God came down...

In reading Richard L. Pratt Jr.'s book He Gave Us Stories this morning, I ran across this passage which brought a smile to my face:

The writers of Old Testament narratives chose their words because of their denotations and connotations. Consider one verse from the story of the Tower of Babel: "But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building" (Genesis 11:5). What did Moses mean when he wrote that God "came down" (yrd)? We find clues by considering the other words he might have selected. For instance, why did he say "came down" (yrd) instead of "went up" ('lh)? Apparently he wanted a word that denoted a downward movement. Why did he say "came down" (yrd) instead of "came" (bw')? "Came" (bw') would have sufficed since the readers knew that God dwells in heaven. But Moses chose "came down" (yrd) because of its denotative specificity. Finally, the word "came down" (yrd) may also have been chosen because of its emotive connotation. In the previous verse, Moses had said that the tower "reaches to the heavens" (Genesis 11:4). It is likely that he chose "came down" (yrd) for its satirical consequences. The people building the tower thought they had reached heaven, but the Lord had to come down just to see it.

It just cracks me up thinking of the author of Genesis sitting pen in hand smirking as he scratches onto the scroll "God came down."