[Avodah] tower of Bavel

[Lisa Liel]

On Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:07:40 +0200, eliturkel at gmail.com wrote:
>
>>How so?  I don't get why you say that simple pshat says all of
>>mankind was resident in Mesopotamia.  Simple pshat always includes
>>context.  And it's clear from the context that there were people
>>living in Eretz Yisrael (the cities of the plain) and Egypt, at the
>>very least.  Simple pshat might be that Shinar was the world
>>capitol, but that's about all.
>>
>>> In general were there any people in EY before the dispersion?
>>
>>If Arei Hakikar were in Eretz Yisrael, then yes.  Presumably the
>>Philistines were in Philistia as well, and depending on where you
>>consider Seir to have been, there were probably Horites there.>>
>
>If so what language did all these people outside of Shinar speak
>before and after the dispersion.

Presumably Hebrew.  Or Aramaic.  Or some dialect thereof.

>Assuming that (for example) Eygptians always spoke Eygptian

Why assume that?  The earliest Egyptian inscriptions aren't in
Egyptian.  Very early ones are indecipherable (as of yet).

>then what really is the dispersion about?  If not did those in Eygpt
>switch from hebrew to hierogylphics overnight?

The earliest inscriptions in Egypt aren't in hieroglypics.  Not the
usual Egyptian ones, at any rate.

>Also why did no one understand Joseph speaking in Hebrew only some 
>3 generations later.

Because Hashem stopped them from being able to understand Hebrew? 
Wasn't that what happened at the dispersion?

>It is also interesting that we know nothing about Noach after the
>flood except for the immediate actions of his vineyard and 
>castration (or whatever).  Are there any midrashim that describe his 
>life as the ancestor of all mankind for the next some 300 years. As 
>Lisa mentions after 10 generations he and Shem seem to be nobodies.

Well, not Shem.  There was the Beit Midrash of Shem and Ever, and
midrashim say that Malkitzedek was Shem.  And Noach died 10 years
after the dispersion (if I'm remembering correctly), and we know very
little about what happened in the three and a half centuries between
the Mabul and the dispersion.

LIsa
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