The Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, included many Hebrew/Jewish traditions within his history. These stories may be true, but we have no confirmation from the Bible.

One such story is about Adam, the first man. Josephus reported that Adam knew the world would be destroyed twice, once by fire and once by flood. (Antiquities of the Jews - Book I, Chap. 2, Para. 3) Apparently, the Lord informed Adam of this fact. The problem was, Adam did not know which would occur first, the fire or the flood.

According to the referenced account, the sons of Adam built two pillars or monuments. One was built of stone. It would shatter by the heat of fire, but would survive the flood. The second was built of brick. This one would be washed away by the flood, but would survive the fire.

Below is a photo of a remarkable stone structure which many believe to be from before the Great Flood. The technology of building a wall like a jigsaw puzzle with immense stones and without mortar is simply amazing.

By Diego Delso - commons.wikimedia.org

While reading the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis chapter eleven, I realized a significant fact about that tower. Here is how the Tower of Babel was constructed:

“And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime (pitch or tar) had they for morter.” – Genesis 11:3

They were rebelling against the Lord in at least two ways. First, rather than move to different places and replenish the earth (Genesis 9:1), they gathered in one place, Babel. And also, they wished to honor themselves and not God. But the Lord, who cannot be out maneuvered by man, did a new thing (Isaiah 43:19) and changed everything by changing language.

Now, neither of the monuments exist. The Most High God is so much greater than anyone else.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” - Isaiah 55:9