What happened at the Tower of Babel, pictured above, is one of the more peculiar event in human history recorded in Genesis 11:1-9, but it gives explanation to why there so many languages and cultures in the world today. Having a brief understanding of what happened at the tower of Babel is foundational to understanding how it influenced the creation certain kanji characters.
Construction of the the Tower of Babel began in Babylon (modern day Iraq, possibly Baghdad) about 5,000 years ago. The bible says that during that time everyone spoke the same language (Genesis 11:1) and together they settle in one city to build a tower. Bricks to build towers then were made of clay and straw.
God originally intended for humanity to spread out and fill the earth (Genesis 1:28), but in Babylon they resist God’s plan and unify together to make a name for themselves in opposition to God (Genesis 11:4). So God divided their language and scattered them across the earth (Genesis 11:9).
The Tower of Babel was the located in the general area of the red circle show in the map above. This means that the first people groups would have migrated out to the rest of the earth from Babylon as their point of origin.
Ancient Chinese invented the writing system of kanji in the area known as China today. But their Asian ancestors first walked long ago from Babylon in the west; it was a great migration that is told in the kanji below.
After the Tower of Babel migration we should expect migrated groups of people across the earth to have different records of history. But what about the time before people were scattered across the earth? Can the creation story of Genesis recorded in the bible be found preserved in kanji? I believe so and we’ll examine that next.
