CHAPTER XI _All the inhabitants of the earth, speaking one language_ _and dwelling in one place_, 1, 2, _purpose to build a city and a tower to prevent their_ _dispersion_, 3, 4. _God confounds their language, and scatters them over_ _the whole earth_, 5-9. _Account of the lives and families... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 11:2. _AS THEY JOURNEYED FROM THE EAST_] Assyria, Mesopotamia, and the country on the borders and beyond the Euphrates, are called the _east_ in the sacred writings. Balaam said that the king of Moab had brought him _from the mountains of the east_, Numbers 23:7. Now it appears, from... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 11:3. _LET US MAKE BRICK_] It appears they were obliged to make use of _brick_, as there was an utter scarcity of _stones_ in that district; and on the same account they were obliged to use _slime_, that is, bitumen, (Vulg.) ασφαλτος, (_Septuagint_) _for_ _mortar_: so it appears they h... [ Continue Reading ]
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 host of_ _heaven_-the sun, moon, planets, c. and, to support this interpretation, he says וראשו בשמים... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 11:5. _AND THE LORD CAME DOWN_] A lesson, says an ancient Jewish commentator, to magistrates to examine every evidence before they decree judgment and execute justice.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 11:6. _THE PEOPLE IS ONE, C._] From this, as before observed, we may infer, that as the people had the same language, so they had a unity of design and sentiment. It is very likely that the original language was composed of monosyllables, that each had a distinct _ideal_ meaning, and... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 11:7. _GO TO_] A form of speech which, whatever it might have signified formerly, now means nothing. The Hebrew העה _habah_ signifies come, _make preparation_, as it were for a journey, the execution of a purpose, c. Almost all the versions understand the word in this way the Septuagin... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 11:9. _THEREFORE IS THE NAME OF IT CALLED BABEL_] בבל _babel_, from בל _bal_, to _mingle_, _confound, destroy_; hence _Babel_, from the mingling together and confounding of the projects and language of these descendants of Noah; and this confounding did not so much imply the producing... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 11:10. _THESE_ ARE _THE GENERATIONS OF SHEM_] This may he called the _holy family_, as from it sprang _Abraham, Isaac, Jacob_, the _twelve patriarchs_, _David, Solomon_, and all the great progenitors of the Messiah. We have already seen that the Scripture chronology, as it exists in... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 11:12. _AND ARPHAXAD LIVED_] The Septuagint bring in here a second Cainan, with an addition of one hundred and thirty years. St. Luke follows the Septuagint, and brings in the same person in the same way. But the Hebrew text, both here and in 1 Chronicles 1:1, is perfectly silent on th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 11:26. _AND TERAH LIVED SEVENTY YEARS, AND BEGAT ABRAM, NAHOR,_ _AND HARAN._] Haran was certainly the eldest son of Terah, and he appears to have been born when Terah was about seventy years of age, and his birth was followed in successive periods with those of _Nahor_ his second, and... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 11:29. _MILCAH, THE DAUGHTER OF HARAN_] Many suppose _Sarai_ and _Iscah_ are the same person under two different names; but this is improbable, as _Iscah_ is expressly said to be the daughter of Haran, and _Sarai_ was the daughter of Terah, and half sister of Abram.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Genesis 11:31. _THEY WENT FORTH - FRONT UR OF THE CHALDEES_] Chaldea is sometimes understood as comprising the whole of Babylonia; at other times, that province towards _Arabia Deserta_, called in Scripture _The land of the Chaldeans_. The capital of this place was _Babylon_, called in Scriptu... [ Continue Reading ]
|-------------------------------------------------| | A TABLE | | | | SHOWING THE | | | | GENEALOGY OF THE PATRIARCHS | | | | FROM | | | | ADAM TO JACOB | | | | (A Period of 2168 Years) | | | | AND ALSO | | | | WHICH OF THE PATRIARCHS WERE | | CONTEMPORARY WITH EACH OTHER | | ----------------------... [ Continue Reading ]