Commentary on the Pentateuch, Commentary 1 · Chapter 11
CHAP. XI. Verſ. 1. And the Whole earth was of one language]
UNity without verity, is no better then conſpiracy. A legion of Devills could accord to get into one man; and, though many, yet they ſpeak and act as one in that poſſeſſion. That infernall Kingdome is not divided againſt it ſelf. A ſhame for Gods Saints to be at difference: What ſhould ſheep do ſnarling, like dogs, one at another? The children of this world are wiſer, a fair deal, in their generation; they can combine and comply, as here, though their ſociety be as unſavoury as the ſlime and filth that is congealed, when many Toads and other Vermine meet together.
Verſ. 2. In the land of Shinar] Which was a part of the garden of Eden, as moſt Geographers think, fat and fruitfull ſtill above beliefe, Herodot. l. 1. c. 193. Plin. l. 6.26.
Verſ. 3. And they ſaid one to another] One broached this counſell, and the reſt ſoon conſented. Heb. 3. foreign. Act. 18.5. Intùs & apud ſe aeſtuabat prae …el… ardore.Let us conſider one another to whet on to love and good works: One live-coal may ſet a whole ſtack on fire. When Silas came, Paul burned in ſpirit, and preached luſtily. [Let us make brick▪ &c.] Thus, wanting ſtones they deviſed matter for their curſed building. Good cauſe hath the Church to be as ingenious and ſedulous in building Stair-caſes for heaven, as the Devill and his Imps, in digging deſcents to hell. Apud Babylonem Trajanu… Imp. vidit lacum bitumi…is, ex quo moenia Babylonis aedificata ſuerant Cujus tanta vis eſt, ut permixtum cum lateribus, quovis ſaxs ſit aut ferro potentius. Dio in vita Trajan. Jam cum Jove de divitiis licet certetis, Caſſiod l. 7. Var. …piſt, 15. Habac. 2. Matth 11.12. Diri…iunt, metapb, à caſtris aut arc… quapiam, quae irrumpeutib. host…bu… diripitur. H…lar.[And they had brick for ſtone and ſlime for morter] And yet though the walls were high and huge, this City was taken firſt by Cyrus, afterwards by Alexander, and plundered at ſeverall times by many other enemies. Shuſa in Perſia was firſt built by Tithonus and his ſon Memnon, who was ſo exceeding prodigall, that, as Caſſidorus writeth, he joyned the ſtones together with gold; ſo rich it was, that Ariſtagoras thus cheared up his ſouldiers that beſieged it: This City if you can take, you may vye with Jove himſelf for wealth and riches. Here Alexander found 50000. talents of gold, beſides ſilver. But what is all this to the heavenly Jeruſalem, whoſe pavement is pure gold, and her walls garniſhed with all pretious ſtones … Rev. 21.19. Why do we then labour in the fire, to load our ſelves with thick clay? Why doth not this Kingdome of heaven ſuffer violence by us, ſith the violent take it by force, or make a prey, a prize of it (ſo Hilary rendreth it) as ſouldiers do of a City they have taken? Oh that we could ſay of heaven, as Sixtus Ruffus doth of Cyprus, Cyprus famoſa divitiis paupertatem populi Rom. ut occuparetur, ſollicitavit! This Iſland was anciently called, Macaria: Heaven more truly.
Verſ. 4. Let us build us a City and a Tower] This Tower raiſed a head of Majeſty, 5164. paces from the ground, having its baſis and circumference equall to the height. The paſſage to goe up, went winding about the outſide, and was of an exceeding great breadth; there being not onelyonly room for horſes, carts, &c. Hey! Geog.to meet and turn, but lodgings alſo for man and beaſt, and (as Verſtegan reporteth) graſſe and corn▪fields for their nouriſhment. [Let us make us a name] This is a diſeaſe that cleaves to us all, to receive honour one of another, and not ſeek the honour that cammeth from God onelyonly, Joh. 5.44. A rare man he is ſurely, that hath not ſome Babel of his own, Dr. Prid. contra Eudamon Joh.whereon he beſtows pains and coſt, onelyonly to be talked of. Hoc ego primus vidi, was Zabarelles foreign. Epicurus, would have us believe, that he was the firſt that ever found out the truth of things. Secum literas eſſe natas, & mori…uras, Sucton. Aug. de Civit. D…, l. 16.P…lamon gave out, that all learning was born, and would dye with him. Aratus the Aſtrologer, that he had numbred the Star…, and written of them all. Archimedes the Mathematician, that if he had but where to ſet his foot. he could move the earth out of its place. Hereſtratus burnt Diana's Temple for a name: And Plato writes of Protagoras, that he vaunted, Plat… in Me… Tuſc. 3. Pro Archi… Pocta.that whereas he had lived ſixty years, forty of them he had ſpent in corrupting of youth. Tully tells us, that Gracchus did all for popular applauſe; and obſerves that thoſe Philoſophers that have written of the contempt of glory, have yet ſet their names to their own writings, which ſhews an itch after that glory, they perſwaded others to deſpiſe. Theſe two things (ſaith Tully ſomewhere of himſelf) I have to boaſt of, Epiſt. famil. l. 7.Optimarum artium ſcientiam, & maximarum rerum gloriam, my learned works, and noble acts. Julius Caeſar had his picture ſet upon the globe of the world, with a ſword in his right hand, a book in his left, Gabriel Sim…on in Symbo…is. Dion Caſſ in Tyberto.with this Motto, Ex utroque Caeſar Vibius Rufus uſed the chair wherein Caeſar was wont to ſit, and was ſlain; he married alſo Tullies widow, and boaſted of them both, as if either for that ſeat he had been Caeſar, or for that wife an Oratour. When Maximus dyed in the laſt day of his Conſulſhip, Caninius Rebilus petitioned Caeſar, O vigilantem Conſulem qui tuto conſulat… ſui tempore, ſomnum non vidit.for that part of the day, that he might be ſaid to have been Conſul. So many of the Popiſh Clergy have with great care and coſt procured a Cardinals hat, when they have lain adying, that they might be entituled Cardinals in their Epitaph, as Eraſmus writeth. But for mens enobling themſelves by building, thoſe ſeven wonders of the world were made meerly for a name. Pharos a watch-tower in Egypt (being one of the ſeven) was built by Ptolomie Philadelph, all of white marble; the chief Architect was Soſtratus of Gnidos, who engraved on the work this inſcription, Soſtratus of Gnidos, ſon of Dexiphanes, to the Gods protectours, for the ſafeguard of Saylors. Heyli…s Geog. 750.This Inſcription he covered with plaiſter, and thereon engraved the name, and title of the King the founder: that (that ſoon waſted and waſhed away) his own that was written in marble, might be eternized to poſterity. This Tower, ſaith Wickam, is a known ſtory. B. God wines Catalogue.And Phidias the famous carver ſo cunningly enchaſed his own countenance into Minerva's ſheild at Athens, That it could not be defaced, but the ſheild it ſelf muſt be disfigured. Heyl. Geog. pag. 140.The Hague in Holland hath two thouſand houſholds in it. The inhabitants will not wall it, as deſiring to have it counted rather the principle Village of Europe, then a leſſer City. And Sextus Marius, being once offended with his Neighbor, invited him to be his gueſt, for two days together. The firſt of thoſe two days he pulled down his Neighbors Farmhouſe; the next, he ſet it up again, far bigger, Dio in Tiberio.and better then before. And all this for a name, that his Neighbors might ſee and ſay, What good or hurt he could do them at his pleaſure.
Verſ. 5. And the Lord came down] Non motu locali, ſed actu judiciali. To ſee the City, &c. that ſo his ſentence grounded not upon hear-ſay, or uncertain information, might be above all cavillation or exception. A fair preſident for Judges. Caiaphas firſt ſentenced our Saviour, and then asked the Aſſeſſors what they thought of it? The chief captain firſt commanded Paul to be ſcourged, and then examined, Acts 22. This was propoſterous. God though he knew all before, yet is ſaid to come down to ſee. Let his actions be our inſtructions. No man muſt be raſhly pronounced a Leper: And the Judges muſt make diligent inquiſition, Deut. 19.18. as flints they muſt carry fire, but not eaſily expreſs it. Potiphar was too haſty with Joſeph, and David with Mephiboſheth. Aeneas Sylvius tells us of ſome places, Aene. Sylvius. Europ. cap. 20.where theeves taken but upon ſuſpition, are preſently truſſed up, and three days after, they ſit in judgment upon the party executed. If they finde him guilty, they let him hang, till he fall. As if not, they take down the body, and bury it honorably at the publike charge. This is not God-like, nor a point of wiſdom; for Nervus eſt ſapientiae non temerè credere. [Which the children of men builded.] Nimrod chiefly, with his fellow Chamites. But that ſome of Shems and Japh…ts poſterity had a hand in it, is more then probable, by their common puniſhment, the confuſion of tongues, Heber and his, had nothing to do with them; and therefore retained the Hebrew tongue, called thenceforth the Jews Language, Iſai 36.11. Until they were carried captive to Babylon, where grew a mixture amongſt them of Hebrew and Chaldee: Whence came up the Syri…k tongue common in our Saviours time, as appears by many Syriack words in the Goſpels.
Verſ. 6. Behold the people is one, &c.] This benefit they abuſed to their pride and ambition, which they ſhould have uſed to the help of humane ſociety, and common intercourſe. They built, and God bare with them for a time, that he might make fools of them in the end. And this he doth daily.
Verſ. 7. Go to, let us go down] Go to, ſay they: Go to, ſaith he. Let us build to Heaven, ſay they: Let us go down and ſee it, ſaith he. Let us make us a name, ſay they: Let us confound their Language, that they may not ſo much as know their own names, ſaith he. Leſt we be ſcattered, ſay they; Let us ſcatter them abroad the world, ſaith he. Thus God words it with them, and confutes their folly from point to point. Thus he ſets himſelf in battle-ray againſt the proud, foreign, Jam. 4.7.as Saint James hath it, and overthrows them in plain field. He delt more ſeverely with David for numbring the people, then for the matter of Ʋriah. He turned Nebuchadnezzar a grazing among beaſts, for pruning and priding himſelf upon this Babel. Is not this great Babel, that I have built? Why no, Nimrod built it, and Ninus, and Semiramis: Nebuchadnezzar onelyonly beautified it, or, at utmoſt, inlarged it. But pride detracts from God and man, and is therefore juſtly hated and ſcorned of both. [And there confound their Language.] When men began once foreign, they were compelled by God foreign.
Bring me, quoth one, a trowel quickly, quick
One brings him up a hammer; hew this brick
Another bids, Dubartas.and then they cleave a tree;
Make faſt this rope, and then they let it flee.
One calls for plank; another morter lacks:
They bring the firſt a ſtone, the laſt an ax.
Neither is there any better underſtanding and agreement among the Babel-builders at this day, (Babylon enim altera, nempe propinquior atque recentior adhuc ſtat, citò itidem caſura, ſi eſſetis viri, ſaid Petrarch long ſince) witneſs their many ſects and deadly diſſenſions among themſelves, De rem. utriuſque fort. dial. 118.of which, read the Peace of Rome, Rhemes againſt Rome, and divers other Engliſh Treatiſes to the ſame purpoſe. Bellarmine teacheth, That the bread in the Sacrament is not turned into Chriſts body productivè, but adductivè. And this ſaith he, Cade of the Church. 247.is the opinion of the Church of Rome. This Suarez denyes, and ſaith, It is not the Churches opinion. Thus theſe great maſter-builders are confounded in their Language, and underſtand not their own Mother. The greateſt Clarks amongſt them, cannot yet determine how the Saints know our hearts and prayers: Whether by hearing or ſeeing, or preſence every where, or by Gods relating or revealing mens prayers, and needs unto them. M…tons Appeal lib. 2. cap. 12. ſect. 5.All which ways ſome of them hold, as poſſible or probable; and others deny and confute them as untrue.
Verſ. 8. So the Lord ſcattered them abroad] Which was the evil they …eared, and by this enterprize, ſought to prevent. But there is neither counſel, power, nor policy againſt the Lord. The fear of the wi…ked ſhall come upon him, Prov. 10.24. As it befel thoſe wretched Jews. Iohn 11.48. The Romans ſhall come, &c. and come they did accordingly. Pilate for fear of loſing his Office, delivered up Chriſt, and was by Caius kickt off the bench.
Verſ. 9. The Lord did there confound the Language.] A ſore croſs and hinderance of interchange of commodities between Nation and Nation. This great labor alſo hath God laid, hereby, upon the ſons of men, that a great part of our beſt time is ſpent about the ſhell (in learning of Language) before we can come at the kernel of true wiſdom; Scripture-wiſdom eſpecially. Our Saviours Epitaph written in Hebrew, Greek and Latine, as it ſets forth Chriſt unto us to be, Firſt, The moſt holy (for the Hebrew tongue is called the holy Tongue.) Secondly, Laſhon haccadoſh.The moſt wiſe (for in Greek, is all humane wiſdom written.) Thirdly, The moſt powerful (for the Latines were Lords of the earth, and propagated their tongue amongſt all Nations.) So it ſignifies that God would have the dignity and ſtudy of theſe three tongues, to be retained and maintained in the Churches of Chriſt to the worlds end. Hebricians (ſaith Reuchlin) drink of the Fountains, Hebraei bibunt fontes, Graeci rivos. Latini paludes. Reuchl. Joh. Man…i. loc. com. p. 130.Grecians of the Rivers, Latiniſts of the ſtanding pools onelyonly. There were that mocked at the multitude of tongues, Acts 2.13. And the Monks were mad almoſt at ſuch Camilli literarii, as chaſed out barbariſm, and brought in the learned Languages. But let us acknowledg it a ſingular gift of God, as for the gathering of the Church at firſt, Acts 2. Epheſ. 4.13.So ſtill for the edifying of the body of Chriſt, till we all come unto a perfect man, to ſpeak the Language of Canaan, in the Kingdom of Heaven. [And from thence did the Lord ſcatter them.] The Hebrew Doctors ſay, R. Menahem in Gen. 11.That at this diſperſion there were ſeventy Nations with ſeventy ſundry Languages. Epiphanius ſaith, That their one Language was divided into ſeventy two; for ſo many men were then preſent, and each man had his ſeveral dialect, and went his ſeveral way with it. Cleopatra is famous in hiſtory for her skill in tongues: She could give a ready anſwer to Ambaſſadors that came; whether they were Ethiopians, Hebrews, Arabians, Syrians, Medes, or Parthians: Yea, ſhe could tune and turn her tongue, as an inſtrument of many ſtrings (ſaith Plutarch) to what language ſoever ſhe pleaſed. foreign. Plut.This mindes me of thoſe cloven tongues, and of that utterance the Spirit gave them, Acts 2. Parthians, Medes, Elamites, ſtrangers of Rome, Jews and Proſelytes, Cretes and Arabians, heard the Apoſtles, ſpeak in their own tongue the wonderful works of God, to the ſingular advantage of the Church, that was then out of all Nations to be collected, and that by a like means, as theſe Rebels were ſcattered.
Verſ. 11. And She… lived after he begat, &c.] He ſaw ten generations, and lived till Iſaac was fifty yeer old, who might well be his Pupil; which (if Shem were Melchiſedech) is ſo much the more likely. Heber alſo lived till Abraham was dead; a ſingular bleſſing to them both. This comfort the Patriarks had of their tireſome and tedious pilgrimage; that as Shem ſaw Lamech, ſo L…mech ſaw Adam, and Iſaac ſaw Shem. Now, ipſe aspectus viri boni delectat, ſaith Seneca. How much more, when they that fear the Lord, ſpeak often one to another, Mal. 3.16. for mutual edification and encouragement. This the mad world calls faction, and caprichiouſneſs. Tert. Apel. adverſ. geutes, cap. 39. …. 520.But what ſaith Tertullian to it? Cùm boni, cum probi coeunt, cum pii, cum caſti congregantur, non eſt factio dicenda, ſed curia: Et è contrario illis nomen factionis accommodandum eſt, qui in odium bonorum & proborum conspirant.
Verſ. 28. And Haran died before his father Torah.] The Hebrews ſay he died a Martyr, being burnt with fire by his Countrymen the Chaldees, becauſe he would not worſhip the Fire, which they had made their god. Martyrdom came early into the world, as we know in Abel; who as he was the firſt that died, ſo he died for Religion. Now if this be true of Haran, as the Jew Doctors will have it; then he had, for ought we know, the maidenhead (as a certain Martyr phraſed it) of that kinde of Martyrdom. The firſt that were burnt for Religion, ſince the Reformation, are ſaid to be Henry and John, two Auguſtine Monksat Bruſſels, Anno 1523. under James Hogoſtratus the Domician Inquiſitor. The executioner being demanded, whether they recanted in the flames, he denyed there was any ſuch thing: But ſaid, That when the fire was put to them, they continued ſinging the Creed, and T… Deum, Eraſm. lib. 24. E…iſt. 4.till the flame took away their voyce. All this Eraſmus teſtifieth, though he were no Lutheran; and thereupon maketh this good, but wary note, Damnari, diſſecari, ſuspendi, exuri, decollari, piis cum impiis ſunt communia: da…ere, diſſecare, in cruoem agere, exurere, decollare, bonis judi…ibus cum piratis ac tyrannis communia ſunt. Varia ſunt hominum judicia, ille faelix qui judice Deo abſolvitur. Our Protomartyr in Queen Maries days was Reverend Maſter Rogers; he gave the firſt adventure upon the fire. His wife and children, being eleven in number, ten able to go, and one ſucking at her breſt, Act. & M…n. fol. 1356.met him by the way, as he went toward Smithfield. This ſorrowful ſight of his own fleſh and blood, could nothing move him, but that he conſtantly held out to the death, and ſo received a crown of life. Neither hath God left himſelf without witneſs among the very Heathens. For in the City of Lima in Mexico, not two moneths before our coming thither (ſaith Captain Drake) twelve perſons were condemned by the Spaniards there, The world encompaſſed by S. Fr. Drake. p. 59.for profeſſion of the Goſpel: Of which, ſix were bound to one ſtake and burnt; the reſt remained yet in priſon, to drink of the ſame cup within a few days.
Verſ. 30. But Sarai was barren.] Till ſhe had prayed for a childe thirty yeers, and then ſhe had him with abundance of joy. At firſt ſhe beleeved not the promiſe, but laughed at the unlikelyhood and was checkt for it. But when ſhe had better bethought her ſelf, Through faith ſhe received ſtrength to conceive ſeed, becauſe ſhe judged him faithful who had promiſed, Heb. 11.11. She was, (when paſt age) delivered of a childe; who was not more the childe of her fleſh, then of her Faith. Whether ſhe were that Iſcah ſpoken of in the verſe next aforegoing, the Doctors are divided. Some ſay, Ea quae clavum adminiſtration is tenes.that Iſcah in Chaldee ſignifieth the ſame that Sa…ai in Hebrew. Others more probably make Sarai another woman, and the daughter not of Haran but of Terah: How elſe could Abram ſay of her, That ſhe was the daughter of his father, … not of his mother? Gen. 20.12.
Verſ. 31. And Terah took, &c.] Being admoniſhed of the Divine Oracl…, Act… 7.12… by his ſon Abraham, he rebuked him not, neither charged him, upon his bleſſing, to abide in his native Countrey, as many a father would have done (for, what? was he wiſer and better then his forefathers?) but abandoned his idols, and went as far as his old legs cou… carry him toward the Countrey that God ſhould ſhew them. Heb. 11.For as yet they went forth, not knowing whither they went. Inſtar caeci oculos claufit. vo cantemque Deum ſecu…us eſt. Bucholcer.But having God by the hand, they knew they could not go amiſs. This was a bleſſed blinde obedience, not to diſpute but to diſpatch; to wink, and put themſelves into Gods hand, to be led about at his pleaſure, to follow him without ſciſeitation.