b 5 And the LORD came down | all done language; and this they to see the city and the tower, begin to do: and now nothing which the children of men builded. will be restrained from them, 6 And the LORD said, Behold, which they have imagined to the people is one, and they have do. b ch. 18. 21. c ch. 9. 19. Acts 17. 26. later periods, and Babylon itself, though checked for the present by this divine interference, yet afterward resumed the pursuit of her favourite object; and in the time of Nebuchadnezzar seemed almost to have gained it. The styleused by that monarch in his proclamation comported with this idea; "To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and tongues! Now if such has been the ambition of al! Nimrod's successors in every age, it is nothing surprising that it should have struck the mind of Nimrod himself and his adherents. But it was evidently worthy of the divine wisdom to counteract such a high-handed scheme as this. As human nature is constituted, a universal monarchy would have been a universal despotism, than which a greater curse could not have befallen the earth. In every state of society where power or wealth is monopolized by one or a few, there is the greatest possible scope for injustice and oppression; and where these evils have the greatest sway, mankind being what they are, there they will inevitably most abound. While therefore they were intent upon this impious project and aiming to frustrate the appointed dispersion and distribution, the Most High determined to take them in their own craftiness, and by confounding their speech to accomplish the very event which they were so anxious to prevent. The means adopted were exactly suited to the end in view; for there is no more effectual boundary of nations than language. There is scarcely a great nation in the world, but what has its own language. The gradual dividing of languages was therefore in d ver. 1. e Ps. 2. 1. effect the dividing of nations; and so a bar to the whole world being ruled by one government. Thus a perpetual miracle was wrought to be an antidote to a perpetual evil.- -T Lest we be scattered, &c. The punctuation in our English Bibles in this part of the verse is not happy. It leads the reader to suppose that the fear of being scattered over the earth was to be obviated solely by making themselves a name; whereas this latter clause stands related equally to building the city and making a name. In conformity to the Hebrew there should have been a colon after 'name.' 5. And the Lord came down, &c. Evidently spoken of God after the manner of men, and in accommodation to our modes of conception. God's coming down is but another term for his interposition; and by his coming down to see is doubtless meant his making it manifest by the result that he was well aware of the doings of these impious and aspiring builders. From what is said below it will perhaps appear that the sense of this verse is not complete without taking v. 8, in connection.¶ Which the children of men have builded. As the phrase 'children of men' is used in other cases in the Scriptures in opposition to the 'children of God,' some have inferred that the sons of Ham were exclusively concerned in this enterprise, men who had degenerated from the piety of their ancestors, and that neither Noah, Shem, Arphaxad, Salah, or Heber, or their inmediate progeny had any agency in it. But since the natural order of the narrative leads us to suppose that the whole earth' 7 Go to, flet us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. f ch. 1. 26. Ps. 2. 4. Acts 2. 4, 5, 6. g ch. 42. 23. Deut. 28. 49. Jer. 5. 15. 1 Cor. 14. 2, 11. 8 Soh the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. h Luke 1. 51. i ch. 10. 25, 32. speaking one language denotes in gen-ed throughout the whole narrative, giv eral the same body of men who are afterwards said to have embarked in the undertaking, and as these undoubtedly constituted the bulk of the then existing race, it is hardly probable that such a distinction is here hinted at, although it may still be true that the individuals above mentioned may have stood aloof from it, and the Hamites under Nimrod may have been among its most active and conspicuous promoters. ing more and more confirmation to the sense which we have above affixed to it. That the Heb. word for 'hear' is often used in the sense of 'understand' might be shown from hundreds of passages. Thus Is. 36. 11, Speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syrian language; for we understand (Heb. hear) it.' Gen. 42. 23, 'For they knew not that Joseph understood (Heb. heard) them.' So in the Gr. 1 Cor. 14. 2, 'He speaketh not unto men, for no man un too 1 Kings, 3. 9, an 'understanding heart' is in the original a 'hearing heart.' 6. And the Lord said. That is, as usual, said within himself. But we be-derstandeth (Gr. heareth) him.' Thus lieve the true construction is to render this in the pluperfect 'for the Lord had said,' and to consider vs. 6, 7, as par- 8. They left off to build the city. enthetical, indicating the process of And doubtless the tower also, though thought and purpose in the divine mind this be not expressly mentioned. It is previous to his going down, as descri- worthy of note, that from the ancient bed in v. 5. This relieves us from the Gentile traditions hereafter to be cited, necessity of supposing a double descent respecting this event, it appears to have and by connecting v. 5 with v. 8 makes been a very prevailing opinion that the the whole context perspicuous.divine interposition on this occasion The people is one, and they have all one language. Heb. 'one lip' No sense, we think, is better suited to the words than that given above of the onenessed by the Hebrews; at least the Jew of their counsels, language, and mode of utterance. Comp. Gen. 34, 22. was attended by a tremendous tempest of thunder, lightning, and wind. The same belief appears to have been adopt Benjamin (Bochart, Phaleg, lib. i. c. 9.) asserts, that fire from heaven fell upon the centre of the tower, and split it through down to the very foundation. But though the building may have been thus supernaturally assailed, yet there is no sufficient ground for suppo And this they begin to do. Heb. 'this is their beginning to do.'—¶ Nothing will be restrained from them, &c. Heb. 'there will not be cut off from them any thing which,' &c. Nothing will deter them from accomplish-sing that it was actually overturned or ing their designs, unless they be at once miraculously arrested. destroyed. Of an edifice so vast the materials could not be dissipated with7. That they may not understand one out a miracle, alike superfluous and another's speech. Heb. 'that they may unrecorded in Scripture; for the sacred not hear one another's lip.' The same writer merely tells us that 'they left off original word 'lip' is studiously employ- I to build the city,' and its probable pyr bricks would not fall to decay, like a that tower re-edified from its ruins and amidal form would naturally tend to insure perpetuity. The tower itself then, though its external brick-work might partially have suffered, no doubt continued in existence till the time of Nebuchadnezzar; just as the Egyptian pyramids still remain, though ages have rolled over the heads of those deserted buildings. Such being the case,' tower of Babel' here mentioned, but the second founder of Babylon, even independent of religious motives, would find it a more easy task to repair and finish the tower of Nimrod, than either wholly to remove its materials or to work them afresh in erecting a new structure. Accordingly in the midst of that far-famed city, as we learn from the Greek historians, there rose an enormous tower, dedicated to the god Belus, bearing on its summit his temple or sacellum. It was composed of eight square towers or stories, of successively diminishing size, piled one upon the other, with an ascent of steps on the outside winding up to each tower, and of very ample breadth. By comparing together the two accounts of Herodotus and Strabo, we learn that each side of its base measured a stadium or furlong (500 feet) in length, and that it was also a stadium in height, which makes it considerably higher than the largest of the Egyptian pyramids, though standing upon a much narrow er base. From the same authorities we learn that it stood in the midst of a court or enclosure which was two stad-on its summit is a solid pile of brick, ia square. The question then arises 37 feet by 28 in breadth, diminishing in whether a building of such vast bulk thickness to the top, which is broken was the entire work of Nebuchadnez- and irregular, and rent by a large fiszar, after having previously removed sure extending through a third of its the remains of the work of Nimrod; height. The fire-burnt bricks have inor whether it was not, in reality, the scriptions on them, and so excellent is original structure, repaired and finished the cement, that it is nearly impossible and beautified. With Prideaux and to extract one whole. The other parts other sensible writers, we think there of the summits of this hill are occupied can be little doubt how we ought to de- by immense fragments of brick-work cide the point. As the original edifice was of no determinate figure, tumbled toprobably for the most part solid, such a gether, and converted into solid vitrified vast mass of sun-dried and kiln-burnt masses, as if they had undergone the assistance of the winds; and the name Babylon was imposed upon the ruins. Till that period men were of one language; but then the gods sent among them a diversity of tongues. And then commenced the war between Saturn and Titan.' Finally Eupolemus as cited by Alexander Polyhister, affirms, 'That the city of Babylon was first built by giants who escaped from the flood; that these giants built the most famous tower in all history; and that the tower was dashed in pieces by the almighty power of God, and the giants dispersed and scattered over the face of the whole earth.” action of the fiercest fire.' In regard to this latter appearance, Sir R. K. Porter has no doubt that the effect was produced by fire acting from above, and that it was probably lightning. The circumstance is remarkable in connection with the tradition that the original tower of Babel was rent and overthrown by fire from heaven. At any rate it cannot now be seen without bringing to mind the emphatic prophecy of Jeremiah, ch. 51. 25, 'I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.'-It may be remarked that very striking testimonies to the event here recorded are to be 10. These are the generations, &c. found in several ancient profane au- As appears from the preceding chapter, thors. Josephus quotes from one of the this is but a partial catalogue of Sybilline oracles the following words; Shem's descendants; and such was all 'When all mankind spoke the same that the writer's object required, which language, some of them elevated a was merely to introduce the history of tower immensely high, as if they would Abraham by tracing up his pedigree to ascend up into heaven; but the gods Shem. The effect of the flood in shortsent a wind and overthrew the tower, ening the term of human life is very and assigned to each a particular lan- perceptible on a comparison of this taguage; and hence the city of Babylon ble with that given chap. 5. 9-27.derived its name.' Abydenus, as quot-¶ An hundred years old. Heb. ed by Eusebius, uses similar language; son of an hundred years; There are who relate, that the first and thus uniformly where the same men, born of the earth (giants), when English word occurs. they grew proud of their strength and stature, supposing that they were more excellent than the gods, wickedly attempted to build a tower where Babylon now stands. But the work advancing towards heaven, was overthrown upon the builders by the gods, with the 11. Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years. From which it appears that this venerable patriarch had not only seen Methusaleh and Lamech before the flood, and Abraham after it, but that he was cotemporary with Isaac for fifty years. 13 And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, 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. 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 daugh ters. 18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu: gat Serug two hundred and seven years, 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. 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. 26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. 27 Now these are the gene19 And Peleg lived after he be-rations of Terah: Terah begat gat Reu two hundred and nine Abram, Nahor, and Haran: and years, and begat sons and daugh- Haran begat Lot. ters. 20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat P Serug. 21 And Reu lived after he ben 1 Chron. 1. 19. o Luke, 3. 35. p Luke, 3. 35. 12. And Arphaxad lived. The Septuagint here inserts a second Cainan, with an addition of one hundred and thirty years. This is followed by Luke 3. 36, who brings in the same person in the same way. But the Heb. text both here and in 1 Cnron. 1, is perfectly silent on this subject, and the best chronologists have agreed in rejecting it as a spurious generation. 28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. q Luke, 3. 34. r Josh. 24. 2. 1 Chron. 1. 26. In both cases the youngest them. stands first on the ground of superior dignity. By comparing ver. 32 of this chapter with ch. 12. 4, it is obvious that Abraham was born, not when Terah was 70, but when he was 130 years old, which was 350 years after the flood, or A. M. 2008. Haran was undoubtedly the eldest son. 28. Haran died before his father. Heb. ་ Heb. 26 And Terah lived seventy years, before the face of his father, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. or in his presence, while his father was That is, began to beget; he was seven. yet living-the same phrase in the origity years old before he had any children, nal which occurs Ex. 20. 3, Thou shalt and then had three sons one after an- have no other gods before me (~b-by).' other. But these sons are not set In Ur of The Chaldees. down in the order of their birth; for though Abram is first named it does not follow that he was the first born, any more than Shem's being first named among the sons of Noah, Gen. 9. 18, proves him to have been the eldest of be-Oor Kasdim. This is the first mention which the Scriptures make of the Kasdim or ChaldeWho these people really were, and whether they ever properly existed as a nation, is, as Heeren remarks one ans. |