QUESTION: In Genesis 10:31, it was written “after their tongues” (more than one tongue), but in Genesis 11:1 it was written that the “whole earth was of one tongue.” Is this a contradiction from the compiler/translator? Or from whom?
ANSWER: There is no contradiction! The genealogy listed in Genesis 10:21-31 encompasses a period of time both before and after the “division” of chapter eleven. Note in Genesis 10:25 that one of the two sons born to Eber was Peleg (a name which means division), “for in his days was the earth divided.” The genealogy of Chapter ten begins with Shem and goes through Peleg (who lived during the “division”) and then transfers to his brother Joktan and his sons. The genealogy beginning in Genesis 11:10 also begins with Shem and goes through Peleg, and then continues on through his son Reu, showing the ancestry path leading up to Abraham. Clearly, Shem lived before the “division,” Peleg lived during the “division” and Peleg’s son and posterity through Abraham lived after the “division.” As surely as Peleg’s son (chapter 11) lived after the “division,” Joktans son’s (chapter 10) also lived after the “division,” as shown in verse 31! Hence, just as the genealogy of chapter eleven, covers a period of time before and after the “division,” so it is with the genealogy of chapter ten. There is, therefore, no contradiction between Genesis 10:31 and Genesis 11:1.