BUILD, To
In the Oneirocritics *(Achmet’s Col. c. 145.) any kind of building implies settlement of a family, or acquisition of some new honour, kingdom, or power, and its peaceful enjoyment according to the subject; and by consequence a formal change of state. And thus in several places of the Holy Scriptures, the building of a city is in order to a quiet settlement.
The first that is said to have built a city is Cain, Gen 4:17. This undoubtedly he did to comfort himself, and thus to take off the odium of being a vagabond, which God had inflicted on him. So that the said city he designed to be a full settlement, and he therefore called it Enoch H2585, which signifies dedication, or the beginning of a settlement; a dedication requiring a quiet possession and enjoyment for some time, as in Deu 20:5.
The same may be said of the building of Babel: which was designed for a settlement, contrary to the command of God, as Josephus hints, who would have then mankind to spread themselves by colonies. But, however, the building of that was pretended to be a settlement. “Let us build us a city and tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” (Gen 11:4.)
But farther, that the building of a city is in order to a quiet settlement, is evident from the Psa 107:4 “They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way, they found no city to dwell in;” and Psa 107:7, “He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation,” H4186 of settlement, from H3427 which signifies not only to sit but to stay, remain, and persevere, as in Mic 5:4. So also in 2Ch 14:6-7, it is said, “And he built fenced cities in Judah: for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years; because the Lord had given him rest. Therefore he said unto Judah, Let us build these cities… And he hath given us rest on every side.” All which imports that the building of a city is in order to settle in peace.
The same notion appears also in these verses of Virgil;-
Hie tamen ille urbem Patavi, sedesque locavit
Teucrorum, & genti nomen dedit, armaque fixit
Troa; nunc placida compostus pace quiescit.
Nos, tua progenies, coeli quibus annuis arcem,
Navibus, infandum 1 amissis unius ob iram
Prodimur, atque Italis longe disjungimur oris.f1
As also in this;
Hic locus urbis erit, requies ea certa laborum.f2
F1 (n. L. i. ver. 251, 252, &c.)
F2 (n. L. 8. ver. 46.)