Thoughts on life, love and faith by Plasticmind.

After Noah's flood (which has been recorded in various ways in other sources such as the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh), God commanded those who survived to "be fruitful and multiply" and "bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein." (Gen. 9:7) Mankind then proceeded to move south east from Mount Arrarat where the ark landed (believed to be on the border of Turkey and Iraq) and settled between the Tigris and Euphrates river in the plains of Shinar (modern day southern Iraq) where Mesopotamia and the Sumerian civilization had it beginnings.

It was here that Babylon had its foundations. After the flood the weather patterns varied greatly and one man named Nimrod (a grandson of Ham, Noah's son: Genesis 10:9-10) most likely saw this as an opportunity to control people. The Bible says that he was a mighty hunter and that his kingdom began in Babel. Many believe (from inscriptions found in Bablyon) that he was actually a hunter of men, the first to institute slavery (as a means to build this tower of Babel recorded in scripture). So he used these new, unknown weather patterns (thunderstorms, hurricanes, etc.) to validate his "divine" power (like the eclipse in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court).

In the midst of this, God saw both the pride of man's heart and (most likely) the corruption of Nimrod's regime and "confounded" or mixed up the languages. Family groups kept the same language, but seperated from other family groups. Most of Japeth's grandson's settled western Asia, Europe, England (and eventually America) and his family line was characterized by light skin. Shem's son's, olive-skinned, stayed mostly in the middle east - Israel and Arab nations all fall under this lineage. As a matter of fact, Shem's great grandson was Eber, from which we get the "Hebrew" people. (Gen. 11:10-14) Ham's sons, much darker skinned, settled much of Africa and part of the Mediterranian coast (as a matter of fact, Gen. 10:6 says that one of Ham's sons was named Phut... study Egyptian history and you'll see this name often).

On an EXTREMELY interesting sidenote, many Christians (even recently) pointed to Genesis 9:25 as a verse supporting slavery. Some preachers claimed that God had cursed Ham's son and so "black people" were cursed in God's sight as servants. True, Canaan was cursed for looking longingly at his grandfather Noah naked. But even an elementary survey of the Old Testament makes it clear that Canaanites settled the Mediteranian Coast and their punishment was meted out to them when Israel came into Canaan (or the "Promised Land") after the Exodus from Egypt. As a matter of fact, Canaan's first-born son was named Sidon (Gen.10:15), the name of one of the Mediterranean's most important seaports. One of Ham's great grandson's was named Philistim, from which we get Philistines... the nationality of the infamous giant Goliath. The curse though was not extended to all of Ham's sons, just Canaan, so that argument is completely ignorant.

Back to Nimrod. Everyone is still together in Shinar (modern day southern Iraq) building this tower of Babel. Nimrod proclaims himself and his wife Zarpanitu a god, supporting that assertion with the new weather patterns. He predicts that when he dies he will be reincarnated in his "virgin" wife's belly as a god-child. He dies, she gets pregnant (allegedly with one of the soldiers) and she gives birth to Marduk (or Murdoch), the self-proclaimed god-child. As a matter of fact, the map of Babylon that I linked to earlier actually shows a Marduk gate and a place where they found the inscription: "the gods pay heed to marduk".

Now there is a god-mother and god-child that gets worshipped in this Babylonian religious system. This pagan idea is passed along down through the ages, showing itself in many other belief systems. During the Bronze Ages in Canaan, Baal is worshipped as his son Baalim alongside the god-wife/mother Asteroth. In Egypt, Osiris is rejuvenated in his son Horus and is worshipped with this god-wife/mother Isis. In the middle ages, Mary is often worshipped as the god-mother and Christ the god-son. They all have fingerprints of a religious system established more than 5,000 years ago.

Archaelogical research in Iraq (done before the Iraqi/Kuwait conflict in the 90's) has turned up some interesting findings (although a definite conflict of interest must be admitted) - a 90 meter square foundation (now submerged) believed by many to be the site of this tower. The map of Babylon that I linked to earlier actually shows a Marduk gate and a place where they found the inscription: "the gods pay heed to marduk". Herodotus gives us a description of the tower in the 5th century B.C. and there is indication that Alexander the Great tore it down in the 4th century B.C. (in hopes of refurbishing and rebuilding it).