Babel's tower

Ari Lamm this morning delivered a midrash upon Genesis 11. This explains - through tafsir bi'l-tawrat - why Babel was bad.

Genesis 11's language is the language Schechem used against Dinah and Levi; also the language of Pharaoh when ordering the manufacture of bricks. Also here is the high height of the towers in Canaan. If you are of a "Book Of J" bent, this means Genesis 11 foreshadows Genesis 34 and Genesis 38:16, and then Exodus 1 and Exodus 5.

Several Deuteronomy parallels appear as well. The Canaanite towers are Deuteronomy 9:1. This part of that book may call back to earlier "J+E" redaction of Genesis-Exodus. I am less sure what to make of yazemu, as a non-Hebrew-reading Semite. Given everything else Lamm flags, I accept his parallel to zamam Deuteronomy 19:9. Shared language, would be my first thought.

I assume that non-Masoretic editions, starting with Qumran and the Samaritans, will back the MT here. UPDATE 9/30 Genesis 10-11 isn't in Qumran.

So far my post has avoided Lamm's dovetails between Genesis 10 and Genesis 11. I wonder about a pre-Genesis which had these in the reverse order. Say: some Iraqi saw a flood coming, so built the tower. Then Noah, building a boat, survived whilst the floodwaters undermined the tower. This could be Marsh-Arab folklore, like Elisha's axe.