Babylon; a city and a tower

In 1657, Noah and his family left the ark. The ark stopped on the Armenian Highlands in the Araks River basin.

Noah’s Ark coordinates: N39 ° 26'25.36 " E44 ° 14'5.42"



Scripture says that the family of Noah came from the East, but the ark, relative to Mesopotamia, is in the North. It turns out that the direction of the movement of the Noah family was from north to south. How to understand this? Maybe Moses was wrong? Not! The fact is that their route ran along the rivers, and they really began to move from the east. Noah’s family, “as they iourneyed from the East” to the West, they went to the upper reaches of the Murat River. This river, being a tributary of the Euphrates, flows from east to west. Further they went downstream of this river, before its confluence with the Euphrates. Their entire route from east to west, only in a straight line, is 480 kilometers, in reality they came much more. Then they turned southeast and walked down the river Euphrates. Walking along the right side of the river, they reached a place called Ur of the Chaldeans. The path to the southeast in a straight line is 1100 kilometers. Given the curvature of the riverbed, they went one and a half times more. In total, from the ark to Ur of the Chaldeans, they covered about 2,500 kilometers. Walking this distance over rough terrain without roads and paths is not easy.



Before the Flood, people were building cities, cathedrals, monuments, created works of art, “eating, and drinking, marrying, and giuing in mariage” (Mat.24:38), and “knew not vntill the Flood came” (Mat. 24:39). That world died, but people have not changed at all. The descendants of Noah, stopping on the plain of Shinar expressed their intention to build “a city and a tower, whose top may reach vnto heauen” (Gen.11:4):

“Goe to, let vs build vs a city and a tower”, “and let vs make vs a name” (Gen.11:4).

Wisdom and valour were not found among the descendants of Noah. They built a tower to heaven by joint efforts, together. Although it was not conceived as a religious building, its builders followed the path of Cain.

There was no enmity and division between the descendants of Noah. The “whole earth was of one language, and of one speach” (Gen.11:1). Nimrod, as the great-grandson of Noah, together with everyone was building the city and the tower. He, along with all, wore clay, wore bitumen, molded bricks and burn them. The history of the construction of the tower is distorted in literature and art. Any tower was not built under the leadership of king Nimrod. And its view in paintings, mosaics and frescoes is a figment of imagination of the artists. In addition, mistakes made in some translation make it difficult to see the true location of the tower, which was built by the descendants of Noah.

Scripture tells about the confound of the language of the builders of the city and the tower and their settlement in the face of the whole earth. This is the time when “the most High diuided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sonnes of Adam” (Deut.32:8)

God addressed the descendants of Shem, Ham, Japheth, as representatives of future nations, in languages understandable to them: “Get thee out of thy countrey, and from thy kinred, and from thy fathers house, vnto a land that I will shew thee” (Gen.12:1). They, obeying the will of the Lord, left their city, left their homes. By the way, their houses were very comfortable. They were with water supply, sewage and pools.

But why does the Scripture not speak more about this event? After all, people left without knowing where they were going. They, not seeing that land, walked by faith. But the Scripture, narrating about this, is not going to disrupt the course of events. In expounding to us the genealogy of Shem, and speaking of the family of Farrah, Scripture continues to tell the story further.


“And Terah tooke Abram his sonne, and Lot the sonne of Haran his sonnes sonne, and Sarai his daughter in lawe, his sonne Abrams wife, and they went foorth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to goe into the land of Canaan: and they came vnto Haran, and dwelt there” (Gen.11:31)

Among the people who left the city was the Terah’s family. They, according to the command, were to go to the land of Canaan, but, having left Ur of the Chaldeans, they stopped in Harran. In this verse, Scripture names the city that builders left. It is called Ur of the Chaldeans; its second name is Babel (Gen.11:9).

But not everyone listened to the Lord. Nimrod, as the grandson of Ham (Genesis 10:6-8), was to go south to Africa, “in the land of Ham” (Ps.105:23), but it was not part of his plans. Nimrod used the city abandoned by the builders to create his kingdom, and the Babel Tower to serve other gods. Until this time, none of the descendants of Noah served other gods and they were all equal to each other. They, obeying the LORD, left their homes and walked into the lands that He indicated to them. But Nimrod, who rebelled against the Lord, was destroying the faith of people. He managed to trick some people into neglecting the will of the Lord and staying with him in the city. He used all his hunting skills, prudence, cunning, knowledge of the habits of an animal, the ability to track it; he used all these things in a “hunt” for people and was deftly luring them into his nets. He “began to be a mighty one” against the LORD.

“And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.

He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is saide, Euen as Nimrod the mightie hunter before the LORD.” (Gen.10:8,9)

“And the beginning of his kingdome was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar” (Gen.10:10).

The Lord, having mixed the language of the builders of the city and the tower, and having forced them to speak different languages, laid the foundation for their division by lands, races, nationalities. Only after these time kingdoms began to appear, the competition of nations began. Nimrod was the first king. He wore bull horns, which symbolized physical strength and power. In order for people to believe and worship him, he had to impersonate a great man, surprising them. For this, mysteries were held, which were theatrical performances. You can imagine a picture of how Nimrod, laying on his head the horns of a bull, jumps from foot to foot and moo. And his subjects, playing along with him, pleasingly exclaim: “Who is like vnto the beast? Who is able to make warre with him?” (Rev.13:4).

Scripture speaks of Nimrod not just like that, but so that people had fully equipped. Because in the future tense, it is in 50 years, among people will appear their own “Nimrod”. Scripture calls him the beast (Rev.13). He also, like Nimrod, will prevent people from searching for their homeland. Nimrod in Scripture is one of the types of the beast that, on the eve of the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, will come out of the sea to deceive the inhabitants of the earth (Rev.13:1).

Scripture calls the city of Nimrod as Babel (Gen. 10:10). The Scripture calls the city of builders who lived in it as Ur of the Chaldeans.

Archaeologists from all over the world could not find the tower that the descendants of Noah were building (Gen.11:4). Studying the traditions of antiquity, they are still looking for it. And what is surprising, an officer of the English detachment, even during the First World War, turned their attention to this tower. But they walked past it as if they had not seen. Every person who studies history, but neglects the Word of God, spends time and effort in vain, he turns into these blind archaeologists. In general, archaeologists, historians, and other scholars for whom the Bible is a collection of myths and legends are professionally unsuitable. They are not able to draw the right conclusions.

The discovery of Ur of the Chaldeans was due to chance. During the First World War, one officer of the English detachment, Cambat Thomson, drew attention to the four-stage Ziggurat tower, located in this place and reported his finding to scientists. The expedition in 1923 began excavations. In 1929, Ur of the Chaldeans came out from under the sand. Scientists, of course, read the Bible. But the only thing they learned was that Abram lived in this city. But they were not understood the main thing.

“In none of the other cities of Mesopotamia were found such large, and most importantly, comfortable houses, as in Ur of the Chaldeans. Even Babylonian houses, in comparison with them, seem modest. Suffice it to say that there were houses with several floors, with thirteen to fourteen rooms in each. There were also pools and stairs made of bricks, and under the stairs there were carefully disguised latrines with water sewers.” ...

 

"In order to save their reputation (prosperity), historians, to justify the failures in the search for the Tower of Babylon, came up with a story with its destruction. Alexander the Great was made by the culprit. It turns out that the Tower of Babel was dismantled by him for the purpose of reconstruction, but it was no longer possible to assemble the tower, it’s not meant to be. Here is how! This lie is designed for a person who will not go into details. This is where they saw such restoration work so that the structure was dismantled till the ground, and then assembled? Especially if, according to them, it was a colossal pyramid. Yes, historians are great professionals in the field of fraud.

And in general, the Bible does not have the name "Tower of Babylon." The Tower of Babylon is a phraseological thing that means:

1) a tall building;

2) a grandiose project, the implementation of which is problematic;

3) an undertaking that perishes due to excessive pride and arrogance.

Historic places can be viewed in Google Earth Pro.

The place where Babylon used to be has the coordinates: N32 ° 32'33 " E 44 ° 25'55"

The tower in Ur of the Chaldeans has the coordinates: N30 ° 57'46.23 " E46 ° 6'11.78"

The tower in Ur of the Chaldeans is called Ziggurat Etemenniguru. Ziggurat is a multi-stage religious building. Near the tower are visible numerous remains of the base of houses. In one of them Abram was born. Nearby is a US military base.



Abram was born in the 70th year of Terah’s life, and not in the 130th year, as some interpreters believe, misunderstanding Terah’s death (Acts.7:4). They believe that Abram left Harran after he buried his father. But then, given the life of Farrah (205 years) and the age of Abram (75 years), when he “departed out of Haran” (Gen.12:4), Abram was to be born in the 130th year of life of Terah. But this is unreal.

Firstly, after the Flood, the life expectancy of a person decreased. As a result, the average age of the parent, at the time of the birth of the child, also decreased. For example, “Nahor liued nine and twentie yeeres, and begate Terah” (Gen.11:24). And the birth of Isaac from almost a hundred-year-old Abram, whose body “now dead” (Rom. 4:19) was a divine miracle. And Sarah, at 90 years old, had passed the age when it was possible to conceive. Therefore, how can it be argued that a 130-year-old Farrah could have a son, and at the age of 140, Sarah too?

“Then Abraham fell vpon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be borne vnto him that is an hundred yeeres old? and shal Sarah that is ninetie yeeres old, beare?” (Gen.17:17)

Secondly, exit the Terah’s family from Ur of the Chaldeans, together with other builders of the city, was for the purpose of their resettlement throughout the face of the earth. Therefore, this event took place in the days of Peleg’s life, while the earth was not yet divided (Gen.10:25). The earth was already divided in the 130th year of Terah’s life; people lived on the islands, and were divided according to languages on the continents.

Third, Abraham was the firstborn of Terah, and was born when Terah was 70 years old. The Scripture says: “And Terah liued seuenty yeeres, and begate Abram, Nahor, & Haran” (Gen.11:26).

So Abram left his father in the 145th year of his life in Charran, obeying the command of the Lord: “Get thee out of thy countrey, and from thy kinred, and from thy fathers house, vnto a land that I will shew thee” (Gen.12:1). During his life in Harran, it’s about 50 years, his father became an idolater.

Joshua, turning to Israel, said:

“Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, euen Terah the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they serued other gods.”

And I tooke your father Abraham frō the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gaue him Isaac” (Josh.24:2‑3).

The Scripture in the words of the Lord: “And I tooke ...” explains the reason why Abram had to leave his father’s house and leave the city. The same thought, but expressed in other words: “Abram left Charran“, when “his father was dead” (Acts 7:4). His father turned into a spiritually dead person.

“So Abram departed, as the LORD had spoken vnto him, and Lot went with him: And Abram was seuentie and fiue yeeres old when he departed out of Haran” (Gen.12:4).

It is impossible to say exactly what year the family of Terah left Ur of the Chaldeans, but knowing the days of Peleg’s life (Gen. 10:25), we can roughly name the year in which this event occurred, and also determine the time interval during which the descendants of Noah were resettled “vpon the face of the whole earth”. Using biblical chronology, we determine that Peleg died 340 years after the completion of the Flood.