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 abylon
is the origin of
the first religion that opposed God after the worldwide flood. Nimrod
was the founder of Babylon, Nineveh, and other cities. Both the book
of Genesis and the Jerusalem Targum together say that he was a very
powerful hunter but also a very wicked man before God. He was the
king over this Mesopotamian region. Genesis 11:1-4 tells us that
the new citizens of the region started building a very unusual ziggurat
called the Tower of Babel. Hammurabi (1700 B.C.) records that the
top of the tower was “sky high,” and the Nippur Text
says that the top “lies in heaven” (Sarna, Nahum M. Genesis.
J. P. Torah Commentary, 1989, p. 83). The ziggurat appears to have
been a religious temple. It was not just a narrow skinny tower but
a huge object (see below). God did not want this false religion to
prosper, and so He changed their speech from a single language to
numerous ones, making it difficult to communicate, and scattered
them around the world, according to Genesis 11:5-9. They moved to
Europe, Russia, China, India, the southeast, the Americas, the islands,
and Africa.
Mother
of All Religions. Some have wondered why archaeologists
have found worldwide flood stories in every part of the world. The
common theme among most of the flood stories is of a family and/or
some animals escaping from a worldwide flood in a boat, raft, nutshell,
or something that floats. Why is a flood story so common? Books have
been written trying to provide a reason. But the answer is found
in the fact that those who fled from Babylon knew about the flood.
They told their children about Noah. The details of the story changed
with time, but the basic thought is the same. The basic fact that
a flood occurred is true. Any story repeated orally again and again
will change.
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