The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 241

these existing mounds enablo us to picture i. e. the Hamitea exclusively, as tho S.:thites wh11t sort of erection tho tower of Babel was were co.lied sons of God, eh. vi. 2 (Augu~tine), to bo, And let ns make us a name. [)~ ; nor wicked men in general (Junius, Piscator), neithor o.n idol temple, OW being == Goel, imitators of Adam, i. e. rebellantea Deo (Mede, Lyra), since then the Shcmites would which it novor fa without tho nrticle, C~ij not have been participators in the undertak- -cf. Lovit. xxiv, 11 (Jewish writerR); nor ing (Drusius), which some think to have a monument, ns in 2 Sam. viii. 18 (Clericus); been their work exclusively (Inglis); but nor o metropolis, reading [)~ instca<l of tho members of the human race, or at least C~, ns in 2 Sam. xx. 19 (Clericus); nor a their lcaders-builded. tower that might serve as a si 6rn to guide Ver. 6.-And the Lord said-within him- tho wanclcring nomads and guard them self, and to himself (vide ver. 8); expressiva against getting lost when spread abroad of the formation of a Divine resolution (cf. with their flocks, as in 2 Sam. viii. 13 ; eh. vi. 7)-Eehold, the people-Cl)l, from root Isa. Iv. 13 (Perizonius, Dathe, Ilgen); but signifying to bincl to"ether, expresses the idea a name, a reputation, as in 2 Sam. viii. of association; 11l, from a root signifying to 13 ; Isa. !xiii. 12, 14; Jer. x:xxii. 20; Dan. swell (Lange), to flow together (Gesenius), to ix. 15 (Luther, Calvin, Rosenmtillcr, Keil, gather together (Fi.irst), conveys the notion Lange, llfurphy, Wordsworth, Kalisch). This of a confluxus homimim. T. Lewis con- was the first impelling motive to the erec- nects it with the sense of interiority, or tion of the city and tower, The offspring exclusion, which is common in the Chaldee of ambition, it was designed to spread and Syriac-is one, and they have all one abroad their fame usque ad ultimos terrarum language; and this they begin to do. One fines (Calvin). According to Philo, each race, ono tongue, one purpose. The words man wrote his namo upon a brick before he indicate unity of effort, as well as concentra- built it in. The second was to establish a tion of design, on the part of the builders, and nllying point that might serve to maintain a certain measure of success in the achieve- their unity. Lest we be scattered abroad. ment of their work. And now nothing will Lest== antequam, 1rpo, before that, as if an- be restrained from them. Literally, there ticipating that the continuous increase of will not be cut off from them anything; population would necessitate their dispersion ov~ ·~~Ei,/m ,i,r' avrwv ,rav-;a (LXX.); non (LXX., Vulgate), or as if determined to distin- desistent a coqitationibus suis (Yulgate, guish themselves before surrendering to the Luther) ; i. e. nothing will prove too haru Divine command to spread themselves abroad for their daring. It can hardly imply that (Luther); but the more exact rendering 0£ their impious design was on the eve of com- 1~ is µ~, ne, lest, introducing an apodosis pletion. Which they he.ve imagined to do. expressive of something to be avoided by a Ver. 7.-Go to. An ironical contrast to the preceding action (et. Gesenius, 'Heb. Gram.,' " Go to " of the builders (Lange). Let us (cf. § 152, and Furst, 'Lex.,' sub voce. What the eh. i 26) go down, and there confound their builders dreaded was not the recurrence of a language (vide infra, ver. 9), that they may flood(Josephus,Lyra), but the execution of the not understand (literally, hear; so eh. xlii. Divine purpose intimated in eh. i.x.1, and per- 23; Isa. :xxxvi. 11; 1 Cor. xiv. 2) one another's haps recalled to their remembrance by N onh speech. Not referring to individuals (sinquli (Usher), or by Shem (Wordsworth), or by homines), since then society were impossible, Eber (Candlish); and whnt the builders but to families or nations (singulre coqna- Rimecl at wns resistance to the Divine will. tiones), which each had its own tongue lJ'pon the face of the whole ee.rth, Over (Poole). t!ie entire surface of the globe, nod not Ver. 8.-So (literally, and) the Lord scat- sunply over the land of Shinar (Inglis), or tered them abroad (ns the result of the con- over tho immediate region in which thoy fusion of their speech) upon the face of all dwelt (Clericus, Do.the, et alii, ut supra). the earth : and they left off to build the oity. I. e. 11s 11 united community, which Ver. 5.-And the Lord ce.me down. Not in does not preclude tho idea of tho Babylo- vtsible form, ns in Exod. xix. 20; xxxiv. 5 nians subsequently finishing tho structure. (Onkelos), but" effectu ostendens se propin- Ver. 9,-Therefore is the name of it called quioi·em quem absenlern esse judicabant '' Eitbel. For Balbel, confusion (11vn:v11,,, (Poole), an anthropomorphism (cf. eh. xviiL 21 • LXX., Josephus), from Balal, to confound; Ps. cxliv. 5). "It is mensuro for mensur~ the derivation given by the sacred writer in (par pari). Let us build up, say they, and the following clause (cf. for the elision of the scale the heavens. ~et us go down, snys letter l, totaphah for tophtaphah,, Exod. God, nnd defeat their impious thought" xiii. 16, nnd cochav for covcav, Gen. x.-uvii. (Rabbi Schelomo, guoted by T. Lewis). To see 9). Other uerivations suggested are Bab-Bel, (with a. view to judicial action) the city and tho gato or C?Urt of Belus (Eichhorn, Lange), the tower which the children of men- nn explanation of the term which Fiirst oons of Adam; neither tho posterity of Cain, thinks not impossible, and Kalisch declu.res 16R THE BOOK OF GENESIS. [CH, XI, 1-9.