Understanding Noah’s Sons and the Tower of Babel
Before the tower of Babel, there was Noah.
Noah had three sons.
Shem, who is the father of the Israelites.
Ham the father of the Philistines.
Japheth, the father of the Gentiles.
Shem had 5 Sons , Japeth had 7sons, and their brother had 4 sons.
Sons of Ham
- Cush
- Mizraim
- Phut
- Canaan
Please see Genesis 10:6
Sons of Japeth
- Gomer
- Magog
- Madai
- Javan
- Tubal
- Meshech
- Tiras
please see Genesis 10:2-5
Sons of Shem
- Elam
- Asshur
- Arphaxad
- Lud
- Aram
Please see Genesis 10:22
Son of Cush
1.Nimrod
There are more of Cush’s sons.
Please see Genesis 10:8
In Genesis 10:32 It says that “These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.”
After the flood, Noah Sons had children, who built the tower of Babel. From the Mountain of Ararat where the ark landed, Noah came out. Later, they moved east into the valley of Mesopotamia and there they lived on plain in the land Shinar.
Shinar Soil was the best that was available to make bricks to build with.
So the people after Noah stated building the tower of Babel.
The people were thinking more about their own work and less about God who gives them their strength.
The tower of Babel
Babel: Bay – buhl
Verses
The Story is in Genesis 11:1-9
Genesis 10 :10
- Babel is the name given to the city that did not obey God and Scatter over the earth. But they stay in one place. The word Babel, which means Confusion because God confusion their tongues
- The higher they built the prouder they were of their tower. But suddenly their language was confused, and everybody had to stop building. They Scatted in all directions.”
- To people, the tower is a skyscraper, but for God, it is so small that he came down from heaven to catch a glimpse of the people’s effort.
The history of words
- Babel derives ultimately from an Akkadian word that means gateway to God.
- Another word is Similiar. The Hebrew word Balal that means confused
- They wanted to go to heaven to talk to the gods, So God had to confuse them.
How they built the tower
- The tower was constructed of brick because there was no stone in Southern Mesopotamia.
- The one built at Ur in Southern Mesopotamia in about 2100 B.C was a pyramid of three terraces. Consisting of a temple
- Today in the Middle East people still make bricks in the same way they would have done to build the tower of Babel. They use wet mud that they shape in a wooden frame. Then it is pressed out and left in the sun to bake.
How did it look like?
The tower of Babel may have looked like a type of temple called a ziggurat. They were a pyramid-shaped, and some may have been over 300 feet high. They had the steps on the outer side and a temple at the top.
Where is it?
- People have built Ziggurat towers from the earliest times. These towers were built by people as temples. Now days people have found ruins all over ancient Mesopotamia which is in modern-day Iraq.
- The traditional site of the tower of Babel was Babylon, one of the chief cities founded by Nimrod son of Cush son of Ham Son of Noah.
Why was It Built
It was built because of human pride and rebellion. It was built during the period after the flood.
The account moves from a description of the Sin to a time of punishment. God had to stop mankind
from getting more power for themselves, and going beyond the limits.
God’s confusing of the builders’ Languages and His scattering of them throughout the Earth
can be read in Genesis 11:9.
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