And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one [was] Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother’s name [was] Joktan.
25. Peleg ] R.V. marg. That is, Division. His descendants are not recorded. In Gen 11:18-23 (P) Peleg is the father of Reu, the father of Serug, the father of Nahor. Eber’s two sons, Peleg and Joktan, apparently represent the two divisions of Shemites, Peleg the northern or Mesopotamian, Joktan the southern or Arabian.
was the earth divided ] The reference is generally assumed to be to the division, or dispersion, of the peoples at the tower of Babel, the words being an anticipation of the story in Gen 11:1-9. “The earth” will then mean “the inhabitants of the earth,” as in Gen 11:1 and Gen 19:31.
Sayce, on the strength of palgu being Assyrian for “canal,” would conjecture “the division of the earth” to signify the introduction of a system of canals into Babylonia during the reign of Hammurabi.
Perhaps, however, the name Peleg may indicate the historic “severance” of the northern Shemites from their southern brethren.
Joktan ] The genealogy of Eber’s elder son, Peleg, is here omitted, evidently because the compiler is giving the descendants of Peleg in Gen 11:18 from P; in which passage Joktan’s name is not mentioned.
The thirteen sons of Joktan probably represent tribes in Arabia. The division of the population into tribes, continually warring with each other, has always been a feature of the Arabian Peninsula.
Dillmann suggests that one name has been interpolated; and that, as in the case of Israel, the number of tribes was originally twelve. Obal’s name is omitted in some MSS. of LXX.
Most of their names have been, with more or less reason, identified with places in Arabia, for details of which the student should consult the dictionaries.
Sheleph ] The name of a tribe, or region, in the Yemen, or southern Arabia.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 25. Peleg] From palag, to divide, because in his days, which is supposed to be about one hundred years after the flood, the earth was divided among the sons of Noah. Though some are of opinion that a physical division, and not a political one, is what is intended here, viz., a separation of continents and islands from the main land; the earthy parts having been united into one great continent previously to the days of Peleg. This opinion appears to me the most likely, for what is said, Ge 10:5, is spoken by way of anticipation.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In his days; either,
1. In the time of his birth, whence he was so called. Or,
2. Afterwards in the time of life. So his father gave him this name by the Spirit of prophecy, foreseeing this great event, and the time of it; this being no unusual thing in Scripture, as we shall hereafter see, to give prophetical names to children. And thus there is a longer and more convenient space left for the peopling of the world, and ripening of things for the general dispersion and habitation of the earth.
The earth was divided, first in language, and then in habitations.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
25. Peleg; for in his days was theearth dividedAfter the flood (Ge11:10-16) the descendants of Noah settled at pleasure and enjoyedthe produce of the undivided soil. But according to divineinstruction, made probably through Eber, who seems to have beendistinguished for piety or a prophetic character, the earth wasdivided and his son’s name, “Peleg,” was given in memory ofthat event (see Deu 32:8; Act 17:26).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg,…. Bochart k thinks, that either Peleg, or one of his posterity, in memory of him, gave the name of Phalga to a town situated on the Euphrates; though the reason of the name, as given by Arrianus, as he himself observes, was because it divided between the two Seleucias, as the reason of Peleg’s name was;
for in his days was the earth divided; among the three sons of Noah, and their respective posterities; their language was divided, and that obliged them to divide and separate in bodies which understood one another; hence that age, in which was this event, was usually called by the Jews the age of division; whether this was done about the time of his birth, and so this name was given him to perpetuate the memory of it, or in some after part of his life, and so was given by a spirit of prophecy, is a question: Josephus, Jarchi, and the Jewish writers, generally go the latter way; if it was at the time of his birth, which is the sense of many, then this affair happened in the one hundred and first year after the flood, for in that year Peleg was born, as appears from Ge 11:11
and his brother’s name was Joktan, whom the Arabs call Cahtan, and claim him as their parent, at least, of their principal tribes; and say he was the first that reigned in Yaman, and put a diadem on his head l; and there is a city in the territory of Mecca, about seven furlongs or a mile to the south of it, and one station from the Red sea, called Baisath Jektan, the seat of Jektan m, which manifestly retains his name; and there are a people called Catanitae, placed by Ptolemy n in Arabia Felix.
k Phaleg. l. 2. c. 14. col. 93. l Vid. Pocock. Specimen. Arab. Hist. p. 39. 55. m Arab. Geograph. apud Bochart. Phaleg: l. 2. c. 15. col. 98. n Geograph, l. 6. c. 7.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Among the descendants of Arphaxad, Eber’s eldest son received the name of Peleg, because in his days the earth, i.e., the population of the earth, was divided, in consequence of the building of the tower of Babel (Gen 11:8). His brother Joktan is called Kachtan by the Arabians, and is regarded as the father of all the primitive tribes of Arabia. The names of his sons are given in Gen 10:26-29. There are thirteen of them, some of which are still retained in places and districts of Arabia, whilst others are not yet discovered, or are entirely extinct. Nothing certain has been ascertained about Almodad, Jerah, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, and Jobab. Of the rest, Sheleph is identical with Salif or Sulaf (in Ptl. 6, 7, ), an old Arabian tribe, also a district of Yemen. Hazarmaveth (i.e., forecourt of death) is the Arabian Hadhramaut in South-eastern Arabia on the Indian Ocean, whose name Jauhari is derived from the unhealthiness of the climate. Hadoram: the of Ptol. 6, 7, Atramitae of Plin. 6, 28, on the southern coast of Arabia. Uzal: one of the most important towns of Yemen, south-west of Mareb. Sheba: the Sabaeans, with the capital Saba or Mareb, Mariaba regia (Plin.), whose connection with the Cushite (Gen 10:7) and Abrahamite Sabaeans (Gen 25:3) is quite in obscurity. Ophir has not yet been discovered in Arabia; it is probably to be sought on the Persian Gulf, even if the Ophir of Solomon was not situated there. Havilah appears to answer to Chaulaw of Edrisi, a district between Sanaa and Mecca. But this district, which lies in the heart of Yemen, does not fit the account in 1Sa 15:7, nor the statement in Gen 25:18, that Havilah formed the boundary of the territory of the Ishmaelites. These two passages point rather to , a place on the border of Arabia Petraea towards Yemen, between the Nabataeans and Hagrites, which Strabo describes as habitable.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(25) Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided.This may refer to the breaking up of the race of Shem into separate nations, which severally occupied a distinct region; and so, while Joktan took Arabia, and in course of time expelled the Hamites from that country, Asshur, Aram, and Peleg occupied the regions on the north and north-west. But as Peleg, according to the Tldth Shem, was born only 101 years after the flood, Noahs family could scarcely have multiplied in so short a time to as many as 500 people; and Mr. Cyril Graham considers that the name refers to the first cutting of some of those canals which are found in such numbers between the Tigris and the Euphrates. This is made more probable by the fact that Peleg in Hebrew means water-course.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
25. Peleg Division, relating, it is generally thought, to the division of tongues which the narrator immediately proceeds to describe in the next chapter, but Knobel makes it refer to the division in the family of Eber between the brothers Peleg and Joktan . He presents reasons for the view which seem to have weight. It is doubtful if the matter can be decisively settled, but we follow the current opinion. Smith’s Dictionary follows Knobel.
His brother’s name was Joktan Called in the Arabian genealogies Kahtan, the ancestor of thirteen tribes in South Arabia. The name signifies Little. Niebuhr mentions a town and province Kahtan. Some of these thirteen names following are still found in Arabia, others have become extinct, and others are not as yet identified.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 10:25 And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one [was] Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother’s name [was] Joktan.
Ver. 25. Peleg, for in his days was the earth divided. ] Eber, of whom came the Hebrews or Israelites, Exo 1:15 that he might have before his eyes a perpetual monument of God’s just displeasure against the ambitious Babel builders, calls his son Peleg, or Division, because in his days was the earth divided. It is good to write the remembrance of God’s worthy works, whether of mercy or justice, upon the names of our children, or otherwise as we can best, to put us in mind of them; for we need all help; such is either our dulness or forgetfulness. What was it else that made David so often to put the thorn to his breast? Psa 103:1-3 And why would God have the plates of the censers of those sinners against their own souls, to be a covering to the altar, but to be a memorial to the children of Israel, that no stranger come near to offer incense, that he be not as Korah and his company, &c.? Num 16:38 ; Num 16:40
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Peleg = division. His generations reserved till Gen 11:10-27.
divided. Hebrew. palag, to cleave. In verses: Gen 10:5, Gen 10:32, parad, to break off. In Deu 32:8 it is nahal, to divide for an inheritance.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
am 1757, bc 2247
Eber: Gen 10:21, 1Ch 1:19
the name: Gen 11:16-19, Luk 3:35, Luk 3:36
Peleg: i.e. division
in: Gen 10:32, Deu 32:8, Act 17:26
Reciprocal: Gen 10:5 – isles Gen 11:8 – upon Gen 11:9 – the face Job 15:19 – Unto whom
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 10:25. In his days the earth was divided That is, about the time of his birth it was divided among those that were to inhabit it, either when Noah made an orderly distribution of it among his descendants, 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.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
10:25 And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one [was] Peleg; for in his days was the earth {l} divided; and his brother’s name [was] Joktan.
(l) This division came by the diversity of language, as appears in Gen 11:9.