Video from Smithsonian Channel
Some Very Compelling Evidence the Tower of Babel Was Real
"Biblical scholars have long debated whether the Tower of Babel really existed. Now, a remarkable stone tablet never before shown on film appears to settle that question." from video introduction.
10 Things Christians Should Know about the Tower of Babel
Christians often know the story of the Tower of Babel (a brick ziggurat structure) as an account of the event wherein several languages in the world originated. In the story, a group of people want to create a tower that reached the heavens, so they could make a name for themselves (Genesis 11). In essence, they wanted to become like God. God, seeing this, confuses their languages, so they can’t communicate with each other and had to quit the project.
Although the story only spans nine verses, this article will dive into some lesser-known facts about the tower of Babel. Here are ten things Christians should know about this tower:
1. You Won’t Find ‘the Tower of Babel’ in the Bible
You may flip open your Bible and say, “Hey, this section header says the Tower of Babel.” Allow me to explain. First, headings weren’t added into Bibles until long after it was written. The original inerrant word of God contained no verses, chapters, or headings. Theologians added those later for convenience and organizational purposes. So technically headings aren’t the inerrant Word of God. But later in the text, you may see the word “Babel.” However, that refers to the whole city they’d attempted to build before God introduced several languages. Not only had they intended to build a tower, but also, a city.
2. The People Who Built it Were from the Land of Shinar
Many people think this is in Babylon. After all, some versions of the Bible (Daniel 1:2) seem to indicate Babylon had possession of that land at one point. Many people believe the Tower of Babel was built in what would later be the Kingdom of Babylon, as the Israelites came to know it when they were taken into captivity into it.
But various theories have emerged throughout history about the exact location of the tower, none completely conclusive.
3. The Tower of Babel Was Built to Disobey God.. from the article: 10 Things Christians Should Know about the Tower of Babel