Chapter 11:
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| Gill
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Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Revelation Exodus
Genesis 11
The distinction between the sons of God and the sons of men,
now appeared again, when men began to multiply. According to
this distinction, we have in this chapter,
I. The dispersion of the sons of men at Babel, ver. 1-9. where we
have
1. Their presumptuous design, to build a city and a tower, ver. 1-
4.
2. The righteous judgment of God upon them in disappointing
the design, by confounding their language, and so scattering them,
ver. 5-9.
II. The pedigree of the sons of God down to Abraham, ver. 10-26.
with a general account of his family, and remove out of his native
country, ver. 27-32.
1. And the whole earth was of one language - Now while they all
understood one another, they would be the more capable of
helping one another, and the less inclinable to separate.
2. And they found a plain in the land of Shinar - A spacious plain,
able to contain them all.
3. Go to, let us make brick, let us build us a city - The country
being a plain, yielded neither stone nor morter, yet that did not
discourage them, but they made brick to serve instead of stone,
and slime, or pitch, instead of morter. Some think they intended
hereby to secure themselves against the waters of another flood,
but if they had, they would have chosen to build upon a mountain
rather than upon a plain. But two things it seems they aimed at in
building.
Verse1. To make them a name: they would do something to be talked of
by posterity. But they could not gain this point; for we do not find
in any history the name of so much as one of these Babel -
builders. Philo Judeus saith they engraved every one his name
upon a brick; yet neither did that serve their purpose.
Verse2. They did it to prevent their dispersion; lest we be scattered
abroad upon the face of the earth - It was done (saith Josephus) in
disobedience to that command, chap. ix, 1, replenish the earth.
God orders them to scatter. No, say they, we will live and die
together. In order hereunto they engage themselves and one
another in this vast undertaking. That they might unite in one
glorious empire, they resolve to build this city and tower, to be the
metropolis of their kingdom, and the center of their unity.
Verse5. And the Lord came down to see the city - 'Tis an expression
after the manner of men, he knew it as clearly as men know that
which they come upon the place to view. And the tower which the
children of men builded - Which speaks,
(1.) Their weakness and frailty, it was a foolish thing for the
children of men, worms of the earth, to defy heaven.
(2.) Their sinfulness, they were the sons of Adam, so it is in the
Hebrew; nay, of that Adam, that sinful disobedient Adam, whose
children are by nature children of disobedience.
(3.) Their distinction from the children of God, from whom those
daring builders had separated themselves, and built this tower to
support and perpetuate the separation.
Verse6. And the Lord said, Behold the people is one, and they have all
one language - And if they continue one, much of the earth will be
left uninhabited, and these children of men, if thus incorporated,
will swallow up the little remnant of God's children, therefore it is
decreed they must not be one. And now nothing will be restrained
from them - And this is a reason why they must be crossed, in
their design.
Verse7. Go to, let us go down and there confound their language - This
was not spoken to the angels, as if God needed either their advice
or their assistance, but God speaks it to himself, or the Father to
the Son and Holy Ghost. That they may not understand one
another's speech - Nor could they well join hands when their
tongues were divided: so that this was a proper means, both to
take them off from their building, for if they could not understand
one another, they could not help one another; and to dispose them
to scatter, for when they could not understand one another, they
could not enjoy one another. Accordingly three things were done,
1. Their language was confounded. God, who when he made man
taught him to speak, now made those builders to forget their
former language; and to speak a new one, which yet was the same
to those of the same tribe or family, but not to others: those of one
colony could converse together, but not with those of another. We
all suffer hereby to this day: in all the inconveniences we sustain
by the diversity of languages, and all the trouble we are at to learn
the languages we have occasion for, we smart for the rebellion of
our ancestors at Babel; nay, and those unhappy controversies,
which are strifes of words, and arise from our misunderstanding
of one another's languages, for ought I know, are owing to this
confusion of tongues. The project of some to frame an universal
character in order to an universal language, how desirable soever
it may seem, yet I think is but a vain thing for it is to strive against
a divine sentence, by which the languages of the nations will be
divided while the world stands. We may here lament the loss of
the universal use of the Hebrew tongue, which from henceforth
was the vulgar language of the Hebrews only, and continued so
till the captivity in Babylon, where, even among them, it was
exchanged for the Syriac. As the confounding of tongues divided
the children of men, and scattered them abroad, so the gift of
tongues bestowed upon the Apostles, Acts ii, 4-11, contributed
greatly to the gathering together of the children of God, which
were scattered abroad, and the uniting of them in Christ, that with
one mind and mouth they might glorify God, Rom. xv, 6.
(1.) The imagination of a late writer, that God did not confound
their tongues, but their religious worship, is grounded on
criticisms concerning the meaning of the Hebrew word, which are
absolutely false. Beside, would God confound their religious
worship? Surely, He is a God of order, and not of confusion.
(2.) Their building was stopped, they left off to build the city - This
was the effect of the confusion of their tongue's; for it not only
disabled them from helping one another, but probably struck a
damp upon their spirits, since they saw the hand of the Lord gone
out against them.
(3.) The builders were scattered abroad from thence upon the face
of the whole earth - They departed in companies after their
families and after their tongues, chap. x, 5, 20, 31, to the several
countries and places allotted to them in the division that had been
made, which they knew before, but would not go to take
possession of, 'till now they were forced to it. Observe
[1.] The very thing which they feared came upon them; that
dispersion which they thought to evade.
[2.] That it was God's work; the Lord scattered them; God's hand is to be acknowledged in all scattering providences; if the family be
scattered, relations scattered, churches scattered, it is the Lord's
doing.
[3.] That they left behind them a perpetual memorandum of their
reproach in the name given to the place; it was called Babel,
confusion.
(4.) The children of men were now finally scattered, and never will come all together again 'till the great day. when the Son of Man
shall sit upon the throne of his glory, and all nations shall be
gathered before him, Matt. xxv, 31, 32.
Verse10. Observe here,
1. That nothing is left upon record concerning those of this line,
but their names and ages; the Holy Ghost seeming to hasten thro'
them to the story of Abraham. How little do we know of those
that are gone before us in this world, even those that lived in the
same places where we live! Or indeed of those who are our
contemporaries, but in distant places.
2. That there was an observable gradual decrease in the years of
their lives. Shem reached to 600 years, which yet fell short of the
age of the patriarchs before the flood; the three next came short of
500, the three next did not reach to 300, and after them we read
not of any that attained to 200 but Terah; and not many ages after
this, Moses reckoned 70 or 80 to be the utmost men ordinarily
arrive at. When the earth began to be replenished, mens lives
began to shorten so that the decrease is to be imputed to the wise
disposal of providence, rather than to any decay of nature.
3. That Eber, from whom the Hebrews were denominated, was the
longest lived of any that were born after the flood; which perhaps
was the reward of his strict adherence to the ways of God.
Verse27. Here begins the story of Abram. We have here,
1. His country: Ur of the Chaldee's - An idolatrous country, where
even the children of Eber themselves degenerated.
2. His relations, mentioned for his sake, and because of their
interest in he following story.
(1.) His father was Terah, of whom it is said, Josh. xxiv, 2, that he
served other gods on the other side the flood; so early did idolatry
gain footing in the world. Enough it is said, ver. 26, that when
Terah was seventy years old he begat Abram, Nabor and Haran,
which seems to tell us that Abram was the eldest son of Terah,
and born in the 70th year; yet by comparing ver. 32, which makes
Terah to die in his 205th year, with Acts vii, 4, where it is said
that Abram removed from Haran when his father was dead, and
chap. xii, 4, where it is said that he was but 75 years old when he
removed from Haran, it appears that he was born in the 130th year of Terah, and probably was his youngest son. We have,
(2.) Some account of his brethren
[1.] Nahor, out of whole family both Isaac and Jacob had their
wives.
[2.] Haran, the father of Lot, of whom it is here said, ver. 28, that he died before his father Terah. 'Tis likewise said that he died in
Ur of the Chaldees, before that happy remove of the family out of
that idolatrous country.
[3.] His wife was Sarai, who, tho' some think was the same with
Iscah the daughter of Haran. Abram himself saith, she was the
daughter of his father, but not the daughter of his mother, chap.
xx, 12. She was ten years younger than Abram.
3. His departure out of Ur of the Chaldees, with his father Terah,
and his nephew Lot, and the rest of his family, in obedience to the
call of God. This chapter leaves them in Haran or Charran, a place
about the mid-way between Ur and Canaan, where they dwelt 'till
Terah's head was laid; probably because the old man was unable,
through the infirmities of age, to proceed in his journey.
Chapter 11:
| Calvin
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 Revelation Exodus
This version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible is a derivative of an electronic version, Copyright 1997, by Sulu D. Kelley. All rights reserved. Used by permission. It may not be modified or used commercially without permission of Wesleyan Heritage Publishing and Sulu Kelley. A special thanks to Mr. Kelley and Wesleyan Heritage Publishing for permission to create and post this version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible.
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