Ken Ham - The Answers Book for Kids. Volume 6

First Printing: September 2013

Copyright 2013 by Ken Ham. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be re produced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publish er except in brief quotations in articles and reviews. For more information write:

Master Books
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Green Forest, AR 72638

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Book Design by Terry White

DIGITAL ISBN 13: 978-1-61458-386-8
ISBN 13: 978-0-89051-783-3
Library of Congress number: 2008904921

All Scripture references are New King James Version unless otherwise noted.

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Special thanks to the kids who contributed from around the world, as well as the kids from Cornerstone Classical Christian Academy for their submissions!

When you see this icon, there will be related Scripture references noted for parents to use in answering their childrens, and even their own, questions.

Dear Kids

We hope this book will help answer some of your questions about theIce Age and the Tower of Babel. We pray that you understand that the Bible istrue and that it does explain the world that we live in.

We see a lot of sad things happening in our world,and we all do bad things, too. This is because of sin.When Adam, our mutual grandfather (6,000 years ago),sinned against God and ruined the perfect world Godoriginally created, death and suffering entered theworld so we suffer and die as well because of sin.

But God provided a means to save us from sin anddeath. He sent His Son Jesus into the world to becomea man, live a sinless life, and die on our behalf. He diedon a Cross, but He was also resurrected (brought back to life). If we repent(turn from our sin) and believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and inHis Resurrection, we too will be saved and will spend all eternity with God inheaven with all of His goodness. Please read these Scriptures in this order:

Genesis 1:1, 1:31, 3:1719; Romans 5:12, 3:23, 6:23, 10:9, 5:1

God bless you.

Ken and Bodie

Question:

Where was the Tower of Babel built?

Emma
Age 8

Answer:

And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found aplain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there (Genesis 11:2).

The tower was built at Babel. This was where Noahs descendantssettled after they left Noahs home (where he had become a farmer).They traveled from the east and arrived at a place that they called Shinar(shee-NAR), which means between two rivers.

These two rivers were the Tigris and Euphrates. These rivers formed asa result of Noahs Flood, and were likely named for two pre-Flood riversthat were mentioned in Genesis 2:14. This re-using of familiar names hashappened many times down through the ages. For instance, when theEuropeans came to the Americas they named rivers, cities, and regionsafter places in Europe.

Noahs descendants found a plain between these rivers and dweltthere. That plain is where Babel was located. This small city of Babel andthe region of Babylonia (the region was later named after the city ofBabel) were in southern Mesopotamia, which is part of modern-day Iraq.Later, the city of Babel (or Babylon) became the same site where a bigempire was based the Babylonian Empire, led by Nebuchadnezzar.The city of Babel was located along the Euphrates River in the plain ofShinar, south of the modern city of Baghdad in Iraq.

2 Kings 20:14; Daniel 11:1

Question:

How big was the Tower of Babel?

Gershom
Age 8

Answer:

And they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose topis in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scatteredabroad over the face of the whole earth (Genesis 11:4).

The Bible doesnt tell us how big the Tower of Babel was. It isdescribed as a tower whose top is in the heavens (Genesis 11:4).This means that it was much taller than the buildings of the city thatNoahs descendants were constructing. The tower would have beenabove them, but it would not have needed to be as big as a skyscrapertoday. Later, other towers were built in the same area that had namessimilar to tower whose top is in the heavens, but these towers werenot that big. They were just the largest structures compared to whatwas around them.

Many believe that the Etemenanki (EH-tuh-meh-NAHN-kee) towerwas simply another later name for the Tower of Babel. Etemenankimeans temple of the foundation of heaven and earth. The tower wasold and run down by the time of Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar (500600 B.C.) and Alexander the Great tore it down about 325 B.C.

Judging by the square base where the tower originally was located,an old description on a tablet, and the writing of a historian namedHerodotus, the tower was probably about 78 stories and 300 feet (91meters) high. That would definitely be big enough to stand out in alittle city!

Genesis 11:34; Judges 9:51;
Proverbs 18:10

Question:

How long did it take to build theTower of Babel?

Eva
Age 8

Answer:

Then they said to one another, Come, let us make bricks and bake themthoroughly. They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar(Genesis 11:3).

The Bible doesnt tell us how long it took to build the Tower of Babel,but when people are dedicated to doing something and are workingtoward the same goal, they can do things very quickly.

For example, Richard the Lionheart, who was king of England in theMiddle Ages, had his soldiers build a castle for him in Normandy (a partof France that he ruled). It needed to be built quickly so he could use it.This huge and incredible castle was built in about one year! The ruinsof this castle (Chateau Gaillard) still stand today, and they are still veryimpressive.

A tower would be much easier to build than a complicated castle.A Jewish historian named Josephus, who lived about 2,000 years ago,said of the Tower of Babel, It grew very high, sooner than anyone couldexpect.

The people who built the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:36 werededicated to the cause of building the tower. It may have been built veryquickly, possibly in just a few months but we dont know for sure.

Genesis 11:3-6

Question:

How many people did it take to buildthe Tower?

Laura
Age 8

Answer:

These were the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations,in their nations; and from these the nations were divided on the earth afterthe flood (Genesis 10:32).

The Bible in Genesis 10 gives a list of families that came out of Babelwith new languages. Since we dont know how many people were ineach family, we cant know the exact number of people who came outof Babel. If we add up the families, there were at least 78. There couldhave been a few more, since the line that goes from Noah to Peleg(ultimately the line of Jesus) doesnt give us all the information. Forexample, this line contains Noah, Shem, Arphaxad, Selah, Eber, andPeleg. (Some of these sound like strange names, huh?)