The Bible Slam: Genesis Chapter 11

The infamous "Tower of Babel" story takes place in Genesis 11. A portion of the genealogy of Noah's sons is repeated and new generations are recited.   The new material refers to Abram and Sarai , who move to Haran, in the land of Canaan. Lot is also born.   Chapter 11 gives one of the few Biblical genealogies where a couple of wives' names are given.

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Interesting Points and Contradictions.

The reason we list contradictions is because some Christians claim that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God.   There are some contradictions in this chapter that you might not notice if you were skipping around through the book.   Comments and explanations are more than welcome.

The very first sentence presents what appears to be a contradiction.   The King James Version reads at 11:1:

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

This would seem to make sense at first glance because all of the people alive on earth were apparently the offspring of Noah and his immediate family.   However, in the previous chapter, we were told about various families moving to their respective countries after their tongues, which would suggest that these different clans had developed their own forms of speech.   An alternative interpretation would be that there were two or more authors of this book, since a portion of the genealogy is repeated.   If the Tower of Babel incident actually occurred, it might have taken place somewhere within the time line of the genealogy presented; however, the families would presumably have multiplied at a fast rate in order to produce the number of people required to build a tower of such a magnitude that it got God's attention.

Another apparent contradiction stems from Genesis 6:3 in which God says that man will live for 120 years. Chapter 11 lists several patriarchs who father children and live for 200, 300, 400 or more years after their sons were born.

In addition to contradictions within Genesis itself, science discredits the original of languages as described in the Bible.   Chelev raises a good point when reading this chapter: Why does God fear mankind's development?   Is God the author of confusion?

How many gods are there?   In this chapter, the King James Bible refers to LORD and also to "us" when writing about God.

More Questions for Discussion … and some fun.

For more information about the above video, visit God vs. the Bible.

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