mh_parser/vol_split/1 - Genesis/Chapter 10.xml

<div2 id="Gen.xi" n="xi" next="Gen.xii" prev="Gen.x" progress="9.33%" title="Chapter X">
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<h2 id="Gen.xi-p0.1">G E N E S I S</h2>
<h3 id="Gen.xi-p0.2">CHAP. X.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Gen.xi-p1">This chapter shows more particularly what was said
in general (<scripRef id="Gen.xi-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.19" parsed="|Gen|9|19|0|0" passage="Ge 9:19"><i>ch.</i> ix.
19</scripRef>), concerning the three sons of Noah, that "of them
was the whole earth overspread;" and the fruit of that blessing
(<scripRef id="Gen.xi-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.1 Bible:Gen.9.7" parsed="|Gen|9|1|0|0;|Gen|9|7|0|0" passage="Ge 9:1,7"><i>ch.</i> ix. 1, 7</scripRef>),
"replenish the earth." Is is the only certain account extant of the
origin of nations; and yet perhaps there is no nation but that of
the Jews that can be confident from which of these seventy
fountains (for so many there are here) it derives its streams.
Through the want of early records, the mixtures of people, the
revolutions of nations, and distance of time, the knowledge of the
lineal descent of the present inhabitants of the earth is lost; nor
were any genealogies preserved but those of the Jews, for the sake
of the Messiah, only in this chapter we have a brief account, I. Of
the posterity of Japheth, <scripRef id="Gen.xi-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.2-Gen.10.5" parsed="|Gen|10|2|10|5" passage="Ge 10:2-5">ver.
2-5</scripRef>. II. The posterity of Ham (<scripRef id="Gen.xi-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.6-Gen.10.20" parsed="|Gen|10|6|10|20" passage="Ge 10:6-20">ver. 6-20</scripRef>), and in this particular notice
is taken of Nimrod, <scripRef id="Gen.xi-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.8-Gen.10.10" parsed="|Gen|10|8|10|10" passage="Ge 10:8-10">ver.
8-10</scripRef>. III. The posterity of Shem, <scripRef id="Gen.xi-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.21-Gen.10.32" parsed="|Gen|10|21|10|32" passage="Ge 10:21-32">ver. 21</scripRef>, &amp;c.</p>
<scripCom id="Gen.xi-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10" parsed="|Gen|10|0|0|0" passage="Ge 10" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Gen.xi-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.1-Gen.10.5" parsed="|Gen|10|1|10|5" passage="Ge 10:1-5" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.10.1-Gen.10.5">
<h4 id="Gen.xi-p1.9">The Generations of Noah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xi-p1.10">b. c.</span> 2347.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xi-p2">1 Now these <i>are</i> the generations of the
sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born
after the flood.   2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog,
and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.   3
And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.  
4 And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and
Dodanim.   5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided
in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families,
in their nations.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p3">Moses begins with Japheth's family, either
because he was the eldest, or because his family lay remotest from
Israel and had least concern with them at the time when Moses
wrote, and therefore he mentions that race very briefly, hastening
to give an account of the posterity of Ham, who were Israel's
enemies and of Shem, who were Israel's ancestors; for it is the
church that the scripture is designed to be the history of, and of
the nations of the world only as they were some way or other
related to Israel and interested in the affairs of Israel. Observe,
1. Notice is taken that the sons of Noah had sons born to them
after the flood, to repair and rebuild the world of mankind which
the flood had ruined. He that had killed now makes alive. 2. The
posterity of Japheth were allotted to the isles of the Gentiles
(<scripRef id="Gen.xi-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.5" parsed="|Gen|10|5|0|0" passage="Ge 10:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>), which were
solemnly, by lot, after a survey, divided among them, and probably
this island of ours among the rest; all places beyond the sea from
Judea are called <i>isles</i> (<scripRef id="Gen.xi-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.25.22" parsed="|Jer|25|22|0|0" passage="Jer 25:22">Jer.
xxv. 22</scripRef>), and this directs us to understand that promise
(<scripRef id="Gen.xi-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.42.4" parsed="|Isa|42|4|0|0" passage="Isa 42:4">Isa. xlii. 4</scripRef>), <i>the
isles shall wait for his law,</i> of the conversion of the Gentiles
to the faith of Christ.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Gen.xi-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.6-Gen.10.14" parsed="|Gen|10|6|10|14" passage="Ge 10:6-14" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.10.6-Gen.10.14">
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xi-p4">6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and
Phut, and Canaan.   7 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah,
and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the sons of

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Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.   8 And Cush begat
Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.   9 He was a
mighty hunter before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xi-p4.1">Lord</span>:
wherefore it is said; Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Gen.xi-p4.2">Lord</span>.   10 And the beginning of
his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the
land of Shinar.   11 Out of that land went forth Asshur, and
builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah,   12 And
Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same <i>is</i> a great city.
  13 And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and
Naphtuhim,   14 And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came
Philistim,) and Caphtorim.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p5">That which is observable and improvable in
these verses is the account here given of Nimrod, <scripRef id="Gen.xi-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.8-Gen.10.10" parsed="|Gen|10|8|10|10" passage="Ge 10:8-10"><i>v.</i> 8-10</scripRef>. He is here
represented as a great man in his day: <i>He began to be a mighty
one in the earth,</i> that is, whereas those that went before him
were content to stand upon the same level with their neighbours,
and though every man bore rule in his own house yet no man
pretended any further, Nimrod's aspiring mind could not rest here;
he was resolved to tower above his neighbours, not only to be
eminent among them, but to lord it over them. The same spirit that
actuated the giants before the flood (who became <i>mighty men, and
men of renown,</i> <scripRef id="Gen.xi-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.6.4" parsed="|Gen|6|4|0|0" passage="Ge 6:4"><i>ch.</i> vi.
4</scripRef>), now revived in him, so soon was that tremendous
judgment which the pride and tyranny of those mighty men brought
upon the world forgotten. Note, There are some in whom ambition and
affectation of dominion seem to be bred in the bone; such there
have been and will be, notwithstanding the wrath of God often
revealed from heaven against them. Nothing on this side hell will
humble and break the proud spirits of some men, in this like
Lucifer, <scripRef id="Gen.xi-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.14.14-Isa.14.15" parsed="|Isa|14|14|14|15" passage="Isa 14:14,15">Isa. xiv. 14,
15</scripRef>. Now,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p6">I. Nimrod was a great hunter; with this he
began, and for this became famous to a proverb. Every great hunter
is, in remembrance of him, called a <i>Nimrod.</i> 1. Some think he
did good with his hunting, served his country by ridding it of the
wild beasts which infested it, and so insinuated himself into the
affections of his neighbours, and got to be their prince. Those
that exercise authority either are, or at least would be called,
<i>benefactors,</i> <scripRef id="Gen.xi-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Luke.22.25" parsed="|Luke|22|25|0|0" passage="Lu 22:25">Luke xxii.
25</scripRef>. 2. Others think that under pretence of hunting he
gathered men under his command, in pursuit of another game he had
to play, which was to make himself master of the country and to
bring them into subjection. He was a <i>mighty hunter,</i> that is,
he was a violent invader of his neighbours' rights and properties,
and a persecutor of innocent men, carrying all before him, and
endeavouring to make all his own by force and violence. He thought
himself a mighty prince, but <i>before the Lord</i> (that is, in
God's account) he was but a <i>mighty hunter.</i> Note, Great
conquerors are but great hunters. Alexander and Cesar would not
make such a figure in scripture-history as they do in common
history; the former is represented in prophecy but as a he-goat
pushing, <scripRef id="Gen.xi-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.8.5" parsed="|Dan|8|5|0|0" passage="Da 8:5">Dan. viii. 5</scripRef>. Nimrod
was a mighty hunter <i>against</i> the Lord, so the LXX; that is,
(1.) He set up idolatry, as Jeroboam did, for the confirming of his
usurped dominion. That he might set up a new government, he set up
a new religion upon the ruin of the primitive constitution of both.
<i>Babel was the mother of harlots.</i> Or, (2.) He carried on his
oppression and violence in defiance of God himself, daring Heaven
with his impieties, as if he and his huntsmen could out-brave the
Almighty, and were a match for the Lord of hosts and all his
armies. <i>As if it were a small thing to weary men, he thinks to
weary my God also,</i> <scripRef id="Gen.xi-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.7.13" parsed="|Isa|7|13|0|0" passage="Isa 7:13">Isa. vii.
13</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p7">II. Nimrod was a great ruler: <i>The
beginning of his kingdom was Babel,</i> <scripRef id="Gen.xi-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.10" parsed="|Gen|10|10|0|0" passage="Ge 10:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>. Some way or other, by arts or
arms, he got into power, either being chosen to it or forcing his
way to it; and so laid the foundations of a monarchy, which was
afterwards a head of gold, and the terror of the mighty, and bade
fair to be universal. It does not appear that he had any right to
rule by birth; but either his fitness for government recommended
him, as some think, to an election, or by power and policy he
advanced gradually, and perhaps insensibly, into the throne. See
the antiquity of civil government, and particularly that form of it
which lodges the sovereignty in a single person. If Nimrod and his
neighbours began, other nations soon learned to incorporate under
one head for their common safety and welfare, which, however it
began, proved so great a blessing to the world that things were
reckoned to go ill indeed when there <i>was no king in
Israel.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p8">III. Nimrod was a great builder. Probably
he was architect in the building of Babel, and there he began his
kingdom; but, when his project to rule all the sons of Noah was
baffled by the confusion of tongues, <i>out of that land he went
forth into Assyria</i> (so the margin reads it, <scripRef id="Gen.xi-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.11" parsed="|Gen|10|11|0|0" passage="Ge 10:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>) <i>and built Nineveh,</i>
&amp;c., that, having built these cities, he might command them and
rule over them. Observe, in Nimrod, the nature of ambition. 1. It
is boundless. Much would have more, and still cries, <i>Give,
give.</i> 2. It is restless. Nimrod, when he had four cities under
his command, could not be content till he had four more. 3. It is
expensive. Nimrod will rather be at the charge of rearing cities
than not have

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the honour of ruling them. The
spirit of building is the common effect of a spirit of pride. 4. It
is daring, and will stick at nothing. Nimrod's name signifies
rebellion, which (if indeed he did abuse his power to the
oppression of his neighbours) teaches us that tyrants to men are
rebels to God, and their <i>rebellion is as the sin of
witchcraft.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Gen.xi-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.15-Gen.10.20" parsed="|Gen|10|15|10|20" passage="Ge 10:15-20" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.10.15-Gen.10.20">
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xi-p9">15 And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and
Heth,   16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the
Girgasite,   17 And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the
Sinite,   18 And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the
Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread
abroad.   19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon,
as thou comest to Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and
Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.   20 These
<i>are</i> the sons of Ham, after their families, after their
tongues, in their countries, <i>and</i> in their nations.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p10">Observe here, 1. The account of the
posterity of Canaan, of the families and nations that descended
from him, and of the land they possessed, is more particular than
of any other in this chapter, because these were the nations that
were to be subdued before Israel, and their land was in process of
time to become the holy land, <i>Immanuel's land;</i> and this God
had an eye to when, in the meantime, he cast the lot of that
accursed devoted race in that spot of ground which he had selected
for his own people; this Moses takes notice of, <scripRef id="Gen.xi-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.8" parsed="|Deut|32|8|0|0" passage="De 32:8">Deut. xxxii. 8</scripRef>, <i>When the Most High divided
to the nations their inheritance, he set the bounds of the people
according to the number of the children of Israel.</i> 2. By this
account it appears that the posterity of Canaan were numerous, and
rich, and very pleasantly situated; and yet Canaan was under a
curse, a divine curse, and not a curse causeless. Note, Those that
are under the curse of God may yet perhaps thrive and prosper
greatly in this world; for we cannot know love or hatred, the
blessing or the curse, by what is before us, but by what is within
us, <scripRef id="Gen.xi-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.9.1" parsed="|Eccl|9|1|0|0" passage="Ec 9:1">Eccl. ix. 1</scripRef>. The curse of
God always works really and always terribly: but perhaps it is a
secret curse, a curse to the soul, and does not work visibly, or a
slow curse, and does not work immediately; but sinners are by it
reserved for, and bound over to, a day of wrath. Canaan here has a
better land than either Shem or Japheth, and yet they have a better
lot, for they inherit the blessing.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Gen.xi-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.21-Gen.10.32" parsed="|Gen|10|21|10|32" passage="Ge 10:21-32" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Gen.10.21-Gen.10.32">
<p class="passage" id="Gen.xi-p11">21 Unto Shem also, the father of all the
children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him
were <i>children</i> born.   22 The children of Shem; Elam,
and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.   23 And the
children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.   24 And
Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber.   25 And unto Eber
were born two sons: the name of one <i>was</i> Peleg; for in his
days was the earth divided; and his brother's name <i>was</i>
Joktan.   26 And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and
Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,   27 And Hadoram, and Uzal, and
Diklah,   28 And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,   29 And
Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these <i>were</i> the sons of
Joktan.   30 And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest
unto Sephar a mount of the east.   31 These <i>are</i> the
sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their
lands, after their nations.   32 These <i>are</i> the families
of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and
by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p12">Two things especially are observable in
this account of the posterity of Shem:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p13">I. The description of Shem, <i>v.</i> 21.
We have not only his name, <i>Shem,</i> which signifies <i>a
name,</i> but two titles to distinguish him by:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p14">1. He was <i>the father of all the children
of Eber.</i> Eber was his great grandson; but why should he be
called the father of all <i>his</i> children, rather than of all
Arphaxad's, or Salah's, &amp;c.? Probably because Abraham and his
seed, God's covenant-people, not only descended from Heber, but
from him were called <i>Hebrews;</i> <scripRef id="Gen.xi-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.14.13" parsed="|Gen|14|13|0|0" passage="Ge 14:13"><i>ch.</i> xiv. 13</scripRef>, <i>Abram the Hebrew.</i>
Paul looked upon it as his privilege that he was a <i>Hebrew of the
Hebrews,</i> <scripRef id="Gen.xi-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Phil.3.5" parsed="|Phil|3|5|0|0" passage="Php 3:5">Phil. iii. 5</scripRef>.
Eber himself, we may suppose, was a man eminent for religion in a
time of general apostasy, and a great example of piety to his
family; and, the holy tongue being commonly called from him the
<i>Hebrew,</i> it is probable that he retained it in his family, in
the confusion of Babel, as a special token of God's favour to him;
and from him the professors of religion were called <i>the children
of Eber.</i> Now, when the inspired penman would give Shem an
honourable title, he calls him <i>the father of the Hebrews.</i>
Though when Moses wrote this, they were a poor despised people,
bond-slaves in Egypt, yet, being God's people, it was an honour to
a man to be akin to them. As Ham, though he had many sons, is
disowned by being called <i>the father of Canaan,</i> on whose seed

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the <i>curse</i> was entailed (<scripRef id="Gen.xi-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.9.22" parsed="|Gen|9|22|0|0" passage="Ge 9:22"><i>ch.</i> ix. 22</scripRef>), so Shem, though he
had many sons, is dignified with the title of <i>the father of
Eber,</i> on whose seed the blessing was entailed. Note, a family
of saints is more truly honourable than a family of nobles, Shem's
holy seed than Ham's royal seed, Jacob's twelve patriarchs than
Ishmael's twelve princes, <scripRef id="Gen.xi-p14.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.20" parsed="|Gen|17|20|0|0" passage="Ge 17:20"><i>ch.</i>
xvii. 20</scripRef>. Goodness is true greatness.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p15">2. He was <i>the brother of Japheth the
elder,</i> by which it appears that, though Shem is commonly put
first, he was not Noah's first-born, but Japheth was older. But why
should this also be put as part of Shem's title and description,
that he <i>was the brother of Japheth,</i> since it had been, in
effect, said often before? And was he not as much brother to Ham?
Probably this was intended to signify the union of the Gentiles
with the Jews in the church. The sacred historian had mentioned it
as Shem's honour that he was the father of the Hebrews; but, lest
Japheth's seed should therefore be looked upon as for ever shut out
from the church, he here reminds us that he <i>was the brother of
Japheth,</i> not in birth only, but in blessing; for <i>Japheth was
to dwell in the tents of Shem.</i> Note, (1.) Those are brethren in
the best manner that are so by grace, and that meet in the covenant
of God and in the communion of saints. (2.) God, in dispensing his
grace, does not go by seniority, but the younger sometimes gets the
start of the elder in coming into the church; <i>so the last shall
be first and the first last.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Gen.xi-p16">II. The reason of the name of Peleg
(<scripRef id="Gen.xi-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.10.25" parsed="|Gen|10|25|0|0" passage="Ge 10:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>): Because
<i>in his days</i> (that is, about the time of his birth, when his
name was given him), <i>was the earth divided</i> among the
children of men that were to inhabit it; either when Noah divided
it by an orderly distribution of it, as Joshua divided the land of
Canaan by lot, or when, upon their refusal to comply with that
division, God, in justice, divided them by the confusion of
tongues: whichsoever of these was the occasion, pious Heber saw
cause to perpetuate the remembrance of it in the name of his son;
and justly may our sons be called by the same name, for in our
days, in another sense, is the earth, the church, most wretchedly
divided.</p>
</div></div2>