The "tower of Babel" is a very important subject even though the account given in the Bible
consists of just a very few verses. The discoveries of the last 150 years have shed
tremendous light on the Biblical account and shown how completely accurate it is, but the
one thing that can "pull it all together", so to speak, is the subject we will now discuss.
Almost every civilization on earth has had it's version of the flood story, but what evidence
is there of the great dispersion of Noah's family across the face of the earth? What evidence
is there that the great division of languages- their "birth", so to speak"- occurred at Babel?
For a long time, Ron has been interested in searching for the location of Babel, but the
other projects dominated his time so completely that he never had the opportunity to follow
up on it. But recently, he has begun field work, searching for the remains of the infamous
tower.
In Oct. of 1990, he and Richard Rives first visited the region of southern Turkey above the Syrian
border where the Euphrates River exits the Taurus mountains. Richard wanted to visit Nemrut
Da ("da" means "mountain"), the burial site of the Seleucid king, Antiochus Epiphanes (62-32
BC) in order to examine the vast array of pagan statues there. Nemrut Da is located at the edge
of the Taurus Mountains in the region Ron wanted to search for Babel, so off they went. After
examining Nemrut Da, the two made note of a large "hill" which looked like a "tell" (remains of
an ancient city or village covered in soil) off in the distance that they felt should be explored. But
pressed for time, they left for Israel. They decided that they would return as soon as possible to
explore more.
In August of 1991, they returned to Turkey, accompanied by Dr. Allen Roberts and Marv
Wilson, to make an application to excavate Noah's Ark. After meeting with officials and
receiving a verbal approval, they were told that the written permit would be issued the next
"working day", which would be 4 days later due to a Turkish holiday. At that time, they all
decided to go look for the tower of Babel while they waited. Unfortunately, they were taken
hostage by terrorists on their way to the region and held for 21 days. After this ordeal, the search
for Babel was put "on hold".
It was 4 years later before Ron would consider returning to this still dangerous region. On Nov
30, 1995 he returned and we will present the results of that very exciting 1st investigation. But
because of the nature of the subject of Babel, we must study it in light of all of the evidence
available, beginning with the Biblical account. Then, we must gather all the evidences and view
them in their proper context. Continue
