Genesis
11
1 And the
whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
And the whole earth. I.e. the entire population of the globe, and not simply
the inhabitants of the
Prior to the dispersion
spoken of in the preceding chapter, though obviously
it may have been
subsequent to that event, if, as the above-named author
believes, the present
paragraph refers to the Shemites alone. Of
one language.
Literally, of one lip, i.e. one articulation, or one way of pronouncing their
vocables. And
of one speech. Literally, one (kind of) words, i.e. the matter
as well as the form of human speech was the same. The primitive language
was believed by the Rabbins, the Fathers, and the older theologians to
be Hebrew; but Keil declares this view to be utterly untenable. Bleek
shows that the family of
Abraham spoke in Aramaic (compare
Jegar-sahadutha, Genesis 31:47), and that
the patriarch himself acquired
Hebrew from the
Canaanites, who may themselves have adopted it
from the early Semites
whom they displace. While regarding neither the
Aramaic, Hebrew, nor
Arabic as the original tongue of mankind,
he thinks the Hebrew
approaches nearest the primitive Semite language
out of which all three
were developed.
Unity of
Language (v. 1)
1. The
original birthright of the human race.
2. The lost
inheritance of sinful men.
3. The
ultimate goal of the Christian dispensation.
4. The recovered
heritage of redeemed humanity.
2 And it came
to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they
found a
plain in the
And it came to pass, as they journeyed. Literally, in their journeyings.
The root (גָקַע, to pull up, as, e.g.,
the stakes of a tent when a camp moves,
Isaiah 33:20) suggests the
idea of the migration of nomadic hordes
(compare
ch.12:9; 33:17). From
the east. Ab oriente (Ancient Versions,
Calvin, et alii), meaning either that they started from
was in the east respectu terrae
the Assyrian empire which
was east of the
as distinguished from the Occidentalis on the west (Bochart);
or that
they first traveled
westwards, following the direction of the
in one of its upper branches
(Bush); or that, having roamed to the
east of
The phrase, however, is
admitted to be more correctly rendered
ad orientem (Drusius, Lange, Keil, Murphy), as in ch. 13:11.
Kalisch
interprets generally in oriente, agreeing with Luther that the migrations
are viewed by the writer
as taking place in the east; while T. Lewis
prefers to read from one
front part (the original meaning of kedem)
to another -
onwards. That they found a plain בִּקְעָה; not a
valley between mountain ranges, as in Deuteronomy 8:7; 11:11;
Psalm
104:8, but a widely-extended plain (πεδίον - pedion - plain -
Septuagint), like that in which
κέεται ἐν
πεδιῳ μεγάλῳ - keetai en peoio megalo - it is located in a large
field - compare Strabo, lib.
2:109). In the
(compare
ch. 10:10). The derivation of the term is unknown (Gesenius),
though
it probably meant the land of the two rivers (Alford). Its absence
from
ancient monuments (Rawlinson) suggests that it was
the Jewish name
for
Chaldaea. And they dwelt there.
Note
(v. 2)
1. The benefit of a wandering condition. It sometimes prevents the
rise of
sinful thoughts and wicked
deeds. So long as the primitive nomads were
traveling from station to
station they did not think of either rebellion or
ambition. So
2. The danger of a
settled state. Established in the fat plain of Shinar, they
wanted a city and a tower.
So
So comfortable surroundings often lead men from God.
3 And they
said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn
them
thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they
for
mortar. And they said one to another. Literally, a man to his neighbor;
ἄνθρωπος τῷ
πλησίον αὐτοῦ - anthropos to plaesion autou - (Septuagint).
Go to. A hortatory expletive - come on (Anglice). Let us make brick.
Nilbenah lebenim; literally, let us brick bricks; πλινθεύσωμεν πλίνθους -
plintheusomen plinthous - (Septuagint); laterifecimus lateres (Calvin);
lebenah (from laban, to be white), being so called from the white and
chalky day of which bricks
were made. And burn them thoroughly.
Literally, burn them to a burning; venisrephah lisrephah, a second
alliteration, which,
however, the Septuagint. fails to reproduce. Bricks were
usually sun-dried; these,
being designed to be more durable, were to be
calcined through the agency of
fire, a proof that the tower-builders were
acquainted with the art of
brick-making. And they had - literally, and there was
to them - brick for stone. Chiefly because of
the necessities of the place,
the alluvial plain of Babylon being void of
stones and full of clay; a proof
of the greatness of their
crime, seeing they were induced to undertake the
work non
facilitate operis, nec aliis commodis, quae se ad manum offerrent
(Calvin); scarcely because
bricks would better endure fire than would stones,
the second destruction of
the world by fire rather than water being by this
time a common expectation
(Com a Lapide). Josephus, '
Herod, lib. 1. cp. 179;
Justin, lib. 1. cp. 2; Ovid, ' Metam.,' 4:4; and
Aristoph. in Avibus
(περιτευχίζειν μεγάλαις
πλίνθοις ὀπταῖς ὥσπερ
Βαβυλῶνα), all attest that the
walls of
The mention of the
circumstance that brick was used instead of stone
"indicates a writer
belonging to a country and an age in which stone
buildings were familiar,
and therefore not to
And slime. Chemer, from chamar, to boil up; ἄσφαλτος - asphaltos -
(Septuagint); the bitumen
which boils up from subterranean fountains
like oil or hot pitch in
the vicinity of
(lacus asphaltites). Tacitus, ' Hist.,' 5:6; Strabo, 16. p. 743;
Herod., lib. h c. 179;
Josephus, 'Antiq.,' lib. 1. c. 41 Pliny, lib. 35. 100. 15; Vitruvius, lib. 8. c. 3,
are unanimous in declaring
that the brick walls of
with bitumen. Layard testifies that so firmly have the bricks been united
that it is almost
impossible to detach one from the mass ('
The third instance of
alliteration in the present verse; possibly designed
by the writer to represent
the enthusiasm of the builders.
Ancient
Brick Makers (v. 3)
I. IN
(1)
ingenuity,
(2)
earnestness,
(3)
perseverance,
(4) unity in sin.
II. IN
(1) the bondage,
(2) the degradation,
(3) the misery,
(4) the hopelessness, of sin.
4 And they
said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top
may reach
unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be
scattered abroad
upon the face of the whole earth. And they said.
Being impelled by their
success in making bricks for their dwellings
(Lange), though the
resolution to be mentioned may have been the cause
of their brick-making
(Bush). Go to, let us build us a city. Compare ch.4:17,
which represents Cain as
the first city builder. And a tower. Not as a
distinct erection, but as
forming a part, as it were the Acre-polls, of the
city (Bochart).
Whose
top may reach unto heaven. Literally, and
his head in the heavens, a
hyperbolical expression for a tower of great
height, as in Deuteronomy
1:28; 9:1 (compare Homer, 'Odys,' 5:239,
ἐλάτη τ η΅ν
οὐρανομήκης
- elatae aen suranomaekaes
- fir trees are
sky high). This tower is commonly identified with the temple
of Belus,
which Herodotus describes (1. 181) as being quadrangular
(two stadia
each way), and having gates of brass, with a solid tower
in the middle, consisting
of eight sections, each a stadium in height,
placed one above another,
ascended by a spiral staircase, and having
in the top section a
spacious temple with a golden table and a well-
furnished bed. Partially
destroyed by Xerxes ( B.C. 490), it was
attempted unsuccessfully
to be rebuilt by Alexander the Great; but the
remaining portion of the
edifice was known to be in existence five
centuries later, and was
sufficiently imposing to be recognized as the
by George Smith to be
covered by the ruin "Babil," a square mound
about 200 yards each way,
in the north of the city; and that of the
six miles south-west of Hillah, which is about forty miles west
of
on cylinders extracted
from the ruin to have been "the
the Seven Planets, which
had been partially built by a former king
of
completed by Nebuchadnezzar" ('Assyrian Discoveries,' 12. p. 59;
'Chaldaean
Genesis,' p. 163; cf. Layard's '
chap. 22. p. 496). It is,
however, prima facie, unlikely that either Babil
or Birs-Nimrod
is the exact site of
was never
finished, and may not have attained any great dimensions.
Perhaps the most that can
be said is that these existing mounds enable
us to picture what sort of
erection the
And let us make a name, שֵׁם; neither an idol temple, ֵשם being
= God, which it never is
without the article, הַשֵׁם - compare
Leviticus 24:11 (Jewish
writers); nor a monument, as in II Samuel 8:13
(Clericus);
nor a metropolis, reading אֵם
instead
of שֵׁם, as in II Samuel
20:19 (Clericus);
nor a tower that might serve as a sign to guide the
wandering nomads and guard
them against getting lost when spread
abroad with their flocks,
as in II Samuel 8:13; Isaiah 55:13
(Perizonius,
Dathe, Ilgen); but a name,
a reputation, as in II Samuel
8:13; Isaiah 63:12,14;
Jeremiah 32:20; Daniel 9:15 (Luther, Calvin,
Rosenmüller, Keil,
Lange, Murphy, Wordsworth, Kalisch). This
was the first impelling
motive to the erection of the city and tower.
The offspring of ambition, it was designed to spread abroad their fame
usque ad ultimos terrarum fines (Calvin). According to
Philo, each man
wrote his name upon a
brick before he built it in. The second was to
establish a rallying point
that might serve to maintain their unity.
Lest we be scattered abroad. Lest - antequam, πρὸ - pro - before that,
as if anticipating that
the continuous increase of population would
necessitate their
dispersion (Septuagint, Vulgute), or as if determined
to distinguish themselves before surrendering to the Divine
command
to spread themselves abroad (Luther); but the more
exact rendering
of פֵן is μή - mae -, lest, introducing an apodosis expressive of
something to be avoided by
a preceding action (cf. Gesenius, ' Hebrews
Gram.,' § 152, and Furst, 'Lex.,' sub voce. What the
builders dreaded
was not the
recurrence of a flood (Josephus, Lyra), but the execution
of the Divine purpose intimated in Genesis 9:1, and perhaps
recalled
to their remembrance by Noah (Usher), or by
Shem (Wordsworth),
or by Eber
(Candlish); and what the builders aimed at was resistance
to the Divine will.
Upon the face of the whole earth. Over the entire
surface of the globe, and
not simply over the
(Inglis),
or over the immediate region in which they dwelt (Clericus,.
Dathe, et alii, ut supra).
The
I. A
1. Sinful
ambition.
2. Laborious
ingenuity.
3. Demonstrated
feebleness.
4. Stupendous folly.
II. A MEMORIAL OF
GOD’S:
1. Overruling
providence.
2. Resistless
power.
3. Retributive
justice.
4. Beneficent
purpose.
The
Tower-Builders of
I. THE IMPIETY
OF THEIR DESIGN.
1. Ambition. They were desirous of achieving fame, or “a
name” for
themselves. Whether in
this there was a covert sneer at the exaltation
promised to the Shemites, or simply a display of that lust of glory
which
natively resides
within the fallen heart, it was essentially a guilty purpose by
which they were impelled. In only one direction is ambition perfectly
legitimate, viz., in the direction of moral and spiritual
goodness, as
distinguished
from temporal and material greatness (compare 1 Corinthians
12:31). Only then may the
passion for glory be exuberantly gratified, when
its object is the living God instead
of puny and unworthy self (compare
Jeremiah 9:23-24;1 Corinthians 1:29, 31).
2. Rebellion. Setting its head among
the clouds, “exalting its throne above
the stars,” it was designed to be an act of insolent defiance to the
will of
Heaven. The city and the
determined, enthusiastic,
exulting hostility to the Divine purpose that they
should spread themselves
abroad over the face of the whole earth. And
herein lies the essence of
all impiety: whatever thought, counsel,
word, or
work derives
its inspiration, be it only in an infinitesimal degree, from
antagonism
to the mind of God IS SIN. Holiness is but another name for
obedience.
II. THE MAGNITUDE OF THEIR
the tower-builders was:
1. Sublimely conceived. The
city was to ward off invasion from without,
and to counteract
disruption from within. Gathering men of a common
tongue into a common
residence, engaging them in common pursuits, and
providing them with common
interests was the sure way to make them
strong. If this was the
creative idea out of which cities sprung, the Cainites,
if not pious, must at
least have been possessed of genius. Then the tower
was to touch the skies.
Unscientific perhaps, but scarcely irrational; “an
undertaking not of savages, but of men possessed with the
idea of
somehow getting above nature.” And though certainly to
aspire after such
supremacy over nature in the spirit of a
godless science which recognizes
no power or authority
superior to itself was the very sin of these Babelites,
yet nothing more
convincingly attests the essential greatness of man than
the ever-widening control
which science is enabling him to assert over the
forces of matter. (As God
meant it to be when He told man to “...be
fruitful, and multiply, andreplenish
the earth” [fill the earth with people]
and “subdue it” which means to find out it’s secrets. ch. 1:28 - CY - 2024)
2. Hopefully begun. The builders were united
in their language and
purpose. The place was
convenient for the proposed erection. The most
complete preparations were
made for the structure. The
work was
commenced with determination and amid universal enthusiasm. It had all
the conditions of success,
humanly speaking — one mind, one heart, one
hand.
3. Suddenly
abandoned.
“They
left off to build the city.” So the most
prosperous undertakings often
terminate in miserable failure. The mighty
enterprise was
mysteriously frustrated. So have all such wicked
combinations in
times past been overthrown. Witness the great world
empires of
mystery of iniquity, of which that early
III. THE
INSPECTION OF THEIR WORK.
1. No work
of man can hope to escape the eye of God. Even now He is
minutely acquainted with
the thoughts, and words, and works, and ways of
every individual on the
earth (Proverbs 15:3; Hebrews 4:13), while
there is a day coming when
“there
is nothing covered that shall not be
revealed” (Matthew 10:26).
2. Every work of man
shall be judged at the bar of God (Ecclesiastes
12:14; 1 Corinthians
3:13). The Divine verdict upon human
undertakings will often
strangely conflict with the judgments of men.
IV. THE
CONFUSION OF THEIR TONGUES.
1. As a fact
in the experience of the builders, it was:
(a)
Unchallengeable. They could not understand one another, so that
they
could not
doubt that a change of some kind had passed upon their speech;
and
observation convinces us that as men have now a variety of tongues,
something
must have broken up the original unity of speech.
(b)
Mysterious.
It is not likely that these primitive builders understood how
their
language had been transmuted. Modem philology has no certain word
to utter
upon the subject yet.
(c)
Supernatural. It was
effected by the immediate agency of God. If even
natural
causes had begun to operate, they were quickened by the Divine
action.
Believers in a God who made the tongue of man should have no
difficulty
in believing in a God who changed the tongue of man.
2. As a
judgment on the persons of the builders, it was:
(a) Unexpected
in its coming, as are all God’s judgments, like the Flood
and
like the coming of the Son of man.
(b)
Deserved by its subjects. Caught, as it were, in the very act of
insubordination,
guilty of nothing short of treason against the King of
heaven,
they were visited with summary and condign chastisement.
So are
all God’s punishments richly merited by those on whom they fall.
(c) Appropriate in its character. It was
fitting that they who had abused
their
oneness of speech, which was designed for their good, to keep them
in the
Church, should be punished with variety of tongues.
(d)
Effectual in its design. Sent to scatter them abroad, it succeeded in its
aim.
Man’s designs often fail; God’s never.
V. THE DISPERSION OF THEIR RANKS.
1. Judicial in its
character.
In its incidence on the builders it wore a
punitive aspect.
Providences that are full of blessings for the good are
always laden with curses
to the wicked.
2. Beneficial in its
purpose.
The scattering of the earth’s population over
the surface of the globe
was originally intended for what it has eventually
turned out to be, a
blessing for the race.
3. Unlimited
in its extent. Though the original dispersion could not have
carried the tribes to any
remote distances from
begun was intended
not to rest until the earth was fully occupied by the
children of men.
VI. THE
MEMORIAL OF THEIR FOLLY. This was:
1.
Exceedingly expressive. The unfinished tower was designated
Confusion. It is well that
things should be called by their right names. The
name of
The world is
full of such monuments of folly.
2.
Self-affixed. So God often compels “men of corrupt minds” and
“reprobate concerning the faith” (II Timothy 3:8) not only to manifest,
but also to publish, their own folly.
3.
Long-enduring. It continued to be known as
and long after — an emblem of that shame
which shall eventually be the
portion of all the
wicked.
·
LEARN:
1. The
sinfulness of wrong ambition.
2. The folly of
attempting to resist God.
3. The power of God
in carrying out His purposes.
4. The mercy of God
in dividing the nations.
5. The
ability of God to re-gather the divided nations of the earth.
God’s City
or Man’s City (v. 4)
“And they said, Go to, lot us build us a city and a
tower, whose top may
reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we
be scattered abroad
upon the face of the whole earth.” In the world after the
Flood we trace
the, outlines of the
gospel dispensation. To Noah was revealed:
·
“good will
toward men”;
·
the acceptance of sacrifice;
·
faith as the condition and channel of blessing; and work,
to spread the knowledge
of, and trust in His name,
i.e. what he is pleased to reveal concerning Himself.
But “the carnal mind” was there resisting the Spirit. Noah and his seed
were to replenish the
earth (ch. 9:1; compare Mark
16:15). They were promised
safety from beasts, of whom, if separated, they might be afraid (ch. 9:2; compare
Matthew 10:29,31; Luke
10:19). Here was a trial of faith and obedience (compare
Exodus 34:24). But men had
not faith, would not trust, would not go forth at His
word. Their calling was to
seek God’s city (Hebrews 11:10-16), to live as citizens
of it (Philippians 3:20).
They chose a city for themselves; earthly security,
comforts, and luxuries.
Called
to glorify God’s name, their thought was to
make a name for themselves. Self was the moving
power (and
apparently
still is! CY - 2024)
The
name of God is the trust of His people (Psalm 20:7;
Proverbs 18:10); a center
of unity to all His children in
every place. They
trusted in
themselves; would be like a god to themselves. The tower, the
work of their own hands,
was to be their center of unity; and the name of it
came to be
mankind
together.
Self-seeking tends to separation. God bade them
spread
that they might be
united in faith and in work. They chose their
own way of
union, and it led
to dispersion with no bond of unity.
I. WE ARE
CALLED TO BUILD THE CITY OF
To prepare the way for
Revelation 21:3. The gifts of Christ are made
effectual by the work of
men. That city, built of living stones (1 Peter 2:5),
cemented not with slime, but by unity of
faith
(Ephesians 4:3). And a
tower, a center of unity, the
“good confession” (Romans 14:11;
Philippians 2:11). And to
obtain a name, to be confessed by the Lord
before the angels, to be
acknowledged as His “brethren,” and stamped with
the “new name” (Revelation
2:17; 22:4). And promise given, as if pointing
to
II. MANY HAVE NO MIND TO BUILD. They love ease and have no
earnestness, triflers with time, or direct their earnestness to earthly
prizes
— a name among
men.
III. EVEN BELIEVERS
ARE OFTEN THUS HINDERED. There may
be spiritual selfishness along with really spiritual
aims. The multitude of
cares may distract the
soul. Temptations may wear the garb of zeal, or of
charity, or of prudence.
Watch and pray. God’s faithfulness will not fail
(1 Corinthians 10:13).
5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the
children of
men builded. And
the Lord came down. Not in visible form,
as in Exodus 19:20; Exodus
34:5 (Onkelos), but "effectu
ostendens
se propin
quiorem quem absentem esse judicabant"
(
anthropomorphism (compare
ch.18:21; Psalm 144:5). "It is measure
for measure (par pari). Let
us build up, say they, and scale the heavens.
Let us go down, says God,
and defeat their impious thought" (Rabbi
Schelomo, quoted by T. Lewis). To
see (with a
view to judicial action)
the city and the tower which the children of men - sons of Adam;
neither the posterity of
Cain, i.e. the Hamites exclusively, as
the Sethites were called sons
of God, ch. 6:2 (Augustine), nor wicked
men in general (Junius, Piscator), imitators of
Adam, i.e. rebellantes Deo
(Mode, Lyre), since then
the Shemites would not have been participators
in the undertaking (Drusius), which some think, to have been their work
exclusively (Inglis); but the members of the human race, or at least - builded.
The Cities of Men and
The City of
(v. 5; Hebrews 11:16).
I. THEIR
BUILDERS.
Of the first, men — mostly wicked men; of the
second, the
Architect of the universe.
II. THEIR
ORIGIN.
Of the first (Enoch [a different Enoch - son of Cain,
than he of ch.
5:19-24] ch. 4:17; and
of the second, love to man.
III. THEIR
DESIGN.
Of the first, to be a bond of union among sinners;
of the second, to be a residence for God’s children.
IV. THEIR
APPEARANCE.
Of the first, that of slime, mud, bricks, or at
best stones; of the second, that of
gold and pearls. (Revelation chapters.
21 and 22)
V. THEIR
DURATION.
Of the first, it is written that with all the other
works of man, they shall be burnt up; of the second that it shall be
everlasting.
6 And the
LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all
one
language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be
restrained
from them, which they have imagined to do.
And the Lord said -
within Himself, and to Himself (see v. 8); expressive of
the formation of a
Divine resolution (compare
v. 8) - Behold, the people - עַס, from the root
signifying to bind
together, expresses the idea of association; גּוי, from a root
signifying to swell
(Lange), to flow together (Gesenius), to gather
together
(Furst),
conveys the notion of a confluxus hominum (unity of effort, as well
as concentration of design,). T. Lewis connects it
with the sense of interiority,
or exclusion, which is
common in the Chaldee and Syriac
- is one, and they
have all one language; and this they begin to do. One race, one
tongue,
one purpose. The words indicate unity
of effort, as well as concentration
of design, on the part of
the builders, and a certain measure of success in the
achievement of their
work. And now nothing will be restrained from them.
Literally, there will
not be cut off from them anything; οὐκ ἐκλείψει
ἀπ αὐτῶν
πάντα - ouk ekleipsei apo auton - (Septuagint); non desistent a cogitationibus
suis - they do not cease
from their thoughts (Vulgate, Luther); i.e. nothing
will prove too hard for
their dating. It can hardly imply that their impious
design was on the eve of
completion. Which they have imagined to do
(I find it most
interesting, if of no significance, that the word ἐκλείψει
(eclipse) is in this verse
that I am studying on April 6, 2024, two days
before a total eclipse of
the sun is to occur across
northeast, scheduled for
April 8, 2024, around 2 p.m. central time.
CY -2024)
Vain
Imaginings (v. 6)
1, These commonly spring from misused blessings. A united people, with a
common language, and
enjoying a measure of ‘success in their buildings,
the Babelites
became vain in their imaginings. So do wicked men
generally
misinterpret the
Divine beneficence and leniency which suffers them to
proceed a certain
length with their wickedness (compare Romans 1:21;
II Timothy 3:9).
2. They are never
unobserved by God against whom they are
directed (Deuteronomy 31:21; 1
Chronicles 28:9).
3. They are doomed to certain and
complete frustration
(Psalm 2:1; Luke 1:51; II
Corinthians 10:5).
7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound
their language, that they
may not understand
one another’s speech. Go to. An ironical contrast
to the "Go to" of the
builders (Lange). Let
us (compare Genesis 1:26)
go down, and there confound their language (see v. 9), that
they may
not understand (literally, hear; so ch.
42:23; Isaiah 36:11;
1 Corinthians 14:2) one
another's speech. Not referring to individuals
(singuli
homines), since then society were impossible, but to
families
or nations (singulae cognationes), which each
had its own tongue (
1.
Confusion, division, dispersion.
2. Gathering
the dispersed, uniting the divided, restoring order
to the confused.
8 So the LORD
scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of
all the
earth: and they left off to build the city.
So (literally,
and) the Lord
scattered them
abroad (as
the result of the confusion of their speech)
upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the
city. I.e. as a
united community, which
does not preclude the idea of the Babylonians
subsequently finishing the
structure.
9 Therefore
is the name of it called
there
confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did
the LORD
scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
Therefore is the name of it called
sugchusis - confusion; disorder; upheaval - Septuagint, Josephus), from Balal,
to confound; the
derivation given by the sacred writer in the following clause
(compare for the elision
[omission] of the letter l, totaphah for tophtaphah,
Exodus 13:16, and cochav for covcav, here, ch. 37:9). Other derivations
suggested are Bab-Bel, the gate
or court of Bolus (Eichhorn, Lange),
an explanation of the term
which Furst thinks not impossible, and Kalisch
declares "can
scarcely be overlooked;" and Bab-il, the gate of God
(Rosenmüller,
Gesenius, Colenso); but the
first is based upon a purely
mythical personage, Bel, the
imaginary founder of the city; and the second,
if even it were supported
by evidence, which it is not, is not so likely as
that given by Moses. Because
the Lord did there confound - how is not
explained, but has been
conjectured to be by an entirely inward process,
viz., changing the ideas
associated with words (Koppen); by a process
wholly outward, viz.. an
alteration of the mode of pronouncing words
(Hoffman), though more
probably by both (Keil), or possibly by the first
insensibly leading to the
second - the language of all the earth: and
from thence did the Lord scatter them. As the result not simply
of their
growing discord, dissensio animorum, per quam factum sit, ut qui turrem
struehant distracti sint in contraria studia et consilia (Vitringa); but
chiefly of their diverging
tongues - a statement which is supposed to
conflict with the findings
of modern philology, that the existing
differences of language
among mankind are the result of slow and
gradual changes brought
about by the operation of natural causes,
such as the influence of
locality in changing and of time in corrupting
human speech. But:
(1) modern philology has as yet only succeeded in
explaining
the
growth of what might be called the sub-modifications of
human
speech, and is confessedly unable to account for what
appears
to be its main division into:
(a)
a Shemitic,
(b)
an Aryan, and
(c)
a Turanian tongue,
which
may have been produced in the sudden and miraculous
way
described; and:
(2) nothing prevents us from regarding the two
events, the confusion
of
tongues and the dispersion of the nations, as occurring simultaneously,
and
even acting and reacting on each other. As the tribes parted, their
speech
would diverge, and, on the other hand, as the tongues differed,
those
who spoke the same or cognate dialects would draw together
and
draw apart from the rest. We may even suppose that, prior to the
building
of
themselves
abroad upon the surface of the globe, a slight diversity
in
human speech had begun to show itself; and the truthfulness
of
the narrative will in no wise be endangered by admitting that
the
Divine interposition at
a
natural process which had already commenced to operate; nay,
we
are rather warranted to conclude that the whole work of subdividing
human
speech was not compressed into a moment of time, but, after
receiving
this special impulse, was left to develop and complete itself
as
the nations wandered farther and ever farther from the plains of
(
CHALDAEAN
LEGEND OF THE
Berosus, indeed, does not refer to it, and early writers
are obliged to have
recourse
to somewhat doubtful authorities to confirm it. Eusebius, e.g.,
quotes
Abydenus as saying that "not long after the
Flood, the ancient race
of men were so puffed
up with their strength and tallness of stature that
they began to despise
and contemn the gods, and labored to erect that
very lofty tower which
is now called
scale the heaven. But when the building
approached the sky, behold,
the
gods called in the aid of the winds, and by their help overturned the
tower,
and cast it to the ground! The name of the ruin is still called
but
now there was sent upon them a confusion of many and diverse
tongues"
('Praep. Ev.,' 9:14). But
the diligence of the late George
Smith
has been rewarded by discovering the fragment of an Assyrian
tablet
(marked If, 3657 in British Museum) containing an account of
the
building of the tower, in which the gods are represented as being
angry
at the work and confounding the speech of the builders. In col. 1,
lines
5 and 6 (according to W. St. C. Boscawen's translation) run -
"
Small
and great mingled on the mound;"
while
in col 2, lines 12, 13, 14, 15, am-
"In
his anger also the secret counsel he poured out
To
scatter abroad his face he set
He
gave a command to make strange their speech
...
their progress he impeded."
('Records of the
Past,' vol. 7. p. 131; cf. ' Chaldaean Genesis, p.
160.)
Order
Brought Forth (vs. 1-9)
We are now to trace the
rise of the
Already in the case of
Nimrod,
the mighty hunter before the Lord, that is,
by permission of Divine
providence, the antagonism between the kingdom
of God and the kingdoms of this world has been
symbolized. Now
we find
the concentration
of the world’s rebellion and ungodliness in the false city,
type of the worldly
power throughout the Scriptures. It is on the plain of
mankind. We are not told
at what time the settlement in
As the account of the
confusion of tongues is introduced between the
larger genealogy and the
lesser, we may infer that its object is to account
for the spread of nations.
Whether we take this
or an earlier one is of
very little consequence. The whole narrative is full of
Divine
significance. Notice:
I. MAN’S
substitute his own
foundation of society for God’s; it is:
1. False
safety —
the high tower to keep above the flood.
2. False
ambition
— reaching unto heaven, making a name with bricks and
mortar.
3. False
unity — “lest
we be scattered abroad.” These are the
characteristics of all
lying structures built upon them.
II. GOD’S
KINGDOM IS NOT REALLY HINDERED BY MAN’S
REBELLION. He suffers the
judgments scatters both
the men and their projects, making the rebellious
conspiracy against Himself
prepare
the way for His ultimate universal
triumph. So it has been all through
the history of the world, and especially
immediately before the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The confusion of
tongues was a judgment and
at the same time a mercy. Those that are
filled
with such ambitions and build upon such foundations are
not fit to dwell
together in one place. It is better they should be divided. The investigations
into comparative grammar
and the genesis of human language point to
some primitive seat of the
earliest form of speech in the neighborhood
indicated. It was
certainly the result of the false form of society with which
men began, the Nimrod empire,
that they could not remain gathered in one
community; and as they
spread they lost their knowledge of their original
language, and were confounded because they understood not one another’s
speech. It is remarkable that in the beginning of the
true city of
gift of tongues,
as if to signify that the
to cease, and in the
truth of the gospel men would be united as one family,
“understanding
one another’s speech.”
10 These are
the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years
old, and
begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: These
are the
generations of Shem. The new section, opening
with the usual formula
(compare ch. 5:1; 6:9; 10:1), reverts to the main purpose of the
inspired
narrative, which is to trace the onward development of the line of
promise;
and this it does by
carrying forward the genealogical history of the holy
seed through ten generations
till it reaches Abram. Taken along with
ch. 5, with which it
corresponds, the present table completes the
chronological
outline from Adam to the Hebrew patriarch. Shem
was an hundred years old (literally, the son of an
hundred years, i.e. in
his hundredth year), and
begat Arphaxad. The English term is borrowed
from the Septuagint., the
Hebrew being Arpaehshadh,
a compound of
which the principal part
is כשד, giving rise to the Chashdim or Chaldeans;
whence Professor Lewis
regards it as originally the name of a people
transferred to their
ancestor (compare ch. 10:22). Two years after the flood.
So that in Noah's 603rd
year Shem was 100, and must accordingly have
been born in Noah's 503rd
year, i.e. two years after Japheth (compare
ch. 5:32; 10:21). The
mention of the Flood indicates the point of time
from which the present
section is designed to be reckoned.
11 And Shem
lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and
begat sons
and daughters. And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad
five hundred years (making his life in
all 600 years), and begat sons
and daughters (concerning whom Scripture is silent, as not
being
included in the holy
line).
12 And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah:
13 And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah
four hundred and three
years, and
begat sons and daughters. And Arphaxad lived
five and
thirty years (the first indication of a change having transpired upon
human life after the Flood, the average age of paternity prior to that
event being 117, the earliest 65, and the latest 187), and begat Salah.
Shalach,
literally, emission, or the sending forth, of water, a memorial
of the Flood (Bochart); or of an arrow or dart (see ch.10:24). And
Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah
four hundred and three years
(making a total of
438, i.e. 339 years less than the youngest
complete
life in the prediluvian table, - Enoch's, of course,
being excepted,
and 162 less than Shem's: a second indication of the
shortening of
the period of existence), and begat sons and daughters.
14 And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber: 15 And Salah
lived
after he
begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat
sons
and
daughters. And Salah
lived thirty years, and begat Eber.
Literally, the region on
the otherside (πέραν - peran); from עָבַר,
to
pass over (compare ὑπέρ - huper - Greek; uber, German; over,
Saxon).
The
ancestor of the Hebrews (ch. 10:21), so called from
his descendants
having
crossed the
or
from the circumstance that he or another portion of his posterity
remained
on the other side. Prof. Lewis thinks that this branch of the
Shemites, having lingered so long in the upper country, had not much
to
do with the tower building on the plain of Shinar. And Salah lived
after he begat Eber
four hundred and three years (in all 433 years,
or
five years less than Arphaxad), and begat sons and daughters.
16 And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg: 17
And
Eber
lived after
he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and
begat sons
and
daughters. And Eber lived four and thirty years, and
begat Peleg.
Division;
from palag, to divide. For the reason
of this cognomen see
ch. 10:25. And Eber lived after he begat Peleg
four hundred and thirty years
(thus reaching the age of
464, the longest-lived of the postdiluvian fathers),
and begat sons and daughters.
18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu: 19 And Peleg
lived after
he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and
daughters.
And Peleg lived thirty
years, and begat Reu. Friend (compare of God,
or of men), or friendship;
from a root signifying to pasture, to tend, to
care for. Bochart traces his descendants in the great Nisaean plain
Ragan (Judith 1:6),
situated on the confines of
and having, according to Strabo, a city named Ragae or Ragiae.
And Peleg lived after he
begat Reu two hundred and nine years
(thus making his entire
age 239 years), and begat sons and daughters.
20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug: 21 And Reu lived
after he
begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat
sons and
daughters. And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug. Vine-shoot,
from sarag,
to wind (Gesenius, Lange, Lewis, Murphy); strength,
firmness,
from the sense of twisting
which the root bears (Furst). And Reu lived after
he begat Serug two hundred
and seven years (in all 239), and begat sons
and daughters.
22 And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor: 23 And Serug
lived
after he
begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and
daughters.
And Serug lived thirty years,
and begat Nahor. Panting..
(Gesenius); from
nachar, to breathe hard, to
snort. Piercer, slayer (Furst);
from an unused
root signifying to bore
through. And Serug lived after he begat Nahor
two hundred years (or 230 in all), and
begat sons and daughters
24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:
25 And Nahor lived after he begat Terah
an hundred and nineteen
years, and
begat sons and daughters. And Nahor lived
nine and
twenty years, and begat Terah. Terach, or turning, tarrying; from
tarach, an unused Chaldaean root meaning to delay (Gesenius);
singularly appropriate to
his future character and history,
from which probably the
name reverted to him. Ewald renders Terach
by "migration,
considering Tarach = arach, to stretch out. And Nahor
lived after he begat Terah
an hundred and nineteen years
(148 in all, the shortest liver among the postdiluvian patriarchs),
and begat sons and daughters.
26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and
And Terah lived seventy
years, and begat Abram. First
named on account of
his spiritual
pre-eminence. If Abram was Terah's eldest son, then, as
Abram
was seventy-five years of age
when Terah died (ch. 12:4),
Terah's whole life
could only have been 145
years. But Terah lived to the age of 205 years
(here, v. 32);
therefore Abram was born in Terah's 130th year. This,
however,
makes it surprising that
Abraham should have reckoned it impossible for
him to have a son at 100
years (ch.17:17);
only, after having lived so long
in childless wedlock, it
was not strange that he should feel somewhat
doubtful of any issue by Sarai. Kalisch believes that
Stephen (Acts 7:4)
made a mistake in saying Terah died before his son's migration from Charran,
and that he really
survived that event by sixty years; while the Samaritan
text escapes the
difficulty by shortening the life of Terah to 145
years.
And Nahor, who must have been
younger than
Terah's seventieth year. Thus the
second family register, like the first,
concludes after ten
generations with the birth of three sons, who, like Noah's,
are mentioned not in the
order of their ages, but of their spiritual pre-eminence.
From this table it appears that 292 years,
according to the Hebrew text, passed
away
between the Flood and the birth, or 292 +75 = 367 between the Flood and
the
call of Abraham. Reckoning, however, the age of Terah
at Abram's birth as
130
(see Exposition), the full period between the Deluge and the patriarch's
departure
from
pairs
to each family, Murphy computes, would in the course of ten generations
yield
a population of 15,625,000 souls; or, supposing a rate of increase equal
to
that of Abraham's posterity in
the
call to the exodus, the inhabitants of the world in the time of Abraham
would
be between seven and eight millions. It must, however, be remembered
that
an element of uncertainty enters into all computations based upon even
the
Hebrew text. The age of Terah at the birth
(apparently) of Abram is put
down
at seventy. But it admits of demonstration that Abram was born in the
130th
year of Terah. What guarantee then do we possess that
in every instance
the
registered son was the firstborn? In the case of Arphaxad
this is almost
implied
in the statement that he was born two years after the Flood. But
if
the case of Eber were parallel with that of Terah, and Joktan were the son
that
he begat in his thirty-fourth year, then obviously the birth of Peleg, like
that
of Abram, may have happened sixty years later; in which case it is
apparent
that any reckoning which proceeded on the minute verbal accuracy
of
the registered numbers would be entirely at fault. This consideration might
have
gone far to explain the wide divergence between the numbers of the
Samaritan
and Septuagint as compared with the Hebrew text, had it not been
that
they both agree with it in setting down seventy as the age of Terah at the
date
of Abram's birth. The palpable artificiality also of these later tables renders
them
even less worthy of credit than the Hebrew. The introduction by the
Septuagint
of Cainan as the son of Arphaxad,
though seemingly confirmed by
Luke
(Luke 3:35-36), is clearly an interpolation. It does not occur in the
Septuagintversion of 1 Chronicles 1:24, and is not found in either
the Samaritan
Pentateuch,
the Targums or the ancient versions, in Josephus or
Philo, or in the
Codex
Beza of the Gospel of Luke. Its appearance in Luke
(and probably also
in
the Septuagint) can only be explained as an interpolation. Wordsworth is
inclined
to regard it as authentic in Luke, and to suppose that Cainaan
was
excluded
from the Mosaic table either to render it symmetrical, as Luke's
table
is rendered symmetrical by its insertion, or because of some moral
offence,
which, though necessitating his expulsion from a Hebrew register,
would
not prevent his reappearance in his proper place under the gospel.
From
Shem to Abram (vs. 10-26)
I. THE SEPARATION
OF THE GODLY SEED. The souls that
constitute the
patriarchs:
1.
Known to God; and that not merely in the mass, but as
individuals, or
units;
nor simply superficially and slightly, but minutely and thoroughly. He
knows the fathers they descend from, the
families they belong to, the
names by which they are designated, the
number of years they live, and the
children they leave behind them on the
earth (compare Psalm 1:6;
II
Timothy 2:19).
2. Separated
by God. This was one of the great ends contemplated by the
division
of the people which happened in the days of Peleg,
which was
designed
to eliminate the Shemites from the rest of mankind.
Then the
migration
of the sons of Eber contributed further to the
isolation of the
children
of the promise. And, lastly, the selection of the son, not always the
firstborn,
through whom the hope of the gospel was to be carried on
tended in
the same direction. So God afterwards separated
nations. So He
still by His providence and His word calls out and separates
His
people from the world (compare 1 Kings 8:53; II Corinthians 6:17).
3. Honored
before God; by being
selected as:
a. the
vessels of His grace,
b.
the channels of His promise,
c.
the ministers of His gospel, and
d.
the messengers of His covenant,
while
others are passed by; and by being written in God’s book of remembrance,
while
others are forgotten (compare 1 Samuel 2:30; 4:10-22; Psalm 91:15;
Malachi
3:16; Matthew 10:32; II Timothy 2:20; Revelation 3:5).
II. THE
SHORTENING OF HUMAN LIFE. A second characteristic of
the
postdiluvian era.
1. A patent fact. Even Shem, the longest liver of the men of this
period, did
not continue on the earth
so long as Lamech, the shortest liver of the
previous age, by 177
years; while the life of Arphaxad was shorter than
that of his father by 162 years,
and the days of Terah at the close dwindled
down to 205 years.
2. A potent
sermon.
Whether the comparative brevity of life immediately
after the Flood was due to
any change in the physical constitution of man,
or to the altered
conditions of existence under the Noachic covenant,
or to
the gradual deterioration
of the race through the lapse of time, or to the
direct appointment of
Heaven, it was admirably fitted to remind them of:
a. The reality of sin. With its penalty descending so
noticeably and
frequently
it would seem impossible to challenge the fact of their being a
guilty
and condemned race.
b. The
necessity of repentance. Every death
that happened would sound
like a trumpet-call to sinful men to turn to God.
c. The
vanity of life. The long terms of existence that were
meted out to
men
before the Flood might tempt them to forget the better country, even
an heavenly,
and to seek a permanent inheritance on earth; it would
almost
seem apparent to these short livers that no such inheritance could be
obtained
below. Alas that the shortness of man’s career beneath the sun is
now so
familiar that it has well nigh ceased to impress the mind with
anything!
d. The certainty of death. When
men’s lives were counted by centuries it
might
be easy to evade the
thought of death. When decades came to be
enough
to reckon up the longest term of existence, it could scarcely fail to
remind
them that “it was appointed unto all men once to die”
III. THE NEARING OF
THE GOSPEL PROMISE. Ten generations
further down the stream of
time do we see the promise carried in this
second genealogical table.
It was:
1. A vindication of the Divine faithfulness in adhering to His
promise.
Already twenty generations had come and gone, and neither was the
promise forgotten nor had the holy line been allowed to
become extinct.
Ever since Adam’s day in
had found a seed
to serve Him, even in the darkest times, and had been
careful to raise
up saints who would transmit the hope of the gospel to
future times. It was a proof to the
passing generations that God was still
remembering His promise, AND WAS
INTENDING TO MAKE IT GOOD
IN THE FULLNESS
OF TIMES!
2. A demonstration
of God’s ability to keep his promise. Not once through
all the bygone
centuries had-a link been found wanting in the chain of
saintly men through
whom the promise was to be transmitted. It was a
clear pledge that God would still be able to supply the
necessary links that
might be
required to carry it forward to its ultimate fulfillment.
The Order of Grace (vs. 10-26)
1. Determined by
God,
and not by man.
2. Arranged after
the Spirit, and not
according to the flesh.
3. Appointed for the world’s good as well as
for the Church’s safety.
THE PATRIARCHAL AGE OF
THE WORLD
(ch. 11:27-50:26)
The Generations of Terah
(ch.
11:27-25:11)
27 Now these
are the generations of Terah: Terah
begat Abram, Nahor, and
of the present with the
preceding section) these are the generations - the
commencement of a new
subdivision of the history (Keil), and neither the
winding-up of the foregoing
genealogy ('Speaker's Commentary') nor the heading
only of the brief
paragraph in vs. 27-32 (Lange; see ch. 2:4) - of Terah. Not of
Abram; partly because
mainly occupied with the career not of Abram's son,
in which case "the generations of Abram"
would have been appropriate, but
of Abram himself, Terah's son; and partly owing to the subsidiary design to
indicate Nahor's connection, through Rebekah,
with the promised seed
(compare Quarry, p.
415). Terah begat Abram,
"Father of Elevation," who
is mentioned first not
because he happened to be Terah's eldest son (Keil),
which he was not (see v. 26), or because Moses was indifferent to the order in
which the sons of Terah were introduced (Calvin), but because of his spiritual
preeminence as the head of the theocratic line (Wordsworth). Nahor,
"Panting,"
not to be confounded with
his grandfather of the same name (v. 25).
"Tarrying," the eldest son of Terah
(v. 26), and, along with Abram and Nahor,
reintroduced into the
narrative on account of his relationship to
That Terah
had other sons (Calvin) does not appear probable, And
לוט; of uncertain etymology,
but may be = לוּט, a concealed, i.e. obscure, low one,
or perhaps a dark-colored
one (Furst).
28 And
in
upon the face
of his father; ἐνώπιον τοῦ
πατρὸς αὐτοῦ - enopion tou
patros autou - face to face; in sight of,
in presence of; in front of (Septuagint);
while his father was alive
(
also in his father s
presence (Keil, Lange), though the Jewish fable may
be discarded that Terah, at this time an 'idolater, accused his sons to
Nimrod,
who cast them into a
furnace for refusing to worship the fire-god, and that
first recorded
instance of the natural death of a son before his father.
In the land of his nativity. Ἐν τῇ
γῇ ῇ ἐγεννήθη - En tae gae
ae
egennaethae - in the land of his birth (Septuagint). In
believed to have been Shemites on account of:
1. Abram's settlement among
them,
2. the
preservation of the name Kesed among his kindred (ch. 22:22),
3. the
close affinity to a Shemite tongue of the language
known to
modern
philologists as Chaldee, an Arameean
dialect differing but
slightly from the Syriac
(Heeren), and
4. the supposed
identity or intimate connection of the Babylonians
with the
Assyrians (Niebuhr) - are now, with greater
probability,
and certainly
with closer adherence to Biblical history (ch. 10:8-12),
regarded as
having been a Hamite race (Rawlinson,
Smith); an
opinion which
receives confirmation from:
(a) the statement of Homer ('Odyss. ,' 1:23, 24), that the
Ethiopians were
divided and dwelt at the ends of
the earth, towards
the setting and the rising sun, i.e.,
according to Strabo, on both sides of the
(b) the
primitive traditions:
(α)
of the
Greeks, who regarded Memnon, King of Ethiopia,
as
the founder of
Cissian woman (Strabo, 15:3, § 2;
(β) of the Nilotic
Ethiopians, who claimed him as one of their
monarchs; and
(γ) of the Egyptians, who identified him with their King
Amunoph III.,
whose statue became known as the
vocal Memnon (see Rawlinson's 'Ancient Monarchies,'
vol. 1. p. 48);
(c) the
testimony of Moses of Chorene ('History of Armenia,'
1:6),
who connects in the closest way
Ethiopia Proper, identifying Belus, King of
Babylon, with
Nimrod, and making him the son of Mizraim, or
the grandson
of
(d) the monumental history of
of the earliest inscriptions, according to Rawlinson
"differing
greatly from the later Babylonian," to have been that of a
Turanian people (cf. 'Records of the Past,' vol. 3. p. 3).
The
term
a
city (Rawlinson); the Zend Vare, a fortress (Gesenius);
and even
furnace already referred to (Talmudists). Whether a
district (Septuagint, Lange, Kalisch) or a
city (Josephus,
Eusebius, Onkelos, Drusius,
Keil, Murphy, 'Speaker's
Commentary'), its exact site is uncertain. Rival claimants
for the honor of representing it have appeared in:
(α) a Persian fortress (Persicum Castellum) of the name
of
(75. 100. 8) as lying between Nisibis and the
(Bochart, Michaelis, Rosenmüller, Delitzsch);
(β) the modern Orfah, the Edsssa
of the Greeks, situated
"on one of the bare, rugged spurs
which descend
from the mountains of
plains" (
(γ) Hur, the most important of
the early capitals of Chaldaea,
now the ruins of Mugheir,
at no great distance from the
mouth, and six miles to the west, of the
(Rawlinson's
'Ancient Monarchies,' 1:15, 16; Smith's '
Assyrian Discoveries,' 12:233; 'Records of
the Past,'
vol. 3. p. 9).
Yet none of them is quite
exempt from difficulty. A military fort, to take the
first-named location, does
not appear a suitable or likely place for a nomadic
horde to settle in; while
the second has been reckoned too near Charran, the
first place of encampment
of the emigrants; and the third, besides being
exceedingly remote from Charran, scarcely harmonizes with Stephen's
speech before the
Sanhedrim (Acts 7:2). Unless, therefore, Stephen meant
Chaldsea when he said
of
belonged to Southern
Babylonia, the identification of
with the Mugheir ruin though regarded with most favor by
archaeologists,
will continue to be
doubtful; while, if the clan march commenced at
halt so soon after
starting and so near home; and the Nisibis station,
though
apparently more suitable
than either in respect of distance, will remain
encumbered with its own
peculiar difficulties. It would seem, therefore,
as if the exact situation
of the patriarchal town or country must be left
undetermined until further
light can be obtained.
29 And Abram
and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram’s wife
was
Sarai; and the
name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah,
the daughter of Haran, the
father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. And Abram and Nahor
took them
wives (compare ch.
6:2): the name of Abram's wife was Sarai.
"My princess,"
from sarah, to rule (Gesenius, Lange); "Strife" (Kalisch,
Murphy): "Jah is ruler"
(Furst).
The Septuagint write Σάρα - Sara - changing afterwards to Σαῥῤα -
Sarra to correspond with Sarah.
That Sarai was Iscah
(Josephus, Augustine,
Jerome, Jonathan) has been
inferred from ch. 20:12; but, though receiving
apparent sanction from v.
31, this opinion "is not supported by any solid
argument" (Rosenmüller). And the name of Nahor's
wife, Milcah (Queen, or
Counsel), the
daughter of
or a niece was afterwards
forbidden by the Mosaic code (Leviticus 18:9, 14).
The father of Milcah, and
the father of Iscah, whose name
"Seer" may have
been introduced into the
narrative like that of Naamah (ch.
4:22), as that of
an eminent lady connected
with the family (Murphy). Ewald's hypothesis,
that Iscah
was
30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child. Perhaps in contrast to Milcah,
who by this time had begun to
have a family (Murphy).
Two
Weddings (vs. 29-20)
I. THE TWO BRIDEGROOMS — Abram and Nahor.
1. Younger
sons in Terah s family.
2. Eminent
men in
3. Favored
saints in the
all and the be undefiled.”
(Hebrews 13:4)
II. THE TWO BRIDES — Sarai and Milcah.
1. Near
relations of their husbands. Though permissible at that early stage
of the world’s history, the
intermarriage of relatives so close as half-sister
and niece is not now sanctioned by the law of God.
2. Attractive
ladies in themselves. As much as this may be inferred from
their names. It is both allowable and desirable to seek as
wives women
distinguished for beauty and intelligence, provided also they
are noted
for goodness and piety.
3. Descendants of the holy line. Doubtless this was one cause which led
to the choice of Abram and Nahor. So Christians should not be unequally
yoked with unbelievers. (I Corinthians 6:14)
III. THE TWO HOMES. Formed it might be at the same time, and
under
similar benignant auspices, they were yet divided.
1. And
from the first in their constitutions. This was of necessity.
2. And
afterwards in their fortunes.
(a)
Sarai had no child;
(b)
Milcah was the mother of a family. “Lo,
children are the
heritage of the
Lord.” (Psalm 127:3)
3. And
eventually in their locations.
(a)
Nahor and Milcah
remained in
to
(b)
Abram and Sarai pitched their tent and established
their
home in
So God parts the families of earth.
31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of
son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they
went forth
with them from
of Canaan;
and they came unto
an act of pure human
volition on the part of Terah (Kalisch);
under the
guidance of God's ordinary
providence (Keil); but more probably, as Abram
was called in
a desire to participate in
his son's inheritance (Lange) - Abram his son, and
Lot the son of Haran his
son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son
Abram's wife. The Samaritan reads, "and Milcah his daughter-in-law,
the wives of Abram and Nahor his sons," with an obvious intention to
account for the appearance
of Nahor as a settler in Charran
(ch. 24:10);
but it is better to
understand the migration of Nahor and his family as
having
taken place subsequent to Terah's departure. And they went forth with them.
I.e.
with
though best is the
interpretation, "and they went forth with each other"
(Lange, Kalisch). For the reflexive use of the personal pronoun see ch. 3:7;
22:3, and compare Gesenius, 'Gram.,'§ 124. Other readings are, "and he
led
them forth"
(Samaritan, Septuagint, Vulgate, Dathius), and
"and they (the
unnamed members of the family) went forth with
those named" (Delitzsch).
From
Divine destination, rather
than of the conscious intention of the travelers
(Hebrews 11:8), though
inhabitants of the Tigris
and
came into
Mesopotamia, about
twenty-five miles from
sites of
Parthians ( B.C. 53). And
dwelt there. Probably in consequence of the
growing infirmity of Terah, the period of their sojourn being differently
computed according as
Abram is regarded as having been born in Terah's
70th or
130th year.
The
Migration of the Terachites (v. 31)
I. THE DEPARTURE OF THE EMIGRANTS. The attendant
circumstances of this migration — the gathering of the
clan, the mustering
of the flocks, the farewells and benedictions
exchanged with relatives and
friends, the hopes and fears of the adventurous
pilgrims — imagination
may depict; the reasons which prompted it may
be conjectured to have
been:
1. The spirit of
emigration, which since the dispersion at
abroad among the primitive populations of
mankind. The arms of a Trans-
Euphratean state had already penetrated as far west
as the circle of the
may have been connected with some larger
movement in the same
direction.
2. The
oppression of the Hamites, who, besides being the most powerful
and
enterprising of the early tribes, and having seized upon the fattest
settlements, such as
from the pure Noachic faith, and
abandoned themselves to a degraded
polytheism, based for the most part upon a study of the heavenly
bodies.
That
the Cushite conquerors of Southern
idolaters, but, like Nimrod, their leader, destroyers
of the liberties of the
subject populations, has at least the sanction of tradition.
3. The awakening of religious life in the breasts of the pilgrims. That
Abram had by
this time been called we are warranted on the authority of
Stephen to hold,
and though Terah is expressly said to have been an
idolater in
pure faith of his distinguished son. At least
it lends a special interest to this
primitive migration to connect it with the call of
Abram.
II. THE JOURNEY OF THE EMIGRANTS. Though upon the incidents
and experiences of the way, as upon the
circumstances and reasons of the
departure, the inspired record is completely silent,
yet the pilgrimage of the
Chaldaean wanderers was:
1. From an
idolatrous land, which could not fail to secure, even had it
not
already received, the Divine approbation. Not that
flight from heathen
countries is always the clear path of duty, else how
shall the world be
converted? But where, as was probably the case with
the Terachites, the
likelihood of doing good to is less than that of
receiving hurt from the
inhabitants, it is plainly incumbent to withdraw from
polluted and polluting
lands.
2. By an
unknown way. Almost certainly
the road to
understood by the exiles, if even
incognita
(an
unknown or unexplored territory).
Yet in setting forth upon
a path so uncertain they were only doing
what mankind in general, and
God’s people in
particular, have always to do in life’s journey, viz., travel
by a way that they know not; while for comfort they had the sweet
assurance that their path was steadily conducting
them from idols and
oppression, and the
certain knowledge that they were journeying beneath
the watchful and loving superintendence of the invisible
Supreme. Happy
they whose path in life, though compassed
by clouds and darkness, ever
tends away from sin and slavery, and never lacks the
guidance of
Abram’s God! (Compare Hebrews 11:8-16)
3. To a better
country. In
comparison with the rich alluvial soil of Southern
Babylonia, the
hills; but, in
respect of liberty to worship God, anywhere, in the eyes of
men whose hearts were throbbing with new-found
faith, would seem
superior to idolatrous Chaldaea.
Without endorsing Luther’s fancy, that
Shem and his
followers had already withdrawn to
and his family were setting forth to place
themselves beneath the
patriarch’s rule, we may reasonably suppose that, like
the Pilgrim Fathers
of a later -age, they were seeking a new land
where they might worship
God
in peace.
III. THE HALTING OF THE EMIGRANTS. In the absence of definite
information as to the motives which induced it, this
sudden stoppage of
their journey at
1. The
irresolution of Terah, who, having become wearied by the fatigues
and perils of the way, and having found a
comfortable location for himself
and flocks, preferred to bring his wanderings
to a close, as many a noble
enterprise is wrecked through weak-kneed vacillation,
and many a
Christian
pilgrimage broken short by faint-hearted indecision; or:
2. The unbelief of Terah,
who, in the first flush of
excitement produced by
Abram’s call,
had started on the outward journey with strong faith and
great zeal, but, as
enthusiasm subsided and faith declined, was easily
persuaded to halt at
heavenward journey well, but pause in mid career
through the cooling of
their ardor and declining of their piety; or:
3. The infirmity of Terah,
who was now an old man,
and unable further to
prosecute his journey to the promised land, thus
making the delay at
a beautiful act of filial piety on the part
of Abram, and on that of Terah an
imperious necessity.
See in this migration of, the Terachites:
1. An
emblem of the changefulness of life.
2. An
illustration of God s method of distributing mankind.
3. An
example of the way in which an overruling
the truth.
4. A
picture of many broken journeys on the face of earth.
(As a side note:
According to Henry M. Morris in his book The Genesis Record
This passage
suggests that Terah himself may have received some
kind of
command
from the Lord to go to the
in
part. He left
the desert
to
finally
reaching
to Terah becoming “dead”
as far as God’s will for his life was concerned.
Stephen also
noted that Abram received God’s call originally while still
in
decided to
take his own family along and go with Terah in his
journey toward
both set
out to
long in
no longer
intended to go on to
Terah’s son
Originally,
before the millennia of delta deposits that have since formed
downstream,
it was actually a great seaport.
northwest, where
I thought this was interesting. - CY - 2024)
32 And the
days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah
died in
So
that if Abram was born in Terah's 70th year, Terah must have been 145
when
Abram left
(Kalisch, Dykes); whereas if Abram was born in his father's
130th year, then
Terah must have died before his son s departure from
with
Acts 7:4. And Terah died in
Divine
Traditions (vs. 10-32)
This is a genealogy of
Shem and of Terah, in order to set forth clearly the
position of Abraham and
that of his nephew
from their country, but we
are not told that there was no light of God
shining in
knowledge handed down
through the generations.
·
Arphaxad was born two years after the Flood;
·
Salah, thirty-seven years;
·
Eber, sixty-seven years;
·
Peleg, one hundred and one years;
·
Reu, one hundred and thirty-one years;
·
Serug, one hundred and sixty-three years;
·
Nahor, one hundred and ninetythree
years;
·
Terah, the father of Abraham, two hundred and
twenty-two years:
no great length of time
for traditions to be preserved. The call of
Abram was not merely his separation
from idolatry, but his consecration to
the special vocation of
founding the religious institutions which were to be
connected with his family.
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