Annotations on the Pentateuch, Psalms, Song of Songs, Biblical commentary 1 · Chapter 11
CHAP. XI.
1, One Language was in all the world. 3. The building of Babel, 5, for which God sent the confusion of languages. 10, The generations and lives of the second ten Patriarchs; as 11, of Sem, 12, Arphaxad, 14, Salah, 16, Heber, 18, Phaleg, 20. Ragau, 22, Saruch, 24, Nachor, 26, Thara, and Abram; 30, whose wife Sarai is barren. 31, Thara and Abram, remove from Vr of the Chaldees, towards Canaan: but tarry at Charran, where Thara dyeth.
ANd all the earth was of one lip; and of one speech. And it was when they journyed from the east, that they found a plaine in the land of Shinar, and they seated there. And they sayd every man to his neighbour; Goe too, let us make bricks, and burne them with a burning: and they had bricke, for stone; and slime had they for morter. And they said; Goe too, let us build us a City, and a Tower, and let the top thereof reach to the heavens; and let us make us a name: lest we be scattered-abroad upon the face of all the earth.
And Iehovah came downe, to see the Citie, and the Tower: which the sons of men builded. And Iehovah sayd; Behold the people is one, and they have all one lip; and this they begin to doe: and now, there will not bee cut-off from them, any thing that they have imagined to doe. Goe too, Let us goe-downe, and let us confound there their lip: that they may not heare every-man his neighbours lip. And Iehovah scatteredthem-abroad, from thence, upon the face of all the earth: and they left-off to build the City. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because there Iehovah confounded the lip of all the earth: and from thence Iehovah scattered-them-abroad, upon the face of all the earth.
These are the generations of Sem; Sem was a hundred yeeres old; and hee begat Arphaxad: two yeeres after the flood. And Sem lived, after hee begat Arphaxad, five hundred yeeres: and begat sonnes and daughters.
And Arphaxad lived five & thirty yeres: and he begat Salah. And Arphaxad lived, after he begat Salah, foure hundred yeeres, and three yeeres: and begat sonnes and daughters.
And Salah lived thirty yeeres: and he begat Heber. And Salah lived, after hee begat Heber, foure hundred yeres, and three yeres: and begat sons and daughters.
And Heber lived foure and thirty yeres: and he begat Phaleg. And Heber lived, after hee begat Phaleg, foure hundred yeeres, and thirty yeeres: and begat sonnes and daughters.
And Phaleg lived thirty yeeres: and hee begat Ragau. And Phaleg lived, after he begat Ragau, two hundred yeeres, and nine yeeres: and begat sons and daughters.
And Ragau lived two and thirty yeeres: and he begat Saruch. And Ragau lived, after he begat Saruch, two hundred yeeres, and seven yeeres: and begat sonnes and daughters.
And Saruch lived thirty yeeres: and hee begat Nachor. And Saruch lived, after hee begat Nachor, two hundred yeeres: and begat sons and daughters.
And Nachor lived nine & twenty yeeres: and hee begat Tharah. And Nachor lived, after he begat Tharah, an hundred yeeres, and nineteene yeeres: and begat sonnes and daughters.
And Tharah lived seventy yeeres: and he begat Abram, Nachor, and Haran. And these are the generations of Tharah; Tharah begat Abram, Nachor, and Haran: and Haran begat Lot. And Haran died, before the face of Tharah his father: in the land of his nativity, in Vr of the Chaldees. And Abram and Nachor tooke them wives: the name of Abrams wife was Sarai; and the name of Nachors wife, Milcah; the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. And Sarai was barren; shee had no child. And Tharah tooke Abram his son; and Lot the sonne of Haran, his sonnes son; and Sarai his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram his sonne: and they went forth with them, from Vr of the Chaldees; to goe to the land of Canaan; and they came unto Charran, and dwelt there. And the dayes of Tharah were two hundred yeeres, and five yeeres: and Tharah dyed in Charran.
Annotations.
THe earth] that is, the inhabitants of the earth, all nations: Such words, easie to be understood, are often wanting: the Scripture it selfe sometime maketh them plaine; as, will God dwell on the earth? 1 King. 8. 27. that is, with men on the earth: 2 Chr. 6. 18. and, all lands and their land, Esay 37. 18. is expounded, nations and their land, 2 King. 19. 17. all the earth sought to see Solomon, 1 King. 10. 24. that is, all the Kings of the earth, as is expressed 2 Chron. 9. 23. See Gen. 6. 11. and 27. 46. of one lip,] that is, (as Thargum Ierusalemy expoundeth it,) of one tongue, or language. The like is in vers. 6. and 7. So lips are languages, 1 Cor. 14. 21. one speech] or, the same words. This speech was Hebrew, (which after the confusion remained in Hebers family) as the names of men doe plainly confirme. So the Ierusalemy Thargum here saith, they spake in the holy tongue, wherewith the world was created at the beginning. And this Hebrew tongue Adam and all the Patriarchs spake, and Moses and the Prophets wrote the oracles of God in it: and it was used of all the world, the space of seventeene hundred, and fifty seven yeeres, till Phaleg sonne of Heber was borne, and Babel towre in building; which was an hundred yeeres after the flood, Gen. 10. 25. and 11. 9. After that, it was in use among the Hebrews, or Iewes, (called therefore the Iewes-language, Esay 36. 11.) untill they were caried captive into Babylon: where the holy tongue ceased from common use among men, and mixed Hebrew came in place. So now of a long time, none in the world speaketh naturally the language of Adam, and of the old world; but it is gotten with study and learning. This great labour hath God laid on the sonnes of man.
Vers. 2. Shimar] or Senaar, which was also named Chaldea, and (as the Chaldee paraphrast translateth it) Babylon; the land of Nimrod: see before, Gen. 10. 10. Thargum Ierusalemy calleth it Pontus.
Vers. 3. Goe too] or, Come on: Hebr. give: a word of exhortation. So vers. 4. and 7. make] or, forme as brickes. with a burning] or, to a burning: that is, thorowly, or as the Greeke saith, with fire. Thus wanting stones, they devised matter to make their cursed building. slime] a kind of naturall lime, that was found there in pits and rivers, which served for building, as well or better then artificiall morter. In Hebrew, the words differ but little, they had chemer (naturall lime) for chomer (artificiall lime, or morter.) So Gen. 14. 10. Compare herewith the heavenly Ierusalem, whose wals are garnished with all precious stones Rev. 21. 19. 1 Pet. 2. 5
Vers. 4. the top] Hebr. the head, and here the word reach, or the like, is to be understood; for so the Scripture oft speaketh with brevity: as, the ark under curtaines, 1 Chron. 17. 1. that is, remaining under curtaines, 2 Sam. 7. 1. the men of war, by night, 2 King 25. 4. that is, fled by night, Ier. 52. 7. and many the like. See Gen. 13. 9. and 23. 13. And by the head reaching to heaven, is meant a very high towre; as Deut. 1. 28. Mat. 11. 23. and Babylon afterwards used like proud speeches, Esay 14. 13. 14. a name] meaning a great name, to bee renowmed and famous: as where one Prophet saith, I have made thee a name, 1 Chron. 17. 8. another explaineth it, a great name, 2 Sam. 7. 9. See also 2 Sam. 8. 13. This word name, is sometime put for God himselfe, Lev. 24. 11. 16. whose name is a strong tower, into which the righteous runneth, and is set aloft, Prov. 18. 10. and to walke in his name, is to keepe his faith and true religion, Mich. 4. 5. contrary to which, some doe thinke this tower of Babel was builded; as R. Menachem on this place citeth some that said, Name here meaneth nothing but Idolatry. And Thargum Ierusalemy expoundeth this building, to be partly for religion, partly for munition in time of war; saying, Let us build us a City and Tower, &c. and let us make for us within it, a house of worship, (or Temple.) lest we, &c.] a feare arising from their owne guilty consciences, as is often in the wicked, Iob 15. 20. 21. Lev. 26. 36. Prov. 28. 1.
Vers. 5. came down] that is, shewed by his works, that he tooke knowledge of this evill to punish it. This is spoken of God after the manner of men: so Gen. 18. 21. Psal. 144. 5. See the notes on Gen. 6. 6 The Chaldee explaineth it thus; And the Lord appeared to take vengeance upon the workes of the Citie and Tower.
Vers. 6. there will not be cut off from them] that is, they will not be restrained: so noting their wilfull persisting in the evill begun. Or question-wise thus, should they not be cut off? (or restrained?) meaning it was very meet they should.
Vers. 7. Let us goe downe] The holy Trinity here determineth, (as when in Gen. 1. 26. he said, Let us make man:) against the former determination of vaine men, vers. 4. So he dissipateth the counsell of the nations, Psal. 33. 10. not heare] that is, not understand: so in 1 Cor. 14. 2. hee speaketh not unto men, for no man heareth: that is, understandoth: and in Esay 36. 11. Speake, Syriacke, for we heare; that is, understand it: so a hearing heart, for an understanding, 1 King. 3. 9. Ioseph heard, that is, understood, Gen. 42. 23. and sundry the like. Albeit, God might at first smite them all with deafnesse, that they could not at all heare; and then change their tongues. A like judgement David wisheth against his enemies, Psal. 51. 10.
Vers. 8. scattered] and so dissolved their communion, and brought on them the evill which they sought to prevent, vers. 4. for, that which the wicked feareth, shall come upon him, Prov. 10. 24. The Hebrew Doctors from hence doe conclude, The generation of the division (of tongues) have no part in the world to come, (that is, in the kingdome of heaven) as it is written: And the Lord scattered them from thence, &c. The Lord scattered them in this world; and from thence the Lord scattered them in the world to come. Thalmud Bab. in Sanhedr. ch. 10. left off to build] the contrary miracle God wrought by the gift of tongues, to build up Ierusalem, Act. 2. 4. 6. 11. &c.
Vers. 9. Babel] or Babylon, in the Greeke translated Confusion: because there the Lord (Balal, that is,) Confounded their language: And Babel is the same that Balbel, but for ease of speech the first l is left out: and it accordeth with the Chaldee or Baby lonian tongue, which soundeth the Hebrew Balal, Balbel, as the Chaldee paraphrast here hath it. lip of all the earth] that is, language of all people on the earth: see verse 1. And here tongues first were for a signe to unbeleevers, (as 1 Cor. 14. 22.) that by this judgement they might be converted unto the Lord; though they made no such use thereof, as neither did those that mocked at the gift of tongues whereby the heavenly City was builded, Acts 2. 4.—13. The Hebrew Doctors say, that at this dispersion there were seventy nations, with seventy sundry languages, R. Menachem, on Gen. 11.
Vers. 10. old] Hebr. sox, and so in the rest that follow. See the notes on Gen. 5. 32. and compare this genealogy with that there. Ten Patriarchs are there reckned from Adam to Noe; and ten here, from Sem to Abraham: both of them proceeding with the linage of our Lord Christ, who came of all these fathers according to the flesh, Luke 3. There each fathers generation is set down in three verses, here but in two: and their death is not spoken of. Howbeit the lives of men, are now shortned to the halfe.
Vers. 11. 500 yeere] By this we may gather, that Sem lived till Isaak sonne of Abram was fifty yeres old, and saw ten generations after him before hee dyed. A singular blessing both to him and them.
Vers. 12. begat Salah] or, Shelach: and as the holy Ghost counted the time of Arphaxads birth, two yeeres after the flood; vers. 10. so may wee gather it for all the rest: as Sala was borne 37 yeeres after the flood, and after the creation of the world, 1693 The Greek translation inserteth here, a man which never was, by the Hebrew verity, saying that Arphaxad begat Kainan: and that Kainan lived 130 yeeres, and begat Sala. Also the time of each fathers procreation, is for the most part changed in the Greeke. This seemeth to be done purposely: that the true genealogy might not bee knowne to the heathen, for whom the Greeke Bible was first translated. And because in all Greeke Bibles Kainan was set downe: the Evangelist also, (to beare with the worlds weaknesse, or for other causes seeming good to the Spirit of God, reckneth Kainan betweene Arphaxad and Sala, in Luke 3. 36. But neither here, nor in 1 Chron. 1. nor in any Hebrew text, in his name recorded. See a like thing in Gen. 46. 20.
Vers. 14. begat Heber] after the flood, 67 yeeres, in the yeere of the world 1723.
Vers. 16. begat Phaleg] or, Peleg: after the flood 101 y. and of the world, 1757.
Vers. 17. 430 yeere] So Heber lived till Abraham was dead, Gen. 25. 7. and was the longest liver of all that were borne after the flood; and they that came after him, lived not past halfe his dayes.
Vers. 18. begat Ragau] or Rehu: after the flood 131 y. and of the world, 1787.
Vers. 20. begat Saruch] or Serug: after the flood 163 y. and of the world, 1819.
Vers. 22. thirty yeere] at the same age, Phaleg and Salah, are before noted to have begotten their sonnes. begat Nachor] after the flood 193. and of the world 1849.
Vers. 24. begat Tharah] or Terach: after the flood 222 y. and of the world, 1878.
Vers. 26. begat Abram, Nachor, and Haran] that is, began to beget: and so begat one of these three (to weet Haran) not all in the same yeere: The like was before in Noes begetting Sem, Cham, and Iapheth, Gen. 5. 32. where Sem for dignity was named first, as Abram is here; and Iapheth the eldest, last, as Haran is here. For Tharah the father, dyed 205 yeares old, vers. 32. then Abram departed from Charran, 75 yeere old, Gen. 12. 4. wherfore Abram was borne, not when Tharah was 70 but when he was 130 yeere old, which was after the flood. 352 yeere, and of the world 2008.
Vers. 28. land of his nativity] that is, his native country: or, as the Greeke saith, wherein hee was borne. Vr of the Chaldees] that is, Vr in the land of the Chaldeans; which land Stephen calleth also Mesopotamia, Act. 7. 2. 4. for it lay betweene two rivers. And Chaldea is by humane writers also called Mesopotamia, Plin. hist. b. 6. c. 27. Vr signifieth Light and Fire: here the Chaldee paraphrast taketh it to be the name of a Citie, but the Greeke translateth it a Country: and Stephen in Act. 7. 4. saith, the land of the Chaldeans. And the Chaldees being idolaters, in likelihood consecrated and named this place unto and of the Fire, which they had seene to come downe from heaven upon the Fathers sacrifices, (as is noted on Gen. 4. 4.) and whereof they were wont to light lamps for to keepe the fire, which thereupon they called Orimasda, lights of grace. So other heathens after used to honour fire, as Qu. Curtius, b. 4. saith of Darius, that he called upon the sacred and eternall Fire. Or it might be a place of sacrificing in Chaldea, as God had his Vr (that is, Fire) in Sion, and Fornace in Ierusalem, Esay 31. 9 So the Ierusalemy paraphrast calleth it here, the fiery fornace of the Chaldees. Chaldees] or Chaldeans: called in Hebrew Chasdim, and s tunred into l, maketh Chaldim: the holy Ghost in Greeke (whom wee follow) calleth it so, Chaldees, Act. 7. 4. And because they much used Astrology, therefore in time it was common for Astrologers to be called Chaldeans, as in Dan. 2. 2. 4. 5.
Vers. 29. Sarai] she was daughter of Abrams father, though not of his mother, Gen. 20. 12. her name was changed to Sarah, as Abram also was named Abraham: see Gen. 17. 15. 5. daughter of Haran] by this also it appeareth, that Haran was eldest of the three brethren. And this Milcah (or Melcha, as the Greeke writeth her) was grandmother to Rebecca, Isaaks wife, Gen. 22. 20. 23. Ischa,] in Greeke Iescha; the Iewes thinke this was Sarai, and that she had two names: and was said to be daughter of Tharah, Gen. 20. 12. as being his grandchild.
Vers. 31. Tharah tooke Abraham,] It appeareth by Ios. 24. 2. that these fathers were fallen to idolatry, and served other gods in Chaldea or Mesopotamia: and there the God of glory appeared to Abram, and said, Come thou forth from thy land, and from thy kinred: and come into the land which I will shew thee, Act. 7. 2. 3. whereas therefore Tharah here tooke Abram, &c. it seemeth Abram acquainted his father with this oracle of God, and that Tharah repenting, consented also to goe out; and is for it made as principall in the journey. with them] that is, with Tharah and Abram, whom Moses by this word them, implyeth to be author under God of this removall towards Canaan, agreeable to Stephens narration, Act. 7. as is before noted. Wherefore also in Gen. 15. 7. and Neh. 9. 7. it is manifested that the calling was specially of Abram. And his faith is particularly commended, Heb. 11. 8 dwelt] or, seated there: that is, dwelt in Charran: as Act. 7. 2. where Abram got substance, and made soules, Gen. 12. 5. and tarried there till his father Thara dyed, Act. 7 4. whose old age seemeth to be the cause of their staying in that place. And this Charran was in the land of Chaldea also, and not farre from Vr: wherefore God againe called Abram thence, Gen. 12. 1. And although there was a nearer way from Vr to Canaan, then to goe by Charran, (as in the maps of those countries may be seene:) yet because the neerest way was most dangerous and troublesome, God led them about by an inhabited and safe way, providing so for their infirmities, as hee did the like after, for Abrams children, in Exod. 13. 17. 18.