steve7150 wrote:Woodward did not provide precise population figures
That's what I suspected. In the absence of dependable census records, I find Woodward's estimates for the earth's population 220 years after The Flood to be pure speculation. That is flimsy lumber to build with. He seems to be imposing on the antediluvian world his unverifiable calculations and his modern frame of reference.
steve7150 wrote:...in Gen 11.8 it says the Lord dispersed men over the face of all the earth...
This verse provides good support for a global flood. Woodward thinks the flood was local, not global, therefore he must think that the global human race, except for Noah and his family, was
not exterminated by The Flood. If Woodward is correct, then why the Genesis 11:8 dispersement? What would be the purpose of dispersing people all the world when there were already people living all over the world?
Here, I believe, is why God caused the dispersement of the people mentioned in Genesis 11:8
1. They were the only people on the globe. The flood had killed everyone else.
2. In Genesis 9:7, God essentially reaffirmed to Noah the mandate He had given to Adam (be fruitful & exercise dominion over the earth).
3. The people of Genesis 11:8 had multiplied, but they had not obeyed God's mandate to exercise dominion over the earth. Instead, they chose to remain in a fairly localized region of the world and to build a civilization where they were. They retained one language, and the Tower of Babel was the epicenter of their civilization (Gen. 11:4).
4. God was displeased with their refusal to spread into all the world and re-populate it (Gen. 11:5-9).
5. The mechanism God used to force the people to move out over the entire world was to confused their language (Genesis 11:7,8). The multiplicity of languages caused a sudden unity among the members of each group that happened to speak some new language, but disunity among the various language groups. The effect was dispersement as each group (because of the language differences) sought to move away from the others.
6. Genesis 11:1-9 helps explain not only why there are different languages, but also how the earth was re-populated after it had been de-populated by The Flood.
7. If The Flood was local, and if only those in the flood area were exterminated (except for Noah & family), then the following two things seem highly probable. First, there were people still living in areas of the globe that had not been effected by The Flood. Second their languages were different. If that was so, then why was God eager for the people in verse 8 to spread out, and why did He confuse their language? The best explanation seems to be that God wanted His de-populated earth to be re-populated.
Genesis 11:8 seems to provide a very strong clue that The Flood was global, not local.
God bless you brother,
Candlepower