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Discovery Magazine 9/1/2009

Pangea, Peleg, and a Divided World

If you were to look at a map of the world, and especially look closely at the shape of the seven continents, you might see something quite interesting. You may notice that the continents look similar to puzzle pieces. When you visualize piecing them together, they seem to fit together well. The continent of Africa seems like it could fit on the east edge of South America and just south of North America. The northeast border of Antarctica looks like it would fit almost perfectly with the southwest edge of Australia. In fact, many of these continents have similar rock formations on the borders that seem to fit together.

Because of this pattern, and because the continents are moving slowly apart today, some people think that the continents in the past were all one big mass of land. They call this huge landmass Pangea [pan-JEE-uh]. No one has proven that this is true, but it does seem possible. If it is true, it did not take millions of years as some evolutionists suggests. Something huge must have happened in the past that could have separated all the land. One great explanation would be the Flood of Noah’s day. When all the Earth was flooded by water, and the fountains of the deep broke open (Genesis 7:11), that would have changed the land drastically. Furthermore, such a huge Flood would have caused things to happen much more quickly than they are happening now.

Because of the idea of Pangea, some have read Genesis 10:25, and used it as proof of the concept. That verse says: “To Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided.” Could it be that the division of the Earth in Peleg’s time is talking about the separating of the continents? That is possible, but it is probably not the case.

In Genesis 11:1 we read that “the whole earth” had one language. When the text says the “whole earth,” it is talking about all the people on Earth. As you read the rest of Genesis 11, you learn that the people became wicked, disobeyed God, and built the Tower of Babel. Because the people disobeyed God, He confused their languages so that they could no longer work together to rebel against Him. When God caused the people to speak different languages, they were scattered “over the face of all the earth.” They were all divided. This is most likely what Genesis 10:25 is talking about.

The Bible is the only perfect set of books in the world. Whether it is talking about how the different languages originated, or how the world was flooded, it is always right. We should all make up our minds to study the Bible diligently and teach it to others. 

Copyright © 2009 Apologetics Press, Inc. All rights reserved.



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