Re: To Concord or Not to Concord

From: Dick Fischer (dickfischer@earthlink.net)
Date: Wed Jul 02 2003 - 11:04:45 EDT

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    Rich wrote:

    >The story of the tower of babel is an allegory. the lesson is that
    >homogenous populations are strong and multicultural diverse populations
    >whose disparate cultures conflict are weak.

    In the vicinity of Babylon there is still today under the sand a mound of
    mud bricks lined with tar just as they built all the ziggurats in the
    principle cities of southern Mesopotamia from 3000 to 2000 BC.

    The ziggurat at Babylon was restored by Nabopolassar, the founder of the
    Neo-Babylonian dynasty, about 625 to 605 BC. These are his words:

             "The lord Marduk commanded me concerning Etemenanki, the staged
             tower of Babylon, which before my time had become dilapidated and
             ruinous, that I should make its foundations secure in the bosom of
    the
             nether world, and make its summit like the heavens."

    His firstborn son, Nebuchadnezzar, continued in the efforts started by his
    father, carrying out building the tower at Babylon until 562 BC. When
    finished, a seven stage structure and its temple complex reached nearly 300
    feet in height.

    The <http://www.genesisproclaimed.org/resources/articles/0009.htm>tower of
    Babel was described by Herodutus when he visited Babylon in 460 BC. Here
    is how Herodotus described the tower:

             "In the midst of the temple a solid tower was constructed, one
    stadium
             in length and one stadium in width. Upon this tower stood
    another, and
             again upon this another, and so on, making eight towers in all,
    one upon
             qanother. All eight towers can be climbed by means of a spiral
    staircase
             which runs round the outside. About halfway up there are seats where
             those who make the ascent can sit and rest. In the topmost tower
    there
             is a great temple, and in the temple is a golden table. No idol
    stands there.
             No one spends the night there save a woman of that country,
    designated
             by the god himself, so I was told by the Chaldeans, who are the
    priests
             of that divinity."

    Whether the narrative in Genesis 11 was intended as an allegory you can
    judge for yourself, but the tower itself was real.

    Dick Fischer - Genesis Proclaimed Association
    Finding Harmony in Bible, Science, and History
    www.genesisproclaimed.org



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