WHEN WAS THE TOWER OF BABEL BUILT?
The
Book of Mormon states that “Jared came forth with his brother and their
families, with some others and their families, from the great tower, at the time
the Lord confounded the language of the people” (Ether 1:33). Combining the
ages of the ancient patriarchs, the Torah indicates that the tower was built
1656 years after the Creation, tine days of Peleg, whose name means “division.”
(Hitchcock’s Bible Names Dictionary, “Peleg.”) This might seem like a straightforward
answer, but it is not. No one knows the actual year the Garden of Eden was
created and God gave breath to Adam. Furthermore, the Bible does not tell us
what was happening on earth before the Creation. Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum
of the Twelve Apostles stated in the April 2015 general conference: “Adam and
Eve who fell from an actual Eden with all the consequences that the fall
carried with it. I do not know the details of what happened on this planet
before that, but I do know these two were created under the divine hand of God.”
Appropriately, the Church is not concerned about the scientific record of
pre-history. In a memorandum issued by the First Presidency in 1931, we read, “Our
mission is to bear the message of the restored Gospel to the people of the
world. Leave geology, biology, archaeology and anthropology, no one which has
to do with the salvation of the souls of mankind, to scientific research.” (First
Presidency, Memorandum to General Authorities, April 1831, 6-7)
Indeed,
the scriptural record provide little information about the earth before our
first parents. The Doctrine and Covenants states that the “temporal existence”
of the earth is seven thousand years (D&C 77:6). However, it must be
remembered that John the Revelator was using “figurative expressions” (D&C
77:2). We are not told when the seven thousand years began, and we do not know
if the number of years is precise or only a rounded figure. Further, when was
the beginning of the “temporal existence”? Did it begin when Adam was created
or only the beginning of the earth’s existence after his fall and the earth was
removed from the presence of God? Thus, without a definite beginning date,
there is no certain way to use the ages of patriarchs to calculate the time of
the great flood or when the Tower of Babel was constructed. Thus, taking the
advice of the First Presidency in 1831, we can use scientific methods to
analyze the biblical account of the tower to estimate the time period when the
Jaredites left the land of Shinar/Sumer. Turning to Genesis again: “And they said
to one another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And
they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said,
GO to, let us built a city and a tower” (Genesis 11:2-4, emphasis
added). (George Potter, Discovering the Amazing Jaredites [Springville,
Utah: CFI, 2020], 4)
