mh_parser/vol_split/1 - Genesis/Chapter 11.xml

<div2 id="Gen.xii" n="xii" next="Gen.xiii" prev="Gen.xi" progress="9.64%" title="Chapter XI">
<pb id="Gen.xii-Page_78" n="78"/>
<h2 id="Gen.xii-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
<h3 id="Gen.xii-p0.2">CHAP. XI.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xii-p1">The old distinction between the sons of God and
the sons of men (professors and profane) survived the flood, and
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 (<scripRef id="Gen.xii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.1-Gen.11.9" parsed="|Gen|11|1|11|9" passage="Ge 11:1-9">ver.
1-9</scripRef>), where we have, 1. Their presumptuous provoking
design, which was to build a city and a tower, <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.1-Gen.11.4" parsed="|Gen|11|1|11|4" passage="Ge 11:1-4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>. 2. The righteous judgment of God
upon them in disappointing their design, by confounding their
language, and so scattering them, <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.5-Gen.11.9" parsed="|Gen|11|5|11|9" passage="Ge 11:5-9">ver. 5-9</scripRef>. II. The pedigree of the sons of
God down to Abraham (<scripRef id="Gen.xii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.10-Gen.11.26" parsed="|Gen|11|10|11|26" passage="Ge 11:10-26">ver.
10-26</scripRef>), with a general account of his family, and
removal out of his native country, <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.27-Gen.11.32" parsed="|Gen|11|27|11|32" passage="Ge 11:27-32">ver. 27</scripRef>, &amp;c.</p>
<scripCom id="Gen.xii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11" parsed="|Gen|11|0|0|0" passage="Ge 11" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Gen.xii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.1-Gen.11.4" parsed="|Gen|11|1|11|4" passage="Ge 11:1-4" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.11.1-Gen.11.4">
<h4 id="Gen.xii-p1.8">The Confusion of Tongues. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xii-p1.9">b. c.</span> 2247.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xii-p2">1 And the whole earth was of one language, and
of one speech.   2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from
the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they
dwelt there.   3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us
make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone,
and slime had they for mortar.   4 And they said, Go to, let
us build us a city and a tower, whose top <i>may reach</i> unto
heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon
the face of the whole earth.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p3">The close of the foregoing chapter tells us
that <i>by</i> the sons of Noah, or <i>among</i> the sons of Noah,
<i>the nations were divided in the earth after the flood,</i> that
is, were distinguished into several tribes or colonies; and, the
places having grown too strait for them, it was either appointed by
Noah, or agreed upon among his sons, which way each several tribe
or colony should steer its course, beginning with the countries
that were next to them, and designing to proceed farther and farther,
and to remove to a greater distance from each other, as the
increase of their several companies should require. Thus was the
matter well settled, one hundred years after the flood, about the
time of Peleg's birth; but the sons of men, it should seem, were
loth to disperse into distant places; they thought the more the
merrier and the safer, and therefore they contrived to keep
together, and were <i>slack to go to possess the land which the
Lord God of their fathers had given them</i> (<scripRef id="Gen.xii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Josh.18.3" parsed="|Josh|18|3|0|0" passage="Jos 18:3">Josh. xviii. 3</scripRef>), thinking themselves wiser
than either God or Noah. Now here we have,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p4">I. The advantages which befriended their
design of keeping together, 1. They were all of <i>one
language,</i> <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.1" parsed="|Gen|11|1|0|0" passage="Ge 11:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>.
If there were any different languages before the flood, yet Noah's
only, which it is likely was the same with Adam's, was preserved
through the flood, and continued after it. Now, while they all
understood one another, they would be the more likely to love one
another, and the more capable of helping one another, and the less
inclinable to separate one from another. 2. They found a very
convenient commodious place to settle in (<scripRef id="Gen.xii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.2" parsed="|Gen|11|2|0|0" passage="Ge 11:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>), <i>a plain in the land of
Shinar,</i> a spacious plain, able to <i>contain</i> them all, and
a <i>fruitful</i> plain, able, according as their present numbers
were, to support them all, though perhaps they had not considered
what room there would be for them when their numbers should be
increased. Note, Inviting accommodations, for the present, often
prove too strong temptations to the neglect of both duty and
interest, as it respects futurity.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p5">II. The method they took to bind themselves
to one another, and to settle together in one body. Instead of
coveting to enlarge their borders by a peaceful departure under the
divine protection, they contrived to fortify them, and, as those
that were resolved to wage war with Heaven, they put themselves
into a posture of defence. Their unanimous resolution is, <i>Let us
build ourselves a city

<pb id="Gen.xii-Page_79" n="79"/>

and a tower.</i> It is
observable that the first builders of cities, both in the old world
(<scripRef id="Gen.xii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.4.17" parsed="|Gen|4|17|0|0" passage="Ge 4:17"><i>ch.</i> iv. 17</scripRef>), and in
the new world here, were not men of the best character and
reputation: tents served God's subjects to dwell in; cities were
first built by those that were rebels against him and revolters
from him. Observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p6">1. How they excited and encouraged one
another to set about this work. They said, <i>Go to, let us make
brick</i> (<scripRef id="Gen.xii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.3" parsed="|Gen|11|3|0|0" passage="Ge 11:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), and
again, (<scripRef id="Gen.xii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.4" parsed="|Gen|11|4|0|0" passage="Ge 11:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), <i>Go
to, let us build ourselves a city;</i> by mutual excitements they
made one another more daring and resolute. Note, Great things may
be brought to pass when the undertakers are numerous and unanimous,
and stir up one another. Let us learn to provoke one another to
love and to good works, as sinners stir up and encourage one
another to wicked works. See <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.122.1 Bible:Isa.2.3 Bible:Isa.2.5 Bible:Jer.50.5" parsed="|Ps|122|1|0|0;|Isa|2|3|0|0;|Isa|2|5|0|0;|Jer|50|5|0|0" passage="Ps 122:1,Isa 2:3,5,Jer 50:5">Ps. cxxii. 1; Isa. ii. 3, 5; Jer. l.
5</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p7">2. What materials they used in their
building. The country, being plain, yielded neither stone nor
mortar, yet this did not discourage them from their undertaking,
but they made brick to serve instead of stone, and slime or pitch
instead of mortar. See here, (1.) What shift those will make that
are resolute in their purposes: were we but zealously affected in a
good thing, we should not stop our work so often as we do, under
pretence that we want conveniences for carrying it on. (2.) What a
difference there is between men's building and God's; when men
build their Babel, brick and slime are their best materials; but,
when God builds his Jerusalem, he lays even the <i>foundations of
it with sapphires, and all its borders with pleasant stones,</i>
<scripRef id="Gen.xii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.54.11-Isa.54.12 Bible:Rev.21.19" parsed="|Isa|54|11|54|12;|Rev|21|19|0|0" passage="Isa 54:11-12,Re 21:19">Isa. liv. 11, 12; Rev.
xxi. 19</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p8">3. For what ends they built. Some think
they intended hereby to secure themselves against the waters of
another flood. God had told them indeed that he would not again
drown the world; but they would trust to a tower of their own
making, rather than to a promise of God's making or an ark of his
appointing. If, however, they had had this in their eye, they would
have chosen to build their tower upon a mountain rather than upon a
plain, but three things, it seems, they aimed at in building this
tower:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p9">(1.) It seems designed for an affront to
God himself; for they would build a tower <i>whose top might reach
to heaven,</i> which bespeaks a defiance of God, or at least a
rivalship with him. They would be <i>like the Most High,</i> or
would come as near him as they could, not in holiness but in
height. They forgot their place, and, scorning to creep on the
earth, resolved to climb to heaven, not by the door or ladder, but
some other way.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p10">(2.) They hoped hereby to make themselves a
name; they would do something to be talked of now, and to give
posterity to know that there had been such men as they in the
world. Rather than die and leave no memorandum behind them, they
would leave this monument of their pride, and ambition, and folly.
Note, [1.] Affectation of honour and a name among men commonly
inspires with a strange ardour for great and difficult
undertakings, and often betrays to that which is evil and offensive
to God. [2.] It is just with God to bury those names in the dust
which are raised by sin. These Babel-builders put themselves to a
great deal of foolish expense to make themselves a name; but they
could not gain even this point, for we do not find in any history
the name of so much as one of these Babel-builders. Philo Judæus
says, They engraved every one his name upon a brick, <i>in
perpetuam rei memoriam—as a perpetual memorial;</i> yet neither
did this serve their purpose.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p11">(3.) They did it to prevent their
dispersion: <i>Lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the
earth.</i> "It was done" (says Josephus) "in disobedience to that
command (<scripRef id="Gen.xii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.1" parsed="|Gen|9|1|0|0" passage="Ge 9:1"><i>ch.</i> ix. 1</scripRef>),
<i>Replenish the earth.</i>" God orders them to disperse. "No," say
they, "we will not, 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 centre of their unity. It is probable that the band
of ambitious Nimrod was in all this. He could not content himself
with the command of a particular colony, but aimed at universal
monarchy, in order to which, under pretence of uniting for their
common safety, he contrives to keep them in one body, that, having
them all under his eye, he might not fail to have them under his
power. See the daring presumption of these sinners. Here is, [1.] A
bold opposition to God: "You shall be scattered," says God. "But we
will not," say they. <i>Woe unto him that thus strives with his
Maker.</i> [2.] A bold competition with God. It is God's
prerogative to be universal monarch, Lord of all, and King of
kings; the man that aims at it offers to step into the throne of
God, who will not give his glory to another.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Gen.xii-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.5-Gen.11.9" parsed="|Gen|11|5|11|9" passage="Ge 11:5-9" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.11.5-Gen.11.9">
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xii-p12">5 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xii-p12.1">Lord</span>
came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men
builded.   6 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xii-p12.2">Lord</span> said,
Behold, the people <i>is</i> one, and they have all one language;
and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from
them, which they have imagined to do.   7 Go to, let us go
down, and there confound their language, that they may not
understand one another's speech.   8 So the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xii-p12.3">Lord</span> scattered them abroad from thence upon the
face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.  
9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because

<pb id="Gen.xii-Page_80" n="80"/>

the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xii-p12.4">Lord</span> did there
confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xii-p12.5">Lord</span> scatter them abroad upon the
face of all the earth.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p13">We have here the quashing of the project of
the Babel-builders, and the turning of the counsel of those froward
men headlong, that God's counsel might stand in spite of them. Here
is,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p14">I. The cognizance God took of the design
that was on foot: <i>The Lord came down to see the city,</i>
<scripRef id="Gen.xii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.5" parsed="|Gen|11|5|0|0" passage="Ge 11:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. It is an
expression after the manner of men; he knew it as clearly and fully
as men know that which they come to the place to view. Observe, 1.
Before he gave judgment upon their cause, he enquired into it; for
God is incontestably just and fair in all his proceedings against
sin and sinners, and condemns none unheard. 2. It is spoken of as
an act of condescension in God to take notice even of this
building, which the undertakers were so proud of; for he humbles
himself to behold the transactions, even the most considerable
ones, of this lower world, <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.113.6" parsed="|Ps|113|6|0|0" passage="Ps 113:6">Ps. cxiii.
6.</scripRef>. 3. It is said to be <i>the tower which the children
of men built,</i> which intimates, (1.) Their weakness and frailty
as men. It was a very foolish thing for the children of men, worms
of the earth, to defy Heaven, and to provoke the Lord to jealousy.
<i>Are they stronger than he?</i> (2.) Their sinfulness and
obnoxiousness. They were the sons of <i>Adam,</i> so it is in the
Hebrew; nay, of that Adam, that sinful disobedient Adam, whose
children are by nature children of disobedience, children that are
corrupters. (3.) Their distinction from the children of God, the
professors of religion, from whom these daring builders had
separated themselves, and built this tower to support and
perpetuate the separation. Pious Eber is not found among this
ungodly crew; for he and his are called the children of God, and
therefore their souls come not into the secret, nor unite
themselves to the assembly, of these children of men.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p15">II. The counsels and resolves of the
Eternal God concerning this matter; he did not come down merely as
a spectator, but as a judge, as a prince, to <i>look upon these
proud men, and abase them,</i> <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.40.11-Job.40.14" parsed="|Job|40|11|40|14" passage="Job 40:11-14">Job
xl. 11-14</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p16">1. He suffered them to proceed a good way
in their enterprise before he put a stop to it, that they might
have space to repent, and, if they had so much consideration left,
might be ashamed of it and weary of it themselves; and if not that
their disappointment might be the more shameful, and every one that
passed by might laugh at them, saying, <i>These men began to build,
and were not able to finish,</i> that so the works of their hands,
from which they promised themselves immortal honour, might turn to
their perpetual reproach. Note, God has wise and holy ends in
permitting the enemies of his glory to carry on their impious
projects a great way, and to prosper long in their enterprises.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p17">2. When they had, with much care and toil,
made some considerable progress in their building, then God
determined to break their measures and disperse them. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p18">(1.) The righteousness of God, which
appears in the considerations upon which he proceeded in this
resolution, <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.6" parsed="|Gen|11|6|0|0" passage="Ge 11:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Two
things he considered:—[1.] Their oneness, as a reason why they
must be scattered: "<i>Behold, the people are one, and they have
all one language.</i> If they continue one, much of the earth will
be left uninhabited; the power of their prince will soon be
exorbitant; wickedness and profaneness will be insufferably
rampant, for they will strengthen one another's hands in it; and,
which is worst of all, there will be an overbalance to the church,
and these children of men, if thus incorporated, will swallow up
the little remnant of God's children." Therefore it is decreed that
they must not be one. Note, Unity is a policy, but it is not the
infallible mark of a true church; yet, while the builders of Babel,
though of different families, dispositions, and interests, were
thus unanimous in opposing God, what a pity is it, and what a
shame, that the builders of Sion, though united in one common head
and Spirit, should be divided, as they are, in serving God! But
marvel not at the matter. Christ came not to send peace. [2.] Their
obstinacy: <i>Now nothing will be restrained from them;</i> and
this is a reason why they must be crossed and thwarted in their
design. God had tried, by his commands and admonitions, to bring
them off from this project, but in vain; therefore he must take
another course with them. See here, <i>First,</i> The sinfulness of
sin, and the wilfulness of sinners; ever since Adam would not be
restrained from the forbidden tree, his unsanctified seed have been
impatient of restraint and ready to rebel against it.
<i>Secondly,</i> See the necessity of God's judgments upon earth,
to keep the world in some order and to tie the hands of those that
will not be checked by law.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p19">(2.) The wisdom and mercy of God in the
methods that were taken for the defeating of this enterprise
(<scripRef id="Gen.xii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.7" parsed="|Gen|11|7|0|0" passage="Ge 11:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>): <i>Go to, let
us go down, and there confound their language.</i> 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. They said, <i>Go to, let us make brick,</i> and
<i>Go to, let us build a tower,</i> animating one another to the
attempt; and now God says, <i>Go to, let us confound their
language;</i> for, if men stir up themselves to sin, God will stir
up himself to take vengeance, <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.17-Isa.59.18" parsed="|Isa|59|17|59|18" passage="Isa 59:17,18">Isa.
lix. 17, 18</scripRef>. Now observe here, [1.] The mercy of God, in
moderating the penalty, and not making it proportionable to the
offence; for <i>he deals not with us according to our sins.</i> He
does not say, "<i>Let us go down</i> now in thunder and lightning,
and consume those rebels in a moment;" or, "Let the earth open, and
swallow up them and

<pb id="Gen.xii-Page_81" n="81"/>

their building, and let
those go down quickly into hell who are climbing to heaven the
wrong way." No; only, "<i>Let us go down,</i> and scatter them."
They deserved death, but are only banished or transported; for the
patience of God is very great towards a provoking world.
Punishments are chiefly reserved for the future state. God's
judgments on sinners in this life, compared with those which are
reserved, are little more than restraints. [2.] The wisdom of God,
in pitching upon an effectual expedient to stay proceedings, which
was the confounding of their language, that they might not
understand one another's speech, nor could they well join hands
when their tongues were divided; so that this would be a very
proper method both for taking them off from their building (for, if
they could not understand one another, they could not help one
another) and also for disposing them to scatter; for, when they
could not understand one another, they could not take pleasure in
one another. Note, God has various means, and effectual ones, to
baffle and defeat the projects of proud men that set themselves
against him, and particularly to divide them among themselves,
either by dividing their spirits (<scripRef id="Gen.xii-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Judg.9.23" parsed="|Judg|9|23|0|0" passage="Jdg 9:23">Judg. ix. 23</scripRef>), or by dividing their tongues,
as David prays, <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.55.9" parsed="|Ps|55|9|0|0" passage="Ps 55:9">Ps. lv.
9</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p20">III. The execution of these counsels of
God, to the blasting and defeating of the counsels of men,
<scripRef id="Gen.xii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.8-Gen.11.9" parsed="|Gen|11|8|11|9" passage="Ge 11:8,9"><i>v.</i> 8, 9</scripRef>. God made
them know <i>whose word should stand, his or theirs,</i> as the
expression is, <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.28" parsed="|Jer|44|28|0|0" passage="Jer 44:28">Jer. xliv.
28</scripRef>. Notwithstanding their oneness and obstinacy, God was
too hard for them, and wherein they dealt proudly he was above
them; for <i>who ever hardened his heart against him and
prospered?</i> Three things were done:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p21">1. Their language was confounded. God, who,
when he made man, taught him to speak, and put words into his mouth
fit to express the conceptions of his mind by, now caused these
builders to forget their former language, and to speak and
understand a new one, which yet was common 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. Now, (1.) This
was a great miracle, and a proof of the power which God has upon
the minds and tongues of men, which he turns as the rivers of
water. (2.) This was a great judgment upon these builders; for,
being thus deprived of the knowledge of the ancient and holy
tongue, they had become incapable of communicating with the true
church, in which it was retained, and probably it contributed much
to their loss of the knowledge of the true God. (3.) We all suffer
by it, to this day. In all the inconveniences we sustain by the
diversity of languages, and all the pains and 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 one another's language, for aught I know are owing
to this confusion of tongues. (4.) The project of some to frame a
universal character, in order to a universal language, how
desirable soever it may seem, is yet, I think, but a vain thing to
attempt; for it is to strive against a divine sentence, by which
the languages of the nations will be divided while the world
stands. (5.) We may here lament the loss of the universal use of
the Hebrew tongue, which from this time 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. (6.) As
the confounding of tongues divided the children of men and
scattered them abroad, so the gift of tongues, bestowed upon the
apostles (<scripRef id="Gen.xii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.1-Acts.2.13" parsed="|Acts|2|1|2|13" passage="Ac 2:1-13">Acts ii.</scripRef>),
contributed greatly to the gathering together of the children of
God, who were scattered abroad, and the uniting of them in Christ,
that with one mind and one mouth they might glorify God, <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.15.6" parsed="|Rom|15|6|0|0" passage="Ro 15:6">Rom. xv. 6</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p22">2. Their building was stopped: <i>They left
off to build the city.</i> This was the effect of the confusion of
their tongues; for it not only incapacitated them for helping one
another, but probably struck such a damp upon their spirits that
they could not proceed, since they saw, in this, the hand of the
Lord gone out against them. Note, (1.) It is wisdom to leave off
that which we see God fights against. (2.) God is able to blast and
bring to nought all the devices and designs of Babel-builders. He
sits in heaven, and laughs at the counsels of the kings of the
earth against him and his anointed; and will force them to confess
that there is no wisdom nor counsel against the Lord, <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p22.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.21.30 Bible:Isa.8.9-Isa.8.10" parsed="|Prov|21|30|0|0;|Isa|8|9|8|10" passage="Pr 21:30,Isa 8:9,10">Prov. xxi. 30; Isa. viii. 9,
10</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p23">3. The builders were scattered abroad upon
the face of the whole earth, <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.8-Gen.11.9" parsed="|Gen|11|8|11|9" passage="Ge 11:8,9"><i>v.</i> 8, 9</scripRef>. They departed in companies,
after their families, and after their tongues (<scripRef id="Gen.xii-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.5 Bible:Gen.10.20 Bible:Gen.10.31" parsed="|Gen|10|5|0|0;|Gen|10|20|0|0;|Gen|10|31|0|0" passage="Ge 10:5,20,31"><i>ch.</i> x. 5, 20, 31</scripRef>), 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 that they were forced to it. Observe here, (1.) The
very thing which they feared came upon them. That dispersion which
sought to evade by an act of rebellion they by this act brought
upon themselves; for we are most likely to fall into that trouble
which we seek to evade by indirect and sinful methods. (2.) It was
God's work: <i>The Lord scattered them.</i> 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.) Though they were as firmly in league with one
another as could be, yet the Lord scattered them; for no man can
keep together what God will put asunder. (4.) Thus God justly took
vengeance on them for their oneness in that presumptuous attempt to
build their tower. Shameful dispersions are the just punishment of
sinful

<pb id="Gen.xii-Page_82" n="82"/>

unions. Simeon and Levi, who had been
brethren in iniquity, were divided in Jacob, <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p23.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.49.5 Bible:Gen.49.7 Bible:Ps.83.3-Ps.83.13" parsed="|Gen|49|5|0|0;|Gen|49|7|0|0;|Ps|83|3|83|13" passage="Ge 49:5,7,Ps 83:3-13"><i>ch.</i> xlix. 5, 7; Ps. lxxxiii.
3-13</scripRef>. (5.) They left behind them a perpetual memorandum
of their reproach, in the name given to the place. It was called
<i>Babel, confusion.</i> Those that aim at a great name commonly
come off with a <i>bad</i> name. (6.) The children of men were now
finally scattered, and never did, nor ever 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,
<scripRef id="Gen.xii-p23.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.25.31-Matt.25.32" parsed="|Matt|25|31|25|32" passage="Mt 25:31,32">Matt. xxv. 31, 32</scripRef>.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Gen.xii-p23.5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.10-Gen.11.26" parsed="|Gen|11|10|11|26" passage="Ge 11:10-26" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.11.10-Gen.11.26">
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xii-p24">10 These <i>are</i> the generations of Shem:
Shem <i>was</i> a hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years
after the flood:   11 And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad
five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.   12 And
Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah:   13
And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three
years, and begat sons and daughters.   14 And Salah lived
thirty years, and begat Eber:   15 And Salah lived after he
begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and
daughters.   16 And Eber lived four and thirty years, and
begat Peleg:   17 And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four
hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.   18
And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:   19 And Peleg
lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons
and daughters.   20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and
begat Serug:   21 And Reu lived after he begat Serug two
hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.   22
And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:   23 And Serug
lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and
daughters.   24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and
begat Terah:   25 And Nahor lived after he begat Terah a
hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.   26
And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and
Haran.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p25">We have here a genealogy, not an endless
genealogy, for here it ends in Abram, the friend of God, and leads
further to Christ, the promised seed, who was the son of Abram, and
from Abram the genealogy of Christ is reckoned (<scripRef id="Gen.xii-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.1.1-Matt.1.17" parsed="|Matt|1|1|1|17" passage="Mt 1:1-17">Matt. i. 1</scripRef>, &amp;c.); so that put <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p25.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.5 Bible:Gen.11.10-Gen.11.26 Bible:Matt.1.1-Matt.1.17" parsed="|Gen|5|0|0|0;|Gen|11|10|11|26;|Matt|1|1|1|17" passage="Ge 5, 11:10-26, Matt. 1:1-17"><i>ch.</i> v., <i>ch.</i>
xi., and Matt. i</scripRef>, together, and you have such an entire
genealogy of Jesus Christ as cannot be produced, for aught I know,
concerning any person in the world, out of his line, and at such a
distance from the fountain-head. And, laying these three
genealogies together, we shall find that twice ten, and thrice
fourteen, generations or descents, passed between the first and
second Adam, making it clear concerning Christ that he was not only
the Son of Abraham, but the Son of man, and the seed of woman.
Observe here, 1. Nothing is left upon record concerning those of
this line but their names and ages, the Holy Ghost seeming to
hasten through them to the story of Abram. How little do we know of
those that have gone before us in this world, even those that lived
in the same places where we live, as we likewise know little of
those that are our contemporaries in distant places! we have enough
to do to mind the work of our own day, and let God alone to
<i>require that which is past,</i> <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p25.3" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.3.15" parsed="|Eccl|3|15|0|0" passage="Ec 3:15">Eccl. iii. 15</scripRef>. 2. 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 next three came short of 500; the next three did not
reach to 300; after them we read not of any that attained to 200,
except Terah; and, not many ages after this, Moses reckoned
seventy, or eighty, to be the utmost men ordinarily arrive at. When
the earth began to be replenished, men's 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. For the elect's
sake, men's days are shortened; and, being evil, it is well they
are few, and <i>attain not to the years of the lives of our
fathers,</i> <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p25.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.47.9" parsed="|Gen|47|9|0|0" passage="Ge 47:9"><i>ch.</i> xlvii.
9</scripRef>. 3. Eber, from whom the Hebrews were denominated, was
the longest-lived of any that was born after the flood, which
perhaps was the reward of his singular piety and strict adherence
to the ways of God.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Gen.xii-p25.5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.27-Gen.11.32" parsed="|Gen|11|27|11|32" passage="Ge 11:27-32" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.11.27-Gen.11.32">
<h4 id="Gen.xii-p25.6">The Generations of Terah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xii-p25.7">b. c.</span> 1921.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xii-p26">27 Now these <i>are</i> the generations of
Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.
  28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his
nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.   29 And Abram and Nahor took
them wives: the name of Abram's wife <i>was</i> Sarai; and the name
of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of
Milcah, and the father of Iscah.   30 But Sarai was barren;
she <i>had</i> no child.   31 And Terah took Abram his son,
and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in
law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur,

<pb id="Gen.xii-Page_83" n="83"/>

of the Chaldees, to go into the land of
Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.   32 And
the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died
in Haran.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p27">Here begins the story of Abram, whose name
is famous, henceforward, in both Testaments. We have here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p28">I. His country: <i>Ur of the Chaldees.</i>
This was the land of his nativity, an idolatrous country, where
even the children of Eber themselves had degenerated. Note, Those
who are, through grace, heirs of the land of promise, ought to
remember what was the land of their nativity, what was their
corrupt and sinful state by nature, the rock out of which they were
hewn.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p29">II. His relations, mentioned for his sake,
and because of their interest in the following story. 1. His father
was <i>Terah,</i> of whom it is said (<scripRef id="Gen.xii-p29.1" osisRef="Bible:Josh.24.2" parsed="|Josh|24|2|0|0" passage="Jos 24:2">Josh. xxiv. 2</scripRef>) that he served other gods, on
the other side of the flood, so early did idolatry gain footing in
the world, and so hard is it even for those that have some good
principles to swim against the stream. Though it is said (<scripRef id="Gen.xii-p29.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.26" parsed="|Gen|11|26|0|0" passage="Ge 11:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>) that when Terah was
seventy years old he begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran (which seems to
tell us that Abram was the eldest son of Terah, and was born in his
seventieth year), yet, by comparing <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p29.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.32" parsed="|Gen|11|32|0|0" passage="Ge 11:32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>, which makes Terah to die in his
205<i>th</i> year, with <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p29.4" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.4" parsed="|Acts|7|4|0|0" passage="Ac 7:4">Acts vii.
4</scripRef> (where it is said that he was but seventy-five years
old when he removed from Haran), it appears that he was born in the
130<i>th</i> year of Terah, and probably was his youngest son; for,
in God's choices, the last are often first and the first last. We
have, 2. Some account of his brethren. (1.) <i>Nahor,</i> out of
whose family both Isaac and Jacob had their wives. (2.)
<i>Haran,</i> the father of Lot, of whom it is here said (<scripRef id="Gen.xii-p29.5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.11.28" parsed="|Gen|11|28|0|0" passage="Ge 11:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>) <i>that he died before
his father Terah.</i> Note, Children cannot be sure that they shall
survive their parents; for death does not go by seniority, taking
the eldest first. <i>The shadow of death is without any order,</i>
<scripRef id="Gen.xii-p29.6" osisRef="Bible:Job.10.22" parsed="|Job|10|22|0|0" passage="Job 10:22">Job x. 22</scripRef>. It is likewise
said that he died <i>in Ur of the Chaldees,</i> before the happy
removal of the family out of that idolatrous country. Note, It
concerns us to hasten out of our natural state, lest death surprise
us in it. 3. His wife was <i>Sarai,</i> who some think, was the
same with Iscah, the daughter of Haran. Abram himself says of her
that she was the daughter of his father, but not the daughter of
his mother, <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p29.7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.20.12" parsed="|Gen|20|12|0|0" passage="Ge 20:12"><i>ch.</i> xx.
12</scripRef>. She was ten years younger than Abram.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xii-p30">III. His departure out of Ur of the
Chaldees, with his father Terah, his nephew Lot, and the rest of
his family, in obedience to the call of God, of which we shall read
more, <scripRef id="Gen.xii-p30.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.12.1-Gen.12.20" parsed="|Gen|12|1|12|20" passage="Ge 12:1-20"><i>ch.</i> xii. 1</scripRef>,
&amp;c. This chapter leaves them in Haran, or Charran, a place
about 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. Many reach to
Charran, and yet fall short of Canaan; they are not far from the
kingdom of God, and yet never come thither.</p>
</div></div2>