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therefore be deduced that it was originally for the bur- to an original language in man's ancient past. Professor
ial of very high-ranking personages, probably royalty." Alfredo Trombetti claims that he can prove the com-
mon origin of all languages. Max Mueller, one of the
Dr. Kloner further points out that, "since the time of greatest oriental language scholars, declared that all
King Manasseh, Judean Kings were no longer buried in human languages can be traced back to one single
the tombs of the Sons of David [in the City of David]." original language. Professor Otto Jesperson stated that
These tombs became filled and could no longer be the first language was given to man by God (Joesph
used. Free, Archaeology and Bible History, [Wheaton:
Scripture Press Publications, 1969]).
During the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., a popula-
tion explosion took place in Jerusalem. The area that is The French government sent Professor Oppert to re-
now called St. Stephen's Monastery became a popular port on the cuneiform inscriptions discovered in the
burial site located just north of the population center. ruins of Babylon. Oppert translated a long inscription
Dr. Kloner concludes that since the royal burial tombs by King Nebuchadnezzar in which the king referred to
inside the City of David were full, another location the tower in the Chaldean language as Barzippa, which
was needed to bury Judah's kings. means Tongue-tower. The Greeks used the word Bor-
sippa, with the same meaning of tongue-tower, to de-
Josephus, the first-century historian, mentions the scribe the ruins of the Tower of Babel. This inscription
"royal caverns" in Jerusalem. According to Dr. Kloner, of Nebuchadnezzar clearly identified the original
the details of Josephus' description match precisely tower of Borsippa with the Tower of Babel described
the location of the St. Stephens' burial chamber. by Moses in Genesis. King Nebuchadnezzar decided to
rebuild the base of the ancient Tower of Babel, built
over sixteen centuries earlier by Nimrod, the first
"Thus," concludes the archaeologist, "It is...more than
plausible that [this] burial chamber...in St. Stephens King of Babylon. He also called it the Temple of the
Monastery is indeed the burial place of the Kings of Spheres. During the millennium since God destroyed
Judah." it, the tower was reduced from its original height and
magnificence until only the huge base of the tower
(four hundred and sixty feet by six hundred and ninety
King Nebuchadnezzar's Inscription feet) standing some two hundred and seventy-five feet
About the Tower of Babel high remained within the outskirts of the city of Baby-
lon. Today the ruins have been reduced to about one
From the time of Adam and Eve, " The whole earth had hundred and fifty feet above the plain with a circumfer-
one language and one speech" (Genesis 11:1), before ence of 2,300 feet. Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt the city of
the dispersion of the population following God's su- Babylon in great magnificence with gold and silver,
pernatural act causing the confusion of their languages and then decided to rebuild the lowest platform of the
at the Tower of Babel. God purposely confounded the Tower of Babel in honor of the Chaldean gods. King
language of all the people on the earth (Genesis 11:9) Nebuchadnezzar resurfaced the base of the Tower of
so they could not understand the speech of their neigh- Babel with gold, silver, cedar, and fir, at great cost on
bors to force them to disperse throughout the earth. top of a hard surface of baked clay bricks. These
The people had gathered together in sinful pride bricks were engraved with the seal of Nebuchadnezzar.
against God in their attempt to build a tower that would in this inscription found on the base of the ruins of the
reach to the heavens. Moses recorded God's subse- Tower of Babel, King Nebuchadnezzar speaks in his
quent judgment and destruction of the Tower of Babel own words from thousands of years ago confirming
and the City of Babylon. The remains of the Tower of one of the most interesting events of the ancient past.
Babel are vitrified (melted to form a kind of rough
glass) which indicates that God used a huge amount of Nebuchadnezzar's Inscription on the Tower
heat to destroy this tower that was erected at the dawn of Babel
of time by men in their sinful pride to reach up to the
heavens in defiance of God. Scientists who study the
origin of languages, known as philologists, have con- The tower, the eternal house, which I founded and
cluded that it is probable that the thousands of dialects built.
and languages throughout the planet can be traced back

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