User blog comment:SouthWriter/No Supernatural Intervention/@comment-1777104-20100707204332

First, the time line assumes the growth of not just the sons of Jacob, but also those of Esau. And later, the peoples descended from Ishmael as well. In TTL (this time line) Isaac and Ishmael are on good terms. The sons of Isaac, Jacob and Esau, are also on good terms. In OTL (Our Time Line, the Biblical record) the tribe of Jacob grew to just over seventy (not counting servants) when they entered Egypt. In four hundred years, they grew to several million. In the narrative, I arranged for Joseph to succeed in Egypt on his own (having avoided prison). I went this way to stick to OTL a little closer (makes creating an alt history a little easier). [Write a proposal that gets Jacob's family through the drought without Joseph's help, and we can see if it works any better,]

About Babel (or Babi(u)l - the etymologies differ, but it does "Gate of the Mighty One [El]." The Biblical record does not mention worship of a god, but rather an effort to prove the power and greatness of mankind on its own (Gen. 11:4). Having no mandate from God to inhabit the whole world, the people naturally wanted to remain close.  The tower was a work project by the leadership to assure that would happen.  In TTL, it is rebellion that disperses the people, not God himself.  [I am interested in a scenario that would have allowed a completing of the tower, advancing technology beyond what God allowed in OTL.  Any ideas.]