tomy placeth this Mountain, though he call it by another Name Cilimnx ; add to this, that Moſes ſpeaks of theſe places as known to the Jews, and therefore not ſo far diſtant from them as J1za/a, a place wholly unknown to them, and wherewith, as yer, they had no Communication. If it be further obje&ed, That if theſe People had been ſo near and well known to the Jews, we ſhould have had more mention of them in Scripture. I Anſwer, There is mention of ſome of them ; and for others, it is no wonder if by the fol- lowingWars among Nations,and mixtures and confuſtons of People, ſome of them were exrirpated, and others loſt their Names,though not thcir Beings, as oft hapned. |
21 "Theſe ze the ſons of Shem, after their families, afcer their tongues, in their lands, after their nations,
22 Theſe ore the families of the ſons of Noah, qfter their generations, in their nations, and by theſe were
the Nations divided in the carth after the flood,
CH AF. A
One langunge in the earth, x. They journey from the eaſt, ſettle na plain in the land of Shinar, 2. Make bricks which they burn and uſe with lime, 3. Build a city and tower that they might not be ſcattered, 4. God ſees it. 5. Duſapprovves their deſign, 6. Defeats it, and ſccatters them by confounding their language, 7, 8. For which reaſon the place called Babcl, g. The poſterity of Shem to Abram, 10---=26. Avram takes Sarai to wife, 29. She is barren, 3o. He removes from Ur to Haran,
the
. Bro0=
&C.
31. Where his father des, 32. tHeb:Lip. N ÞD the whole carth a was of one F language, + Heb: and of one | ſpeech b. Woras, 1 Chron: 16.
a Earth is oft put for its inhabirants, as Gen. 6: 21, 23. Pſal: 33: 8 b Which even Heathen Writers acknowledge ; and that probably was the Hebrew "Tongue.
2 And it came to pals, as they + journeyed from the eaſt c, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar * and they dwelt there.
+ (7. e. ) Nimrod and the reſt of his Confederats of Ham's Po- ſterity. c No: from Armenia, where the, Ark reſted, which was North from Babel, and is called Nerth in Scripture, as Jer. 25: 9, 26, 2c. But from Aſjria, into which they had before come from the mountains of Ararat for more convenient Habitation, It may be rendered fo the Eaſt : Bur that manner of Tranſlation is neither uſual, nor neceſſary here. * Where Babel was, Gene-
F2b ſis 10: 10.
* +Heb: » 3 And Þ they faid one to another, Go to, Tet us
'> manſaidto make brick d, and | burn them throughly. And they - hisneigh- had brick for ſtone, aud ſlime e had they for morter. |}
rw d For in that low and fat Soil they had no Quarries of Stones. '
b- T Heb: The Heathen Writers agree that Babylons Walls were made of Brick. : 5 burn them , A kind of Clay called Birumen, which, as P!/zy teftiierh, 1s Liquid | | 702 bur nd Glutinous, and fit to be uſed in Brick-buildings, as Strabo,Dzon,
Bing. and others note. And that Babylon was built wich this, as 15 here |; ſaid, ve have the joint and expreſs Teſtimony of Beroſus, Cteſzas, | Dion, Curtius, and many others. by
4 And they ſaid, Go to, let us build us a City and a | tower, whoſe top may reach unto heaven f, and let us * make us a name g, leit ws be ſcattered abroad upon the
face of the whoie earth +. | Dy
f (#. e. ) A very high Tower. An uſual Fyperbole both in | Scripture, as Deut: 1: 28: and 9: x. and in other Authors. This Tower and it's vaſt height is noted by Hero49:u5, Diodorus, and others. z (7. e. ) A great Name, as the phralc is elſewhere uſed. Comparc alio 2 Sam: 7: 9. with 1 Chron: 17: 8 See alto 1/a: 63. 12, 14. Dan: 9.15 They take no care for God's Name, and the defence and propoga:ion of the true Religion, as duty bound them, bur meerly our of Pride and Vain glory l:bour to erect an everlaſting Monument of their Wit, and Wealth,and Magnifice.1ce to all Poſre:iry. & Their deſign was not to lecure themſelves againſt > Flood, which they well knew Brick-'uiidings were no fence again(t ; nor would they then - have built this Tower 1n a Plain, bur upon ſome high Mountain ; bur rather to prevent a toral and irrecoverable diſperſion. The; iought therefore to bind themſelves rogether in oge glorious Empire, and to make this glo- rious Ciry the capital Seat of it, and the place of Refuge and R<ſorr upon any con'{iderable Occaſion. | :
5 And the LORD came down # to ſee the city, and the rower & which the children of men / built.
; Nor by local deſcent, for he is every where ; but by the mani- feſtation of his Preſence and the effe&ts of his Power 1n that place. k (:i-e.) To know the truth of the Fa&, thereby ſetting a Patern for Judges to examine Cauſes before they paſ3. Sentence ; other- wiſe God ſaw this in Heaven ; bur in theſe Expreſſions he conde- ſcends to the capacity of Men. / So called emphatically, 1, For diſtin&ion of chem from the Sons of God, or the Race of Shem, who were not guilty of the Sin, and therefore did nor partake in the Curſe, the confuſion of their Language, but retained their an- cient Tongue uncorrupted for a good while. 2. To note their raſhneſs and folly, who being but weak and filly Men, duiſt op- poſe themſelves to the infinitely Wife and Powerful God, who did (as they might eaſily gather both from his Words and Works) intend 'to diſperſe and ſeparate them, that ſo by degrees they might poſſeſs the whole Earth, which God had made for that Purpoſe.
6 And the LORD ſaid +, Behold, the people is 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.
b:She« 4 ap:I11, 2 9. xv] &-
2
! dred and thirtie
: dred years, and begar ſons and daughters,
name of Abrams wife was Sarai ; and the name of Na- R0rs Wife,
a
% - \ JW
ES1S Chap. Rh
7 Go toy /:t us 2 g9 down, and there confound their language », that they may nor + underſtand one ano- + Heb; | thers ſpeech 0, hear.
m (i. e. ) The bleſſed Trinity. Sec Gen: r. 26: n» By making them forget their former Language. and by puting into their Minds ſeveral Languages, not a diſtin& Language into cach Perſon, but into each Family, or rather into each Nation. o And thereby be difenabled from that muthal Commerce, which was altogether n<cefiary for the carrying on of that Work.
8 Sothe LORD cattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth p: and they lefc off ro build the City.
Thus they brought upon themſelves the very thing they fear- ed,and that more ſpecdily and more miſchievoully to themſelves :