Discovering The Tower
Ancient Discoveries • Sermon • Submitted
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· 1 viewHistory and archaeology evidence for the tower. The accuracy of the Biblical record
Notes
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1 Now all the earth used the same language and the same words.
2 And it came about, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and fire them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.
4 And they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let’s make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of all the earth.”
5 Now the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the men had built.
6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they have started to do, and now nothing which they plan to do will be impossible for them.
7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth; and they stopped building the city.
9 Therefore it was named Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
Are you ready for the message God has for us>
Cool let’s dig and see what he says to us!
In the middle of the Arabian dessert, in what is now Iraq, about 50 miles outside of modern day Baghdad lie the ruins of Ancient Mesopotamia.
In his book Ancient Mesopotamia Loe Oppenheim stated, “The land between the two rivers, Euphrates & Tigris, was not as nearly as fortunate as Egypt. There were no walls inscribed with mysterious and beautifully executed signs, hardly any precious objects to be collected as curiosities, only a few high isolated, and dilapidated brick towers to which clung the name and the fame of the Biblical Tower of Babel.” (A. Leo Oppenheim pg 8).
A first glance there was nothing impressive about these ruins
Yet the deeper they dug the more they found
The more they found the more interesting these ancient sites became
They discovered the cities of Babylon, Nineveh, Ur, Erek (Uruk)
Finding these ancient cities led some to begin to ponder the tower of Babel
The tower mentioned in our opening text
As the sands of time were cleared the found libraries full of clay tablets many containing familiar events recorded in Genesis
A question came to light, did the events recorded in Genesis really happen?
The Flood? The Journey of Abram? Joseph in Egypt?
What of the Tower of Babel? Did it really exist?
Archaeology and historical writings, like those found around Babylon seem to support the Tower’s existence
The Tower in Archaeology
The Tower in Archaeology
The precise sight of the tower is still up for discussion.
As excavations were being done they found several sights in the area that remain as possibilities for the Tower.
The traditional Tower of Babel is at Barsippa 10 miles Southwest from the center of Babylon.
Sir Henry Rawlinson found in a foundation corner in Barsippa a cylinder with this inscription: “The Tower of Barsippa, which the former king erected and completed to a height of 42 cubits, whose summit he did not finish, fell to ruins in Ancient Times. There was no proper care of its gutters for the water, rain and storms had washed its brick, and the tiles of its roof were broken. The great god Marduk urged me to restore it. I did not alter its site, or change its foundation walls. At a favorable time, I renewed its brick and its roofing tiles, and I wrote my name on the corners of the edifice. I built it anew as it had been in ages before; I erected its pinnacles as it was in remote days.”
There has been a common thought among archaeologists a more than likely the site is in the center of Babylon, identified with the ruins just north of the Marduk temple.
An ancient tablet was found by George Smith of the British Museum its translation reads: “The building of this temple offended the gods. In a night they threw down what they had built. They scattered them abroad and made strange their speech. The progress they impeded. They wept hot tears for Babylon.”
A very interesting and familiar reading
I once visited The Rosicrucian Museum in San Jose that contains artifacts from Egypt, there was also a section for Ancient Mesopotamia. I found a text that was believed to refer to the Tower of Babel is states that each stage was a different color and represented a god and a planet picture I put together of this tower:
Black ñ Ninib (Saturn)
Orange ñ Marduk (Jupiter0
Red ñ Nergal (Mars)
Gold ñ Shamash (Sun)
Pale Yellow ñ Ishtar (Venus)
Blue ñ Nabu (Mercury)
Silver ñ Sin (Moon)
This Temple is known as the “House of the Foundation of Heaven and Earth” Restored by Nebuchadnezzar with a gate know as “The Gate of God.”
It is likely that one of these sights is the archeological successor of the Tower of Babel.
The Tower in Historical Texts
The Tower in Historical Texts
The Biblical record of this event is found in Genesis 11
The bible references the building materials Genesis 11:3
3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and fire them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.
The word for tar can also be translated bitumen giving the biblical account a ring of history as these were the materials then in use as found in archaeological digs
We may want to ask what do other historical records have to say about the Tower of Babel, do they even mention it?
Abydenus (a Greek historian of the mid fourth century B.C.), is quoted by Eusebius, spoke of a great tower at Babylon, which was destroyed. The record notes: Until this time all men used the same speech, but now there was sent upon them a confusion of many and diverse tongues.
Plato in one of his works tells of a golden age when men spoke the same language, but an act of the gods caused them to be confounded in their speech.
Josephus, the Jewish historian, quoting from an ancient source records these words: “When all men were of one language, some of them built a tower, as if they would thereby reach up to heaven, but the gods sent storms of wind and over threw the tower, and gave everyone his peculiar language; and for this reason it was that the city was called Babylon.” - Josephus
The Babylonian Epic “When On high” states: “Out of his blood they fashioned mankind. He imposed the service and let free the gods. The great pool of knowledge divided among the people.”
The Sumerian Epic Emmekar and the Lord of Aratta: The lord of Eridu changed the speech in their mouths, brought contention into it, into the speech of man that until then had been one.
The ancient historian Herodotus also mentioned a tower in the midst of Babylon: “The temple is a square building, two furlongs each way, with bronze gates, and was still in existence in my time; it has a solid central tower, one furlong square, with a second erected on top of it and a third and so on up to eight. All eight towers can be climbed by a spiral way running round the outside, and about half-way up there are seats and shelter for those who make the ascent to rest on. On the summit of the top most tower stands a great temple with a fine large couch in it and a table beside it.” - Herodotus
Consider what leaders in various fields of archaeology and history have stated
Donald Wiseman, Professor of Assyriology at the University of London, has confidently stated that the record in Genesis 11 “bears all the marks of a reliable historical account.” Donald Wiseman University of London
Nelson Glueck, a preeminent archeologist in that region remarked “It may be stated categorically that no archeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference.” - Nelson Glueck
There is a great deal of recorded historical evidence concerning the existence of the Tower.
Who was at the Tower?
Who was at the Tower?
Some have wondered why the Bible contains some much genealogical information.
It was important for Jews in accordance with the Old Law to save that information and add each sequential generation.
However, how important are they for us?
Are they necessary?
Cant we just skip them when reading scripture, it’s so boring!
I have found the genealogies of Genesis 10 & 11 to be of great significance.
The genealogies listed in chapter 10 are of the people in the valley of Shinar.
These genealogies are repeated within the 1st nine chapters of First Chronicles.
As I researched the names listed I found that they are the names of nations ancient and modern.
Time does not allow for a thorough investigation, however let us
consider a few: Genesis 10
Gen. 10:13: Mitzraim son of Ham. This is the Hebrew term used for the
people of both Upper and Lower Egypt. Thus he was the ancestor of the
Egyptians.
Gen. 10:15 Canaan son of Ham: He is of course the ancestor of the many tribes of the Canaanites.
Gen. 10:15 Heth son of Canaan: His descendent would be the Hittites.
Gen. 10:2 Gomer: the progenitor of Cimmerians and other branches of the Celtic families.
Gen. 10:6 Cush: his descendents lived around the southern portion of the Nile in Ethiopia the name Cush can still be found there
Gen. 10:14 Casluhim from whom comes the Caphtorim and Philistines. The Caphtorim: Cretans as inhabitants of Caphtor Caphtor was district of the Philistines.
Gen 10:22 Asshur from whom come the Assyrians
Gen. 11:14 We find Eber he would be the ancestor of the Hebrews.
There is a great deal more to be found in these records
Of course remember that the Sinite in 10:17 is likely the ancestor of the Chinese
8 Now Cush fathered Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth.
9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.”
10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
11 From that land he went to Assyria, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah,
12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.
They have found most of these cities.
There are archaeologists who are making connections to the building of these cities like Erek, Accad, and Babel with kings mentioned in those cities kings list the connection is to Nimrod.
In fact they are finding simulamities between these lists and the Biblical record.
His name has made into our language:
The term "nimrod" is sometimes used in English to mean either a tyrant or a skillful hunter.
In modern North American English, the term "nimrod" is often used to mean a dimwitted or a stupid person
I remember bugs bunny and Daffy Duck calling Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam, little nimrods.
We use it without thinking about it.
See how important these lists in Scripture are to help and deepen our unsterstanding?
What was confused?
What was confused?
Again the Bible is specific and that is to important to overlook, in fact the inscriptions we looked at earlier are also very exact in what was confused.
1 Now all the earth used the same language and the same words.
6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they have started to do, and now nothing which they plan to do will be impossible for them.
7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
9 Therefore it was named Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
Note what was confused: Language; Speech
Nowhere in the text does it mention written language. This is an important historical point.
Even in the accounts of the event as recorded in the Babylonian and Sumerian Epics shows the spoken language was what was confused.
Why is this important?
Many linguists have come to the conclusion that all the various human languages can be traced to a singular “Proto-Language.”
Max Fuller a noted Philologist wrote: “We have examined all possible forms which language can assume, and we now ask, can we reconcile with these three distinct forms, the radical, the terminational, the inflectional, the admission of one common origin of human speech? I answer decidedly, Yes.” - Max Fuller
Wayne Senner in his book The Origins of Writing; Wrote: “The authors of the chapters on early alphabets agree that alphabetic scripts most likely derive from a single ancestor, Old Canaanite. The authors of the chapters on Cuneiform, Mycenaean, Chinese, and Mayan, however, reject the validity of linguistic monogeneticism, finding no evidence to support it in spite of the presence of many closely related common features.” ( Wayne Senner pg. 1-2)
There is little doubt that one of the oldest forms of writing is cuneiform.
There were about 600 word signs, of which only 100-150 were used as syllable signs. The number of these signs were influenced by the needs of the people and varied throughout history.
In their early writings the Babylonians, Akkadians, Chinese, Koreans, and Egyptians all used a form of Cuneiform writing with similarities in the symbols.
Another point worth mentioning is that in the Cuneiform writing of the Hittites not only were Sumerian word signs used for Hittite words, but syllabic writings of Akkadian words were employed for corresponding Hittite words.
So it is possible that the people mentioned at the Tower could have left there with a single written language that they then developed to meet their specific social needs.
Conclusion:
There may be no way to know specifically where the Tower of Babel was erected.
Like Noah’s ark we don’t need to find it to believe it existed. There is other evidence as we saw.
The Skeptics have openly stated that this account has no basis in history.
Yet history, archeology, even the study of languages seem to give credence to the Biblical account.
Thus, Genesis as a historical account is worthy of more study and consideration.