Bible Questions Answered:
“Our class is asking to have this
question answered, is it a Bible error or what? The confusion of
tongues does not happen until Genesis 11, but as we read it in
Genesis 10:5,20 and verse 31it mentions different languages among the
people!
Lane/ Manchester, England United
Kingdom
Bible Answer:
Bible Text:
Genesis 11:1-9 NLT (The Tower Of
Babel.)
1 At one time all the people of the
world spoke the same language and used the same words.
2 As the people migrated to the
east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there.
3 They began saying to each other,
“Let’s make bricks and harden them with fire.” (In this region
bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.)
4 Then they said, “Come, let’s
build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the
sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all
over the world.”
5 But The Lord came down to look at
the city and the tower the people were building.
6 “Look!” He said. “The people
are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing
they set out to do will be impossible for them!
7 Come, let’s go down and confuse
the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to
understand each other.”
8 In that way, The Lord scattered
them all over the world, and they stopped building the city.
9 That is why the city was called
Babel, because that is where The Lord confused the people with
different languages. In this way He scattered them all over the
world.
Genesis 10:4,5; 20, 25, 31 NLT
4 The descendants of Javan were
Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.
5 Their descendants became the
seafaring peoples that spread out to various lands, each identified
by its own language, clan, and national identity.
20 These were the descendants of
Ham, identified by clan, language, territory, and national identity.
25 Eber had two sons. The first was
named Peleg* (which means “division”), for during his
lifetime the people of the world were divided into different language
groups. His brother’s name was Joktan.
*Peleg-Hebrew:
Peleg (Peh-leg):The name Peleg comes from the verb (Palag),
to split or divide,
31 These were the descendants of
Shem, identified by clan, language, territory, and national identity.
Moses the writer, knew well all these
events as he wrote from memory. What has happened is that in his
recounting events, he has skipped ahead of himself, putting the
effects of Babel, before it actually happens. In literature this is
known as an anachronism.
Anachronism: Something or
someone that is not in its correct historical or chronological time.
(Dictionary .Com)
Homily:
Hollywood had produced an epic western
movie, which had grossed millions of dollars. But, someone had
noticed that in one scene where the hero of the movie is in pursuit
of the villain, that off to the side of the mountain range, ….oh
yes, there, distant though it was, was a television broadcasting
tower.
And of course such a thing did not
exist in the old west. It was an anachronism, something chronically
out of place. The movie makers had not caught it.
The events spoken of by Moses in
Genesis 10:5, 20, 25 and verse 31 took place after Babel.
The Bible is not always in
chronological order.
Genesis 11:9 NLT
“...The Lord confused the people
with different languages. In this way He scattered them all over the
world.
Why did this happen? It happened
because men were sinful and disobedient to the call of God.
For God had told Adam and Eve and Noah
and his sons....
Genesis 1:28 KJV (Adam &
Eve)
And God blessed them, and God said
unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,
and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over
the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the
earth.
Genesis 9:1 KJV
And God blessed Noah and his sons,
and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the
earth.
But the heart of evil men said:
Genesis 11:4 NLT
“...“Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a
tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep
us from being scattered all over the world.”
Numbers 32:23 KJV (Moses)
But if ye will not do so, behold, ye
have sinned against The Lord: and be sure your sin will find you out.
The God of Babel is also The God of
Pentecost.
Deuteronomy 30:19 KJV
I call heaven and earth to record
this day against you, that I have set before you Life and death,
blessing and cursing: therefore choose Life, that both thou and thy
seed may live:
