Before the Tower Of Babel, we all spoke One Language

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king907

Junior Member
Nov 29, 2017
25
1
0
#1
I wonder, if our ancestors didn't build the Tower of Babel, and we went on our way just doing our normal city building and etc etc, No Babel Tower of course, would we all get along with speaking one language? And what do you guys think, that language was, that we spoke back in the day. Its amazing to read this part in the bible, because, I call this, the "Great Migration" LOL. Let me hear your thoughts and opinions on this one.

Thank you and God Bless
 

OneFaith

Senior Member
Sep 5, 2016
2,270
369
83
#2
Not only were they trying to reach God to show that they could be on the same level as Him, they were commanded to spread through the world- not stay in one spot and make a name for themselves. The earth is full of people now, but in their day they knew they were disobeying God.

The first language was Hebrew.
 

Johnny_B

Senior Member
Mar 18, 2017
1,954
64
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#3
Who knows what the language was, but it goes deeper than what we can imagine. Think about it, Adam named all the animals that were created and there were many. There is a book out there with the title "Did Genesis Man Conquer Space?" The idea is Adam had an exquisite mind and was not corrupted by the full effects of sin and since it name all the animals it was scientific in nature. There is a bettle or some type of bug that has two chambers of gas in them and when this bug is in danger, it releases gas from both chambers that when mixed together cause the bug to be rocketed from the situation. Since Adam named this bug and knew the scientific properties of it.

The seculation is that Adam and the patriarchs took that scientific information and used it to fulfill mans desire to explore the universe or to search the heavens to see where the Lord lives. Remember what the Lord says in Genesis 11:6
“And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.”

What was mans motive? It was to impress the Lord, Genesis 11:5 “And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built.”

Now to the bases of the book, since there was only one language, all scentific information would not be lost in translation it would all be forst hand information and the Lord confirmed that they could do what they set their mind to in Genesis 11:6 to with all of this firsthand information they could conquer space they could of even went to Mars. They book has the pyrimids involved as GPS stations. The book had a little bit of the book "Chariots of the gods" to it as well
with the craving in the one pyramid in Maexico that has the Mayan or Aztec god sitting in a chair with an air supply in his nose. Some type of valve being adjusted in his right hand and another in his left, he is sitting on a seat that has flames coming out of the bottom. So they are thinking that the pyramids have a great deal to do with Genesis man conquering space.

The writers believe that man still had this inforamtion up until the 12th century with the Aztecs, because they had the pyramids and sewer systems. They had some sort of technology to build the pyramids, to cut the stone to the point that you cannot get a razor between the stones and the stones weighed tons, that modern
cranes could not lift today, yet they were lifting them and building these structures.

The book is saying that man before the confusion of the languages had lots of scientific information to conquer space and some how the Aztec still had it. Here where the Bible comes in, the Urim and the Thummin
of the High Priest were very important to the GPS system of the pyramids.

The idea of the book is pretty far out there and at the same time, the Lord did say that man could whatever he set his mind to. If anyone wants to read the book it is avalible on Amazon starting at 27 bucks a copy, which is a trips since I only paid $0.25 for my copy. Just to let you know that Jack Ham is the co-author of the book.

When you strip away all the wierdness of the book they do have some Scripture that makes it possible. When you think about all the information being transferred while there is one language and the mind that Adam had to name all the animals created, without naming them all the same.

The premise really makes one think, but some of the stuff inside the book is different for sure. Jack Ham was very young when he co-authored this book. I wonder if he regretes writing it or co-authering it?
 
Jul 23, 2017
879
31
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#4
folks do the same thing now. all gather into big cities.
thats why the big cities are so filled wtih wickedness compared to countryside.
 

Adstar

Senior Member
Jul 24, 2016
7,417
3,468
113
#5
I wonder, if our ancestors didn't build the Tower of Babel, and we went on our way just doing our normal city building and etc etc, No Babel Tower of course, would we all get along with speaking one language? And what do you guys think, that language was, that we spoke back in the day. Its amazing to read this part in the bible, because, I call this, the "Great Migration" LOL. Let me hear your thoughts and opinions on this one.

Thank you and God Bless
I think they still would have been dispersed all over the world because God told them go out into all the world, but they stayed in one spot.. So tower or not they still would have been scattered..
 

notuptome

Senior Member
May 17, 2013
15,050
2,538
113
#6
Here's one for you to burn out a couple brain cells. Why wasn't Eve surprised when the serpent spoke to her? Could Adam and Eve talk with the animals and understand them?

I would say that the whole world spoke one tongue prior to the judgment of God at Babel. What tongue they spoke is unknown but we will probably all speak the same tongue throughout eternity with Christ.

For the cause of Christ
Roger
 
M

Miri

Guest
#7
It would never have worked. Even when we do speak the same language, we
are not on the same page.

Take a look around CC.
 

Kavik

Senior Member
Mar 25, 2017
785
157
43
#8
The Tower of Babel Narrative from a Linguistic standpoint -

The Tower of Babel story is quite interesting from a linguistic viewpoint; however, a few things must be defined in order to begin any type of linguistic analysis.

First, one must put into context the concept of what would have been considered “the whole world” to the original redactor(s) of the Babel narrative. The answer to this is rather simple and straightforward: to a person or people living in what we know call the Middle East several thousand years ago, the "whole world" would have been just that; a small part of what we now call the Middle East. There would not have been the concept of the world existing beyond the lands these people were already familiar with and inhabited. It’s quite possible they had no idea, for example, that lands beyond the Mediterranean Sea even existed.

In taking the narrative in historical context therefore, the “whole world” was not as we understand it today, but must be understood to mean a very small part of the modern Middle East.

What about what language or languages would have been spoken in that area? Was there, or could there have indeed been a common language spoken by “all mankind” (again, with the understanding that “all mankind” in this context refers to that small portion of the current Middle East discussed above)?

The answer is, well, yes – and no.

Linguists recognize that almost all languages of what are today the Middle East and parts of North Africa derive from one parent tongue: Proto Afro-Asiatic. This proto-language, due to several factors including the migration and isolation of people from each other, split off into several dialects, one of which was what is called Proto-Semitic; the parent tongue of all Semitic languages. The general consensus seems to be that Proto-Semitic had its ultimate origins in Arabia, Mesopotamia or perhaps even Africa and spread westward.

Proto-Semitic subsequently splintered off and developed into the various Semitic languages found in the ancient Middle East. This again was due to several factors including the migration of peoples to other areas and the general isolation of these peoples from one another over time. It should be noted that in ancient times, there were many Semitic languages. Only a few of these have survived into modern times.

In turning back to the Babel narrative, and taking into context the concept of “the whole world” as discussed above; it is safe to conclude that the common language referred to as “spoken by all mankind” was indeed in all likelihood what we today call Proto-Semitic.

What is fascinating is the fact that even back in those times it was recognized that there must have been at one time some parent language, some “common tongue” for the various languages people encountered in their “world”. The (somewhat) mutual intelligibility between these languages, or at the very least the similarity in vocabulary, surely must have been recognized.

As just one example, the word for 'god' is essentially the same word in Hebrew "el" as it is in Arabic "allah" as it is in Assyrian and Babylonian (a/k/a Akkadian) "ilu", Phoenician 'l, and Ugaritic 'il. Surely people even back then would have recognized the similarity and further realized they all must have come from the same source language, some ‘parent tongue’ (in this case, the Proto Semitic *'il).

This concept seems to have been preserved in the oral tradition of the Habiru/Hebrew people in their oral tradition via the Babel narrative.

To these people however, the reasons for the various related languages they encountered would not have been known. They would have no concept of the ‘hows and whys’ of the splintering off of Proto-Semitic; they just knew there was obviously one parent language at one time, and now there were several distinct (but related) languages.

How did they account for this “confounding” of languages?

As with many things not clearly understood by ancient man, the reasons were usually attributed to a deity, an “act of God”, if you will.

Such must have been the case here as well. The confounding of languages was simply attributed to an act of God.

This does however beg the question of why would God have done such a thing?

I would argue that the narrative of the Tower is pure allegory/metaphor – the intentional creation of a “back story”, if you will, to explain the reason for the current situation and to have a vehicle by which to attribute the event as an “act of God”. Simply put, it was a story that was easy to understand. To ancient man, this split in languages was an instantaneous thing and possibly viewed as something quite miraculous and mysterious (and as a result of ‘something bad’ that mankind did – his wickedness) – there was no concept of languages changing and diverging very slowly over long periods of time.

In fact, it is important to note that, while the Babel account does indicate a common original language, it does not claim that said language was Hebrew (as many people think) or that God necessarily used a supernatural process in confounding the languages. Further, what many people don’t realize is that the account doesn’t even claim that this diversification of languages was an immediate event (though most people interpret it as such).

The Babel narrative is also interesting in that it relates that these original speakers came from the East. This is generally regarded as the “migration route” of Proto-Semitic, i.e. the original Sprachgebiet (language area) was to the east of what is now Israel and the surrounding countries and moved westward.

The Babel narrative as we have it today is also really quite fascinating in that it is one of very few ancient accounts of a people remembering the history of their language(s) - told of course in a religious context.

If, however, the religious context is extracted, the result is a fairly accurate historical account of what happened - speakers of Proto Semitic migrated towards the west and as they migrated and became isolated nations, groups, etc., their languages eventually splintered off into what would have been at first just dialects of P-Semitic, but over time, separate but a very closely related group of languages (a “confounding” of languages).

If one wishes to include the religious context, the notion commonly assumed is that God used the confounding of languages to scatter the people, however, it may be argued, as Dallin Oaks states in his article “The Tower of Babel: A Linguistic Consideration”, that “God scattered the people to cause a confusion of languages”. An interesting take on the narrative as it fits more closely with what actually happened historically.
 

Kavik

Senior Member
Mar 25, 2017
785
157
43
#9
Here's one for you to burn out a couple brain cells. Why wasn't Eve surprised when the serpent spoke to her? Could Adam and Eve talk with the animals and understand them?


I like this! Well put!

As with most stories and legends dealing with creation myths and the like found throughout the world, it's interesting to note that animals commonly talk to humans and vise versa and no one gives it a second thought.

Here in Northern New England, "Gluskabe/Kluskab/Gloskôba", a Wabanaki demigod of sorts converses all the time with the various "four legged people" of the forest as well as the "flying people" (birds) - curious that they are thought, by the Wabanaki even today, as "people", and, of course, all these furry and feathered peeps speak perfect Abenaki :)

It's common for these various animals in such stories to be totally anthromorphicised (sp?) with respect to speaking, and they all typically speak whatever language the humans do.
 

JairCrawford

Senior Member
Oct 31, 2017
107
6
0
#10
Not only were they trying to reach God to show that they could be on the same level as Him, they were commanded to spread through the world- not stay in one spot and make a name for themselves. The earth is full of people now, but in their day they knew they were disobeying God.

The first language was Hebrew.
The first language is much older than Hebrew. The oldest Dead Sea scrolls were written in proto-Hebrew. The common language before Babel (the name Babel comes from an even earlier word Babillu, IIRC) is likely lost to man. The language Adam and Eve spoke with God could have even been a Heavenly tongue.
 

Kavik

Senior Member
Mar 25, 2017
785
157
43
#11
The Dead Sea Scrolls, for the most part, are written in Hebrew. Some sections in Hebrew however use an earlier form of the Hebrew alphabet which is thought to have passed out of common usage around the 5th century BC. maybe that's what you're thinking about as far as "proto-Hebrew".

Jewish tradition seems to indicate that the language of God was, of course, Hebrew. Not surprising. Deities are always typically 'assigned' the language of the people who worship them.
 

Ezekiel8

Senior Member
Oct 26, 2017
403
8
0
#12
The Original Language is a pretty interesting intellectual pursuit. You'll never find it though. It's impossible to figure out what the first language is by virtue of the Sundering of the Tongues, but you can however see sort of an echo of it. I think a good example is if you look at the most basic of words you'll see similarities from language to language and race to race.

For example very basic words like mom or dad, broken down to the most simple version in various languages you get papa, baba, dada, abba, etc. or mama, nana, ama, etc.

So you can see and hear similarities, you can definitely see how the languages were at one time whole, and you can also see how they became divided and surely the ancient fathers at the Tower became confused with each other's speech. However, it's impossible to figure out if one of them is the original or if as I personally theorize, none of them are the original and merely they all are based on an original that was simply lost both in the event of Tower of Babel itself and certainly in the thousands of years afterwards.
 

Christian71

Senior Member
May 21, 2017
130
8
0
#13
folks do the same thing now. all gather into big cities.
thats why the big cities are so filled wtih wickedness compared to countryside.
That is so true but... In the cities they steal your car but in the country they steal your car and your horse... Brother Glen:D
 
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Bladerunner

Senior Member
Aug 22, 2016
3,076
59
48
#14
I wonder, if our ancestors didn't build the Tower of Babel, and we went on our way just doing our normal city building and etc etc, No Babel Tower of course, would we all get along with speaking one language? And what do you guys think, that language was, that we spoke back in the day. Its amazing to read this part in the bible, because, I call this, the "Great Migration" LOL. Let me hear your thoughts and opinions on this one.

Thank you and God Bless
Probably Hebrew, There is evidence to that.
 

birdie

Senior Member
Sep 16, 2014
505
89
28
#15
I wonder, if our ancestors didn't build the Tower of Babel, and we went on our way just doing our normal city building and etc etc, No Babel Tower of course, would we all get along with speaking one language? And what do you guys think, that language was, that we spoke back in the day. Its amazing to read this part in the bible, because, I call this, the "Great Migration" LOL. Let me hear your thoughts and opinions on this one.

Thank you and God Bless
Thanks king907 for your interest. The book of Genesis is filled with stories that have to do with the church age. For example, Joseph who was rejected by his brothers but exalted by God is a picture of Christ. The story of Noah and the flood are pictures of the end of the church age (as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be...), the garden of Eden is a picture of the believers and the tree of life in the midst is a picture of Jesus, and so forth. As we consider the tower of Babel we should remember that it is really that the people desired to build a city and a tower to reach unto heaven. This is a picture of the congregations of the church age. The Bible says that the name of the Lord is a high tower. Further, the people used brick for stone. 'Stone' is a Bible buzz-word for people, with Christians being lively stones and Jesus being, of course, the stone that the builders rejected. Further, the people became scattered. This is what happens in the church age following the stoning of Stephen (who pointed out that the people did always resist the Holy Spirit). Indeed, the book of James is written to those who are scattered abroad. As with the church age, the original language, spiritually speaking, was love. It was the gospel in any language. However, the congregations of the church age tended towards falling away from the true gospel. Once love is gone, the spiritual oneness is broken. We read about this for the end of the church age: "And because iniquity shall abound, the loveofmany shall wax cold."
 

Christian71

Senior Member
May 21, 2017
130
8
0
#16
Thanks king907 for your interest. The book of Genesis is filled with stories that have to do with the church age. For example, Joseph who was rejected by his brothers but exalted by God is a picture of Christ. The story of Noah and the flood are pictures of the end of the church age (as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be...), the garden of Eden is a picture of the believers and the tree of life in the midst is a picture of Jesus, and so forth. As we consider the tower of Babel we should remember that it is really that the people desired to build a city and a tower to reach unto heaven. This is a picture of the congregations of the church age. The Bible says that the name of the Lord is a high tower. Further, the people used brick for stone. 'Stone' is a Bible buzz-word for people, with Christians being lively stones and Jesus being, of course, the stone that the builders rejected. Further, the people became scattered. This is what happens in the church age following the stoning of Stephen (who pointed out that the people did always resist the Holy Spirit). Indeed, the book of James is written to those who are scattered abroad. As with the church age, the original language, spiritually speaking, was love. It was the gospel in any language. However, the congregations of the church age tended towards falling away from the true gospel. Once love is gone, the spiritual oneness is broken. We read about this for the end of the church age: "And because iniquity shall abound, the loveofmany shall wax cold."
I love types and shadow preachers and writers... And I may be wrong but off the top of my head I would say this is from Gleaning In Genesis by A.W. Pink... Though I do have the book, you can also get it online in pdf format... Great writer and greater read... Brother Glen:)
 

tanakh

Senior Member
Dec 1, 2015
4,635
1,040
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#17
Surely everyone knows it was king James English. Sorry wrong thread!
 

stonesoffire

Poetic Member
Nov 24, 2013
10,665
1,829
113
#18
Not sure if I'm understanding this correctly. You both are saying that Pink taught the Tower of Babel as a building up to reach heaven as a desire to be with Him?

I was taught that Nimrod was out to take down the kingdom of heaven. Such as would be the desire of Lucifer. The gates were not Gods direction here in Genesis.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
55,247
25,716
113
#19
People cannot all stay in one spot due to the drain on resources, which is why Abraham and Lot split up, and also why the people in Nod were descendants of A&E when Cain finally moved to that city and "knew" his wife. There was a teaching I heard recently, maybe even this morning, that was talking about how Hebrew was the first language. I think it was the Messianic Perspectives program on kari55 which can be listened to online @ kari55.com :)
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
55,247
25,716
113
#20
The people wanted to build a tower to exalt themselves, not God.

"Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches
to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves... "