And they said one to another, go to,.... Advising, exhorting, stirring up, and encouraging one another to the work proposed, of building a city and tower for their habitation and protection; saying, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly; they knew the nature of bricks, and how to make them before: according to Sanchoniatho (h), the brothers...
And they said, go to, let us build us a city and a tower,.... Some Jewish writers (r) say, these are the words of Nimrod to his people; but it is a question whether he was now born, or if he was, must be too young to be at the head of such a body of people; but they are spoken to one another, or by the principal men among them to the common...
And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower,.... Not locally or visibly, being immense, omnipresent, and invisible; nor in order to see and take notice of what he otherwise could not see from heaven, for he is omniscient; but this is spoken after the manner of men, and is to be understood of some effects and displays of his power, which...
And the Lord said,.... Not to the angels, as Aben Ezra, but rather to the Son and Spirit, or within himself: behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; which some think is spoken ironically; but I see no reason why it may not be understood seriously, that the people who were concerned in this building were unanimous, not only in...
Go to, let us go down, [and] there confound their language,.... These words are not spoken to the angels, as the Targum and Aben Ezra; for, as Philo the Jew observes (h), they are said to some as co-workers with God, which angels could not be in this work of confounding the language of men; it being above the power of creatures so to work upon the...
So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence, upon the face of all the earth,.... Hence that which they feared came upon them, and what they were so careful to guard against befell them, occasioned by those measures they took to secure themselves from it; for not being able to understand one another, they left off their design, and as many as...
Therefore is the name of it called Babel,.... The name of the city mentioned, and the tower also, which signifies "confusion", as the Septuagint version renders it; and so Josephus (w) says the Hebrews call confusion "Babel": perhaps this name was given it by the sons of Eber, or it might be a common name preserved in all languages, as some are;...
These are the generations of Shem,.... Or a genealogy of the posterity of Shem; not of all of them, only of those of the line which led to Abraham, by which might appear the true line in which the Messiah from Adam through Abraham sprung: Shem was one hundred years old, and begat Arphexad two years after the flood; by which it is pretty plain that...
And Shem lived, after he begat Arphaxad, five hundred years,.... So that his whole age was six hundred years, and therefore must live to the times of Abraham, and even throughout the life of that patriarch, or near the end of it; and if he was the same with Melchizedek, as is the general opinion of the Jews, and is embraced by many Christians,...
And Arphaxad lived thirty five years, and begat Salah. Arphaxad is the first on record that had a son born to him so early; of Salah, [See comments on Genesis 10:24].
And Arphaxad lived, after he begat Salah, four hundred and three years,.... In all four hundred and thirty eight; the Vulgate Latin wrongly reads, three hundred and three: and begat sons and daughters; not mentioned by name: he died, as the above Arabic writer (z) says, in the month Nisan, A. M. 2696; and a Jewish writer (a) says he died in the...
And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber. He had a son born to him five years sooner than his father had; of Eber, [See comments on Genesis 10:25].
And Salah lived, after he begat Eber, four hundred and three years,.... In all four hundred and thirty three: and begat sons and daughters; of whom also there is no other account: the same Arabic writer (c) says, he died in the month, Adar, which is called Barhamath, at the close of A. M. 2950; and the Jewish chronologer (d) says, he died in the...
And Eber lived, after he begat Peleg, four hundred and thirty] years,.... All the years of his life were four hundred and sixty four: and he begat sons and daughters; one of which is elsewhere mentioned, whose name is Joktan, Genesis 10:25 according to the above Jewish writer (e), he died in the seventy ninth year of Jacob. (e) R. Gedaliah,...
And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu. Or Ragau, as he is called in the Septuagint version, the letter ע being pronounced as a "G", as in Gaza and Gomorrah: he is supposed to give name to a large plain called Ragau, near Assyria, about Tigris and Euphrates, "Even in those days king Nabuchodonosor made war with king Arphaxad in the great...
And Peleg lived, after he begat Reu, two hundred and nine years,.... In all two hundred and thirty nine, little more than half the age of his father: and begat sons and daughters; but not named the Arabic writers (g) say he begat Melchizedek the priest, and that he died in the month Elul, A. M. 3126; and a Jewish writer (h) says he died in the...
And Reu lived thirty two years, and begat Serug. He is thought to give name to a city called Sarug, which, according to the Arabic geographer (i), was near Charrae, or Haran, in Chaldea; and another Arabic writer (j) speaks of a city called to this day "Sarug", which he places in Mesopotamia. (i) Apud Bochart. Phaleg. l. 2. c. 14. col. 95. (j)...
And Reu lived, after he begat Sarug, two hundred and seven years,.... So that the whole of his life was two hundred and thirty nine years, the exact age of his father: in his days various kingdoms arose; according to the Arabic writer (k), in the one hundred and thirtieth year of his life began Nimrod to reign at Babylon, the first king that...