Sermon Tone Analysis

Revolt on a world Scale

Getting an Understanding the Rebellion at Babel

by Bodie Hodge on August 19, 2010

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Nations that once feared God now ignore Him and despise His Word.

Children from godly homes are rebelling against the faith of their parents.

Not much has changed in the last four thousand years, since Babel.

The Tower of Babel (2242 BC) was a post-Flood rebellion against God by Noah’s descendants.

God judged them by dividing the single language into multiple language families.

As these groups spread out and became isolated, certain features (e.g.

skin shade, eye shape) became dominant in certain groups.

God recorded key moments in history to warn and comfort His people (; ).

We may get discouraged by the sins of our nation and our children, but God wants to encourage us.

A quick walk through the Bible’s account of Babel reveals some important lessons for us today.

God is still patiently working out His plans, even though we can’t always see how.

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When did the events at the Tower of Babel happen?

What did the tower look like?

Are there any records of Noah’s descendants found throughout the world after they left Babel?

What about different languages?

Are Noah and his sons found in any ancient genealogies?

In this chapter, we’ll examine the fascinating answers to questions about what happened on the plain of Shinar.

For background to this chapter, please rea11.

When Did the Event at Babel Occur?

Renowned chronologist Archbishop James Ussher1 placed the time of Babel at 106 years after the Flood, when Peleg was born.2

To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan25).

Although this may not be the exact date, it is in range because Peleg was in the fourth generation after the Flood.

Some have suggested that this division refers to a geophysical splitting of the continents; however, this is associated with the flood of Noah’s time—not the events at Babel.

The massive amounts of water and the crustal breakup indicated i11 (the fountains of the great deep burst forth) were substantial enough to cause catastrophic movements of plates.

Continental collision formations, such as high mountains, were already in place prior to Peleg’s day.

For example, we know the mountains of Ararat had formed by the end of the Flood because the ark landed there.

These mountains are caused by a collision with the Arabian plate and the Eurasian plate.

So these would have already moved by the time the Flood had ended.

Continental splitting during the day of Peleg would have caused another global flood!

Instead, the division mentioned here refers to the linguistic division that happened when God confused the language at Babel.

Even the Jewish historian Josephus (who lived near the time of Christ) stated: He was called Peleg, because he was born at the dispersion of the nations to their various countries. . .

.3 Prominent modern theologians such as John Whitcomb reaffirm this as well.4

According to Archbishop Ussher, the date of Babel would have been near 2242 B.C.5 See table 1 for a comparison to other events according to Ussher.

Table 1.

Major Dates According to Ussher Major event Date (According to Ussher) Creation 4004 B.C. Global Flood 2348 B.C. Tower of Babel 2242 B.C.

Call of Abraham 1921 B.C. Time of the Judges (Moses was first) 1491 B.C. (God appeared to Moses in the burning bush) Time of the Kings (Saul was the first) 1095 B.C. Split Kingdom 975 B.C. Christ Was Born 5 B.C.

It was during the days of Peleg that the family groups left the plain of Shinar and traveled to different parts of the world, taking with them their own language that other families couldn’t understand.

Not long after this, Babylon (2234 B.C.), Egypt (2188 B.C.), and Greece (2089 B.C.) began.6

Civilizations that were closer to Babel (e.g., those in the Middle East) were established prior to civilizations farther from Babel (e.g., those in Australia or the Americas).

Even more fascinating is that as people went around the world, they left evidence of this event!

Let’s take a look.

Ziggurats throughout the World 📷

The Tower of Babel has traditionally been depicted as a type of ziggurat, although the Bible doesn’t give specific dimensions.

The Hebrew word for tower used 11, referring to the Tower of Babel, is migdal: a tower; by analogy, a rostrum; figuratively, a (pyramidal) bed of flowers.

Interestingly, this word means tower but figuratively reflects a flowerbed that yields a pyramidal shape.

This gives a little support to the idea that the Tower of Babel may have been pyramidal or ziggurat shaped.

In what is now Iraq, Robert Koldewey excavated a structure some think to be the foundation of the original Tower of Babel.

It underlays a later ziggurat that was thought to be built by Hammurabi in the 19th century B.C.7 📷

When people were scattered from the Tower of Babel in the time of Peleg, they likely took this building concept with them to places all over the world.

It makes sense that many of the families that were scattered from Babel took varying ideas of the tower to their new lands and began building projects of their own.

Ziggurats, pyramids, mounds, and the like have been found in many parts of the world—from Mesopotamia to Egypt to South America.

The ancient Chinese built pyramids and the Mississippian culture built mounds.

Pyramids are classed slightly differently from ziggurats, as are mounds, but the similarities are striking.

Why did the people at Shinar build a tower?

Some suspect that they were afraid of another flood, similar to the one that Noah and his sons had informed them about.

However, Dr. John Gill casts doubt on this idea.

It is generally thought what led them to it was to secure them from another flood, they might be in fear of; but this seems not likely, since they had the covenant and oath of God, that the earth should never be destroyed by water any more; and besides, had this been the thing in view, they would not have chosen a plain to build on, a plain that lay between two of the greatest rivers, Tigris, and Euphrates, but rather one of the highest mountains and hills they could have found: nor could a building of brick be a sufficient defense against such a force of water, as the waters of the flood were; and besides, but few at most could be preserved at the top of the tower, to which, in such a case, they would have betook themselves.8

The Bible records that the people said among themselves: 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 eart11:4) 📷

It seems that the tower was to be a special place to keep people together, rather than filling the earth as God had commanded thems 9:1).

It is possible that the tower was built under the guise that it was a place for sacrifice unto God.

This would have prevented people from going too far since they would have to come back to offer sacrifices at Babel.

A recurring theme in Scripture is that people seek to do things they think will honor God but end up disobeying God.

One example is when Saul offered a sacrifice when he wasn’t supposed:8–13).

It is better to obey than sacrifice.

In fact, many ziggurats and pyramids around the world were used for sacrifice or other sacred religious events, such as burying people (e.g., pharaohs of Egypt).

Perhaps the concept of sacred sacrifice and religious festivities with ziggurats was a carryover from Babel.

Regardless, ziggurats and pyramids all over the world are an excellent confirmation of the original recorded in God’s Word—the Tower of Babel.

Noah in Royal Genealogies of Europe 📷 Table 2. Biblical Table of Nations

The Bibsis 10 gives an outline of family groups that left Babel (see table 2).

These people moved throughout the world and populated virtually every continent.

(Was Antarctica ever settled in the past?

At this point I am unaware.)

Historians have commented on genealogical records in the past and other ancient documents on the origins of various peoples.9

📷 Table 3. Irish Genealogies

Permission for use granted by New Wine Press

These genealogies seem to connect prominent modern houses and royal lines with the Table of Nations listed in the Bible.

In these genealogies, Noah is found on the top of the lists on many of these documents, some of which feature variant spellings such as Noe, Noa, and Noah.

One historian discovered a relationship between the ancient name of Sceaf (Seskef, Scef) and the biblical Japheth.10

This seems reasonable, as Japheth has traditionally been seen as the ancestor of the European nations.

Most of the European genealogies researched have a variant of Sceaf with the exception of Irish genealogies, which still used the name Japheth.

The Irish genealogical chart is reprinted in table 3.11 📷 Table 4. Nennius’s Table of Nations

Permission for use granted by New Wine Press

Anglo-Saxon chronologies feature six royal houses.12

An eighth century Roman historian, Nennius, developed a table of nations of the lineages of many of the European people groups from Noah’s son Japheth: Gauls, Goths, Bavarians, Saxons, and Romans.

Nennius’s table of nations is reproduced in table 4.13 Though it repeats the Goths in two different areas, Nennius’s chart bears strong similarities to the history that Josephus recorded,14 as well as the Bible’s Table of Nations.

However, there are clearly enough differences to show that it was neither a copy from the biblical text nor from the Jewish historian Josephus.15

Chinese records also describe Nuah with three sons, Lo Han, Lo Shen, and Jahphu, according to the Miautso people of China.16

Although original documents of ancient sources sometimes no longer exist and one has to rely on quotes from other ancient books, it is interesting how in many places we find similarities to the Table of Nations given in the Bible.

Noah’s Grandsons’ Names Are Everywhere! History abounds with names that are reused.

Names of places become names of people; names of people become names of places.

After the Flood, several of Noah’s descendants were named for places prior to the Flood.

See table 5 for a list.

Table 5.

A Few Pre-Flood and Post-Flood References Name Bible Reference Pre-Flood Bible Reference Post-Flood Person ssiis 10:29 Noah’s grandson through Ham; Noah’s great, great, great, great grandson through Shessis 10:6 Noah’s grandson through Hamsis 10:22 Noah’s grandson through Shem