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. ed by Eusebius, uses similar language; There are who relate, that the first men, born of the earth (giants), when 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 Heb. son of an hundred years; and thus uniformly where the same English word occurs. From 11. Shem lived after he begat Arpharad five hundred years. 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 cotempo. rary with Isaac for fifty years. 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 Caron. 1, is perfectly silent on this subject, and the best chronologists have agreed in rejecting it as a spurious generation. 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 beat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. 27 Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran: and Haran begat Lot. 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. them. In both cases the youngest 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 Tersh 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. 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 (-3).' other. But these sons are not set - In Ur of The Chaldees. down in the order of their birth; for 7 be-Oor Kasdim. 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 Heb. This is the first mention which the Scriptures make of the Kasdim or Chaldeans. Who these people really were, and whether they ever properly existed as a nation, is, as Heeren remarks one of the most difficult problems which | Mesopotamia, two days' journey east From eastern anal- of the Euphrates, sixty-seven miles north-east of Beer. The Jews, accordiag to Mr. Wolff, still call the place by the name in the text The or Kasdim, or Ur of the Chaldees, and it is a place of pilgrimage as the birth-place of Abraham, in whose honour the Moslems have a fine mosque, in the court of which is a lake teeming with fish which are held sacred to the patriarch' and not permitted to be caught. Its ancient name Oor, which signifies iight or fire, probably derived its name from the idolatry of the Ignicolists or fire-worshippers, which was there established. primitive name of the city was changed by the Macedonians when they became possessed of it to Edessa, and under that name was the capital of a territory called Osrhoene, occupying the northern and most fruitful part of Mesopotamia, and which, for several centuries before Christ formed an independent kingdom. Its last king was Abgarus, of whom there is a well known tradition that he wrote a letter to Christ to which he received an an history presents. ogy, it seems most probable that the Kasdim of the Scriptures translated Chaldeans, was a general name among the Shemitic nations for the northern barbarians, though descended doubtless from Kesed (Chesed) the son of Nahor, ard grandson of Terah, Gen. 22. 22. If so, the Chaldees here mentioned had not this name in the time of which Moses speaks, but they were so called at the time in which he wrote. The term is used therefore by anticipation. At all events it is certain that the conquering Chaldeans forced their way from the north, where their various hordes wandered over the steppes of Mesopotamia, and finally overwhelmed southern Asia, making themselves masters of the Syrian and Babylonian plains, to which fact it is owing that the same country is indiscriminately called Babylonia and Chaldea. The reader who wishes for a full ler view of this subject is referred to Gesenius on Is. 33. 13, where the fragments of the earlier history of this people will be found collected. Of this an abstract is given in Robinson's edi-swer. The place afterwards passed tion of Calmet. The learned German successively through the hands of the commentator seeks the original seat of Romans, the Saracens, the Crusaders, the Chaldeans in the mountains of the Tartars, and was ultimately conKurdistan, now inhabited by the Kurds quered by the Turks. It is now the (pron. Koords), who are probably their seat of a pashalic, and is a large and successors; and conjectures that they tolerably well-built town, situated on were brought from their native regions the eastern side of a hill, defended by by the Assyrians as mercenaries, after a castle, and composed of stone-houses which they settled in the plains till of as good masonry, and as highly orthey became strong enough to bring namented, as those of Aleppo. Mr. Bucktheir employers themselves into subjec-ingham (Travels in Mesopotamia, vol. tion. From their being much addicted | i. p. 89) describes the city in general as to astronomy, and probably to judicial being a delightful place, and the most astrology, hence all astrologers were in process of time, called Chaldeans, Dan. 2. 2-5.-As to the city here mentioned, some difficulty has been experienced by commentators in fixing its site, but in the East it is generally identified with the present town of Orfah in Upper tolerable and happy in the Turkish dominions. It is a place of considerable trade, having numerous and well-filled bazaars, and enjoying the advantage of being one of the principal stations on the great caravan route between Aleppo and Bagdad, The population is 29 And Al ram and Nahor took | ran his son's son, and Sarai his them wives: the name of Abram's daughter-in-law, his son 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. 30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child. 31 And Terah w took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Ha s ch. 17. 15. & 20. 12. t ch. 22. 20. u ch. 16. 1, 2. & 18. 11, 12. w ch. 12. 1. wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. 32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran. x Neh. 9. 7. Acts, 7. 4. y ch. 10. 19. probably from 2000 to 2500, of whom 2000 are Armenian and Jacobite Christians, and the rest Moslems. 29. Daughter of Haran. From this it is clear, as before remarked, that Haran was the eldest of the three sons of Terah. His daughter Milcah was the grand-mother of Rebekah, the wife of Isaac. Gen. 22. 20, 23.- -T Father of Milcah and father of Iscah. The Jewish writers generally maintain, and we think with great probability, that Iscah and Sarah are but different names of the same person; the one having been born before she left Chaldea, the other after. How this is to be reconciled with ch. 20. 12, see in loc. 31. And Terah took Abram his son, &c. It is evident from ch. 12. 1, that this expedition was undertaken in consequence of the divine call to Abraham to come out from a land of idolators; but from the deference paid to the head of a family Terah is here represented as chief in the movement, though really acting in obedience to the monitions of his son. Nahor and his wife Milcah, it would appear, were unwilling to go, at least at present; yet as we find them in the course of the history settled at Haran, and Abraham and Isaac sending to them for wives, we may conclude that they afterwards 'repented and went.' Thus the whole of Terah's family, though they did not go to Canaan, yet were probably re served from Chaldean idolatry, and fixing themselves in Haran maintained for a considerable time the worship of the true God.-The narrative suggests to us, that while the most exemplary marks of respect are due from children to parents, yet parents themselves may sometimes be called to follow their children as leaders, when they have obtained clearer light as to the path of duty, and go forth at the evident call of God. But even in such cases a proper spirit of filial reverence will give as much precedency as possible to parental action. -¶ To go into the land of Canaan. As this expedition of Terah was undertaken in consequence of God's call to Abraham, and as the apostle tells us that Abraham went forth 'not know. ing whither he went,' we are to understand these words as expressive rather of the divine destination than of their own definite purpose. They simply confided themselves to the guidance of heaven, resolving to go wherever a directing providence should lead, and the historian, speaking as a historian, names the country, unknown to them, to which their journeyings tended. This information was afterwards given to Abraham, but at what precise time we know not. Came unto Haran and dwelt there. Probably on account of the increasing age and infirinities of Terah. This name affords an instance of the confusion which has arisen in the ducted from 205, it is clear that he was proper names of our translation, from its having been chosen to give the letter ch a power equivalent toh. It ought to be Charan, as it is in Acts 7. 2, where the Greek text (Xappav) has properly represented the Hebrew Charan. The same course is adopted by the translation in numerous other REMARKS.-(1.) We see in the coninstances. The place in question, duct of the builders of Babel a striking which was called Charra by the Ro- exemplification of the spirit which actumans, would seem to the English read- ates so large a portion of the human er to have derived its name from Haran race. They were urged on by a desire the father of Lot, but this can hardly of distinction-'Go to, let us make ourbe, as the Hebrew words are entirely selves a name.' They thought that by different, the name of the place begin-raising this city and tower they should ning with ch, and that of the person immortalize themselves, and be famed withh. This shows the evil of the for their wisdom and exploits to the remethod adopted by the English trans-motest generations. And what other lators of representing both letters by our h. Its situation is fixed by Rennell about 30 miles S. S. E. from Orfah on the direct route from Mesopotamia to Palestine, on a brook known to the Greek writers by the same name, which flows into the river Chaboras, one of the tributaries of the Euphrates. anciently carried on an extensive trade with the Tyrians, Ezek. 27. 23; and in more recent times became famous among the Romans for the total defeat of their army by the Parthians, and the death of Crassus their general, who was killed in the battle. It is now a poor place, mostly in ruins, in the occupation of a few families of Bedouin Arabs, who have been drawn thither by its rather abundant supply of water. Their presence renders a visit so unpleasant that no travellers have recently been there. It must early have fallen into ruins, as it seems to have been quite desolate when the Jew, Benjamin of Tudela, travelled through Mesopotamia in the twelfth century. It 32. The days of Terah were two hundred and five years. This affords a satisfactory clew to the time of Abrahum's birth; for if 75 years, which was his age when his father died, and when he left Haran, ch. 12. 4, be de principle than this is the moving spring of the actions of countless multitudes of men in all ages? What is it but the desire of fame that impels the warrior to the field of battle? What has greater influence on the scholar and the philosopher, or more forcibly animates them in their researches after knowledge? What is it that actuates the rich in constructing and decorating their splendid edifices, but a desire to display their opulence and win eclat from their fellow-men? It would not perhaps be right to condemn the principle in the abstract, or to hold it up to unqualified reprobation. Provided we seek distinction as a secondary object, in subservience to higher ends, as a means of augmenting our usefulness and bringing a larger revenue of glory to God, it may be a commendable motive of action. But alas! how seldom does it exist in this form? How much more frequently does it assume the character of a vain-glorious ambition, and engage its possessor in schemes as contrary to the will, or at least to tho approbation, of heaven, as that of the infatuated projectors here mentioned? How vain the hope by which such men are deluded, and how certain are they to build a Babel to their own confusion. |