Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Michael Farris: Has your child ever asked you what happened to Babylon? Or why King Nebuchadnezzar was so powerful? By studying ancient history in your homeschool program, your students will better understand the characters and setting of Scripture.

For example, who are the people God mentions in Genesis 11:2, who settle on a plain in Shinar? Scholars agree they were the Sumerians—the oldest recorded civilization in the Tigris-Euphrates region. The Sumerians are credited with inventing writing, but the meaning of their script, called cuneiform, was lost to us for centuries until British army officer Henry C. Rawlinson unlocked the code in 1846.

In 1869, French scholar Jules Oppert discovered the location of Sumer in present-day Iran, stretching from the Persian Gulf to just north of Baghdad. Since that time, scholars have spent countless hours working out the secrets etched on volumes of clay tablets. These cuneiform texts even include Sumerian writings about God creating man from clay.

Before Abraham was born, the Sumerians also recorded the story of a great flood inundating all mankind except for one good man. You can read the Sumerian version of the flood in The Epic of Gilgamesh, noting its striking similarity to the Genesis account.

Study ancient history, and the biblical world will come alive for you and your student in a surprising and fresh way. I'm Mike Farris.