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Questions
Where is the city of Shinar (Tower of Babel)
I found 2 articles, but they contradict one another. "Where in the World is the Tower of Babel" March 23, 2011 says Shinar likely located in Khabur Triangle in NE Syria. But, another article, "Where was the Tower of Babel built", Aug 21, 2017, says the location was Babylon (modern day Bagdad Iraq). Both articles are in your Answers site. I use your ABC curriculum and I'm on Lesson 29, the Tower of Babel. Trying to show the route from the Ark to the plain in the land of Shinar. The curriculum says it's somewhere between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern day Iraq. So where in the world is it....really? I want to be accurate.
Answer
Richard, The first article you mentioned is in our Answers Research Journal. Those articles are research articles that often present new research ideas that are then challenged by other academics. There is a disclaimer on each of those articles to that effect. Our official ministry position on the location is the second location you mention, the plain of Shinar was between the rivers in modern-day Iraq, The Bible does not mention a city named Shinar in Genesis 10-11. Even in Genesis 14, the maps I am looking at in my Bible software show an area of Shinar in the same general location.
Roger, I appreciate your response, but I am still a bit puzzled. Looking at a map, if the descendants of Noah traveled from the east to the plain of Shinar, as Scripture says, I'm not sure how modern day Iraq works. If that were the case, it appears they'd have to travel south, so that would mean they're traveling from the north, rather than from the east. Esp if the plain of Shinar (Babel) is modern day Baghdad, that would mean they traveled east. Unless the Ark landed a lot farther east in the Ararat mountains. Sorry to make such a big deal of this, but I'm just trying to be as accurate as possible. What's I'm reading in the curriculum compared to maps, doesn't seem to jive.
Richard,
First, we have no clear location for where the ark landed. It was in the “mountains of Ararat,” but we have no reason to strongly connect that with the area of modern Turkey above other areas that are possible. All we can know is it was a mountain range somewhere in the area we call the Middle East today.
Second, the translators of various versions are divided on whether the people went toward the east or came from the east. Prepositions in Hebrew are based on context, and there isn’t enough context in 11:1-2 to demand one way or the other. Our ministry generally presents them coming from the mountains to the east and moving west to Shinar based on the NKJV reading (as well as KJV, ESV, and CSB ), but it could also be read as eastward or to the east as the NASB, NIV, and NET translate it.
Bottom line is that we can’t be absolutely certain about either unless we actually find the ark or can definitively determine which of those translations is the best.
Here are two articles that discuss some of the ideas about the Ark’s location:
https://answersingenesis.org/noahs-ark/noahs-ark-found/has-ark-been-found/
https://answersingenesis.org/noahs-ark/noahs-ark-found/noahs-ark-mount-ararat/
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Richard, The first article you mentioned is in our Answers Research Journal. Those articles are research articles that often present new research ideas that are then challenged by other academics. There is a disclaimer on each of those articles to that effect. Our official ministry position on the location is the second location you mention, the plain of Shinar was between the rivers in modern-day Iraq, The Bible does not mention a city named Shinar in Genesis 10-11. Even in Genesis 14, the maps I am looking at in my Bible software show an area of Shinar in the same general location.