the tower of babel
TRANSCRIPT
The Tower of Babel & Its Significance
Laindon Bible Class 30th July 2014
Babel 2
Our study• Dispersion following the Flood• The family of Ham – Cush & Nimrod• The building of Babel• The confusion of tongues• “Nimrod the mighty hunter”• The death of Nimrod• The confusion of tongues reversed
Babel 3
Dispersion from
Mt Ararat
Babel 4
Dispersion following the flood• The ark comes to rest on Mt Ararat
(estimated to be around 2433BC)• “Be fruitful and multiply and replenish
the earth”• The family of Noah descends into the
fertile plains of Mesopotamia
Babel 5
Ham’s descendants
Ham
Cush Mizraim Put Canaan
Raamah
Sabtah
Havilah
Seba
Nimrod
Sabtecah
Dedan
Sheba
Ludites
Anamites
Lehabites
Naphtuhites
Pathrusites
Casluhites
Caphtorites
Philistines
Arkites
Sinites
Arvadites
Zemarites
Hamathites
Hivites
Girgashites
Amorites
Jebusites
Hittites
Sidon
Source: Genesis 10
Babel 6
The family of Ham• Ham the father of the Egyptians,
Ethiopians, Africans, Canaanites and those of Eastern and Southern Asia
• Cush (‘black or burly’ also known as Bel – the confounder; Baal – lord & Kronos – the horned one) – son of Ham and father of Nimrod
• They follow in the ‘way of Cain’ building cities
Babel 7
• From ‘balal’ to confound• The ‘gate of god’
Babel or Babylon...
Babel 8
“Let us make us a name...”
Genesis 11:1-9
Babel 9
Remains of ziggurats
Babel 10
World tallest buildings
2716.5 ft End of 2011 $3.1 billion
Babel 11
The building of Babel• “The whole earth was of one language
and one speech”• A plain in the land of Shinar (Bro JT:
enemy’s tooth)• “Go to, let us make brick” cf Isaiah 65:3• “Go to, let us build a city and a tower”
(sometime between 2332-2093BC)• “Let us make us a name” cf Genesis 6:4-5
Babel 12
Man’s action – God’s responseMan’s action God’s response
1 Go to, let us make brick (L-B-N)
Go to let us go down and confound (N-B-L)
2 Whose top may reach unto heaven
The Lord (Elohim) came down
3 Let us make us a name (unity, renown)
Therefore is the name of it called Babel (confusion)
4 Lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth(cf “replenish the earth”)
So the Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of the earth
Babel 13
The confusion of tongues
“And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.”
“Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.”
OT:1697 rb*D* dabar = of one stock of words = of one lip
OT:8193 hp*c* saphah
Babel 14
Language confounded...
6800 languages
in 200 countries
Babel 15
Language families
Babel 16
“Nimrod the mighty hunter”• Derivation of name Nimrod obscure but
probably means ‘rebel’ from Hebrew root ‘marad’ meaning rebellion
• A mighty hunter (a hero)• The first to combine role of king and god• Was believed to be the promised son
(seed)
Babel 17
The death of Nimrod• Tradition suggests that Nimrod died a
sudden and violent death• Shem may have been the focus of
those who remained faithful and spoke against the evil behaviour of Nimrod
• He may even have been assassinated• Tradition suggests that after his death
he assumed a god like status
Babel 18
An amazing diversity of peoples
The nations... 19
The dispersion of Noah’s family
Japheth
Ham
Shem
Source:Moody Bible Atlas
Babel 20
Alternative maps of dispersion (1)
Source:Thomas Nelson Bible Atlas
Babel 21
Alternative maps of dispersion (2)
Source:Exposition of Ezekiel by John Allfree
22
Possible migration patterns
Babel
Source:Arthur C Custance
Babel 23
The fall of Babel (Babylon)• Babylon v Jerusalem (Psalm 137)• The rise and fall of Babylon (see Isaiah
14:12-15)• The judgements against Babylon
(Jeremiah 50 & 51)• The fall of the latter day Babylon (see
Revelation 18:2, 5 & 21)• The rise of Jerusalem (Revelation 21 & 22)
Babel 24
The future of language• A hint of what is to come – Day of
Pentecost (Acts 2:1-12)• In the Kingdom of God, worship will be
with one pure language (Zephaniah 3:9 & 20)
• God’s purpose through Jesus is one of perfect unity (John 17:19-23)