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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Genesis, Chapter XI].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1></center>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1706)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<A NAME="Page78"> </A>
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>G E N E S I S</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XI.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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The old distinction between the sons of God and the sons of men
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(professors and profane) survived the flood, and now appeared
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again, when men began to multiply: according to this distinction
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we have, in this chapter,
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I. The dispersion of the sons of
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men at Babel
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+11:1-9">ver. 1-9</A>),
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where we have,
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1. Their presumptuous
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provoking design, which was to build a city and a tower,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+11:1-4">ver. 1-4</A>.
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2. The righteous judgment of God upon them in disappointing
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their design, by confounding their language, and so
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scattering them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+11:5-9">ver. 5-9</A>.
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II. The pedigree of the sons of
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God down to Abraham
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+11:10-26">ver. 10-26</A>),
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with a general account of
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his family, and removal out of his native country,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+11:27-32">ver. 27</A>,
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&c.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Ge11_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ge11_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ge11_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ge11_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Confusion of Tongues.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 2247.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 And the whole earth was of one
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language, and of one speech.
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2 And it came to pass, as they
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journeyed from the east, that they
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found a plain in the land of Shinar;
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and they dwelt there.
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3 And they
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said one to another, Go to, let us
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make brick, and burn them thoroughly.
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And they had brick for stone, and
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slime had they for mortar.
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4 And
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they said, Go to, let us build us a city
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and a tower, whose top <I>may reach</I>
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unto heaven; and let us make us a
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name, lest we be scattered abroad
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upon the face of the whole earth.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The close of the foregoing chapter tells
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us that <I>by</I> the sons of Noah, or <I>among</I>
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the sons of Noah, <I>the nations were divided
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in the earth after the flood,</I> that is, were
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distinguished into several tribes or colonies;
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and, the places having grown too strait for them,
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it was either appointed by Noah, or agreed
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upon among his sons, which way each several
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tribe or colony should steer its course,
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beginning with the countries that were next
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them, and designing to proceed further and
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further, and to remove to a greater distance
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from each other, as the increase of their several
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companies should require. Thus was
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the matter well settled, one hundred years
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after the flood, about the time of Peleg's
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birth; but the sons of men, it should seem,
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were loth to disperse into distant places; they
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thought the more the merrier and the safer,
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and therefore they contrived to keep together,
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and were <I>slack to go to possess the land
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which the Lord God of their fathers had given
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them</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jos+18:3">Josh. xviii. 3</A>),
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thinking themselves wiser
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than either God or Noah. Now here we have,</P>
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<P>
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I. The advantages which befriended their
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design of keeping together,
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1. They were
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all of <I>one language,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+11:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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If there were any
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different languages before the flood, yet
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Noah's only, which it is likely was the same
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with Adam's, was preserved through the flood,
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and continued after it. Now, while they all
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understood one another, they would be the
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more likely to love one another, and the more
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capable of helping one another, and the less
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inclinable to separate one from another.
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2. They found a very convenient commodious
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place to settle in
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+11:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>),
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<I>a plain in the land of
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Shinar,</I> a spacious plain, able to <I>contain</I> them
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all, and a <I>fruitful</I> plain, able, according as
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their present numbers were, to support them
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all, though perhaps they had not considered
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what room there would be for them when
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their numbers should be increased. Note,
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Inviting accommodations, for the present,
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often prove too strong temptations to the
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neglect of both duty and interest, as it respects
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futurity.</P>
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<P>
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II. The method they took to bind themselves
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to one another, and to settle together
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in one body. Instead of coveting to enlarge
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their borders by a peaceful departure under
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the divine protection, they contrived to fortify
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them, and, as those that were resolved to
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wage war with Heaven, they put themselves
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into a posture of defence. Their unanimous
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resolution is, <I>Let us build ourselves a city
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<A NAME="Page79"> </A>
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and a tower.</I> It is observable that the first
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builders of cities, both in the old world
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+4:17"><I>ch.</I> iv. 17</A>),
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and in the new world here, were not
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men of the best character and reputation:
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tents served God's subjects to dwell in;
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cities were first built by those that were
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rebels against him and revolters from him.
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Observe here,</P>
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<P>
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1. How they excited and encouraged one
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another to set about this work. They said,
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<I>Go to, let us make brick</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+11:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>),
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and again,
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+11:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>),
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<I>Go to, let us build ourselves a city;</I> by
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mutual excitements they made one another
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more daring and resolute. Note, Great things
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may be brought to pass when the undertakers
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are numerous and unanimous, and stir up
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one another. Let us learn to provoke one
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another to love and to good works, as sinners
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stir up and encourage one another to wicked
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works. See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+122:1,Isa+2:3,5,Jer+50:5">Ps. cxxii. 1; Isa. ii. 3, 5; Jer. l. 5</A>.</P>
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<P>
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2. What materials they used in their building.
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The country, being plain, yielded neither
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stone nor mortar, yet this did not discourage
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them from their undertaking, but they made
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brick to serve instead of stone, and slime or
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pitch instead of mortar. See here,
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(1.) What
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shift those will make that are resolute in
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their purposes: were we but zealously
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affected in a good thing, we should not stop
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our work so often as we do, under pretence
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that we want conveniences for carrying it on.
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(2.) What a difference there is between men's
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building and God's; when men build their
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Babel, brick and slime are their best materials;
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but, when God builds his Jerusalem, he lays
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even the <I>foundations of it with sapphires, and
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all its borders with pleasant stones,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+54:11-12,Re+21:19">Isa. liv. 11, 12; Rev. xxi. 19</A>.</P>
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<P>
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3. For what ends they built. Some think
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they intended hereby to secure themselves
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against the waters of another flood. God
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had told them indeed that he would not again
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drown the world; but they would trust to
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a tower of their own making, rather than to
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a promise of God's making or an ark of his
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appointing. If, however, they had had this
|
|
in their eye, they would have chosen to build
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their tower upon a mountain rather than
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upon a plain, but three things, it seems, they
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aimed at in building this tower:--</P>
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<P>
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(1.) It seems designed for an affront to
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God himself; for they would build a tower
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<I>whose top might reach to heaven,</I> which bespeaks
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a defiance of God, or at least a rivalship
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with him. They would be <I>like the Most
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High,</I> or would come as near him as they could,
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not in holiness but in height. They forgot
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their place, and, scorning to creep on the
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earth, resolved to climb to heaven, not by the
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door or ladder, but some other way.</P>
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<P>
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(2.) They hoped hereby to make themselves
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a name; they would do something to
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be talked of now, and to give posterity to
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know that there had been such men as they
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in the world. Rather than die and leave no
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memorandum behind them, they would leave
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this monument of their pride, and ambition,
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and folly. Note,
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[1.] Affectation of honour
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and a name among men commonly inspires
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with a strange ardour for great and difficult
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undertakings, and often betrays to that which
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is evil and offensive to God.
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[2.] It is just
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with God to bury those names in the dust
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which are raised by sin. These Babel-builders
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put themselves to a great deal of foolish expense
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to make themselves a name; but they
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could not gain even this point, for we do not
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find in any history the name of so much as
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one of these Babel-builders. Philo Judæus
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says, They engraved every one his name upon
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a brick, <I>in perpetuam rei memoriam--as a
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perpetual memorial;</I> yet neither did this serve
|
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their purpose.</P>
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<P>
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(3.) They did it to prevent their dispersion:
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<I>Lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of
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the earth.</I> "It was done" (says Josephus)
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"in disobedience to that command
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+9:1"><I>ch.</I> ix. 1</A>),
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<I>Replenish the earth.</I>" God orders them to
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disperse. "No," say they, "we will not, we
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will live and die together." In order hereunto,
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they engage themselves and one another in
|
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this vast undertaking. That they might
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unite in one glorious empire, they resolve to
|
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build this city and tower, to be the metropolis
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of their kingdom and the centre of their unity.
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It is probable that the band of ambitious
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Nimrod was in all this. He could
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not content himself with the command of a
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particular colony, but aimed at universal
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monarchy, in order to which, under pretence
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of uniting for their common safety, he contrives
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to keep them in one body, that, having
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them all under his eye, he might not fail
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to have them under his power. See the daring
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presumption of these sinners. Here is,
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[1.] A bold opposition to God: "You shall be
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scattered," says God. "But we will not,"
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say they. <I>Woe unto him that thus strives
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with his Maker.</I>
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[2.] A bold competition
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with God. It is God's prerogative to be universal
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monarch, Lord of all, and King of
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kings; the man that aims at it offers to step
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into the throne of God, who will not give his
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glory to another.</P>
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<A NAME="Ge11_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ge11_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ge11_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ge11_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Ge11_9"> </A>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>5 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> came down to
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see the city and the tower, which the
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children of men builded.
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6 And the
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L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> said, Behold, the people <I>is</I> one,
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and they have all one language; and
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this they begin to do: and now nothing
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will be restrained from them,
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which they have imagined to do.
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7 Go to, let us go down, and there
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confound their language, that they
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may not understand one another's
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speech.
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8 So the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> scattered
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them abroad from thence upon the
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face of all the earth: and they left
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off to build the city.
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9 Therefore is
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the name of it called Babel; because
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<A NAME="Page80"> </A>
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the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> did there confound the
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language of all the earth: and from
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thence did the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> scatter them
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abroad upon the face of all the earth.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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We have here the quashing of the project
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of the Babel-builders, and the turning of the
|
|
counsel of those froward men headlong, that
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God's counsel might stand in spite of them.
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Here is,</P>
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<P>
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I. The cognizance God took of the design
|
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that was on foot: <I>The Lord came down to see the
|
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city,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+11:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
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It is an expression after the manner
|
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of men; he knew it as clearly and fully as men
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know that which they come to the place to
|
|
view. Observe,
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1. Before he gave judgment
|
|
upon their cause, he enquired into it; for
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God is incontestably just and fair in all his
|
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proceedings against sin and sinners, and condemns none
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|
unheard.
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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,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+113:6">Ps. cxiii. 6.</A>.
|
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3. It is said to be <I>the tower
|
|
which the children of men built,</I> which intimates,
|
|
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|
(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>
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(2.) Their sinfulness
|
|
and obnoxiousness. They were the sons
|
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of <I>Adam,</I> so it is in the Hebrew; nay, of that
|
|
Adam, that sinful disobedient Adam, whose
|
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children are by nature children of disobedience,
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children that are corrupters.
|
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(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>
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<P>
|
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|
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>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+40:11-14">Job xl. 11-14</A>.
|
|
Observe,</P>
|
|
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|
<P>
|
|
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|
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>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(1.) The righteousness of God, which
|
|
appears in the considerations upon which
|
|
he proceeded in this resolution,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+11:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
|
|
Two things he considered:--
|
|
|
|
[1.] Their oneness,
|
|
as a reason why they must be scattered:
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|
"<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>
|
|
|
|
(2.) The wisdom and mercy of God in the
|
|
methods that were taken for the defeating of
|
|
this enterprise
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+11:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>):
|
|
<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,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+59:17,18">Isa. lix. 17, 18</A>.
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page81"> </A>
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+9:23">Judg. ix. 23</A>),
|
|
or by dividing their tongues, as David
|
|
prays,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+55:9">Ps. lv. 9</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. The execution of these counsels of
|
|
God, to the blasting and defeating of the
|
|
counsels of men,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+11:8,9"><I>v.</I> 8, 9</A>.
|
|
God made them
|
|
know <I>whose word should stand, his or theirs,</I>
|
|
as the expression is,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:28">Jer. xliv. 28</A>.
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+2:1-13">Acts ii.</A>),
|
|
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,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ro+15:6">Rom. xv. 6</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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 ale 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,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+21:30,Isa+8:9,10">Prov. xxi. 30; Isa. viii. 9, 10</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. The builders were scattered abroad upon
|
|
the face of the whole earth,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+11:8,9"><I>v.</I> 8, 9</A>.
|
|
They
|
|
departed in companies, after their families,
|
|
and after their tongues
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+10:5,20,31"><I>ch.</I> x. 5, 20, 31</A>),
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page82"> </A>
|
|
|
|
unions. Simeon and Levi, who had been
|
|
brethren in iniquity, were divided in Jacob,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+49:5,7,Ps+83:3-13"><I>ch.</I> xlix. 5, 7; Ps. lxxxiii. 3-13</A>.
|
|
|
|
(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,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+25:31,32">Matt. xxv. 31, 32</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_10"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_23"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_24"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_25"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_26"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>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.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+1:1-17">Matt. i. 1</A>,
|
|
&c.);
|
|
so that put
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+5:1-32,11:10-26,Mt+1:1-17"><I>ch.</I> v., <I>ch.</I> xi., and Matt. i</A>,
|
|
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>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+3:15">Eccl. iii. 15</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+47:9"><I>ch.</I> xlvii. 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_27"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_28"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_29"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_30"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_31"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Ge11_32"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Generations of Terah.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1921.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>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,
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Page83"> </A>
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here begins the story of Abram, whose
|
|
name is famous, henceforward, in both Testaments.
|
|
We have here,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jos+24:2">Josh. xxiv. 2</A>)
|
|
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
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+11:26"><I>v.</I> 26</A>)
|
|
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
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+11:32"><I>v.</I> 32</A>,
|
|
which makes Terah to die
|
|
in his 205<I>th</I> year, with
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ac+7:4">Acts vii. 4</A>
|
|
(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
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+11:28"><I>v.</I> 28</A>)
|
|
<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>
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+10:22">Job x. 22</A>.
|
|
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,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+20:12"><I>ch.</I> xx. 12</A>.
|
|
She was ten years younger than Abram.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+12:1-20"><I>ch.</I> xii. 1</A>,
|
|
&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>
|
|
|
|
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