EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries
Genesis 11:4
What the people did was evil. It is not evil to build a city. But they tried to show that they were important. They did not give honour to God. And they thought that they were more important than God.
What the people did was evil. It is not evil to build a city. But they tried to show that they were important. They did not give honour to God. And they thought that they were more important than God.
Verse Genesis 11:4. _LET US BUILD US A CITY AND A TOWER_] On this subject there have been various conjectures. Mr. Hutchinson supposed that the design of the builders was to erect a _temple to the ho...
- The Confusion of Tongues 1. נסע _nāsa‛_ “pluck out, break up, journey.” מקדם _mı̂qedem_ “eastward, or on the east side” as in Genesis 2:14; Genesis 13:11;...
CHAPTER 11:1-9 THE TOWER OF BABEL AND THE SCATTERING OF THE NATIONS _ 1. The unity of the nations in Shinar (Genesis 11:1)_ 2. Their attempt: “Let us make” (Genesis 11:3) 3. The divine answer: “Let...
THE CITY, THE TOWER, AND THE CONFUSION OF SPEECH. The section plainly belongs to J but not to the same stratum as the story of the Flood, nor is it consistent with the origin assigned to the various n...
MAY REACH. No _Ellipsis_ here. Hebrew "and its top with the heavens", i.e. with the Zodiac depicted on it, as in ancient temples of Denderah and Esneh in Egypt. A NAME. Manifesting independence of Go...
_a city, and a tower_ The story seems to suggest that in the abandonment of tent for city life these primitive people were disobeying the Divine command. _whose top_may reach _unto heaven_ Lit. "its...
GO TO, LET US BUILD, &C.— They proposed to build a magnificent city with a _tower,_ either for defence or for religion, though for the latter most probably; _whose top,_ says our translation, _may rea...
PART TWENTY-FOUR: THE BEGINNING AGAIN OF HUMAN PRESUMPTION (Genesis 11:1-9) 1. _The Story of Babel_ And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeye...
_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._ Let us build us a...
11:4 top (h-16) or 'head.'...
A CITY AND A TOWER] The principal building in every ancient city was its temple, and the chief feature of a Babylonian temple was its ziggurat or stage-tower. The remains of these towers are the most...
A TOWER, WHOSE TOP MAY REACH UNTO HEAVEN. — The Hebrew is far less hyperbolical: namely, _whose head_ (or top) _is in the heavens,_ or skies, like the walls of the Canaanite cities (Deuteronomy 1:28)....
וַ יֹּאמְר֞וּ הָ֣בָה ׀ נִבְנֶה ־לָּ֣נוּ עִ֗יר...
THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES Genesis 11:1 Driven by the fear of another deluge, though God had given distinct assurances to the contrary, and impelled by the desire to perpetuate their name and memory to...
In this chapter we have the account of a human movement against dispersion. The movement was one of rebellion and was frustrated by divine interposition. The divine intention was the covering of the w...
MAKING A NAME FOR THEMSELVES The text makes it clear the people began to be more interested in their own thoughts than God's will. Three times they used an expression starting with the words, "let us....
And they said, Go to, let us (e) 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. (e) They were...
_Famous before; Hebrew lest, &c.; as if they intended to prevent that event. (Haydock) --- Their motive appears to have been pride, which raised the indignation of God. Nemrod, the chief instigator, m...
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. Reader! I charge you...
There is one characteristic of divine revelation to which attention may be profitably called as a starting point. We have to do with facts. The Bible alone is a revelation of facts, and, we can add (n...
4._Whose top may reach unto heaven_. This is an hyperbolical form of speech, in which they boastingly extol the loftiness of the structure they are attempting to raise. And to the same point belongs w...
THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 10 AND 11. Chapter s 10, 11 give us the history of the world as peopled and established after the deluge, and the ways of men in this new world; the great pla...
AND THEY SAID, GO TO, LET US BUILD US A CITY AND A TOWER,.... Some Jewish writers r say, these are the words of Nimrod to his people; but it is a question whether he was now born, or if he was, must b...
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. Ver. 4. _Let us b...
Gen. 11:3, 4, etc. _Concerning the building of Babel and confusion of tongues. _ Bochart in his preface to his _Phaleg, _ about the middle, says, "What follows concerning the tower of Babel, its struc...
_Let us make brick, let us build a city_ The country, being a plain, yielded neither stone nor mortar; yet this did not discourage them; but they made brick to serve instead of stone, and slime instea...
1 One language in the world. 3 The building of Babel. 5 The confusion of tongues. 10 The generations of Shem. 27 The generations of Terah the father of Abram. 31 Terah goeth from Vr to Haran. 1...
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. Their plans were made...
The building of the Tower...
FOURTH SECTION _The Tower of Babel, the Confusion of Languages, and the Dispersion of the Nations_ GENESIS 11:1-9 1And the whole earth was of one language [lip], and of one speech. 2And it came to p...
BABEL: THE CITY AND THE TOWER Up to this time there was only one language. In the world today men wish they could have this advantage, but God is wiser than men. Men desire this for the very same rea...
1-4 How soon men forget the most tremendous judgments, and go back to their former crimes! Though the desolations of the deluge were before their eyes, though they sprang from the stock of righteous...
WHOSE TOP MAY REACH UNTO HEAVEN, i.e. a very high tower; a usual hyperbole, both in Scripture, as DEUTERONOMY 1:28, DEUTERONOMY 9:1, and in other authors. This tower and its vast height is noted by He...
This is a chapter of very deep interest to the spiritual mind. It records two great facts, namely, the building of Babel, and the call of Abraham; or, in other words, man's effort to provide for himse...
Genesis 11:4 said H559 (H8799) Come H3051 (H8798) build H1129 (H8799) city H5892 tower H4026 top...
THE SIN OF THE NATIONS (11:1-9). We are now to be shown why the nations divided up into different languages with the consequent suspicions, hatreds and warfares which resulted. Overall it will be seen...
Genesis 11:4 _(with Acts 2:3)_ I. Three motives may have led to the building of the Tower of Babel: (1) a feeling that in union and communion lay the secret of man's renown and strength that to dispe...
Genesis 11:1. From the text we gather these practical suggestions: I. Examine carefully the quality and meaning of every new plan of life. II. Beware of the sophism that Heaven helps those who help...
CONTENTS: Failure under Noamic covenant. Tower of Babel. Scattering of the people. Ancestry of Abram. CHARACTERS: Shem, Terah, Abram, Lot, Sarai. CONCLUSION: Man ever builds under the heavens, seeki...
Genesis 11:1. _One language_ or lip. These words are to be literally understood, because it is added, God confounded their language. There has been a long and unavailing dispute whether the Chaldaic,...
_Go to, let us build us a city and a tower_ THE TOWER OF BABEL I. Three motives may have led to the building of the tower of Babel. 1. A feeling that in union and communion lay the secret of man’s...
MAKING A NAME Let us make us a name. Genesis 11:4. The people of Babylon wished to make themselves a name. There might be nothing wrong in that; most people would like to make a name for themselves....
GENESIS—NOTE ON GENESIS 11:2 COME,... LET US MAKE A NAME FOR OURSELVES. Contrary to God’s plan that humanity should fill the earth (e.g., Genesis 1:22,...
GENESIS—NOTE ON GENESIS 11:1 The story of the Tower of Babel is more important than its length suggests. It tells of a unified humanity using all its resources to establish a city that is the antithes...
CRITICAL NOTES.— The whole earth.] The then known world with all its human inhabitants. ONE LANGUAGE AND OF ONE SPEECH.] _Heb. Of one lip, and one (kind of) words._ Murphy renders, “Of one lip and one...
EXPOSITION GENESIS 11:1 AND THE WHOLE EARTH. I_.e._ the entire population of the globe, and not simply the inhabitants of the land of Shinar (Ingiis; cf. Genesis 9:29). WAS. Prior to the dispersion s...
Now in chapter eleven. The whole earth was of one language, and one speech (Genesis 11:1). Probably Hebrew because in the earlier record of the book of Genesis, the names of the people were Hebrew n...
whose. Deuteronomy 1:28 Deuteronomy 9:1 Daniel 4:11 Daniel 4:22 and let....
THE TOWER OF BABEL Genesis 11:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS We will give some suggestion as to the connecting link between our last study, and today's. There are two outstanding considerations. 1. NOAH'S DR...