## Rashbam on Genesis Chapter 11

###### Rashbam on Genesis 11:4:1
[Rashbam on Genesis 11:4:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rashbam%20on%20Genesis/r/11:4:1)

**הבה נבנה לנו עיר.** לפי הפשט מה חטאו דור הפלגה? אם מפני שאמרו "וראשו בשמים", הא כתיב (דברים א, כח) "ערים גדולות ובצורות בשמים". אלא לפי שציוום הקב"ה (בראשית א, כח) "פרו ורבו ומלאו את הארץ", והם בחרו להם מקום לשבת שם, ואמרו "פן נפוץ". לפיכך הפיצם משם בגזרתו.

**Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash:**
הבה נבנה לנו עיר, according to the plain meaning and the commonly held opinion that the people of that time were punished for their grandiose plan of building a Tower which was meant to reach the heaven, what are we to make of Deuteronomy 1,28 in which Moses described cities of the Canaanites as having walls as high as the heaven? Why were these walls not destroyed by G’d? We must revise our opinion of why the people were punished, and accept that their principal sin was in not fulfilling G’d’s basic directive to be fruitful, to multiply, and to populate the whole earth, not just a small valley. Their declared objective had been not to scatter (verse 4) The fact that G’d forcefully scattered them afterwards shows that their sin must have been their failure to do so voluntarily.