build...a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens." They wanted to "make a for [themselves.]" The sin that was judged in the flood did not go away because the heart of mankind is "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9). Their wanting to build this tower and make a name for themselves is essentially their desire to storm the gates of heaven itself.
However, the LORD "came down to see the city and the tower" they had made. The language of "coming down to see" suggests that God had to stoop down to see what these insignificant men were doing. This is reminiscent to the opening verses of Psalm 2:
[1] Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing? [2] The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, [3] "Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us." [4] He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision. (Psalm 2:1-4 NKJV)
So, the LORD comes down, and in judgment, confuses the languages of mankind, and thus the building project died and the people scattered from there.
Now this narrative is important for several reasons:
- The Tower of Babel is believed by many biblical scholars to have been a ziggurat.
- We see the origin of human languages in this account. Scholars have looked into the history and origin of languages and their best guess is that there are approximately 140 original language families from which all our modern languages have descended. Consider that there are 70 people groups that are listed in Genesis 10 (table of nations that descended from Shem, Ham, and Japheth) and there's a pretty close correspondence to this.
- The dispersal of people groups (previously mentioned in Genesis 10) finds its origin here in the Tower of Babel. The confusion of the languages prompted the dispersal and the dispersal prompted the formation of various nations from which we have the many, various people groups we have today.
- The shared culture and technology we see pre-Babel would logically be carried with these dispersed people groups to their various settling locations.
This explains why we see ziggurats/pyramids in many human cultures and civilizations throughout human history. The technology and know-how of the Babel generation was passed along to those who were dispersed, and they built towers for themselves across the world.
As to the significance of ziggurats/pyramids for the Egyptians or the Mayans, etc. each culture would have had it's own significance attached to them. Most likely all of them had some sort of religious/after-life significance. One thing they all share in common is man's prideful attempt to ascend into heaven.
The good news is that we don't have to ascend into heaven because God, in His Son, Jesus Christ, descended from heaven to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. By believing in Him, we are assured of eternal life and will be with the Lord forever: [3] And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. (Revelation 21:3 NKJV).
I hope this helps.
