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GeneDouglas |
Tower of Babel
Jan 1 2008, 10:33 PM EST
According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, the Tower of Babel was so tall, it took a year to get materials to the top. Obviously they couldn't transport mortar, which would dry before it got there, but they could transport the materials, and mix them once they got there.Food was another matter. It would be dry and moldy, and otherwise spoiled before it got there. The workmen must have had terrible conditions. Bathroom breaks would be another matter. Possibly they would transport animals, water and feed to the top, then slaughter and cook them while they were there. If you're carrying food for a year somebody, you've got to eat, too. So you carry enough for yourself to eat for two years, including the return trip. How heavy would that be? Of course, in the middle ages, they had problems building tall cathedral walls, which would bend and fall, until they developed the buttress, and then the flying buttress. And the Egyptians attempted to build a pyramid that collapsed, and they had to reduce the angle at the top in order to finish it. But then, if a material could be transported 3600 stories in a day, (one story per minute) making 360,000 stories in 100 days, and a million stories in a year, the building would be so heavy it would crush the stones at the bottom. Then the buttresses would have to be at least a mile wide, and would have to extend in all directions. A million stories high would be 10 million feet, or 200 miles high. The air would be getting awfully thin up there, and the temperatures would be a problem. Payday would be a bit of a problem, especially considering where one would spend his wages. Then there's the idea that God would get worried that they would actually reach heaven... Do you find this valuable?
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GeneDouglas |
1. RE: Tower of Babel
Jan 14 2008, 8:07 PM EST
O.K., O.K. maybe carrying a load it could take more than a minute to climb a flight of stairs. Especially if you're driving a herd of sheep and enough grain to feed them for a year. So let's say it takes two minutes. Then the tower would be only 100 miles high. Or if it takes four minutes, it would be 50 miles high, so far higher than our airplanes fly today.So let's put it at eight minutes per floor, or 25 miles high. No air to breath, temperature 40 below zero, but I'm sure they managed to work that out, somehow. And as for the sheep, people on middle floors have to eat, to, so they could leave one sheep on each floor as they climb, and wouldn't have to carry so much feed the rest of the way. Where there's a will, there's a way. Do you find this valuable? |
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GeneDouglas |
2. RE: Tower of Babel
Jan 14 2008, 8:11 PM EST
O.K., the passage in Genesis 11 isn't so detailed as the Jewish Encyclopedia. It mentions nothing ot taking a year to climb to the top.http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=1&chapter=11&version=31 Do you find this valuable? |
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GeneDouglas |
3. RE: Tower of Babel
Mar 12 2008, 9:41 PM EDT
The Jewish Encyclopedia treats the story as apocryphal, but with moral meaning. And after all, they've had the Bible longer than anybody, right?The Catholic Encyclopedia does not take it as literally true, though it seems to avoid that question. It does discuss trying to locate the tower, while suggesting that all Babylonian cities had towers. And the highest mentioned was seven stories high. It is possible that somebody tried a super feat, like the pyramids, or the cathederals of medieval Europe, and failed. That is, the building was poorly constructed and fell down. Then some Hebrews took a look and said "It's the will of God." Who knows? It might be. Do you find this valuable? |
