Bible Commentary

These [are] the generations of Shem: Shem [was] a hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood: 10 26. The Genealogy of the Patriarchs from Shem to Abram. (P.) This genealogical table is taken from P. It resembles the table in chap. 5 (1) in the manner of the enumeration of years, … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 11:10”

Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. 9. Therefore was the name of it called Babel ] Babel is the regular Hebrew form of the name … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 11:9”

So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 8. scattered them abroad ] The general result is stated; the means by which the sentence was carried out are not related. Josephus records a tradition that the Tower was overthrown by … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 11:8”

Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. 7. Go to, let us go down ] For 1st pers. plur. see notes on Gen 1:26, Gen 3:5; Gen 3:22. Jehovah is represented probably as enthroned above the heaven, and either as addressing the powers … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 11:7”

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. 6. And the Lord said ] The account, in this and the following verse, is evidently condensed. In Gen 11:5 … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 11:6”

And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built. 5. And the lord came down to see ] Not a figurative, poetical expression, as in Isa 64:1, but a strong and nave anthropomorphism. The early religious traditions of Israel represent the Almighty in terms which to … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 11:5”

And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top [may reach] unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 4. a city, and a tower ] The story seems to suggest that in the abandonment … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 11:4”

And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 3. brick for stone, &c.] For a description of building with bricks held together with bitumen in Babylonia, see Herodotus, i. 179. The writer here is evidently … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 11:3”

And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 2. as they journeyed ] We are not told who are here spoken of, nor whence they come. This is an indication that this passage (1 9) is derived from … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 11:2”

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 1. the whole earth ] i.e. the inhabitants of the whole earth, as in Gen 10:25. one language one speech ] An expressive phrase, denoting that the generations of primitive man, being of one stock, continued to speak one common language. The Jewish … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 11:1”