A few more observations I would like to add. We are told that Noah and
his sons landed with their livestock in the mountains in an area which
has been identified with Turkey.
We are then told in Genesis 11 that they were of one set of words and
travelled eastwards until they found a valley plain in Shinar where
they started to build Babel. This makes perfect sense. Coming out of
the mountains with livestock they could prevent from running or flying
away they travel eastwards along the furtile crescent and file the
valley plain with a fresh water supply running through it. Just what
they need to be able to drink, wash themselves and water their
livestock.
What is key to understanding the account is why they set about building a city
Genesis 11:4
for fear we may be scattered over all the surface of the earth
Which is exactly the opposite of what Elohim's purpose for mankind was:
Genesis 1:28
Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth
Yhwh then takes action and mixes up their language so that they leave
off building the city and scatter throughout the earth. And that is
exactly what they do. Genesis 10 tells us that Nimrod goes off to
Assyria and builds Nineveh etc.
So, in summary, the idea of the story is a united group that find a
nice place to settle and start building a city and then scatter
throughout the earth because they no longer understand each other and
are no longer able to make such highly organised cooperative efforts.
James Christian
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