“Adding Back Story”

Tuesday, May 28, 2019

    Gen 11:1 states that there was only one language, but how is this possible if Gen 10:5, 20, and 31 seem to say that there were more languages before the tower of Babel was built?

Sincerely,
Tongue-Tied

Dear Tongue-Tied,

The book of Genesis is like all history books and sometimes gives us a big-picture view of events and then goes back to fill in the details.  Genesis 10 gives us the genealogies of the nations and peoples that descended from Noah after the Flood (Gen 10:1).  These genealogies cover the time before the Tower of Babel, and they also cover the generations after the Tower of Babel.  After giving a full picture of those who descended from Noah, Genesis 11 goes back to fill in the details of how people got their different languages and what caused them to spread out across the globe.

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