Genesis 11

Genesis 11:1

THe earth] The earth for the Inhabitants of the earth in the usuall phrase of Scripture, Genesis 6:11. 1 Chron. 16. 23. Psalms 33:8. and elsewhere.

one language] Heb. one lip.

one speech] Heb. one words, That is, one sort of words, as many thinke the tongue which Adam spake, and which was used in all the world about the space of one thousand seven hundred and fifty yeares, viz. untill about an hundred and thirty yeares after the flood: this is thought to be the Hebrew tongue by the Etymologies of Adam, Eve, Cain, and others, though some fond men have given the Senioritie to other Languages many ages younger then the Hebrew.

Genesis 11:2

they journeyed] To wit, Nimrod and his company.

from the East] That is, not immediately from Ararat, or Armenia, (where the Arke rested) which is not Eastward from Chaldea, but from some other place (which was East-ward in respect of the situation of Chaldea) whither they removed, either because the place wherein they were was not large enough, or not so commodious and comfortable for their habitation as they desired.

plaine of Shinar] Which was not the name of it at this time, for that was given to it afterward; it was a spacious and fertile Plaine since called Shinar, and now Mesopotamia; some say it was afterward called Chaldea, Assyria, and Babylon: Of Shinar, see Chap. 10. vers. 10.

Genesis 11:3

they said] Heb. a man said to his neighbour.

burne them] Heb. burne them to a burning.

brick for stone] They would (if the place would have afforded it) have built their Tower of stone, (as if they had had good mortar they would not have used slime) but in that place they were not furnished with stone for such a purpose.

Genesis 11:4

build us a citie] They were moved with pride and ambition, preferring their owne glory before Gods honour.

whose top may reach up to heaven] An Hyperbole, that is, a speech used to expresse things in an high and incredible degree, as Deut. 1. 5: 28. & 9. 1. Psalms 107:26. Matt. 11 23. wherein too much is said that enough may be beleeved. The height of this Tower (as ancient Writers have given the measure of it) was foure thousand paces; by such a Tower some (as the prime promoters of the building, for it would not receive many at the top) might hope to save themselves from another floud, if another came, and might the better hold up a tyrannicall dominion; and by that they expected to be united, and to prevent their scattering and dispersion upon the earth, which they might apprehend from their increase, too populous for the place wherein they were, which might occasion their distribution into Colonies; and if it were so, they hoped to retaine an honourable memoriall of their former cohabitation, whereby they expected not to be cast into confusion, and so dispersed both sooner and in a worse way then they apprehended.

make us a name] By erecting such an high and huge monument of their power and cost as should make them famous in after times.

Genesis 11:5

came downe] The Scripture cometh downe to the capacitie of men, speaking after the manner of great men in high place; who, when they meane to take a particular view of things below their state, come downe for speciall notice of them, with a purpose to take such a course with them as shall be requisite; though in propriety of speech God neither ascends nor descends, for he is every where, Psalms 139:7. and needeth not come neerer to any thing then he is to all things, to know it better then he doth, Psalms 139:2.

Genesis 11:6

Behold, the people is one] God speaketh this in derision (as Genesis 3:22.) because of their foolish perswasion and presumption in their enterprise.

Genesis 11:7

let us goe downe] He speaketh as if he tooke counsell of his owne wisdome, and power, to wit, with the Sonne and the Holy Ghost. See the Note on Genesis 1:26.

confound their language] The Citie or Tower was to be built by their hands, and God hinders their worke, not by maiming them in any of their limbes, but by confounding their speech so that they did not understand one anothers words, God having striken them with oblivion of their former language, and put into their minds a new Dictionary of words; which though understood by the speaker, was altogether strange and unknowne to the hearer: hence for one Tongue (as many collect from this Chapter) there were seventy two Languages according to the number of the Nations descended from Noahs three sons; some thinke there were as many Tongues as severall kindreds or families; but the number of them cannot be certainly taken, but by this confusion God gave an illustrious evidence of his owne wisdome and power, and exposed their folly and impotence to the more scorne.

Genesis 11:8

scattered] Their intendment in their building was to prevent their dispersion or scattering, vers. 4. and God making their punishment answerable to their sin (which was to strengthen themselves in their proud project by keeping together) scattereth them asunder, by dividing their Languages; according to that of Solomon, The feare of the wicked shall come upon him, Proverbs 10:24.

Genesis 11:9

Babel] That is, Confusion, because there God confounded their Language. Some thinke it was called Babel from Balbel, abating the letter l for better sound; Drus. obser. sacr. lib. 11. cap. 23. pag. 275. Balbel is according to the Chaldee Dialect, for Balal the Hebrew word signifying, he hath mingled or confounded. Schindl. Pentag. col. 201.

Genesis 11:10

generations of Shem] He returneth to the Genealogie of Shem to come to the history of Abraham; wherein the Church of God is described, which is Moses principall purpose. Of the senioritie of Noahs sonnes, see Annot. on Chap. 10. vers. 21.

Genesis 11:12

Arphaxad—begat Selah] Betwixt Selah and Arphaxad the seventie Interpreters interpose Cainan, and according to their Catalogue of names, doth Luke draw up the Genealogie of Christ from Joseph to Adam; the reconciliation of which difference belongeth to the third of Luk. vers. 36. as to its proper place.

Genesis 11:25

Nahor lived after] Nahor was the first of the Patriarchs that fell to Idolatry, by whose gods Laban sware,: The lives of men after the floud were farre shorter then before, to keepe them from excesse of sinne, whereof the long living before the flood was a great cause; and Nahor lived but an hundred fourty and eight yeares, which is not much more then halfe the life of his predecessors. See Annot. on Genesis 31:53.

Genesis 11:26

begat Abram, &c.] That is, began to beget, for they were not all of a yeare; the like we have noted of the sonnes of Noah, Genesis 5:32.

Genesis 11:27

begat Abram] Though Abram be named first among the sonnes of Terah he was not the eldest, (no more then Shem the eldest sonne of Noah though usually first named) yet he is first mentioned, because he is the prime man, especially in respect of his spirituall prerogative in the Church, on whom and his posterity the principall part of the story of the Booke of Genesis is bestowed; for Abram, when he went out of Haran was seventy five yeares of age, Chap. 12. 4, 5. before which time Terah was dead, vers. 32. of this Chapter, whose age is summed up to two hundred and five yeares in the same place; out of which deduct the age of Abram at the time of his departing out of Haran, which presently followeth the death of his father, and the birth of Abram will fall out to be about the one hundredth and thirtieth yeare of Teahs age. And for the order of his sonnes, it is probable that Haran was the eldest though named last, Nahor the second, and Abram the youngest, though named first; for Sarai Abrams wife the daughter of Haran was but tenne yeares younger then Abram, Chap. 17. vers. 17. and supposing her father was not lesse then twenty yeares elder then she (which is probable enough) he must be tenne yeares elder then Abram. Others conceive Abram to have beene the eldest, as borne in the seventieth yeare of Terah, according to this Text, and that he departed out of Haran into Canaan while his father yet lived; but having there no settled possession of any part of that Land till after the decease of Terah, when he purchased a burying place of the sonnes of Heth, Gen. 23. vers. 17, 18. which being done by the Divine disposition, Stephen speaketh of his dwelling there according to the date of that particular, Acts 7:4. So by way of purchase he had a portion there, as any stranger might have, though not by way of inheritance, which is the meaning of Stephen, Acts 7:5.

Genesis 11:29

Iscah] Some thinke that this Iscah was Sarai mentioned in the next verse; for Haran the eldest sonne of Terah had two daughters, Milcah who maried her Uncle Nahor, and Iscah, or Sarai (if the same woman had two names) who married her Uncle Abram, and therefore is called Terahs daughter in law, vers. 31. Such marriages were not yet forbidden, Exod. 6. vers. 20. though afterwards they were, Leviticus 18:14.

Genesis 11:31

Terah tooke Abram] Albeit the Oracle of direction came to Abram, yet this honour of execution is given to Terah, to wit, to be named as the leader of the company, because he was Abrams father, who being admonished of Gods will by his sonne consented to it both in approbation and practise.

Ʋr of the Chaldees] (* Nehem. 9. 7. Acts 7:4.) Some read out of the fire of the Chaldees, for Ʋr in Hebrew signifieth a valley, light, or fire; see Isaiah 24:15. Text and Margine; and according to that they find or faine a story that Abram wa cast into the fire by the Chaldeans, because he would not worship the fire their Idoll, but was miraculously delivered from that danger: yet it is certaine that the Chadeans were Idolatrous, and probable that fire was a chiefe Idoll among them, and that this City might have its name from that Idoll.

Haran] Which was a Citie of Mesopotamia bordering upon Canaan. So in the Geneva Annot. and so Adricom. Delph. Theatr. Terr. Sanc. in the Tribe of Manasseh, pag. 86. col. 2. & 96.

Colossians 2. which seemeth to be contradicted by that of Stephen, Acts 7:2-3. where he saith, that God appeared to Abram while he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, or Haran, so that when he went to Charran he went rather out of Mesopotamia, then to a Citie of Mesopotamia. To which doubt the answer is, that Mesopotamia is sometime taken in a generall acception, and so Saint Luke takes it for a large compasse of land (beyond Euphrates in respect of Canaan) comprehending both Mesopotamia properly so called, and Chaldea; which (as Topographers describe it) borders upon it on the East-side; and so Babylon the Metropolis of Chaldea is reckoned as in Mesopotamia by Pliny. lib. 6. cap. 26. Now Abram being called while he was in Ʋr of Chaldea, the Easterne part of Mesopotamia taken in a generall sense, went with his father into Charran a Citie of Mesopotamia properly so called, and distinct from Chaldea, though called sometimes (as here by Stephen) by the same name, vers. 2. 4.