Noah, the Last Epoch, and the Tower of Babel

We explore are we living in the “Days of Noah” and experiencing the new Tower of Babel?

And Cush (son of Ham) begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Genesis 10:8-10 KJV

The word Babel usually invokes two events from the ancient past recorded in the Bible; the confusion of the language of Man and the destruction of the tower they tried to build in the city known as Babylon. The triune God, Jehovah, came down and saw their sin. He cut off their ability to communicate the mysteries that would allow them to obtain their goals and dreams, plots, and schemes against God to raise themselves above His name and create their own fame and glory. This act of defiance by many would ultimately breach the hedge of protection the Lord established for His people. Are we living in the days of Noah again, and are we repeating the same mistakes? Or, could it be that God, who is outside of time, was looking at today?

Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. Genesis 11:9 KJV

Researchers have a wide range of guesses on how long ago language was established. Some estimate it is possible that human verbalization derived from a single root language from East Africa approximately 50,000 years ago up to 120,000-150,000 years ago. Today, there are around 5,000-6,000 spoken languages in the world. There is, however, no consensus among scholars on how language began, only numerous and somewhat irrational theories with no ability to test their hypotheses. And, there’s no surprise at the deep divide among those seeking the origins of human language. Some believe it developed over time, while others believe a sudden event was the catalyst for the communication. For now, we will have to wait for the definitive answer to the question of when human language was established.

The oldest written language we know of, cuneiform, came from ancient Sumer (also known as Sumeria), the earliest known civilization in southern Mesopotamia. Cuneiform is what they call a “logo-syllabic” script. It is wedge-shaped impressions made using a stylus tool on clay tablets to form signs. They believe it originally began with the Sumerian language and was used to write several other languages, including Akkadian, Eblaite, Elamite, Hittite, Hurrian, Luwian, Urartian, and Palaic. Egyptian hieroglyphic writing is thought to have appeared later than the Sumerian cuneiform. No proof or evidence which would establish a connection between the two writing systems has been found. And some academics theorize that these were independently developed since they are based on entirely different methods. Cuneiform writing was eventually replaced with a general alphabetic writing system during the Roman era.

The Sumerian language and cuneiform writing were currently identified as first developing somewhere around 3100 BC with pictographic proto-writing techniques using visible marks to communicate on tokens. The first actual written documents were found to start in 3,300 BC. The tablets were graved by scribes in Uruk, perhaps for accounting. Uruk (Erech), which later lost its sovereignty and continued to be ruled by the city-state Ur, is in the area of present-day Iraq. 

Deciphering some of the many clay tablets and stone objects has taken scholars years. The discovery of a kind of “cuneiform Rosetta Stone” from 500 BC, dedicated to feats of the First Persian Empire king, Darius the Great, was written in Persian, Akkadian, and the Elamite languages. Its discovery led to additional cuneiform translations. This early civilization is noted for textiles, pottery, farming, and irrigation developments. In 2016, some of those translations revealed that Babylonian astronomers were using advanced geometric calculations and techniques thought to only be available much later, around 1400 AD, to predict astronomical events. An interesting note is that around the time of Christ, the Sumerian language and its writings disappeared along with the name Sumer.(1) Only after the decipherment of the writings on the “cuneiform Rosetta Stone” was the Sumerian language rediscovered along with a glimpse into its hidden history and its forgotten culture. Did this discovery raise an ancient spirit of forbidden knowledge and fear long ago cast out of remembrance for a reason?

Unlike Egypt and Babylonia, scholars find no evidence of the Sumerians or their traditions in the classical and biblical sources, yet, the Bible does speak of the land of Mesopotamia. For example, after the flood, people migrated from the East, and they found a plain in the land of Shinar (Mesopotamia) and dwelled in it (Genesis 11:2). The Bible also speaks of Nimrod, a mighty hunter and king, grandson of Ham, the middle son of Noah, and the “beginning of his kingdom,” was in the land of Shinar (Genesis 10:10). Another example is Abraham was from the city-state Ur, also called Ur of the Chaldeans, the same area in Mesopotamia where cuneiform writing began (see Genesis 11:31).

NOAH’S ARK PLACED UPON THE MOUNTAIN RANGE OF ARARAT

In the works of the Romano-Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, he writes about a fear that Noah had. Noah prayed to God, asking him to accept his supplications so that the earth would not undergo the same fate again.

“But as for Noah, he was afraid, since God had determined to destroy mankind, fearing he should drown the earth every year: so he offered burnt offerings, and begged God that nature might hereafter go on in its former orderly course, and that he would not bring on so great a judgment any more…” (2)

The Bible does not mention Noah’s state of emotions, I believe, for a reason, because the spirit of fear is not of God but was mentioned as being on the animals; therefore, it would not be a part of God’s divine state. We understand that Noah had already found grace in the eyes of the Lord before the flood (Genesis 6:8). We see in Genesis 8:20 that Noah and everything on the ark had gone out from the ark onto the land. We can tell from his actions that he was still in faith with God and obeying Him after the flood. Noah then built an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings. The Lord smelled the sweet savor. He approved of Noah’s righteousness and vowed to never again curse the ground. In Genesis 9, God makes His covenant with Noah and his seed and places a rainbow in the clouds as a standard distinguishing mark. If Noah was fearful, he overcame it and put his faith in God. In addition, Josephus also speaks of some of the people not wanting to leave the mountain tops of Ararat due to the fear of God’s judgment. Since the ark rested on the mountain, his account is that they remained near the highlands. The people feared God would once again send a deluge, and they would perish.

However, Josephus says, the sons of Noah, Sham, Ham, and Japheth, “These first of all descended from the mountains into the plains.” They set the example of faith in God by making their way down to the valley of Shinar and settling it (Genesis 11). They persuaded the others who were afraid to leave the highlands. Genealogical studies suggest, along with the Biblical accounts, that the sons of Noah spread out from Mesopotamia, the land of Shinar. Shem’s descendants moved through the southern Arabian Peninsula and Southeast Asia. Japheth’s descendants expanded north and west to inhabit the Mediterranean, Europe, and parts of Asia. At the same time, Ham’s offspring traveled west into the Southern lands and Africa.

Upon the mountains of Ararat is where the ark landed (Genesis 8:4). This area is in the Armenian highlands, also known as the Armenian plateau. (See map) These mountains lie on the extreme eastern border of Turkey adjacent to Armenia. Mt. Ararat is the tallest of the dormant twin volcano system, Greater Ararat and Little Ararat, and is the highest peak in Turkey. The word Ararat in Hebrew means the curse reversed; precipitation of curse. Ararat was the place of the curse, I believe of Ham’s son Canaan, and the area where it first began. God had blessed Ham, so Noah could not place a curse on him for his misdeeds; therefore placed the curse upon Ham’s seed, Canaan. The word precipitation is not only used for meteorology, but figuratively can mean unwise, sudden haste, and throw down, hurried or headlong. So, if we take the biblical principle of “last is first and first is last” (Matthew 20:16), the curse was thrown down to the unwise, but it is also where the curse is reversed. Both events would precipitate out of the lineage of Noah.

The Armenian plateau is situated in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent area, including ancient Mesopotamia. The word “Ararat,” historians and Bible scholars agree, is also the Hebrew name for Urartu, the Armenian Kingdom of Van near Lake Van located in modern-day Turkey. Van Lake is considered the largest saline soda lake in the world, characterized by high concentrations of sodium carbonate and other salts. Remember, the first cuneiform languages found included Urartian, from Urartu (also known as Ararat/Armenia). The extinct Hurro-Urartian (Hurrian/Urartu) language has not been linked to any other language or language family so far. This, too, shows how their methods of communication were removed from use and hidden until recently.

From cuneiform records, scholars found that those living in Urartu worshiped a triad of gods, including Haldi, the supreme god, Theispas, the god of thunder, storms, and sometimes war, and Shivani, a solar god. Haldi, their supreme god, is depicted as a man with or without wings and standing on a lion. The main temple of Haldi was found in the ancient city of Musasir, located somewhere near Lake Van.(3) Musasir means exit of the serpent or exit of the snake in the Akkadian language. Another extinct language from the same time and area. Even Jeremiah mentions Ararat as a nation when God announces judgment on Babylon (See Jeremiah 51:24-27). These records prove that false gods were being worshipped there in biblical times.

THE TOWER OF BABEL

In Genesis 11:1, the whole earth existed and was established having only one language (see below), and the people were of one speech. The word language here is the Hebrew word saphah. It means lip, language, speech, but also implies shore, bank, brink, brim, side, edge, border, margin, as the bank of a sea, river, etc. In verse one, the Hebrew word for speech is dabar, which means speech, word, saying, utterance, a thing (words spoken create things), business, occupation, acts, case, and manner. The earth, the land, and everything in it were no longer cursed (Genesis 9:8-17) and had ONE boundary, margin, or border, and the people were united in ONE way of acting, speaking, and creating ‘things’ in a manner that was pleasing to God. 

If we look up the etymology (history of words) of dabar, it is a first-person singular form of the verb do in Latin. The word do can mean I do, I give, impart, offer, render, afford, grant, best, confer, concede, surrender, yield, put, and I adduce, which means I witness. So, we can surmise that the inhabitants of the earth said, “I DO,” to the Lord. They were all in agreement, united in how they spoke, their margins and boundaries, and their actions were pleasing to God. However, as they moved out from the East, out from what was in front of them, they took their gaze off God. They began to dwell in the land, the plain, the divide of Shinar, in Sumeria. Sumer literally meant the place of the noble lords (4) and was later known as Babylonia or Chaldea.

The infamous city of Babylon became the ancient capital of southern Mesopotamia after Sumerian authority subsided with the desolation of the Third Dynasty of Ur. The word Mesopotamia means between rivers because a large part of the landmass of Mesopotamia was located between the Tigris and the Euphrates river. It rose to power under the sixth king of the First Babylonian dynasty named Hammurabi (reigning from 1792 BC to 1750 BC). Hammurabi in Akkadian means father healer. He built up what appeared to have been “a small town,” as it was referred to on a cuneiform tablet, into a great city and is best known for his set of laws called the Code of Hammurabi. The inscribed black basalt stele containing the code is seven feet and four and one half inches tall (see pg. 8). It states that Hammurabi is “the prince, called of Bel” (the Babylonian god Marduk) and “the king who ruleth among the kings of cities am I,” among many other obstinate decrees against God and along with his legal code.

Once the Babylonians gained superiority and Hammurabi was seated as king, it grew into what was considered the largest city in the world from 1770 to 1670 BC. Not much is known of the early Babylonian kings because there is not much evidence that has survived (or been recovered) to give a complete picture of how they came to power. What we do know comes from some royal engravings, records with year-names (years were named after the reigning king), and some literary texts. Only traces of the prehistoric city exists southwest of the city of Baghdad, the modern-day capital of Iraq.

Did you know there are twenty-three marble reliefs portraying historical figures known for their “principles” of law displayed above the gallery doors of the House Chamber at the U. S. Capitol? One of them happens to be Hammurabi. You can look them all up on the Architect of the Capitol website (www.aoc.gov).

Babylon is thought to have originated from the ancient Akkadian language word Ba-vil, which means “Gate of God” or “Gate of Gods.” However, Hebrew scholars believe it was named for the Hebrew word balal, which means confusion, after “the LORD (Jehovah) did there confound (balal) the language of all the earth.” (Genesis 11:9).

As we’ve discussed, the kingdom of Babel (Genesis 10:10) began in the “land of Shinar.” In the Bible, Shinar is used as the ancient name for the territory, later referred to as ancient Babylonia or Chaldea during the time of Nimrod. It is also fascinating that the spelling of the word Shinar in Hebrew Šin nar looks very similar to the word sinner in English. Some theologians believe shinar is a westernized variant of the word sumer. However, scholars say there are discrepancies within the structure and historical development of the languages that lead to some doubt. There has been no confirmed historical evidence thus far that the great hunter of men named Nimrod existed. However, he is mentioned in the Bible four times: Table of Nations in Genesis 10:8-9, 1 Chronicle 1:10, and Micah 5:6 (land of Nimrod), so he must have existed in some form. But, could Nimrod’s name hase been changed as a part of God’s Devine plan to fulfill His Devine purpose? Let’s explore that hypothesis.

I came across “The Origin and Real Name of Nimrod” by E. G. H. Kraeling and found that maybe that hypothesis is not so far-fetched. For reference, an Assyriologist is someone who studies the language, history, and antiquity of Assyria in ancient Mesopotamia.

“The figure of the biblical Nimrod has ever attracted the attention of Assyriologists and numerous have been the attempts to explain the origin and name of this builder of Babel. A number of years ago the writer became convinced that the name could not be separated from the city of Marad and that it was an epithet of LUGAL-MARAD-DA, a god worshiped at that place.”

Kraeling continues by mentioning the son of the great Naram-Sin. Naram-Sin stands for “beloved of the moon god Sin.” He was the grandson of King Sargon of Akkad, also known as Sargon the Great. Naram-Sin was the governor of Marad, and that is where they built the temple, the ziggurat of the god LUGAL-MARAD-DA. Kraeling connected the “lord of Marad” to the infamous name Nimrod as a title passed down to a person.

LUGAL-MARAD-DA simply means “king (lugal) of Marad.” The title “king,” however, can be circumscribed by EN = “lord” (or NIN which in the older period also can mean “lord” and is basically the same word.) The king of Marad could therefore be called EN-MARAD or NIN-MARAD, “lord of Marad.” (5)

Naram-Sin, as did his grandfather, proclaimed himself “king of the four quarters of the universe.” However, he began to designate himself as a god, not only as a king and deified himself by signing official documents with the seal of a god—the god of Akkad—claiming he was god.(6) So, Naram-Sin, may well have taken on the title of “lord of Marad,” the name Nimrod. Could this be the Nimrod of the Bible? I can’t say for sure, but Naram-Sin or one of his relatives could possibly be the Nimrod of the Bible.

WHAT DID MAN DO THAT CAUSED GOD TO CONFUSE THE LANGUAGE? 

Let’s start back with the story of Noah. The Bible tells us that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8) before the flood and that his offering was accepted by God after the flood (Genesis 8:21). Noah built an altar, the first altar constructed in the scriptures, but it doesn’t tell us if he was on the mountain or in the plain or how much time passed. However, God commanded him to “go forth.” The word used here is the Hebrew word yatsa, which means to go or come out or forth, depart to a place, go forward, proceed to or toward something, go forth with purpose or for a result, and spread out. You see, Noah “went forth” before he built the altar. It doesn’t seem to mean he stepped out of the ark and built the altar. I would make an educated guess that Josephus was correct when he said, “These first of all descended from the mountains into the plains,” which included Noah. The whole family could have descended into the plain of Shinar before the altar was erected.

The altar, the Hebrew word mizbeach, would realistically, at that time, have been a raised mound of earth or stacked stones to place the sacrifices on. We know that Noah was righteous, and the Lord approved this altar. When discussing the temple or ziggurat built in Babylon for the worship of the god LUGAL-MARAD-DA, and when looking at the story of the Tower of Babel, it is evident that the Hebrew altar is not the same as the ziggurat nor is the place where God spoke with Moses, Mount Sinai. So, what is a ziggurat, and how does it differ?

A ziggurat is a pyramid-like temple structure with stepped sides–a terraced pyramid. These man-made mountains appeared as early as 4000 BC and were built by the Sumerians, Akkadians, Elamites, Eblaites, and Babylonians as part of their cities and culture. They were constructed of mud bricks, covered with baked bricks, and were ovals, squares, or rectangles stacked in proportionally smaller sizes with a flat area on top. The exact reason the Mesopotamian society built these temples is somewhat unclear. Yet, some were dedicated to gods like the Sumerian god Nanna, the moon god, also known as Sin or Su’en in Akkadian (Naram-Sin was beloved of him).

In contrast, others were named for their functions, such as “Exalted Mountain” or “Temple which Links Heaven and Earth.” These temples also seem to go hand-in-hand with building cities and establishing a connection with other gods, thus establishing a system of religion and providing the gods a means of communication. The Anu Ziggurat at Uruk (Erech, the second city of Nimrod) dates back to 4000 BC. It was built by the Sumerians for their sky god Anu, who they believed lived at the top of the ziggurat. Later, around 3500 BC, the White Temple was built on top of it. The partial remains of the ziggurat can still be seen today in southern Iraq. Another temple is the Great Ziggurat of Ur, which began construction around 2050 BC and is one of the best-persevered remains of a ziggurat and has been partially reconstructed. It, too, is found in southern Iraq.

THE LAST EPOCH

We are told events will be happening again as they were in the days of Noah when the Lord returns. Noah lived to be 950 years old; so much happened over his life span. The wickedness of the hearts of men grew until Noah entered the ark at age 600, and he lived an additional 350 years after the flood. Also, at the time of Noah, names were significant. In ancient Hebrew and Semitic cultures, a person’s name was closely related to their character. For example, Noah means rest, Shem means appointed authority; the name, Ham means hot, while Japheth means opened, expansion. In turn, Nimrod means to rebel, rebellion, or the valiant, and we can see in later times that it continues. Moses means drawn, rescued, Abram means exalted father, then God changes it to Abraham, which means father of a multitude. We must keep in mind that during the epoch of time when the Lord will return, the names of individuals will play an important part.

After Noah built the altar, God vowed not to smite every living thing, and He blessed Noah and his sons. But then God says,

God continues and forbids murder and eating flesh with blood. Then comes the covenant with Noah, which removed the curse on the land, and He established His bow in the cloud. The word bow doesn’t just mean rainbow. It also means a bow for hunting, battle, archers; figuratively might or strength, of bending, to bow (bend, snare, set a trap). Let us not forget what Philippians 2:10-11 says,

As you read Philippians 2:10-11 did you see the times of Noah? The “bow” is present, and the word tongue here means not only language but a member of the body!

Now, to the word cloud from Genesis 9:13. It is the Hebrew word anan (Strong’s H6051 {aw-nawn’}) which means a cloud-mass as covering the sky and comes from the word (spelled the same) anan (Strong’s H6049 {aw-nan’}). The second form can mean to make appear, produce as to cloud over but, on the other hand, it can mean to conjure, observe times, practice magic or witchcraft, a soothsayer, enchanter, sorceress, fortuneteller, diviner.

I will theorize that the Sumerian languages were removed from history because of the information they possessed from building towers and worshipping heathen gods, which were trafficking information from the heavenly realm to men with no regard for the Spirit of Truth and the One True God. Therefore, it was by fear and dread that men would rule the beasts of the earth, the fowl of the air, AND all the moved upon the earth. The word move is the Hebrew word ramas, which means to creep, move lightly, move about, glide about, crawl or move with short steps. Interestingly, the Hindu god Rama is portrayed as a standing figure holding an arrow in his right hand and a bow in his left. 

Could it be that the spirit of fear that was placed on the animals and ALL THAT MOVED UPON THE EARTH by God, included those who trafficked illegally? That would include the fallen angels. And could that spirit be the catalyst for this group of people to turn away from the face of God to build the Tower of Babel, seeking to obtain forbidden knowledge and become like gods? The fear upon the people, described by Josephus, would make sense as they turned away from faith in God and sought to usurp His covenant that included the life of all men (Genesis 9:5). The bow placed by God, in the covering, in the cloud, the bending, the Corner Stone, was rejected by the builders of the man-made mountains allowing sin to enter. 

Currently, there is an effort by a faction of people to rule again like Nimrod and to repossess the knowledge that God confounded through the pursuits of trans-humanism, artificial intelligence (AI), genetic modification of both human DNA and animal DNA, as well as genetically modifying plants, all to surpass the boundaries that God’s standards demand, so they can again claim to be kings of the four corners of the universe. This time, they will stop at nothing to literally make it happen, therefore breaching the atmospheric border of the earth, the boundary set by God, and building their new temple to their man-made idols that reach well beyond the limits of those in Babylon. I truly believe that God saw not only the tower made of mud and brick but the one built above the clouds, reaching the stars and planets. How do I know this? God provides all our needs, yet you must rely on something man-made to be in space. All the faith is placed in engineers, scientists, and the contraptions they build to get someone into space, let alone survive there.

We have access to all languages now. Through AI and technology, it allows the once hidden knowledge of those who trafficked it to be revealed. The hearts of men have grown fearful and turned towards unlawful knowledge from fallen ones to try, once again, to “save themselves” from the ultimately finished works. For it is for a man once to live and die (Hebrews 9:27) and decide whether he will choose life everlasting having faith in God and His son Jesus Christ or choose eternal death by trying to circumvent the will of God. 

So why did God confuse the language and speech back in Babylonia? That was when the ancient seeds of overstepping margins and boundaries were sown. I also believe these seeds of disobedience against the standards of God were watered again in the early 60s and 70s. And, we can see the visible signs that point out to us we are in the days of Noah.

Those who are in Christ Jesus, the Divine Bow, the Divine Cornerstone should rejoice because we soon shall be called up to say, “I DO,” not forsaking the requirements of God’s covenant. Still, those who remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, through God’s Divine plan, to meet the Lord in the air, and we shall ever be with the Lord (I Thessalonians 4:17).

Yes, and amen! And Happy Easter!

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Feature Image: Bigstock.com; Tower of Babel (Babylon) a famous painting by Pieter Brueghel the Elder created in 1563. This work of art is more than 400 years old and is in the public domain | Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Citiations:

1. Gelb, I. J.. “Sumerian language.” Encyclopedia Britannica, March 20, 2019. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sumerian-language.

2. Whinston, William. The New Complete Works of Josephus, rev. exp. ed., commentary by Paul L. Maier, 53-56. United States of America: Kregrel Publications, 1999.

3.  Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Musasir.” Encyclopedia Britannica, December 3, 2007. https://www.britannica.com/place/Musasir.

4. Wiktionary contributors, “שנער,” Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=%D7%A9%D7%A0%D7%A2%D7%A8&oldid=66183889 (accessed April 1, 2022).

5. Kraeling, E. G. H. “The Origin and Real Name of Nimrod.” The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures 38, no. 3 (1922): 214–20. http://www.jstor.org/stable/528439.

6. Mark, Joshua J.. “Naram-Sin.” World History Encyclopedia. Last modified August 07, 2014. https://www.worldhistory.org/Naram-Sin/.

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Angela Errett

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