Bible History Old Testament

Bible History of the Old Testament

No. 8

The Tower of Babel and the Separation of Noah's Family

It was the divine will of God that the whole earth should be repeopled by the descendants of Noah. For this purpose they should have separated and spread out into different places so they could form different nations and tribes. This was a command given to them directly by God, and he expected them to carry it out. God knew that any attempted unity on their part would prove dangerous to them, considering the universal sinfulness of man. Their inward separation had already been noted because of the way Ham had handled the drunkenness of his father. The brothers were already forming their different characteristics and tendencies. God wanted to separate them so that they couldn't ban together and feed off of each other's faults.

Before recording the judgment (The Tower of Babel) by which God had to enforce to make them move to different areas to populate, Scripture gives us the genealogy of the different nations. This was given with a threefold object: to show how the earth was all peopled from the descendants of Noah, to define the relation of Israel towards each nationality, and to register the book of God, which indicated that "in time past He suffered all nations to walk in their own ways".

The Holy Scripture gives the genealogy in a certain way each time that is carried throughout the Bible. First, there was the prophecy of Noah, which fixed the future of his sons; then that he "lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years"; and lastly, that he died at the age of nine hundred and fifty years.

Regarding the division of earth among his three sons, it may be said generally, that Asia was given to Shem, Africa to Ham, and Europe to Japheth.

In the same general manner, a modern scholar has traced all existing languages to three original sources, which no doubt started from the three brothers.

In following the list of the catalogue of nations in Genesis 10, many of the names are recognizable as countries today. This list will start with Japheth, the youngest. Here are some of them: Cymry of Wales, Brittany (Gomer), the Greeks. The Germans, Celts, and Armenians have been traced to the three sons of Gomer. These are just some of the recognizable names listed.

Shem was the father of the children of Eber. This line divided into the line of Peleg from whom the race of Abraham sprang. The descendants of Shem are exclusively Asiatic nations. Among these are Assyria and Uz, the land of Job.

Ham seems to have grown into the largest population and had the greatest amount of people moving to different areas in Africa. His sons were Cush (Ethiopia) Mizraim (Egypt), Phut (Lybia), and Canaan, which we know he lived in the land that years later God gave to the Israelites. Each of the above places was exclusive to Africa except for Canaan's homeland.

Another of Ham's descendants had settled in Asia. Nimrod was the founder of the Babylonian Empire, the conqueror of Assyria, and the building of Nineveh. He was the son of Cush and was Ham's grandson (Remember it was Ham that saw Noah drunk and naked and bragged about it to his brothers). Nimrod founded the first world-empire and was called "the mighty one in the earth". His attitude was much like Cain's and even his name meant "we will rebel", boasted violence and rebellion, which constituted how he became such a mighty leader. The Assyrian tablets of the royal successors of Nimrod have furnished an explanation of why he was described as "a mighty hunter" in the Bible. This was the title given to the great conquering warrior-monarchs who hunted the people and made them bow down to their commands by using violence. It's much easier to understand the expression the Bible uses now, "he began to be a mighty one in the earth". Nimrod is associated in connection with the four major cities of the Babylonian Empire, with Babel being the capital of the Empire. Then when he conquered the Assyrian Empire, he named Nineveh as the capital city.

From archaeological excavations, we know that the empire of Babylon was of Cushite origin. Even the name of Nimrod is written among the list of Egyptian kings. These findings prove that Babel was the original seat of the empire, and that the earliest Babylonian kings bore a title which is supposed to mean "four races" in reference to " the quadruple groups of capitals" of Babylonian and Assyria. Lastly, as stated in the Bible, the Babylonian Empire extended its sway northward to Assyria, where Nineveh was founded. Then this city took the place of Babel as the capital. In each of these respects, these archaeological excavations have without a doubt proved that the narrative of scripture is truth.

The map below shows the Table of Nations and approximately how the land was divided. The map is not really clear, but is clear enough for you to get an idea of where each son settled and the vast amount of land they had.

Babel was a magnificent city that covered no less than one hundred square miles by the lowest computation, or about five times the size of London. The highest computation would make it cover two hundred square miles. It's easy to see why Nimrod would want to make such a beautiful city the world capital of a world empire and make such a tower that would reach unto heaven. If he could do this, it would set Babel apart as a most magnificent city that would be known by everyone in the world, and they would want to come see this tower.

The events connected with the destroying of their plan took place in the days of Peleg, the grandson of Shem. As Peleg was born 100 years after the flood, and lived 239 years, there must have been already a considerable population upon the earth.

After Noah and his family left the ark, they traveled to the well-watered plain of Shinar and settled there. They did not listen to God and they all settled in the same place together. They even went so far as to build themselves " a city, and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven", for the two-fold purpose of making themselves "a name," and lest they be "scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth."

Their whole intent in building the tower was to rebel against God and carry forth their own plans of pride and ambition. The gathering of all material forces into one common center would have led to universal idolatry and anarchy, with one or a few people having unlimited power to do as they pleased.

In the Bible it says that "Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower". Because of their rebellious ways and prideful plans, God had no choice but to arrest the grandest attempt at man's rebellion, and by confounding their language, He scattered them abroad the face of the earth, as they were commanded to do in the first place. God had to literally make them do it, though, because of their rebellion. The name Babel means confusion, so the prophecy of the name was made real to them.

No certain remains of the Tower of Babel have been discovered, although a place about six miles southwest of the site of ancient Babylon is the traditional place that some people think it was. This site is a pyramidical mound that rises to 155 feet high and 2000 feet in circumference. There are some discrepancies that a few scholars question about the exact place of the site and don't think it could possibly be the Tower of Babel. Even though this particular tower may not be what they are looking for, it is probably a good example of what the tower may have looked like.

This tower was built in seven receding stages. The platform on which these stages rested was of crude brick, with the stages themselves being of burnt brick and painted in different colors in honor of gods or planets. As each stage was placed on top of the others, it was placed as near the back as possible, or to the southwest.

Below are the different stages and who they were dedicated to:

The first stage was painted black in honor of Saturn. It was 272 feet square and was 26 feet high.
The second stage was orange in honor of Jupiter. It was 230 feet square and 26 feet high.
The third stage was bright red in honor of Mars. It was 188 feet square and 26 feet high.
The fourth stage was golden in honor of the sun. It was 146 feet square and 15 feet high.
The fifth stage was pale yellow in honor of Venus. It was 104 feet square and 15 feet high.
The sixth stage dark blue in honor of Mercury. It was 62 feet square and 15 feet high.
The seventh stage was silver in honor of the Moon. It was 20 feet square and 15 feet high.

On the very top was a chapel, which must have covered most of the top layer. The whole height of 153 feet was only about one-third of that of the great pyramid of Egypt, which measures 480 feet. We do not know for sure whether "the tower" was allowed to stand after the dispersion of the builders. We also don't know how God went about "confounding the language of all the earth". At the very outset, though, God punished them for being in rebellion against His plan of instruction for their lives. This caused them to be scattered over a large area of the then known earth.

The picture below is a model ziggurat of what The Tower of Babel may have come close to looking like. This is only a model picture to give you an idea and not exactly what it looked like.

For more information from this book, go to the archives page at my site www.cathydeaton.com There are other articles of interest there also.

This text is taken from the book Bible History Old Testament written by Alfred Edersheim. This is used by permission, and permission also given to use the maps and pictures.