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Author Topic:   The Tower of Babel — NOT about Language
Jon
Inactive Member


Message 1 of 2 (427271)
10-10-2007 6:17 PM


NOTE: I'd like to keep this thread about the physical tower itself, and not discuss the language issue of the story. For a discussion on the language issue, I recommend this thread: Language and the Tower of Babel.

Gen 10:1-9 --
(1) And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
(2) And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
(3) And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
(4) And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
(5) And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
(6) And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
(7) Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
(8) So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
(9) Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. (KJV)

Now, my question concerning this passage is thus: If God never destroyed this magnificent tower, then shouldn't we expect to see some evidence of it today? Even ancient houses leave behind at least their foundations.
There is an English translation”probably more”that says (emphasis added): "(5) But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.(NIV)"
I think looking at the original Hebrew, then, is important, because if we cannot be certain that the tower was actually built when God came down and stopped them, then we cannot be certain that the tower was ever anything more than an idea. If the tower was never built, then there would be no reason to expect finding evidence of it.
Three things, then, that I think we need to discuss:
1) In the original Hebrew, what is the tense of the verb 'build' in verse (5)?
Based on that:
2) Where is Shinar?
And based on that:
3) Where, then, is the tower?
Jon
accuracy/inerrancy please?

In considering the Origin of Species, it is quite conceivable that a naturalist... might come to the conclusion that each species had not been independently created, but had descended, like varieties, from other species. - Charles Darwin On the Origin of Species
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En el mundo hay multitud de idiomas, y cada uno tiene su propio significado. - I Corintios 14:10
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A devout people with its back to the wall can be pushed deeper and deeper into hardening religious nativism, in the end even preferring national suicide to religious compromise. - Colin Wells Sailing from Byzantium

AdminNem
Inactive Member


Message 2 of 2 (427294)
10-10-2007 10:09 PM


Thread copied to the The Tower of Babel ” NOT about Language thread in the Bible Study forum, this copy of the thread has been closed.

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