The Days of Peleg: Babel or Continental Drift?

And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan. (Gen 10:25 KJV)

I think that when Moses wrote, “in his days was the earth divided,” he was referring to the division of languages and nations at the Tower of Babel, but others believe he was talking about the Continental Drift. Here is a humble presentation of why I’m right and they’re wrong.

The word, “Hebrew,” comes from “Eber,” who was Peleg’s father. In fact, the Hebrew language might be more literally called the “Eberite” language. Since Eber is the namesake for the Hebrew nation, he was probably the patriarch at the time of Babel. This lines up perfectly if the Tower of Babel incident happened in the days of Peleg, since he was Eber’s son. The original Hebrew audience would have understood that they were named after Eber, so when they read Gen 10:25, they would have associated Eber’s son with the Tower unless Moses indicated otherwise.

But Moses didn’t indicate otherwise; in fact, he sandwiches the Peleg division between two other Tower of Babel passages. Earlier in the same chapter, he uses the term, “dividing in their lands” to refer to the division of a group of nations (Gen 10:5). He then tells the Tower of Babel story in the following chapter (Gen 11:1-9). Moses mentions Peleg’s division in passing in a matter-of-fact way. If there was already secular knowledge of the Continental Drift, then Moses would have needed to clarify which division happened in the days of Peleg. If his audience had never heard of the Continental Drift before, then they wouldn’t understand that this was a geological division between tectonic plates. It’s a weird thing for Moses to leave unexplained.

Some people have pointed to the breaking open of the fountains of the deep during the flood in Gen 7:11 as a potential cause for the continental drift. Others say that it may have happened during the separation of land from water during creation in Gen 1:9-10. Maybe one of these is correct, maybe neither. But even if the Bible says absolutely nothing about tectonophysics, it doesn’t mean that the Bible is wrong – it just means that God leaves that part of His knowledge unrevealed in His Word and allows mankind to learn it on its own.

While we’re on the topic of the Continental Drift, you might want to clear out some space wherever you are and do this crazy little dance that Sid from Ice Age came up with:

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