Genesis 11
DOYLY— Shinar.] Not only that part of Assyria where Babylon stood, but all that country which bordered upon the river Tigris unto the mountains of Armenia. Bp. Patrick. — they dwelt there.] By what follows it appears, that they intended to dwell there for the future, contrary to God’s command of replenishing the earth. Bp. Kidder.
— lest we be scattered abroad] What they dreaded, they brought upon themselves by their own vain attempt to avoid it: and now there is no memory preserved of the names of those, who conspired in this attempt. Thus what Solomon saith, was long before verified, “The fear of the wicked shall come upon him.” But this evil by God’s Providence was attended with a great good: for by this dispersion the whole earth was peopled; and the foundation laid of several great nations and kingdoms. Bp. Patrick.
Ver. 1. Now the Lord had said unto Abram,] Before he came to Haran, and while he lived in Ur of the Chaldees. Bp. Patrick. —unto a land] Which was 400 miles off. The father of the faithful was sent out of his own country, to intimate to his children, that they are but sojourners and pilgrims here, and therefore must wean their affections from this present world. Bp. Wilson. —that I will shew thee:] This was probably done by some appearance of the Shechinah going before him; as his posterity were afterwards conducted to the same country. Biblioth. Bibl. It argued, as the Apostle observes, great faith in God, that he would follow Him, “not knowing whither” he should be led, Heb. xi. 8. Bp. Patrick.
Genesis 11:3
- — they said] Nimrod very probably, as Josephus affirms, encouraged others of his race and temper to this contempt of God. Bp. Kidder. — let us make brick.] In that low and fat soil there was no stone. Herodotus, Justin, and many others, describe the walls of Babylon as made of burnt bricks. The cement, here mentioned by the name of slime, was probably what the ancients called asphaltus or bitumen; a kind of pitch, which is described by authors as very gluey, and therefore it was used by Noah, under God’s direction, about the ark. Assyria abounds with it, both in a liquid and solid state; as we learn from ancient historians and modern travellers, who describe it as cast up from some fountains with the water. Herodotus and many other authors, both Greek and Latin, affirm that the walls of Babylon were cemented with it. And it is observable that Arrian says, The Temple of Belus, in the midst of the city of Babylon, of a vast bigness, was made of brick, cemented with asphaltus. Bp. Patrick, Stackhouse. Many have thought that the tower of Belus, mentioned by Herodotus, and in his time to be seen in Babylon, was the tower of Babel; or at least was built upon the old foundations. Calmet.
Genesis 11:4
- — a city and a tower.] The tower was contained in the city, and formed part of it. It was probably the Aeropolis, as the Greeks call it, a strong place in the highest part of the city, such as we call a citadel. Bp. Patrick. — whose top may reach unto heaven;] Or to the clouds. An exceeding high tower. The same is said of the walls of the cities of Canaan, Deut. i. 28; ix. 1. Bp. Patrick. The misunderstanding of this text probably gave rise to the fable of the giants attempting to scale heaven. The silliest of the Pagan fables generally have some foundation in truth, either misunderstood or misapplied. Stackhouse. — let us make us a name.] The work was intended to frustrate the good design of regularly peopling the earth; out of an ambitious aim of raising themselves into a powerful state, and getting the honour of being the founders of the first great city and government in the world. Pyle. see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
Genesis 11:5
- And the Lord came down to see &c.] This is an accommodation to our conceptions. It means, that by the effects He made it appear, that He observed their motions and knew their intentions. Bp. Patrick. — the children of men] Children of men in Scripture are opposed to Children of God; as bad men and infidels are to good and faithful. So that the people engaged in this work were not Noah, Shem, and other good men; but some of the worst sort, who had degrenerated from the piety of their ancestors. Bp. Patrick.
Genesis 11:6
- — now nothing will be restrained from them.] They will give farther instances of their rebellion and tyranny, if they be not defeated. Bp. Kidder. Or the sentence may be taken interrogatively, thus: “Shall they not be restrained in all they imagine to do?” The question amounts to the most express affirmation that they shall be restrained, which accordingly was executed immediately. Stackhouse.
Genesis 11:7
- — confound their language.] God did not make every one speak a new different language; but they had such a confused remembrance of their original language, that they spake it very differently: so that by the varions inflections, and terminations, and pronunciations of the divers dialects, they could no more understand one another, than they, who understand only Latin, can understand those who speak French, Italian, or Spanish; though these languages arise out of the former. It is probable that each family had its peculiar dialect; or rather the same common dialect, or way of speaking, was given to those families, whom God intended to form one colony in the following dispersion. Bp. Patrick.
Genesis 11:8
- So the Lord scattered them] This followed upon God’s multiplying the languages of these builders. For as the unity of one common language had before knit them into one community, so it is the proper effect of pluralities of tongues to sort men into pluralities of societies. Jos. Mede. Division of tongues must needs slacken any work. Happy were the Church of God, if we all spake but one language. Bp. Hall. D 2 Before CHRIST about 2247. Terah goeth to Haran. God calleth Abram. Before CHRIST about 1.1923. b Neb. 9. 7. Judith 1. 7. Acts 7. 4. son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from b Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. 1921.
Genesis 11:31
31.—they went forth—from Ur of the Chaldees,] Terah removed from his own country with Abram, who had received a command from God to come out of it, Gen. xii. 1; xv. 7; Acts vii. 3. It may be concluded from this obedience to the Divine direction, that Terah, who is supposed to have been an idolater, perhaps an idolatrous priest, was become a worshipper of the true God. Bps. Kidder and Patrick. —and they came unto Haran,] Or Charran, as St. Stephen calls it; a place in Mesopotamia. Bp. Patrick. —and dwelt there.] He intended to go to Canaan, and not to settle here: but being arrested by sickness, could proceed no further. On his death, Abram went forward into Canaan. Bps. Patrick and Kidder. 32. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years:] By this time a striking change had been experienced in the duration of human life. Adam lived