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14 - Commentary on The Book of Genesis · Philosophy and Faith

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Chapter eleven. The old distinction between the sons of God and the sons of
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men, professors and profane, survived the flood, and now appeared again when
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men began to multiply according to this distinction. We have in this chapter Numeral
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one, the dispersion of the sons of Men at Babel Verses one through nine,
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where we have number one, their presumptuous, provoking design, which was
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to build a city and a tower Verses one through four. Number two,
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the righteous judgment of God upon them in disappointing their design by confounding their language
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and so scattering them Verses five through nine. Numeral two. The pedigree of
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the sons of God down to Abraham Verses ten through twenty six, with a
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general account of his family and removal out of his native country verse twenty five,
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seven, and so on. The confusion of tongues BC. Twenty two
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forty seven, Verses one through four. And the whole earth was of one
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language and of one's speech. And it came to pass as they journeyed from
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the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shiner, and
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they dwelt there, and they said, one to another, go too,
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let us make brick and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone,
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and slime had they for mortar. And they said, go too,
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let us build us a city and a tower whose top may reach into heaven.
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And let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon
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the face of the whole earth. The close of the foregoing chapter tells us
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that by the sons of Noah, or among the sons of Noah, the
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nations were divided in the earth after the flood, that is, were distinguished
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into several tribes or colonies, and the places having grown too straight for them.
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It was either appointed by Noah or agreed upon among his sons, which
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way each several tribe or colony should steer its course, beginning with the countries
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that were next to them, and designing to proceed farther and farther, and
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to remove to a greater distance from each other, as the increase of their
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several companies should require. Thus was the matter well settled one hundred years after
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the flood, about the time of Pelig's birth. But the sons of Men,
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it should seem, were loth to disperse into distant places. They thought
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the more the merrier and the safer. And therefore they contrived to keep together,
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and were slack to go to possess the land which the Lord God of
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their fathers had given them Joshua eighteen, verse three, thinking themselves wiser than
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either God or Noah. Now Here we have numeral one the advantages which befriended
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their design of keeping together. Number one, they were all of one language
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verse one. If there were any different languages before the flood, yet Noah's
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only, which it as likely was the same with atoms, was preserved through
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the flood and continued after it. Now, while they all understood one another,
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they would be the more likely to love one another, and the more
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capable of helping one another, and the less inclinable to separate from one another.
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Number two, they found a very convenient, commodious place to settle in
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verse two, a plane in the land of Shiner, a spacious plane able
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to contain them all, and a fruitful plane able, according as their present
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numbers were, to support them all, though perhaps they had not considered what
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room there would be for them when their numbers should be increased. Note Inviting
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accommodations for the present often proved Two strong temptations to the neglect of both duty
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and interest as it respects futurity Numeral two. The method they took to bind
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themselves to one another and to settle together in one body. Instead of coveting
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to enlarge their borders by a peaceful departure under the divine protection, they contrived
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to fortify them. And as those that were resolved to wage war with Heaven,
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they put themselves into a posture of defense. Their unanimous resolution is,
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let us build ourselves a city and a tower. It is observable that the
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first builders of cities, both in the Old World Chapter four, verse seventeen
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and in the New World here were not men of the best character and reputation.
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Tents served God's subjects to dwell in. Cities were first built by those
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that were rebels against Him and revoltures from him. Observe here number one,
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how they excited and encouraged one another to set about this work. They said,
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go too, let us make brick verse three, and again verse four,
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go to let us build ourselves a city. By mutual excitements, they
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made one another more daring and resolute. Note, great things may be brought
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to pass when the undertakers are numerous and unanimous, and stir up one another.
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Let us learn to provoke one another to love and to good works,
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as sinners stir up and encourage one another to wicked works. See Psalm one
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twenty two, verse one, Isaiah two, verses three and five. Jeremiah
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one, verse five, number two. What materials they used in their building?
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The country being plain yielded neither stone nor mortar. Yet this did not
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discourage them from their undertaking. But they made brick to serve instead of stone,
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and slime or pitch instead of mortar. See here Subscript one. What
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shift those will make that are resolute in their purposes? Were we but zealously
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affected in a good thing? We should not stop our work so often as
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we do, under pretense that we want conveniences for carrying it on? Subscript
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two. What a difference there is between men's building and gods. When men
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build their babble, brick and slime are their best materials. But when God
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builds his Jerusalem, he lays even the foundations of it with sapphires, and
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all its borders with pleasant stones. Isaiah fifty four, verse eleven and twelve.
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Revelation twenty one, verse nineteen, number three. For what ends they
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built? Some think they intended hereby to secure themselves against the waters of another
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flood. God had told them, indeed, that he would not again drown
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the world, But they would trust to a tower of their own making,
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rather than to a promise of God's making or an ark of his appointing.
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If, however, they had had this in their eye, they would have
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chosen to build their tower up on a mountain rather than upon a plain.
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But three things it seems they aimed at in building this tower. Subscript one,
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it seems designed for an affront to God himself. For they would build
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a tower whose top might reach to heaven, which bespeaks a defiance of God,
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or at least a rivalship with him. They would be like the most
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high, or would come as near as they could. Not in holiness,
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but in height they got their place, and, scorning to creep on the
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earth, resolved to climb to Heaven, not by the door or ladder,
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but some other way. Subscript two. They hoped hereby to make themselves a
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name. They would do something to be talked of now, and to give
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posterity to know that there had been such men as they in the world,
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rather than die and leave no memorandum behind them, they would leave this monument
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of their pride and ambition and folly. Note sub point one. Affectation of
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honor and a name among men commonly inspires with a strange ardor for great and
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difficult undertakings, and often betrays to that which is evil and offensive to God.
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Sub Point two. It is just with God to bury those names in
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the dust which are raised by sin. These babbel builders put themselves to a
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great deal of foolish expense to make themselves a name. But they could not
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gain even this point, for we do not find in any history the name
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of so much as one of these babel builders. Philo Judea says. They
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engraved every one his name upon a brick in perpetuum ray memoriam, as a
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perpetual memorial. Yet neither did this serve their purpose. Subscript three. They
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did it to prevent their dispersion, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face
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of the earth. It was done, says Josephus, in disobedience to that
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command. Chapter nine, verse one, replenish the earth. God orders them
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to disperse no say they, we will not, and we will live and
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die together in order. Here and two they engage themselves and one another in
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this vast undertaking that they might unite in one glorious empire. They resolved to
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build the city in tower to be the metropolis of their kingdom and the center
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of their unity. It is probable that the band of ambitious Nimrod was in
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all this. He could not content himself with the command of a particular colony,
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but aimed at universal monarchy, in order to which, under the pretense
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of uniting for their common safety, he contrives to keep them in one body,
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that having them all under his eye, he might not fail to have
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them under his power. See the daring presumption of these sinners here is sub
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point one a bold opposition to God. You shall be scattered, says God.
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But we will not say they woe unto him that thus strives with his
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maker. Sub Point two a bold competition with God. It is God's prerogative
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to be universal monarch, Lord of all and king of kings. The man
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that aims at it offers to step into the throne of God, who will
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not give his glory to another. Verses five through nine. And the Lord
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came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men builded.
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And the Lord said, behold, the people is one, and they
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have all one language. And this they begin to do. And now nothing
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will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do. Go too,
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let us go down. And there confound their language, that they may not
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understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the
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face of all the earth, and they left off to build the city.
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Therefore is the name of it called Babel, because the Lord did there confound
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the language of all the earth. And from thence did the Lord scatter them
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abroad upon the face of all the earth. We have here the quashing of
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the project of the Babel builders, and the turning of the council of those
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froward men headlong, that God's counsel might stand in spite of them. Here
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is numeral one, the cognisance God took of the design that was on foot.
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The Lord came down to see the city Verse five. It is an
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expression after the manner of men he knew. It is clearly and fully as
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men know that which they come to the place to view. Observe. Number
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one, before he gave judgment upon their cause, he inquired into it.
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For God is incontestably just and fair in all his proceedings against sin and sinners,
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and condemns none unheard. Number two. It is spoken of as an
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act of condescension in God, God to take notice even of this building,
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which the undertakers were so proud of, for He humbles himself to behold the
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transactions, even the most considerable ones of this lower world Psalm one thirteen,
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verse six. Number three it is said to be the tower which the children
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of men built, which imitates Subscript one their weakness and frailty as men.
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It was a very foolish thing for the children of men, worms of the
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earth, to defy Heaven and to provoke the Lord to jealousy. Are they
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stronger than he Subscript two their sinfulness and obnoxiousness. They were the sons of
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Adam. So it is in the Hebrew nay of that Atom, that sinful,
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disobedient atom, whose children are by nature of disobedience, children that are
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corruptors. Subscript three. Their distinction from the children of God, the professors
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of religion, from whom these daring builders had separated themselves and built this tower
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to support and perpetuate the separation. Pious eber is not found among this ungodly
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crew, for he and his are called the children of God. And therefore
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their souls come not into the secret, nor unite themselves to the assembly of
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these children of men Numeral two. The counsels and resolves of the Eternal God
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concerning this matter. He did not come down merely as a spectator, but
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as a judge, as a prince, to look upon these proud men and
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abase them job forty Verses eleven to fourteen. Observe number one. He suffered
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them to proceed a good way into their enterprise before he put a stop to
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it, that they might have space to repent, and if they had so
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much consideration left, might be ashamed of it and weary of it themselves.
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And if not, that their disappointment might be the more shameful, and every
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one that passed by might laugh at them, saying, these men began to
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build and were not able to finish, that so the works of their hands,
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from which they promised themselves immortal honor, might turn to their perpetual reproach.
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Note God has wise and holy ends in permitting the enemies of His glory
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to carry on their impious projects a great way, and to prosper long in
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their enterprises. Number two. When they had, with much care and toil,
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made some considerable progress in their building, then God determined to break their
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measures and disperse them. Observe subscript one the righteousness of God, which peers
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in the considerations upon which he proceeded in this resolution Verse six. Two things
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he considered sub point one their oneness, as a reason why they must be
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scattered. Behold, the people are one, and they have all one language.
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If they continue one, much of the earth will be left uninhabited.
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The power of their prince will soon be exorbitant. Wickedness and profaneness will be
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insufferably rampant, for they will strengthen one another's hands in it. And which
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is worst of all, there will be an over balance to the church,
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and these children of men, if thus incorporated, will swallow up the little
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remnant of God's children. Therefore, it is decreed that they must not be
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one. Note unity is a policy, but it is not the infallible mark
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of a true church. Yet, while the builders of Babel, though of
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different families, dispositions and interests were thus unanimous in opposing God. What a
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pity is it, and what a shame that the builders of a scion,
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though united in one common head and spirit, should be divided as they are
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in serving God. But marvel not at the matter. Christ came not to
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sin peace some point two their obstinacy. Now nothing will be restrained from them,
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and this is a reason why they must be crossed and thwarted in their
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design. God had tried, by his commands and admonitions, to bring them
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off from this project, but in vain. Therefore he must take another course
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with them. See here first the sinfulness of sin and the wilfulness of sinners.
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Ever since Ada would not be restrained from the forbidden tree, his unsanctified
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seed have been impatient of restraint and ready to rebel against it. Secondly,
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see the necessity of God's judgments upon earth to keep the world in some order
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and to tie the hands of those that will not be checked by law.
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Subscript too, the wisdom and mercy of God in the methods that were taken
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for the defeating of this enterprise. Verse seven, go too. Let us
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go down, and there confound their language This was not spoken to the angels,
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as if God needed either their advice or their assistance. But God speaks
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it to himself or the Father, to the Son and holy Ghost. They
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said, go too, let us make brick and go too. Let us
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build a tower, animating one another to the attempt. And now God says,
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go too. Let us confound their language. For if men stir up
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themselves to sin, God will stir up himself to take vengeance. Isaiah forty
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nine, verses seventeen eighteen. Now observe here sub point one the mercy of
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God in moderating the penalty and not making it proportionable to the offense. For
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He deals not with us according to our sins. He does not say,
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let us go down now in thunder and lightning and consume those rebels in a
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moment, or let the earth open and swallow up them and their building,
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and let those go down quickly into hell who are climbing to heaven the wrong
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way. No, only let us go down and scatter them. They deserved
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death, but are only banished or transported. For the patience of God is
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very great towards a provoking world. Punish are chiefly reserved for the future state.
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God's judgments on sinners in this life, compared with those which are reserved,
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are little more than restraints. Sub Point two. The wisdom of God
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in pitching upon an effectual expedient to stay proceedings, which was the confounding of
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their language, that they might not understand one another's speech, nor could they
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well join hands when their tongues were divided, so that this would be a
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very proper method both for taking them off from their building, for if they
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could not understand one another, they could not help one another, and also
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for disposing them to scatter, for when they could not understand one another,
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they could not take pleasure in one another. Note. God has various means
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and effectual ones to baffle and defeat the projects of proud men that set themselves
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against Him, and particularly to divide them among themselves, either by dividing their
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spirits Judges nine, verse three, or by dividing their tongues, as David
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prays Psalm fifty five, verse nine, numeral three, the execution of these
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counsels of God to the blasting and defeating of the councils of men Verses eight
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and nine. God made them know whose word should stand his or theirs,
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as the expression is Jeremiah forty four, verse twenty eight. Notwithstanding their oneness
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and obstinacy, God was too hard for them, And wherein they dealt proudly,
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he was above them. For whoever hardened his heart against him and prospered.
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Three things were done. Number One, their language was confounded. God,
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who when he made man, taught him to speak and put words into
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his mouth fit to express the conceptions of his mind, by now caused these
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builders to forget their former language and to speak anew and understand a new one,
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which yet was common to those of the same tribe or family, but
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not to others. Those of one colony could converse together, but not with
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those of another. Now Subscript one, this was a great miracle, and
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a proof of the power which God has upon the minds and tongues of men,
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which he turns as the rivers of water. Subscript two. This was
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a great judgment upon these builders, for being thus deprived of the knowledge of
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the ancient and holy tongue, they had become incapable of communicating with the true
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Church in which it was retained, and probably it contributed much to their loss
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of the knowledge of the True God. Subscript three. We all suffer by
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it to this day, in all the inconveniences we sustain by the diversity of
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languages, and all the pains and trouble we are at to learn the languages
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we have occasioned. For we smart for the rebellion of our ancestors at babble,
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nay, in those unhappy controversies which are strifes of words, and arise
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from our misunderstanding one another's language. For aught, I know, are owing
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to this confusion of tongues. Subscript four. The project of some to frame
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a universal character in order to a universal language, how desirable soever it may
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seem, is yet, I think, but a vain thing to attempt.
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For it is to strive against a divine sentence by which the languages of the
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nations will be divided while the world stands. Subscript five. We may here
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lament the loss of the universal use of the Hebrew tongue, which from this
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time the vulgar language of the Hebrews only, and continued so till the captivity
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in Babylon, where even among them it was exchanged for the Syriac Subscript six.
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As the confounding of tongues divided the children of men and scattered them abroad.
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So the gift of tongues bestowed upon the apostles Acts two contributed greatly to
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the gathering together of the children of God who were scattered abroad, and the
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uniting of them in Christ, that with one mind and one mouth they might
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glorify God. Romans fifteen, verse six, number two. Their building was
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stopped. They left off to build the city. This was the effect of
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the confusion of their tongues, for it has not only incapacitated them for helping
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one another, but probably struck such a damp upon their spirits that they could
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not proceed, since they saw in this the hand of the Lord gone out
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against them. Note subscript one, it is wisdom to leave off that which
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we see God fights against. Subscript two. God is able to blast and
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bring to naught all the devices and designs of babel builders. He sits in
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heaven and lasts at the councils of the kings of the earth against Him and
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his anointed, and will force them to confess that there is no wisdom nor
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counsel against the Lord. Proverbs twenty one, verse thirty, Isaiah eight verses
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nine and ten. Number three, the builders were scattered abroad upon the face
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of the whole earth Verses eight and nine. They departed in companies, after
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their families and after their tongues. Chapter ten, Verses five twenty thirty one,
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to the several countries and places allotted to them in the division that had
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been made, which they knew before, but would not go to take possession
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of till now that they were forced to do it. Observe here Subscript one.
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The very thing which they feared came upon them, that dispersion which sought
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to evade by an act of rebellion, They by this act brought it upon
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themselves. For we are most likely to fall into trouble that which we seek
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to evade by indirect and sinful methods. Subscript two. It was God's work.
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The Lord scattered them. God's hand is to be acknowledged in all scattering
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providences. If the family be scattered, relations scattered, churches scattered, it
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is the Lord's doing. Subscript three. Though they were as firmly in league
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with one another as could be, yet the Lord scattered them. For no
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man can keep together what God will put asunder Subscript four. Thus God justly
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took vengeance on them for their oneness in that presumptuous attempt to build their tower.
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Shameful dispersions are the just punishment of sinful unions. Simeon and Levi,
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who had been brethren in iniquity, were divided in Jacob Chapter forty four,
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verses five and seven. Psalm eighty three, Verses three through thirteen. Subscript
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five. They left behind them a perpetual memorandum of their reproach. In the
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name given to the place, it was called Babel confusion. Those that aim
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at a great name commonly come off with a bad name. Subscript six.
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The children of men were now finely scattered, and never did, nor ever
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will come altogether again till the great day, when the Son of Man shall
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sit upon the throne of his glory, and all nations shall be gathered before
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him. Matthew twenty five, Verses thirty one thirty two, Verses ten through
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twenty six. These are the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years
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old and begat our Pakshad two years after the flood, and Shem lived after
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he begat our Pakshad five hundred years and begat sons and daughters and our Pakshad
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lived five and thirty years, and begat Selah and our Pakshad lived after he
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begat Selah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters and Selah
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lived thirty years, and begat Eber and Celah lived after he begat Eber four
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hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters and Iber lived four and
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thirty years, and begat Peelig and Iber lived after he begat Peelig four hundred
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and thirty years and begat sons and daughters. Peelig lived thirty years, and
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begat ru and Peelig lived after he begat Rheu two hundred and nine years,
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and begat sons and daughters and Rhyu lived two and thirty years, and begat
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sea Rug and Rhyu lived after he begat sea Rug two hundred and seven years,
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and begat sons and daughters and sea Rug lived thirty years, and Begatnor
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and Sea Rugg lived after he Begatnor two hundred years, and begat sons and
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daughters and Neaor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Tira and Naor lived
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after he begat Tira one hundred and nineteen years, and Begat sons and daughters,
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and Tira lived seventy years, and Begat Abram Neor and Heyrun. We
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have here a genealogy, not an endless genealogy, for here it ends in
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Abram, the Friend of God, and leads further to Christ, the Promised
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Seed, who was the son of Abram. And from Abram the genealogy of
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Christ is reckoned Matthew one, verse one, and so on, so that
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put Chapter five, Chapter six, and Matthew one together, and you have
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such an entire genealogy of Jesus Christ as cannot be produced for aught, I
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know, concerning any person in the world out of his line and at a
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distance from the fountain head. And laying these three genealogies together, we shall
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find that twice ten and thrice fourteen generations or descendants passed between the first and
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second atom, making it clear concerning Christ that he was not only the son
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of Abraham, but the son of Man and the seed of woman. Observe
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here number one. Nothing is left upon record concerning those of this line,
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but their names an age the Holy Ghost seeming to hasten through them to the
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story of Abram, how little do we know of those that have gone before
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us in this world, even those that lived in the same places where we
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live, as we likewise know little of those that are our contemporaries in distant
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places. We have enough to do to mind the work of our own day,
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and let God alone to require that which has past. Ecclesiastes three,
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verse fifteen, number two. There was an observable gradual decrease in the years
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of their lives. Shim reached to six hundred years, which yet fell short
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of the age of the patriarchs before the flood. The next three came short
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of five hundred. The next three did not reach three hundred. After them,
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we read not of any that detained to two hundred except Tira, and
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not many ages after this. Moses reckoned seventy or eighty to be the most
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men ordinarily arrived at. When the earth began to be replenished, men's lives
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began to shorten, so that the decrease is to be imputed to the wise
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disposal of Providence, rather than to any decay of nature. For the elect's
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sake, men's days are shortened, and being evil, it is well they
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are few and attain not to the years of the lives of our fathers.
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Chapter forty seven, Verse nine, Number three. Eber, from whom the
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Hebrews were denominated, was the longest lived of any that was born after the
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flood, which perhaps was the reward of a singular piety and strict adherents to
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the ways of God. The Generations of Tira b. C. Nineteen twenty
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one, Verses twenty seven through thirty two. Now these are the generations of
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Tira. Tira Begat, Abram, Neor and Hern and Hern Begat, Lot
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and Heron died before his father Tira in the land of his nativity in Er
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of the Chaldis, and Abram and Neor took them wives. The name of
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Abram's wife was Seriai, and the name of Nyer's wife Milka, the daughter
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of Hern, the father of Milka and the father of Isca. But Seriai
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was barn she had no child. And Tira took Abram his son, and
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Lot the son of Hern, his son's son, and Seraai his daughter in
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law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth with them from Er
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of the Chaldis to go into the land of Canaan, and they came unto
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Heron, and they dwelt there. And the days of Tira were two hundred
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and five years, and Tira died in Heron. Here begins the story of
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Abram, whose name is famous henceforward in both Testaments. We have here numeral
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one his country er of the Chaldis. This was the land of his nativity,
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an idolatrous country where even the children of Eber themselves had degenerated. Note,
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those who are, through grace heirs of the land of Promise ought to
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remember what was the land of their nativity? What was their corrupt and sinful
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state? By nature the rock out of which they were hewn Numeral two.
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His relations mentioned for his sake and because of their interest in the following story.
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Number one. His father was Tira, of whom it is said Joshua
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twenty four, verse two that he served other gods on the other side of
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this flood. So early did idolatry gain footing in the world, and so
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hard as it even those that have some good principles to swim against the stream.
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Though it is said verse twenty six that when Tira was seventy years old,
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he begat Abramnaor and hay Run, which seems to tell us that Abram
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was the eldest son of Tira and was born in his seventieth year. Yet,
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by comparing verse thirty two, which makes Tira to die in his two
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hundred and fifth year, with Acts seven verse four, where it is said
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that he was but seventy five years old when he removed from Hayrun, it
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appears that he was born in the one hundred thirtieth year of Tira, and
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probably was his youngest son. For in God's choices, the last are often
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first and the first last. We have number two some account of his brethren
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subscript I naor out of whose family both Isaac and Jacob had their wives.
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Subscript two Hayrn, the father of Lot, of whom it is here said
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verse twenty eight that he died before his father Tira. Note children cannot be
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sure that they shall survive their parents, for death does not go by seniority,
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taking the eldest first. The shadow of death is without any order Job
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ten, verse twenty two. It is likewise said that he died in ear
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of the Chaldies, before the happy removal of the family out of that idolatrous
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country. Note it concerns us to hasten out of our natural state, lest
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death surprise us. In it number three, his wife was Serae, who
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some think was the same with Iska, the daughter of Harun. Abraham himself
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says of her that she was the daughter of his father, but not the
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daughter of his mother. Chapter twenty, verse one. She was ten years
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younger than Abram Numeral three. His departure out of Er of the Chaldis with
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his father Tira, his nephew Lot, and the rest of his family,
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in obedience to the call of God, of which we shall read more Chapter
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twelve, verse one. This chapter leaves them in Harun or Karen, a
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place about midway between Er and Canaan, where they dwelt till Tira's head was
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laid, probably because the old man was unable, through the infirmities of age,
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to proceed in his journey. Many reach to Karen and yet fall short
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of Canaan. They are not far from the Kingdom of God, and yet
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they never come thither. End of chapter eleven