Chapter 8

The Transformation of Man

“Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure; yes, they will all grow old like a garment; like a cloak you will change them, and they will be changed.

Psalms 102:25/26

From the very beginning man has disobeyed the commandments of God. Adam and Eve were told not to eat of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the Garden. They did. Cain was told that his offering did not qualify as sacrifice of his labor, but that his brother’s offering did. So, Cain killed Abel. The daughters of men disobeyed God and became the wives of the sons of God, causing evil to abound in the world. So, God destroyed the whole earth with the Flood. But, it didn’t stop there. Man continued to disobey God at every turn. Ham sinned in the evil thing he did to his father. God cursed his descendents. The world unified against God at the Tower of Babel. God confused their language and scattered them over the face of the earth. Man continues to be disobedient towards God.

Five things resulted from this continued disobedience. First, God caused man’s original sin to become inherent in Adam and Eve and their offspring. As a result, God said man would not live forever. “For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17). Second, God saw that the world was indeed wicked. “I will destroy them with the earth.” (Genesis 6:13). Third, He truncated man’s life on earth. “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” (Genesis 6:3). Fourth, God confused man’s language. “Indeed the people are one and they have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come let Us go down there and confuse their language.” (Genesis 6:6-7). And finally, God scattered them over the face of the earth. “So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.” (Genesis 6:8).

Man was created in the image of God to live forever, but through continued sin he has been transformed from what he was created into what he is today. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were they thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man – and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.” (Romans 1:20-23). Man became sin. Over time he was

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transformed from an incorruptible being in the Garden to a corruptible sinner destined to live a life of trials and tribulations as a decaying and dying vessel.

When and how did God cause this transformation to come about? Was each sin dealt with individually? What was the cause and effect of each sin? In what manner did God implement His judgement on man? And finally, was man conscious of these changes? The answers to all these and other perplexing questions are the subjects of this chapter.

I’m sure these questions have been asked for many years. But, since no specific scientific data or evidence has been provided to directly prove or to directly disprove the Biblical facts, man has for years been persuaded to believe that most of the Book of Genesis is merely a collection of stories. This mindset applies to the Book of Revelation as well. And as I communicate with people, I find that the majority of them do not study Genesis or the Book of Revelation to the degree necessary to gain insight into what God is trying to tell us about the beginning and end of this world. By not applying the first and last books of the Bible in study and research is the same as reading a mystery novel and omitting the first and last chapters. In each case, the totality of the story has been missed. As a result, knowledge of the plot and theme of the novel has been either lost or misunderstood. This affect is equally applicable to the Bible when the first and the last Books are either not read or studied. Thus, much of what God is telling us in these two great books of the Bible have been glossed over, and knowledge of His greatness has been missed. However, as believers in God and the Lord Jesus Christ, we of the True Church must take the Biblical facts as just that – truth provided by God.

It is up to us to address these questions in a forthright and straightforward analytical manner in order to grasp the Scriptural meanings and hidden messages therein. God gave us the ability to reason. He also gave us the gift of knowledge and the gift of wisdom. These coupled with faith in the Word of God gives us the ability to understand His messages. We don’t always understand God’s rationale or His methods; therefore, it is necessary that we take what we don’t understand on faith. We see in the creation that God did it, but we don’t necessarily know exactly how He did it. As such, we must also take those things of the Bible we read, but don’t understand, on faith as well. We know that certain events did occur, but the fact is we don’t have a clue as to how they were done. But they happened and are there nonetheless.

On the other hand, if we don’t use the gifts God gave us then we must make decisions using our intellect and emotions. This is where we get into trouble. It is when we ignore reason that we are open to emotionalism and the resultant conclusions are skewed. God did not intend for us to create an intellectual argument with His Word, but He does expect us to apply reason, knowledge, and wisdom where He has provided the information. All other is to be taken on faith. And, if our reasoning conflicts with His Word, then our reasoning is not tempered with wisdom and knowledge, and we are wrong.

This all may appear to be philosophical in nature, but it nonetheless is the approach we must take in studying the Word of God. It is also this type of mindset that you, as the

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reader, need to have in order to walk through this chapter with the ability to fathom the complexity of the Word as it applies to the Transformation of Man.

Herein we will be dealing with the controversial fact that man lived to be hundreds of years old. Since these facts are in the Bible, we cannot simply ignore them. The Book of Genesis states that Methuselah lived for nine hundred sixty nine years, and died the year of the Flood. Is this fact or fiction? Was there something in the early days of man that enabled them to live such a long time? There is that faction of scholars who believe that people like Methuselah did not live to be nine hundred sixty nine years old. They believe that the method of calculating the days, weeks, months, and years were different back then from what we use today. That could very well be true to some extent, but a day is a day. God said in Genesis that He created the lights in the heavens to divide the day from the night, and to let them be signs for the seasons, and for the days and for the years. This means that a day at the dawn of creation is the same as the twenty-four hour period we currently call a day regardless of the calendar we use. So, where is the problem?

The very reason many do not ascribe to these facts is they do not want to accept the concept of God. They do not want to accept the accountability in such matters as spiritual values. They are not prepared to accept the authority imposed by the Creator. They do not want to admit that the Bible is the only defendable written source text about creation in the world. Those who fall into this category are called evolutionists. Evolution is a religious concept; it did not take place! Evolution is primarily a doctrinal dogma of the world’s humanists. Although many know that the theory of evolution is untenable, and totally unprovable, the alternative is unthinkable. That alternative is the creation outlined in the Word of God.

There is one more point I wish to make before proceeding with the text. The content of this chapter will no doubt be uncomfortable for some. For others it may even appear to be biased, and in many ways in conflict with current day thinking, especially those who have a belief in the theory of evolution. In some places it will be just that. But, truth is truth regardless what the liberals of our time are saying regarding cultural diversity, the unity of man as a global society, or the origin of man. Contrary to modern day thinking, man was created by the Word of God, and unity is in our Lord Jesus Christ only. The world will realize this when He returns.

The Seedplot

Dr Clifford Wilson states that, “The first eleven chapters of Genesis are called the seedplot of the world.” Dr Wilson goes on to say that, “It is the most fantastic, accurate presentation of the model of creation he has ever seen. It can be accepted if you talk about creation, the Garden of Eden, long-living men, the ark and the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel.” As an archaeologist, his final point is very significant - “The statements in Genesis chapters one through eleven must be taken seriously after all.” Sorry Dr Wilson, but many of us Christians have done just that all along - taken Genesis very seriously, simply because it is the Word of God. As I stated earlier, if our

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knowledge and wisdom conflicts with the Bible guess who is wrong. The reason I bring this up is that the parts of Scripture addressed herein can be the most controversial in the Bible. But, hopefully some of the issues will be cleared up with various levels of extreme detail if you, the reader, are willing to plow through this so-called “seedplot” of the world analysis as it relates to the Transformation of Man.

Biblical Messages

The Hebrew sages teach that there are four different levels of Biblical commentary. They are “peshat” – the simple meaning; “remez” – the allusion; “derush” – the inference; and “sode” – the secrets. The simple meaning refers to that which we see immediately as we read Scripture, i.e. the message that jumps out at us. It is not that this message is incorrect, but that it is defined as the simple message of the text. The second level, the allusion, refers to the message in the text that the Word is alluding to, thus providing an indirect reference to some other passage or alluding to a secondary meaning within the current passage. The third level, the inference, is the act of inferring, specifically, the deriving of a conclusion through logic by either induction or deduction. This becomes more difficult than with the previous two methods, but through the proper application of study and analysis the inferred message therein can be identified. These last two methods of study are what Paul was referring to in Hebrews chapter five verse twelve. “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.” In essence, Paul is saying get past the simple messages of the Word, get beyond the oracles into the deeper meaning of Scripture. The final level, the secrets, is the process of breaking down the words of Scripture into numerical values based on the Hebrew alphabet and associated numbers as applied to each letter and word. This last method is complex to say the least, but used by Hebrew scholars to a great degree. But, this method of study is far beyond the level of this commentary; therefore, we will not delve into it. Thus, the text of this chapter is derived by using the first three methods of study - the simple, the allusion, and the inference.

There are different ways of applying these study methods, but each calls for the pursuit and analysis of lengthy texts, examination of words and phrases, the application of numerical data given in the Scripture, i.e. numbers, and finally proving Scripture with Scripture. The rationale behind these approaches is to open up to us the messages, truths, and golden nuggets hidden in the Word of God, which otherwise would be passed right over, obtaining only the simple meaning of the message. In utilizing these methods I do not advocate effort to sensationalize any Scripture beyond what God originally intended the message to be. However, I do want to use these existing principles to show how God has revealed messages to us through His written Word. Messages that not only reveal His Almighty Being, but messages that have a definite impact and guiding force in our lives, and as such, giving us additional insight into His greatness.

The Hebrew sages have always stated that the creation of the world did not take place by God’s actions, but by the words He spoke and the letters used to comprise these words.

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They even state that the spaces between the words have meaning. Therefore, each word, each letter, and each phrase within Scripture, contains some element of God’s message to man. It has also been said that Biblical Hebrew quite often begins with an abstract of what is to follow. Sometimes it is like a legal document; it covers all the bases; all the words are interrelated. Therefore, through these methods of analysis we are able to ascertain data necessary to answer the questions previously outlined. However, there are some things we must take on faith. In these instances God has not seen fit to reveal His reasons or His purposes or His actions to us. But, that’s ok; He is God.

And finally, we must remember that the Bible is basically the history of the Jews written by Jews, with the exception of Luke who wrote the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. Although the Bible is much more than history, it nonetheless provides a genealogy and lineage from the beginning to our Lord Jesus Christ. And, since it is a book on Jewish history, therein lies one of the primary reasons it is most difficult to research any conclusive evidence regarding such questions as to when the worlds language was confused, and where did the races come from? However, it is precisely the application of the aforementioned methods of analysis, in regards to the genealogy and lineage, that enables us to ascertain the answers to many of the questions cited herein. As I said earlier, if God wants us to know the messages within the Scriptural text of His Word then He will make a way for us to find that message, and give us the tools and the inherent ability to make the interpretation.

Part I

The First Seventeen Hundred Years

Many who read the Bible, especially the Book of Genesis, capture the essence of the Scripture as it relates to the Garden of Eden, and the sin of eating the forbidden fruit. Everyone knows the story of the serpent - it was at that moment in time that man was separated spiritually from God. But, what else can we glean from the verses that can be used to improve our understanding of God’s Almighty Power? Can we see His action and control over the lives and environment of man in His Word? And finally, can we trace the messages of the Biblical texts concerning the sin of man from the fall in the Garden onward?

Original Sin

“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave it to her husband with her, and he ate.” (Genesis 3:6). God placed a curse on the ground on which man walked. “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.” (Genesis 3:17). God informed Adam and Eve that they would not live forever. “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground,

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for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19). Adam and Eve were originally created beings, and as such were not subject to death unless they disobeyed God and ate of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the Garden. “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17). The passage infers that they will live forever if they obey the commandments of God. But, if they do not obey the commandments of God they will die. After they sinned, God informed both Adam and Eve they would eventually die and return to the ground from which they came. He did not tell them how they would die or when they would die. Nor did God tell them how long they would live. But, Scripture tells us the length of their lives as outlined in the genealogy of Adam in Genesis chapter five.

Appendix A. Although not drawn to an exact scale, Appendix A provides a graphic on relative births and ages of those living prior to the Flood. This graphic depicts that God allowed man to live long lives in spite of the original sin. But, man was destined to die and return to the ground from which he came. The ages in Genesis range from seven hundred seventy seven years for Lamech, the father of Noah, to nine hundred sixty nine years for Methuselah. Methuselah died the year of the Flood. The only exception to these long lives on earth was Enoch who was on earth for only three hundred sixty five years. “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”(Genesis 5:24). He was the only human being, other than Noah and his family, born before the Flood that did not die either as a result of natural death before the Flood or death caused by the Flood. Therefore, excluding Enoch, the length of life before the Flood was an average of nine hundred seven years, and the average age of the father at the birth of the first recorded son was one hundred seventeen years. Thus, we have the first event in the transformation of man after the sin in the garden. He was transformed from an incorruptible created being to a corruptible being destined to live to an average age of nine hundred seven years. If the only sin that man had made was the original sin in the Garden, then we could safely assume that all lives would have continued as cited in Genesis chapter five. But, we know that was not the case.

Life Changes. There are some other interesting facts concerning man after the sin in the Garden. However, to realize the true nature of this transformation it is necessary to compare the earth’s environment before and after the Garden of Eden. That is, how life was in the Garden before Adam and Eve sinned, with life after God threw them out of the Garden. Basically, these facts are the results of the original sin of disobeying God and eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. “And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” (Genesis 3:2). Prior to sinning, Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the trees of the Garden, but not the fruit from the tree in the midst of the Garden. During their time in the Garden all that consisted of their diet was fruit provided by God. This will happen again someday as Revelation states, “In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation

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22:2). Also, they did not have to toil for their living nor did they eat meat as meat was not eaten until after the Flood. This will be addressed later.

However, after they were thrown out of the Garden things changed drastically. God told Adam, “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.” (Genesis 3:17). No more fruit trees. Adam became a farmer. Then God informed Adam; “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread.” (Genesis 3:19). So, Adam and Eve ate what the ground would produce.

Initially there was no pain or suffering until after the sin. In the list of curses in Genesis, chapter three, God outlines the things that Adam and Eve and their heirs will undergo in the future. “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children.” (Verse 16). “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it…, thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you and you shall eat the herbs of the field…, for dust you are and to dust you shall return.” (Verses 17-19).

Before the Flood the environment in which man lived was almost perfect. The temperature was basically constant; there was no rain, no snow, no storms, and no pollution. “For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.” (Genesis 2:5-6). Also, the animals remained tame until after the Flood. All of these facts must be remember in order to understand the real reason for the Flood and other affects placed on man and the environment.

So, it can readily be seen that things were not so good after Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden. But compared to after the Flood things were not all that bad. Life was still comparatively easy and good. Man had to labor for his food, there was pain, there was sweat, there was sorrow, and yes life was terminated after an average of nine hundred seven years (the reason for a long life will be addressed later). This phase in the life of man lasted approximately one thousand six hundred and fifty six years beginning when Adam and Eve were thrown out of the Garden and terminating with the Flood. We are not told the exact date they were sent out of the Garden, but from the text of Genesis it appears to have been not long after the creation of man.

The first phase of the Transformation of man is now complete.

The Flood

The Flood was the next big event in the Transformation of Man. Scripture tells us why God caused the Flood. “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5). God also said that He would destroy all the earth, “So, the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” (Verse 7).

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We know from these two verses why God wanted to destroy man, simply because he was so evil. But, why did God want to destroy the beasts, the creeping things and the birds? Also, what caused man to become so evil, and what was he continually doing that caused God to be so sorry that He had made man? The answers to these questions are the real reasons for the Flood as Scripture tells us. Extreme Evil. What was the cause of man’s extreme evil that moved God to want to destroy all of mankind? To answer this, we need only to look at the common denominator of sin – Satan. Satan was the cause of the fall in the Garden when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit. But, Satan was not satisfied with the results of the fall as some men continued to walk with God even though he was basically separated from God spiritually. This was evidenced in the life of Enoch, “So, all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” (Genesis 5:24). In the terminology of today, Enoch was raptured nine hundred and fifty-seven years after the creation. Then we find that Noah was a man of God. “Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.” (Genesis 6:9). But there were those that Satan was able to draw over to the other side, thus the cause of all the evil on the earth before the Flood. “Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for indeed he is flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty. There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:1-5).

Fallen Angels. The major element in the above Scripture, which is so significant in the second phase of the Transformation of Man, is that the sons of God took the daughters of men as wives, and had children. The sons of God are basically the fallen angels who were thrown out of heaven along with Satan (see “Who Was Cain’s Wife). The translation of the phrase sons of God is defined as those of the Supreme Being whereas the phrase daughters of men is defined as those having a ruddy complexion or of Adam.

The fact that the sons of God were the fallen angels on earth with Satan is substantiated in Job chapter one verse six. “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, From where do you come? So Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” This act, by Satan, is also cited in Job chapter two, verse one.

Genesis states that the sons of God and the daughters of men had children. In Hebrew, the word son in this context means a builder of the family with its primary root word meaning to build through the process of having children. Therefore, the sons of God were

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able to cause the daughters of men to conceive and have children. These offspring were the children of the fallen angels, who with Satan were able to cause the additional evil on the earth. Satan’s reasoning was that through this process they could disrupt the lineage from which Christ would eventually come. But, we see that it did not work as Noah walked with God and his lineage was perfect. All the plotting that Satan did only caused the Flood to destroy the results of his action.

End of All Flesh. But, why did God want to destroy the beasts, the creeping things, and the birds of the air? “So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. And God said to Noah, the end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” (Genesis 6:12-13). God said all flesh! All flesh includes man, beasts, creeping things and birds, with the exception of the fish of the sea. But why the beasts, creeping things and birds? Although we are not told the answer here in Genesis, the answer nonetheless is in the Bible.

Before I get into that answer, I think it is necessary to make a parallel observation into what was defined earlier as the inferred method of studying Scripture. Look at Genesis chapter three, verse seventeen, where God informed Adam, “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.” Then again in verse nineteen, “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground.” The first verse tells us that Adam will become a farmer and will grow what he eats. The second verse tells us that Adam will grow wheat from which to make bread. This implies that Adam did not till the ground before he sinned nor did he grow wheat to make bread while in the Garden. Although these facts are not stated outright in Scripture, they are inferred and are derived through deductive analysis. So, in this case, it is inferred that bread had not been eaten previously, i.e. while Adam and Eve were in the Garden.

This type of reasoning also applies when God provides instructions to Israel on how to live. In such cases, it is inferred that the instruction rationale is based on a shadow of the past, in other words events of the past. Thus, we find God instructing Israel not to do something that has been done before. The reasoning is that it would cause undue harm either spiritually or physically to the people of Israel. Therefore, God is providing a level of safe living through His laws to His people.

This brings us back to why God destroyed the beasts, creeping things, and birds. Ezekiel provides the answer. “So, He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, there was a hole in the wall. Then he said to me, son of man, dig into the wall; and when I dug into the wall, there was a door. And He said to me, go in, and see the wicked abominations, which they are doing there. So, I went in and saw, and there – every sort of creeping thing, abominable beast, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed around on the walls.” (Ezekiel 8:7-10). Note that the idols of the house of Israel were portrayed around on the walls, but the people were performing wicked abominations with the beasts and creeping things. The Hebrew word for abominable is shegets meaning filth or disgusting. The Hebrew word for wicked is ra meaning evil or adversity. Its root word means to spoil or to associate self physically and morally.

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Therefore, the people in this vision were in various forms of integrated worship with the animals.

Ezekiel also tells us what happened as a result of these wicked abominations by the house of Israel. “Now the glory of the God of Israel had gone up from the cherub, where it had been, to the threshold of the temple. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer’s inkhorn at his side; and the Lord said to him, go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it. To the others He said in my hearing, go after him through the city and kill; do not let your eye spare, nor have any pity. Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin in My sanctuary. So they begin with the elders who were before the temple.” (Ezekiel 9:3-6). So, Ezekiel, chapter eight is basically a shadow of the things that happened prior to the Flood, and Ezekiel, chapter nine is a shadow of the judgement of that evil. In the case of the Flood, Noah and his family parallel those in Ezekiel who were sighing and crying over the abominations of the house of Israel. “But saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly.” (2 Peter 2:5). Noah was preaching righteousness, but no one would listen except his family. It had gotten that bad.

Flood Chronology

There are some very significant facts that need to be established in order to show exactly what happened and how lives were affected by the Flood. Other than the verse defining the birth of Noah, he is not mentioned again until he is five hundred years old. “And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japeth.” (Genesis 5:32). It appears this verse indicates that all three sons were born when Noah was five hundredth years old, but we know that cannot be. In fact there are two distinct yet separate parts to verse thirty-two. Part one states the fact that Noah was five hundred years old when he again came on the scene. Not only is his age significant to understanding and calculating the dates for the Flood, his age is critical in establishing the definitive meaning of the one hundred twenty years cited in Genesis chapter six, verse three. The reason I state that part two of the verse is totally separate from part one is the fact that Noah’s oldest son, Shem was not born until Noah was five hundred three years old. Although the Scripture does not specifically state this, it nonetheless comes to light when calculating Noah’s age relative to the start of the Flood with the age defined for Shem after the Flood. These two seeming unrelated facts will become clear in following paragraphs as the one hundred twenty year comment in Genesis chapter six is explained.

The Flood began one thousand six hundred fifty six years after the creation, which was in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life. Noah was six hundred years old when he and his family went into the ark. Shem was ninety-seven years old. The Flood was over in the year one thousand six hundred fifty seven. Noah lived three hundred fifty years after the Flood for a total of nine hundred fifty years. Thus, Noah belongs to the list of what I call

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Per-flood people even though he lived after the Flood for one-third of his life. The reason I bring up this point is that the Flood event had a huge transitional effect on the life span of man including some remarkable changes occurring immediately after the Flood.

As I stated earlier, many readers of Scripture feel there appears to be some confusion or error between the two parts in Genesis chapter five, verse thirty-two as it seems to indicate that all of Noah’s sons were born in the same year. “And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham and Japheth.” However, the genealogy of Shem outlined in Genesis clears this up. It reads, “The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.” (Genesis 10:22). “This is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was one hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood.” (Genesis 11:10). Based on these two verses, Arphaxad, the third son of Shem, was born one thousand six hundred sixty years after the creation. This verse, coupled with Noah’s age at the time of the Flood, enables us to calculate that Shem was ninety-seven years old when the Flood began. Therefore, Shem was born when Noah was five hundred three years old.

Based on the above calculations, some other interesting facts related to ages and births can be derived. “So, Noah, with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood.” (Genesis 7:7). Also Peter states, “But saved Noah, one of eight people, preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly.” (2 Peter 2:5). So, only eight people went into the ark. However, if Arphaxad, Shem’s third son, was not born until two years after the Flood then Shem’s oldest son, Elam, would have been born on the ark just prior to the end of the Flood. All these facts need to be addressed as they are used in calculating the population growth after the Flood up until the Tower of Babel.

This brings us back to the initial issue. “And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” (Genesis 5:32). We have established the fact that Shem was born when Noah was five hundred three years old. We also know that the Flood started when Noah was six hundred years old. Yet there are those that state that the one hundred and twenty years cited in Genesis chapter six, verse three means that God was saying that He would destroy the earth in one hundred twenty years. “Yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” That is not the meaning of the phrase one hundred and twenty years, as we shall see.

The first part of verse thirty-two relates to the fact that Noah was five hundred years old when informed by God that He intended to destroy the earth, Genesis chapter six, verses one through seven. One reason substantiating this fact is in verse eight. “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” So, God waited until Noah built the ark before bringing on the Flood. How long Noah took to build the ark we are not told. Scripture only tells us that God waited. “By whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formally were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.” (1Peter 3:19-20). The one hundred twenty years, in Genesis chapter six, verse three, relates to the length of time to which God would eventually truncate man’s

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life. That is, the length of time man would eventually live on earth. No more long life spans. This will become evident as we analyze the graphics in Appendix B and Appendix C in later paragraphs.

Impact of the Flood

“In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.” (Genesis 7:11). This was the beginning of the great impact to the earth’s environment.

Appendix B. In this graphic we see a drastic change in the life span of man. It depicts Noah’s three sons living an average of six hundred years, which is only two-thirds of the average life span of those who died before the Flood. This is an abrupt change in the length of mans life. But what caused this change to take place so quickly after the Flood? To answer this we need to analyze the impact of the Flood on the earth’s environment in order to establish cause and effect.

Flood Environment. First, the text of verse eleven stating the “fountains of the great deep were broken up” indicates there was much more that just a rise in the tide. But, before we get into this, let me assure the reader that all the water in and around the earth was created in the beginning. There was no additional water created by God for this occasion. It was already here. The sources were the “fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven.” It is common scientific knowledge that large volumes of water reside beneath the surface of the earth - the fountains of the deep. “You broke open the fountain and the flood.” “He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses.” (Psalms 74:15 and 33:7). Job also supports the position of the deep storehouses as the source of the extreme volume of water that was necessary to cause the depth of the Flood over a relatively short period of time. “Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth and issued from the womb.” (Job 38:8). This infers that the issuance of water was a rather violent, sudden, explosive action. This verse in Job is not referring to the creation of the waters in Genesis chapter one, verse six, as one may think. Therein the Scripture states that God “divided the waters from the waters.” Then in verse nine God gathered the waters under the heavens in one place, and called the waters the seas. There is no reference in Genesis chapter one to any violent action or any other activity that would create flood conditions.

During the time of the Flood it rained forty days and forty nights – “the windows of heaven.” This was the equivalent of a Texas size flash flood occurring at once over the entire earth. The result of the fountains of the deep and the rain were enough to cover the earth as the Scripture states. “And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heavens were covered.” (Genesis 7:19). With this volume of water covering the earth so quickly it also begs the question, where did it go when the Flood ended?

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Dr Mace Baker states that the next phase of God’s plan, after the Flood, was to remove the vast amounts of water covering the earth’s surface. “This was accomplished in two ways: by developing the deep ocean basins, and by raising up the mountain ranges.” God gave us the Scripture stating it so. “You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. At Your rebuke they fled: at the voice of Your thunder they hastened away. They went up over the mountains; they went down into the valleys, to the place which You founded for them. You have set a boundary that they may not pass over, that they may not return to cover the earth.” (Psalm 104:6-9). That boundary is called the seashore. Also, finding sea fossils high up in the mountains supports the statement that the mountain ranges were raised up. Note in the verses above, “At Your rebuke they fled; at the voice of Your thunder they hastened away. They went up over the mountains; they went down into the valleys, to the place which You founded for them.” This indicates that the continents collided and reared upwards, causing mountains at the edges of the sea. In essence, the sea basins were deepened and the mountains were made higher.

Environmental Impact. What a change in the earth’s environmental condition the Flood must have caused. Although the Bible does not tell us Noah’s reaction to the Flood, I’m sure the entire family must have been in awe at the changes in the landscape as they ventured out of the ark back onto dry land. However, Noah and his family were immediately aware of some of the changes as God informed Noah. “And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand.” (Genesis 9:2). This means that the animals, the creeping things and the birds that were once tame are now wild – God put the fear of man into the animals. Then in verse three God tells Noah that the wild animals will now be food for man – man will start eating meat along with the herbs and the things he will grow. There is rain, storms, cold, heat, drought, and I’m sure, pests for the first time. All these new elements of nature are added to the environment. Coupled with this, all the affects of the sin of Adam and Eve are still with man. Man’s problems have become compounded. They are now more numerous than ever. But, illness is still not a great part of their life as a relatively long life span is still somewhat a reality.

Windows of Heaven. One final thing needs to be brought out, that being the affects on the environment of the opening of the “windows of heaven.” This is not just a reference to the vast amounts of rain over the forty days and forty nights. It is in reference to the breaking or stretching the canopy that covers the earth. In Genesis chapter one, verse six we find God creating, “A firmament in the midst of the waters to divide the waters from the waters.” He then called the waters above the firmament heaven and the waters under the firmament seas. The firmament above the waters was in effect a great vapor canopy to shield man from solar radiation. This protection was one of the factors that contributed to the long life span of man prior to the Flood. After the Flood, the gradual stretching of this canopy allowed harmful ultraviolet radiation to enter the earth’s atmosphere and do harm to man. There is another aspect of the affect of the canopy on man, that being the phenomenon of what is called partial oxygen in the atmosphere. This too contributed to

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long life prior to the Flood, and also was a determining factor in reducing the life span of man thereafter. Details of this will be expanded upon in later sections.

Appendix C. This graphic provides two specific times in the life of man where drastic changes occurred thereby determining the number of years man would live after the Flood. The first is the affect on Noah’s three sons in that they would now live only two-thirds the years of their forefathers – six hundred years versus nine hundred years plus. The other is the affect on the first three generations born after the flood. These three generations lived an average of four hundred forty five years, which is only three-fourths of that of their grandparents, Noah’s three sons. The reason the length of Noah’s life was not affected, and the length of the lives of his three sons were affected only by one-third as opposed to subsequent generations, will become evident when details on the affects of the canopy are covered.

The second phase of the Transformation of Man is now complete.

Part II

Challenging God

After the Flood, Noah and his family journeyed east to the land of Shinar, which is in modern Iraq. Although God commanded them to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth, i.e. scatter abroad over the face of the earth, they refused to obey. Instead they begin to build cities in the land of Shinar, and eventually built a tower. The tower was designed as a monument to man in an attempt to be as God. God thereby confused their language and scattered them over the face of the earth as judgement for their effort to unify against Him and for disobeying His commandment. Here again is basically the same old sin we find committed in the Garden, thus the title “Challenging God”.

Genesis chapters nine through eleven can be extremely difficult in understanding the timing of the events related to the confusion of the languages and the scattering of the families over the face of the earth. Of course this is nothing compared to the issue of where did the races come from, which is not addressed in Scripture at all, but will be addressed herein in later paragraphs. Then finally, we will address the facts related to God truncating mans life span to something less than one hundred twenty years.

Tower of Babel

The Bible states that the people built a tower to honor themselves so that God would not scatter them abroad over the face of the earth. But, this in itself does not appear so great a sin that God would inflict on them the judgement of confusing their language and

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scattering them over the face of the earth. However, there is much more, and it all has to do with Nimrod. He changed the government and became a tyrant over the people. He made the laws, and was mighty before (against) God. Nimrod and the people wanted to glorify God in their own way, so they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into images made like creeping things and other things God had created. Nimrod set himself up as the priest of the things of worship by the people, gradually putting himself in place of God.

Dr. G. Drummon Hamilton comments regarding this action by Nimrod and the people. “The city of Babylon was built by Nimrod. It was the seat of the first great APOSTASY against God after the Flood. It was here that the Babylonian Cult was invented by Nimrod and his mother Semiramis. It was a system claiming the highest wisdom and ability to reveal the most divine secrets." Dr. Hamilton continues, “The ostensible objects of worship were the Supreme Father, Incarnate Female, or Queen of Heaven and her son. The last two were really the only objects of worship, as the Supreme Father (God) was said not to interfere with moral affairs (Book of Nimrod III). This system is believed to have come from fallen angels and demons. The object of the cult was to rule the world by these dogmas”. Semiramis was defined as the Queen of Heaven and the son was Nimrod. It is from this union we get the term “Mother Child Cult.” Thus, Semiramis actually founded many of the world’s pagan religions. Reference to her is found in Scripture during the time of Jeremiah. “But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her. The women also said, and when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes for her, to worship her? So, the Lord could no longer bear it, because of the abominations which you have committed. Therefore your land is a desolation, an astonishment; a curse, and without an inhabitant, as it is this day.” (Jeremiah 44:17-25).

Mother Child Cult. This cult eventually ended up in Rome in 133 BC under the Etruscans. Finally, it found its way into the Roman Catholic Church in 378 AD through the union of the offices of the Bishop of Rome (head of pagan worship that originated in Babylon) and the Supreme Head of the organized church of Christendom. The first practice of this union became the worship of Saints, especially that of the Virgin Mary, which began in 381 AD. Just as the Babylonian Cult worshipped the Queen of Heaven and Her Son, and did not worship the Supreme Father. This new union is now call the Roman Catholic Church having a similar worship in that they worship Mary as the Mother of God and her Son.

From the original practice at the Tower of Babel, this “Mother Child Cult” made its way into practically all nations of the world. It is not that they copied this practice, but they actually took it with them when the families of Noah were scattered after the confusion of languages. Although it goes by different names due to the difference in languages, it nonetheless is the same practice of worship as the original in Babylon. In Egypt it is known as Isis and Osiris; in India as Iswars; in Eastern Asia as Aybele and Deoius; in pagan Rome it was known as Fortuna and Jupiterpuer; in Greece as Irene and Plutus; and in China as Shing Moo. In modern Rome it is known as Madonna and Child. In the

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United States it is known as Mary the Mother of God (Christ). This religious connection with the Tower of Babel points to the fact that all people came from the common ancestry of Noah and his three sons, and that they were at the Tower of Babel when the languages were confused. It also points to the fact that something happened to these people after they were scattered in order for the various cultures and races to become reality as we know it today.

The Generations of Noah

“So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” (Genesis 9:1). Noah and his wife had three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, each having a wife. It is to these three couples that the command to “be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth” was directed. The families did multiply, but they disobeyed God and did not scatter over the face of the earth. As time passed they became unified, which culminated in the city of Babylon and a monument called the Tower of Babel. They were making a name for man so as not to be scattered over the face of the earth as God had commanded. “But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. Come let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the earth, and they ceased building the city.” (Genesis 11:5, 7 and 8). This brings up two questions I’ve been asked many times. When did the confusion of languages occur, and how many people were on earth at that time?

Genealogy. As you read the overall genealogy of Noah, and try to make sense of it, the branches of his family seem to go nowhere; they just terminate. For example, Genesis, chapter ten, verse twenty-one, starts off listing the genealogy of Shem. It goes to the fourth generation, which identifies two brothers, Peleg and Joktan. The text continues at verse twenty-six listing some of the descendants of Joktan, finally stating that they settled between Mesha and Sepha, which is located in the southwestern portion of the peninsular of Arabia. After that, nothing more is said relative to this branch of the family – they just simply disappear from Scripture. On the other hand, the descendants of Peleg are listed in Genesis chapter eleven, verses ten through twenty-six all the way to Abram (Abraham) with Genesis chapter twelve beginning the story of Abram. And, as you read the genealogy of Shem, it becomes very evident it relates to the straight-line lineage of Shem all the way to Abram (Abraham). Why? Because the Bible is basically a history of the Jews written by Jews. Although the Bible is much more than history, it nonetheless provides the genealogy and lineage from Adam to Jesus. These are some of the primary reasons it is most difficult to research and derive any conclusive evidence regarding such questions as to when the languages were confused, and how many people were on earth at the time. The simple message of Scripture in this area is basically an overview of what happened to the forefathers of Israel. But, there are many more messages in this part of Genesis when studied using the methods of inference and allusion. This will become evident in the following paragraphs.

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For in His Days

The timing regarding the confusion of the language, and the scattering of the people, is most often brought up in relation to what I call the Peleg question. Genesis chapter ten, verse twenty-five states, “To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided: and his brother’s name was Joktan.” To answer this timing question, it is necessary to analyze the verse, and all related issues in detail.

“For in his days” is common terminology used in the Bible to describe when a particular event occurred. But, when a person like Noah lives nine hundred fifty years, and the term “in his days” is related to an event in his life, it becomes most difficult to ascertain exactly at what point in time the Scripture is making reference. However, if we analyze Scripture correctly, the timing of the occurrence of an event, related to “in his days” becomes very clear. This analysis applies to other events in the Bible as well and therefore can be used to support the criteria for determining the specific time in Noah’s life we are addressing. As an example, Jesus said, “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the son of man be.”(Matthew 24:37). Since Noah lived nine hundred fifty years, at what point in his lifetime was Jesus referring? In the context of Matthew, Jesus was answering the disciple’s question regarding the end time, “Tell us when will these things be.” (Verse 3). In answering the question, Jesus cited all the things that would be happening in the future. He was in fact referring to the Tribulation. So, when making reference to the days of Noah, Jesus was referring to the time between five hundred and six hundred years of Noah’s life. This is supported by First Peter chapter three, verse twenty; “In the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared.”

In Luke there is a similar type of reference in regard to Lot. “Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built.” (Luke 17:28). Lot was only in Sodom a short time. Research indicates that Abram and Lot left the land of Ur of the Chaldeans when Abram was seventy-five years old. Due to their large herds of grazing animals Abram and Lot split up each departing for a different area of the country. Lot chose the plain of Jordan and ended up in Sodom as defined in Genesis chapter thirteen verse twelve. Abram ended up in the land of Canaan. But, when did the reference provided in verse twenty-eight, “In the days of Lot” actually occur? The answer is in the analysis of Abram and the birth of his children. Ishmael, Abram’s first son by Sarah’s maid Hagar, was born after Abram was in Canaan eleven years. Abram being eighty-six years old at that time. Scripture tells us that Abram was in Hebron when he and Sarah went South and saw the smoke from the burning cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:28). Therefore, Lot went to Sodom approximately twenty-five years before it was destroyed. This time frame is arrived at based on the fact that Isaac, Abram and Sarah’s promised son, was not born until Abram was one hundred years old. Thus, “in the days of Lot” refers to a specific twenty-five year period in the life of Lot, and not to his entire life. From this analysis we can see that Sodom was actually destroyed somewhere close to but before Abram’s one-hundredth birthday. Therefore, using this method of analysis, we can very easily ascertain almost the exact date of the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel.

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Colophon Webster’s New World Dictionary defines colophon (pronounced kal’e fan) as, “summit, top or end. It is a notation often placed in a book, at the end, giving facts about its production. It is also a distinctive emblem of the publisher.” In some cases, recurring statements found in the analysis of stone tablets are also called colophons. This application is primarily limited to the field of archaeology, and used as a definition for recurring statements within the tablets, such as these are the generations of. Dr. Clifford Wilson states, “When ever we see the statement, ‘these are the generations of’, it identifies the time a particular leader dies and someone else takes over.” It appears that the application of colophon is also used in other areas of Scripture as well. Therefore, I’ve used this concept applying it to genealogy and termination points in the listing of families in Genesis in order to arrive at certain event dates. For example, in Genesis chapter ten, verse twenty we find the phrase, “these were the sons of Ham according to their languages, in their lands and in their nations,” indicating that the family in question has moved out of the picture. That is, a division has incurred, and the family in question is no longer important to the meaning of the text. So, if they are no longer important to the text, then what was God trying to tell us by having the family listed in that particular part of the text in the first place? That is what we have to discover.

This brings us back to the issue of Joktan the brother of Peleg, and why he and his sons are listed in the genealogy of Shem, whereas no other brothers within the lineage are mentioned. In this case, all of Joktan’s sons are listed as well as identifying where they went. This application of colophon is defining the point in time when Joktan and his family left the area of the Tower of Babel, which is sometime after the confusion of the languages.

Another example of this application is in reference to Ham and his family. “The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.” (Genesis 10:6). Genesis continues to list all the sons of Cush, the last being Nimrod. Then verse eighteen states, “Afterward the families of the Canaanites were dispersed.” Then in verse twenty, “These were the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, in their lands and in their nations.” Thus, this analysis leads us to the point of calculating when the families left the land of Shinar enabling us to identify the date when the confusion of languages took place.

There are other verses of Scripture that support this concept as well, one being the story of Ishmael. “And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.” (Genesis 17:20). Hagar and Ishmael eventually end up in Egypt where Hagar took a wife for him. Note, in this part of Genesis there is no mention of the names of the twelve princes, nor is there any genealogy of Ishmael at this juncture. We find these details only after Abraham dies and Ishmael is eighty-eight years old when he returns to help with Abraham’s burial. Thus, it is approximately seventy-four years later when Ishmael’s family listed in Genesis chapter

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twenty-five, verses thirteen through fifteen. This is in keeping with the genealogies before the confusion of the languages, and before the scattering of the families.

Therefore, I think we can safely state that it is typical in Scripture that when a reference is made to others, even in the same family, and subsequently dropped indicates they have departed from the main lineage of the Biblical text thread. It is on this basis that we can derive, as in the example of Ishmael, when a juncture in time takes place. That is, as long as a lineage or genealogy is cited, this indicates that those mentioned are in some way significant to the story, and thus provide some facts related to that story.

The Earth Divided

Back to the Peleg question. What does the statement in Genesis chapter ten, verse twenty-five, “for in his days the earth was divided” really mean? Could it mean the separation of the land, the scattering of the families, the confusion of the languages, or the combination of all three? After considerable analysis, it appears to pertain only to the division of the families as they were scattered over the face of the earth. Hebrew for earth in verse twenty-five is erats - partitively a land, a land divided into parts; used in setting off or separating land. This division of land pertains to the division of the people in relation to the text such as in verse twenty, “in their land, in their nations.” This text has nothing to do with the physical movement of the earth as many have thought. It pertains strictly to the division of the families, and the scattering of them over the face of the earth.

The name Peleg according to Strong’s Concordance means division, part, earthquake, or a rill. It also means to split or to divide. Many today ascribe to the fact that the events of the day created the name for the offspring. On this basis we would discern that the events we are trying to analyze occurred at the time of the birth of Peleg. But, that is not always the case. In most cases the name of an individual is based on something totally unrelated to any event at the time. For example, the name Lamech means powerful, but there is nothing in Scripture that hints he was named after some event. Then again there is Enoch, whom God took for he walked with God. Enoch means dedicated, a mortal, initiated. Was Enoch named that because his mother knew he would walk with God? I don’t think so. Most of the meanings of the names in the Bible do not come from the Bible. The names were developed over time, relating each to something associated with the individual during his/her lifetime. Therefore, Peleg was not named Peleg because the earth was divided at the time of his birth, but rather a definition applied to the name at a later date. Otherwise, the term “for in his days” would not be correctly applied to a time in Peleg’s life as we have pointed out for other references in Scripture.

“Shem was one hundred years old and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood. After he begot Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Salah. After he begot Salah, Arphaxad lived four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters. Salah lived thirty years, and begot Eber. After he begot Eber, Salah lived four hundred and three years, and

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begot sons and daughters. Eber lived thirty-four years, and begot Peleg.” (Genesis 11:10-16). Thus, Peleg was born one hundred one years after the Flood, lived for two hundred nine years, dying three hundred ten years after the Flood. So, when the Scripture states, “for in his days the earth was divided” where is this point in Peleg’s life? It cannot be at the time he was born, nor can it be at the time of his death. It must, by definition, be somewhere during his lifetime based on the application of colophon. The division of the text in Genesis chapter ten, verse twenty-five provides some reasonableness as to this question of time in that the second part of the verse infuses Joktan and his family into the picture. Analysis indicates that Joktan’s family is the key to the timing of the division, which is supported by Genesis chapter eleven, verse nine, “And from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the earth.” This augments the conclusion that the event must have occurred somewhere during Peleg’s lifetime as opposed to the time of his birth or death.

The key element in the timing of the division is when Joktan’s family actually went to the Arabian peninsular. Note that Genesis chapter ten, verse twenty-one lists all the sons of Shem down to Peleg and Joktan. Also, this is the only place in the genealogy of Arphaxad that identifies a brother. All the rest of the genealogy is straight line - father/son, father/son, and so on. So, God is telling us something. He has provided a clue. Let’s continue. Since Joktan is not in the lineage of Abram, his family tree must be providing a clue as to when the actual division took place. Joktan was born after Peleg, and according to what we have learned thus far regarding births, he was approximately two to three years younger than Peleg. So Joktan was born about one hundred three to one hundred four years after the Flood. Keeping in sync with other births, Joktan would have started having children at approximately thirty-two years of age. Scripture states that he had thirteen sons. Again in keeping with the birth rate, these sons would have been born between one hundred thirty five years and one hundred seventy eight years after the Flood. This time frame allows three years between births of the sons for births of daughters. This means that Joktan’s last son would have been born when Joktan was about seventy-five years old or one hundred seventy eight years after the Flood.

Paralleling Analogies

We know that Nimrod built the city of Babel, “And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.” (Genesis 10:10). We also know that there were only eight persons that got on the ark. And, the analysis of the ages of these eight people gives us information that babies were born on the ark. Arphaxad, being the third son of Shem was born two years after the Flood. This means that his older brother was born on the ark as three children cannot be born to the same mother in twenty-four months. Thus, we can safely assume that children were born to Ham and Japheth while on the ark as well.

Ham’s third and youngest son Canaan could have been born somewhere between two and five years after the Flood if you consider that daughters were also born to Ham. This also

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means that Canaan’s offspring could have been born at a time relatively close to those of his cousin Arphaxad between forty-three and seventy-three years after the Flood.

This brings us to Nimrod who was the sixth son of Cush the oldest son of Ham. Cush may have been born on the ark or very soon after Ham and his wife left the ark. In any event, Nimrod would have been born when Cush was between forty-seven and fifty years of age. This means that Nimrod was approximately fifty-one years old when Peleg was born as he, Peleg, was born one hundred one years after the Flood. Calculating the life span of those born immediately after the Flood indicates all living an average of four hundred sixty four years. Thus, it can be assumed that Nimrod lived approximately this long as well. Taking all of this into consideration, Nimrod would have been approximately one hundred twenty five years old when the genealogy of Joktan is terminated in Scripture. Peleg would have been eighty years old at the time. The Bible does not tell us when the Tower of Babel was built, but from this analysis we can approximate the confusion of languages to be somewhere around one hundred ninety years after the Flood. So, the phrase, “for in his days” places the division of the earth approximately in the middle of Peleg’s life.

World Population. A fall-out of the analysis done regarding the birth rates and the timing of the confusion of the languages is the population of the world at the time. But, before I divulge the figure it is necessary to establish some ground rules as to the method of calculation. First, we must make the assumption that the birth rate of Noah’s descendants was fairly constant. It is also assumed that an adequate number of girls were born to all the sons. Also, due to the length of lives of the people at that time, they had children for a much longer period in life. Therefore, the birth rate would have been much higher than we experience today. Finally, since life expectancy was between two hundred thirty and four hundred years, we see that the death rate was extremely low during the first one hundred ninety years after the Flood. And as I pointed out earlier, there appears to have been very little sickness due to disease, which is a contributor to a low death rate during the first one hundred ninety years after the Flood.

Based on all the factors above, I have calculated the number of people listed in Genesis chapters ten and eleven to total approximately two hundred four persons just sixty years after the Flood. Using the above factors for the day, and incorporating a two-percent death rate, I calculate the population to be approximately one hundred fifty thousand individuals one hundred ninety years after the Flood. This is the approximate population of the earth at the time the families were scattered. And as can readily be seen in Appendix B, all those listed were still living at that date.

The third phase of the Transformation of Man is now complete.

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One Hundred Twenty Years

Throughout this discourse, we have seen the ages of man decrease drastically from an average of nine hundred seven years before the Flood to less than three hundred years for those born soon after the Flood. In each case, there was an element of sin that caused God to continually shorten mans life on earth. The first change, after the Garden of Eden, came as a result of the Flood causing Noah’s three sons to only attain an average life span of six hundred years. The next three generations (Arphaxad, Salah, and Eber) attained an average age of four hundred plus years. Then the generations born during the era of the Tower of Babel were only able to live a little more than two hundred years. But, God did not stop there. Appendix B depicts that mans destiny over the next six hundred years was to become a struggle to live just over one hundred years. Thus, the Word spoken by God in Genesis chapter six, verse three, was not completely fulfilled until the time of Moses eight hundred twenty five years after the Flood. “And the Lord said My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” God knows the heart of man. He knew that man would continue in sin so He gradually shortened mans life on earth. As I so pointedly proved earlier, verse three does not mean that the Flood would occur in one hundred and twenty years from the time God made the prophecy. Although many Biblical scholars have made this claim, it nonetheless is a prophetic statement by God, destined to be fulfilled nine hundred twenty five years into the future.

Long Lives. So, this brings us to the real questions I’m sure you are asking. One, what enabled the people before the Flood to live so long, and two what caused the ages of man after the Flood to decrease to less than one hundred twenty years eight hundred twenty five years later?

Before I answer these questions, I would like to compare two different Scriptures concerning the same thing, both of which are related to these questions – the firmament and/or the canopy over the earth. “Then God said, ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters’. And God called the firmament heaven.” (Genesis 1:6 and 8). The Hebrew word for firmament is raqiya meaning an expanse or the visible arch of the sky. This firmament was actually a canopy over the earth. But, something happened to, “Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain.” (Psalms 104:2). The Hebrew word for stretch is natah meaning to spread out, bend away. So, God caused the firmament to be stretched and thus become thinner. Based upon the graphic in Appendix C, it can readily be seen that God slowly stretched the canopy over eight hundred and twenty five years to its current thickness. The difference in the thickness of the canopy before the Flood and the thickness at eight hundred twenty five years after the Flood is the answer to the long ages before the Flood, and the gradual shortening of the ages after the Flood. Also, the original canopy contained a vast amount of water, which in turn enabled a long life before the Flood.

Partial Oxygen: The environment, the atmospheric and climatic conditions were different before the Flood from those after the Flood. Dr. Clifford Wilson states, “Before the Flood there was a canopy, a firmament shielding out the ultraviolet and short wave

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radiation, and there was greater oxygen pressure. Ultraviolet is a major problem for humans; we need it filtered. It changes the atmosphere, and we get chemical free radicals so that we are breathing and generating chemistry that is foreign to us because of that ultraviolet radiation charge.” He also states, “The fossil record indicates that the partial oxygen pressure was greater in pre-Flood times.” The term partial oxygen pressure is that pressure caused by the weight of the atmosphere in which we live. This is commonly known as fourteen and sixty-nine one hundredths pounds per square inch at sea level. And it is this pressure, or some variation thereto, that enables us to breathe normally at sea level while having such a hard time at higher altitudes. I’m sure you have experienced this effect as you have traveled from sea level to mountain locations of six thousand feet or more above sea level. At this altitude everything you do seems to take much more energy because the pressure on the lungs at six thousand feet in altitude is much less than the pressure at sea level. This is due to the fact that the atmospheric pressure on the lungs is directly proportional to the amount of oxygen the lungs are able to absorb. Dr. Baugh explains it this way, “The surface of our lungs is designed so that the atmospheric pressure actually presses against very delicate membranes and oxygen is absorbed.” This is why we need to breathe much harder at higher altitudes to do the same work as we do at sea level. It is also this phenomenon that enabled the people before the Flood to live so long. And, it is this same phenomenon that God used to decrease mans life span after the Flood to one hundred twenty years or less.

The Agricultural and Mechanical University in College Station, Texas has a special chamber where they put patients with extreme medical problems. Dr. Baugh states, “ I’ve been in the chamber twenty-two times. They give you one hundred percent oxygen for about an hour under two or three atmospheres of pressure. What this does is to cause an open wound to heal overnight. Toxins are literally removed from the deep cell tissues of the body.” He goes on to explain that we cannot live in one hundred percent oxygen permanently, but we can live in twenty-five percent oxygen at two atmospheres permanently.

A few years ago I was at the Creation Museum in Glen Rose, Texas. This is where Dr. Baugh and other creation scientists have conducted a considerable number of experiments on the affects of atmospheric pressure and ultraviolet radiation on plants and animals. Therein is a special chamber to create an atmospheric pressure of two atmospheres at twenty five percent oxygen. The chamber is also designed to keep ultraviolet radiation to a minimum. They placed a poisonous snake in the chamber for some relative time (unknown to this writer) to observe the affects of the reduced ultraviolet radiation at two atmospheres of pressure at a partial oxygen content of twenty five percent. Prior to placing the snake in the chamber they analyzed the snake’s venom determining it to be very poisonous. After the allotted time in the chamber the snake’s venom slowly became non-poisonous. When the snake was removed from the chamber and placed back into the environment the venom slowly returned to its original state. They have also been able to grow plants in the chamber to many times the size of those outside the chamber. This experiment is not an isolated case as other scientists around the world have done research in this field with the same documented results.

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The Future. I’m sure you are asking the question, “Will the earth ever return to these wonderful conditions?” The answer is yes. If you compare parts of Genesis with end time prophecy you will find some astonishing things. For one, you will notice there is no mention of poisonous snakes in the Bible before the Flood? Also, there will be no poisonous snakes after the Tribulation. In the Book of Isaiah, chapter eleven contains prophecy regarding the thousand-year reign of Christ. Verses eight and nine state, “The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain.” Then in Isaiah chapter sixty-five, verse twenty, “No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old.” And again in verse twenty-two, “For as the days of the tree, so shall be the days of My people.” There is another Scripture that indicates what will happen after the Tribulation, that being Zephaniah chapter three verse nine. “For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language, that they all may call on the name of the Lord, to serve him with one accord.” God is telling us in these verses that all the earth will return to the pre-Flood conditions during the thousand- year reign of Christ, and that unity will be in Christ not in man! No, man will not live forever during the thousand-year reign, but he will enjoy some very wonderful conditions as regards to the environment and his life span.

People, Nations and Tongues

The phrase “People, Nations and Tongues”, or some variation thereto, is used throughout the Bible to describe all the people on earth. Daniel speaks of the people in this manner in chapter seven verse fourteen. “Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him.” Christ makes reference to all the people: “For nation shall rise against nation.” (Matthew 24:7). John also makes reference to all the people of the world: “After these things I Looked, and behold, A great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:9). To whom is the Bible speaking when addressing people, nations and tongues? These are the descendants of the families of Noah scattered after the Tower of Babel; “According to their families, according to their languages, in their lands, according to their nations.” (Genesis 10:31). However, there is a slight difference in the text of Genesis, referring to Noah’s immediate descendants as families, and the application of the word people in the Scriptures cited above. The Hebrew word for families is mishpachah meaning a family circle of relatives. Family circle applies to the immediate or direct kinship of descendants; for example, the family of Japheth as delineated in Genesis chapter ten, verses two through five. Whereas, the word people is am meaning a people or tribe. The key difference is in the origin of am, that being amma meaning to associate. Therefore, the word people applies to an association of families, tribes, etc, as opposed to the basic family unit we see in Genesis chapter ten, verse two. “The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Tubal, Mesheck, and Tiras.” Thus, the families were the basic unit of origin from which came the larger association called people. This is contrasted in Genesis where God calls the descendants of Noah the people, “And the Lord said, indeed the

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people are one.” (Genesis 11:6). In this case, God is looking at all the descendants of Noah, which at this time number in the many, many thousands. In this context, God is classifying the people as an association or congregation being inclusive of all people on earth. Granted, the difference in the word people and the word families is very minor, but this small difference is quite important to the rest of the text of this chapter.

Scripture tells us that the whole earth was populated from Noah’s family. Therefore, all people, nations, tongues, all the people of the earth, have their origin in this family of eight. Eve is defined as the mother of all living as she and Adam started the human race after their creation. But, Noah and his wife in effect re-started the human race through their three sons and their wives. Thus, we can safely state that all people on earth today are descendants of Noah’s family even though it all started with Adam and Eve.

“And it came to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feasts of Tabernacles.” (Zechariah 14:16). This prophecy by Zechariah applies to the thousand-year reign of Christ. When this prophecy is fulfilled it will reverse the scattering and the confusion of languages caused by God at the Tower of Babel. Their language was confused and they were disbanded because of their unity in man, but the prophecy in verse sixteen states that all the living descendants of Noah will be brought back together in unity in Christ during the thousand-year reign.

The origin of today’s languages is definitely a result of the confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel. Also, the description of the scattering of the families provides some references as to the locations to which the respective groups settled in order to populate the whole earth.

Origin of the Races

There is no place in all of Scriptures that God ever tells us where the races came from. Did He intentionally leave this out? If He did then what was His motive? We don’t know the answers to these and other probing questions regarding this subject. But, we do know for a fact that the differences in people, which we call races did occur sometime in the past. We are not told exactly how these differences came about, but we can determine the when with some reasonable assurance. Also, science has identified the differences in makeup of mans genes that produce the variations between the races. Anything beyond that we will just have to take on faith.

Quite often in developing and researching a subject such as this, it is necessary to dispel doctrine, traditions, and various speculations regarding the subject in order to provide some element of truth in the results of the analysis. And believe me, this section is no exception. In fact, this subject – origin of the races – is one of the most frequently asked questions today. There are many different reasons why people desire the answer, but I will not speculate or venture into that potential area of conflict. However, I think the answer to the origin and the timing associated with the rise of the different races can be

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derived through intense analysis of Scripture. The reason I even approach this subject is because I think it is an extension of the plan of God in confusing the languages of the world. It is also another element of His plan to prevent the peoples of the earth uniting against Him as they did at the Tower of Babel. But, as in many cases in the Bible faith must play a large part in our acceptance of what God has done.

Evolution. From the various documents I have read over the years, I find there are three positions regarding the origin of the races. The first is the theory of evolution presented by Charles Darwin, which I am sad to say, is accepted by the majority of the biologists and many of the world’s intellectuals. In quoting Darwin, the Encyclopedia Americana states, “The processes of race formation and race divergence are integral parts of the grand process of evolution. In simplest terms, the process of evolution begins when a biological species encounters different environments in different parts of its distribution area. Progressive specialization and adaptation of the races to the local environments cause the gene frequencies to diverge and the racial differences to become more and more marked.” In other words, Darwin is saying that those born and raised in Africa will be dark due to the heat and abundant sunshine, whereas those living in Iceland will be white based on the cold and lack of sufficient sunshine. If the environment is the reason for color, then why don’t people change color after moving to a different environment? If we buy into Darwin’s theory of evolution then the offspring of dark parents would become white if born in Iceland. The opposite would be true if light skin people move to a hot climate. This hasn’t happened as yet, and none of the present day environmentalists even address the issue. In fact, the theory has been proven to be junk as people of various color have been living all over the world in all sorts of climates and no one has changed one bit, that is color wise. So, the answer to this element of the theory of evolution is just that, a theory, none of which can be proven. But, many advocate the evolutionary concept because it is the basis of the humanistic religion.

An Ages Old Mystery. The second position taken regarding the origin of the races has been around for some time. Those who advocate this position state that the each of the three sons of Noah married women of different color. They derive this theory by stating that Eve originally had three different sets of genes - black, white and yellow and therefore people of these three colors existed before the Flood. It is assumed that Shem’s wife was white, Ham’s wife was black, and Japheth was yellow, and as such their offspring produced the races we see today. But, the adherents of this theory never provide even the remotest clue as to why Noah’s sons came to marry their respective wives of different color in the first place. Evolutionists expound a similar conceptual approach that something started it all without ever specifying how that so called something originated. The early history recorded in the Bible speaks of families, rather than races. So, from my perspective, this theory is as far out as the theory of evolution.

One Blood. The third position is that presented by Ken Ham, who is the director of Answers in Genesis, an organization dedicated to promoting the Biblical concept of creation. In his book, One Blood, he says that he is not an evolutionist, but many of the facts he presents to support his position regarding the origin of the races are in fact so closely in line with Charles Darwin it is hard to distinguish between the two. Ken Ham

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states, “We all have the same coloring pigment in our skin: melanin. This is a dark brownish pigment that is found in special cells in our skin. If we produce a little melanin, it means that we will be European white. If our skin produces a great deal of melanin, it means we will have a very deep black skin. And in between, of course, are all the shades of brown.” Ham also states, “All the factors for skin color were present in Adam and Eve, as they would most likely have been mid-brown.” This sounds a little like Herbert Armstrong’s theory. Ken Ham’s theory on how the races were created after the Tower of Babel goes something like this. “It is unlikely that each small group that was scattered would carry the same broad range of skin colors as the original, larger group. So one group might have more dark genes, on the average, while another group might have more light genes. The same thing would happen to other such characteristics: nose shape, eye shape, etc. As these groups migrated away from Babel, they encountered new and different climate zones. This would also have affected the balance of inherited factors in the population, although the affects of the environment are not nearly as important as the gene mix with which each group began.” Although Mr. Ham places much emphasis on the gene mix he nonetheless follows Charles Darwin’s theory as to the affects of the environment on skin color. In this regard he states, “Dark-skinned people in a cold climate would not be able to produce enough vitamin D and thus would be less healthy than white-skinned people, and would eventually die out. Conversely, fair-skinned people in a very sunny climate would be affected by skin cancer and would not be able to survive.” He says this “natural selection” (a Charles Darwin phrase) acts on the characteristics as well. After all this Mr. Ham admits that he does not have an answer to why Eskimo’s have dark skin since they live in a very cold climate. He doesn’t even address yellow skinned people nor does he have an answer as to why people who moved from Africa to Greenland retain their color, or why the Europeans who went to Africa hundreds of years ago are still white. Sorry, Ken Ham, but you have not answered the question either. You are only packaging the humanist manifesto in a slightly different wrapper.

Scriptural Analysis. Ken Ham says that the word race does not appear in the Bible – he is right. Then again neither does the word rapture appear in the Bible, but we use the word rapture to define the action of meeting our Lord in the air. The Greek text from which the King James Version of the New Testament is translated uses the word harpazo from which we get the term “caught up” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). However, Latin translators of the Greek New Testament translate harpazo as rapere, which is the root of our English word rapture. Therefore, based on the translation, rapture does exist in the Bible, the Latin Bible. But, in regards to the word race is Ken Ham right when he states that it does not appear in the Bible, nor is there such a word pertaining to race in the Bible? Let’s explore this in detail. An earlier paragraph addressed the term “People, Nations and Tongues” and what this means in the end times. The word nations in this use does not pertain to a nation like the United States, Canada, Mexico, etc. it pertains to ethnic groups. The Greek word for nations in the New Testament is ethnos, which is defined by Strong’s Concordance as a race. Webster’s New World Dictionary defines ethnos as the origin for the English word ethnic. Webster goes on to define race as “any of the different varieties of mankind distinguished by form of hair, color of skin and eyes,

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stature, body proportions, etc. Any group of people having the same ancestry, family, clan, lineage, etc is defined as ethnic or race.”

Genesis chapter six, verse nine (original KJV) states, “These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.” This verse is made up of what is termed associative phrases; i.e. both parts of the text pertain to the same idea or thought. Webster states that “an associative phrase is characterized by causing association as of ideas”; i.e. pertaining to the same thought process or underlying message. Therefore, the application of the first use of the word generations follows the same idea or thought as the application of the second word generation. In this case it applies to Noah’s ancestors as well as his immediately family – his three sons. The Hebrew word for generations is toldah meaning descent in regards to family. It is from a root word meaning to bear young, to beget, to declare pedigrees. Therefore, the second half of verse nine speaks of Noah’s ancestors as being perfect, providing a clear lineage all the way back to Adam and Eve. The first half of the verse is making reference to Noah’s sons as being perfect as well in that it connects the two phrases “these are the generations”, and “perfect in his generations.” Thus, Noah’s lineage was perfect before the Flood, and according to Scripture, the lineage applied to his sons as well. Nothing is ever said of Noah’s wife or the wives of his three sons, but since Noah and his three sons were perfect in their generations or pedigree this order must have been retained when they selected their wives. Therefore, Noah and his family were of the lineage of Adam and Eve in features, stature, color, etc. This means they were ruddy in color as the name Adam means to show blood, flush, rosy or red. Therefore, all the descendants of Noah and his three sons were of one family and resembled Adam and Eve. Many of Adam and Eve’s descendants were alive as late as one hundred years before Noah was born, as Lamech, Noah’s father, was thirty-eight years old when Adam died. Were these people so different from Adam and Eve? I think not. Thus, we have a pure lineage, according to Scripture, from Adam to Noah. Then, in order for Noah’s family to repopulate the earth they had to intermarry, and as such, they too retained the likeness of Noah, and that of Adam. Therefore, we can safely state that all the people at the time of the confusion of languages were of the same lineage. Everyone was alike as much as a family could be alike in features, skin color, stature, etc.

Changing the People. From what has been discussed thus far, it is very apparent that the different races appeared sometime after the language was confused and the people scattered over the face of the earth. Exactly when did this occur we are not told, but the first comment in Scripture (Numbers 12:1) relative to any other race is about Moses being married to an Ethiopian when he was head of the Egyptian army. This is some seven hundred and seventy-five years after the flood. Therefore, since Ethiopia was a nation at the time means they must have existed for hundreds of years before their encounter with Moses.

As we have seen, the Flood started the action in changing the environment in which man lived. God began this change in the atmosphere by stretching the canopy covering the earth thereby reducing the partial oxygen available to man. The affect of this was to reduce man’s life span from nine hundred plus years to less than one hundred twenty

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years over a period of time of approximately eight hundred plus years. The final affect of this change coincides with the life of Moses as he was the first person recorded in the Bible to live the length defined by God (Genesis 6:3) – one hundred twenty years. So, in effect the changes in the families scattered at the Tower of Babel occurred sometime between the scattering, approximately one hundred ninety years after the Flood, and many years before Moses married the Ethiopian woman.

Race Transition. Science tells us that the basic difference between the races of the world is due to a very small percentage of the genes that make up the human gene pool. They have been able to identify these genes, and specifically the ones creating the definable differences between the races. The question is how did this change occur during this time frame we’ve established? We know from history that going back hundreds of years, and many generations within our own families, that we still resemble our ancestors. We may be of a different stature due to eating habits and health issues, but we are basically the same. So, somewhere along the line the gene pool of the scattered families of Noah were changed. My guess is that God made the change shortly after confusing the languages (within a few hundred years) and scattering the people abroad across the face of the earth. Whether God did it all at once or over a period of time we don’t know, but we do know that He made the change. He created the world and all that is in it. He caused the Flood to destroy the earth. He confused the languages at the Tower of Babel. He scattered the people over the face of the earth. So, for anyone to say that God did not create the races is simply saying that God cannot do all things, and therefore He is not God. Quite the contrary, for the Bible tells us that God the Creator did in fact do all those things. Yes, and then He began a process, foreign to man, of changing the peoples physical attributes, thus creating what we call today races.

This three-phase change began as a result of mans unity against God at the Tower of Babel. God only tells us of two of the phases, the confusion of the languages and the scattering of the families. Why He does not mention the rest of the story we don’t know, but there is a Scripture that gives us a definitive fact that God is the one that created the races. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots?” (Jeremiah 13:23). Here again is where see Scripture using associative phrases to make a point. There is a connection between the leopard’s spots and the skin color of the Ethiopian in that God created both, the leopard during the six days of creation, and the attributes of the Ethiopian after Noah’s descendants were scattered. The association of these two phrases provides the underlying fact that God created the genes in the leopard to produce spots as an identifying feature. He also caused the skin of the Ethiopian to become black – here again an identifying feature. Verse twenty-three appears to ask a question, but in reality God is making a statement that says, since I created the attributes of the Ethiopian and the leopard no one can change what I have done. The affect of the three changes mentioned above has worked for these thousands of years keeping the world from unifying. But, the world is frantically trying to once again create a one-world order.

As I said at the outset of this chapter, we need to have faith in the fact that what we see, but don’t understand, we must take on faith that God had His reason and purpose. It is up to us to accept His actions for what they are - His actions.

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Mans Transformation is Now Complete

Conclusion

There is an old saying, “What goes around comes around.” “That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Verse ten augments this statement by stating that what we see and what we experience has already happened. “Is there anything of which it may be said ‘See, this is new’? It has already been in ancient times before us.” And if that is not enough, verse eleven says we are destined to repeat that history. “There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who will come after.” In other words, history has a way of repeating itself. And sadly to say, there will in not too many years distant before man repeats the errors of the past. The Jewish Historian Josephus writes regarding the building of the Tower of Babel and the disobedience of the people. “When God saw that they acted so madly He did not resolve to destroy them utterly, since they were not growing wiser by the destruction of the former sinners.” Josephus is commenting on the fact that less than one hundred ninety years after the Flood destroyed the world the people were once again uniting against God. They were also disobeying His command to scatter over the face of the earth. What is so troubling about this is that Noah and his family were still living at the time of the Tower of Babel. They went through the Flood; they saw millions die because of sin. Didn’t they learn anything? Evidently not! This was a new day, a new time, a new government. Again, the leadership was under the control of Satan.

Is our world following in the footsteps of the people of that day? Josephus’ comments regarding the problems leading up to the Tower of Babel is very applicable to the current today. “Now it was Nimrod who excited them to such an affront and contempt of God. He was the grandson of Ham, the son of Noah – a bold man, and of great strength of hand. He persuaded them not to ascribe it to God as if it was through His means they were happy, but to believe that it was their own courage which procured that happiness. He also gradually changed the government into tyranny, seeing no other way of turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence upon his (Nimrod) power.” So, the question is to whom does the world look to resolve the world’s problems? The answer to this question is naturally the government, local and national leaders, the United Nations. We experience the affect daily. That’s right, the world does not look to God; they look within, just as Josephus said almost two thousand years ago. In today’s society this is called cultural diversity, unity of man, one world government, etc!

The recent past provides a lesson for all of us. David Wilkerson, Pastor of the Times Square Church in New York City, says in regard to the September eleventh attack on the World Trade Center, “On our coins we read ‘In God We Trust’, but deep in our hearts, we won’t admit our need for the Lord. America didn’t turn to God. Instead, pride took

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over. We quickly put our trust in advanced technology, military might, intelligence gathering, commando teams, and our own ability to succeed.” How right he was in that observation of America’s response to the September eleventh attack on the World Trade Center.

I recently had a number of conversations with others on the rise of patriotism after the September eleventh attack. In each instance, my reply was that the perception of patriotism by the American people was basically unity in retribution. We suddenly had a common enemy. We displayed unity in tracking down and destroying the common enemy. But, did the nation turn to God? No! We turned to our government; our elected leaders; our financial institutions; our material possessions. We put our trust in man. God’s Word tells us that, “Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and makes flesh his strength.” (Jeremiah 17:5). But, this is exactly what we have done. We are repeating history by implementing that same unity exhibited at the Tower of Babel. We haven’t learned from the past just as the descendants of Noah did not learn from the affects of the Flood, and the sins of their ancestors. And finally, we realize that all this is within us. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” (Jeremiah 17:9-10).

There is nothing new under the sun. The world is repeating the sin that caused the peoples languages to be confused, and the tribes scattered. What will happen to the present world for repeating the sin of the ancients? Read the Book of Revelation!

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt

with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

2 Peter 3:10

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