11 And Shem lived after he had begotten Arphaxad five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.
And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over every animal that moveth on the earth.
And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years; and he begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Adam that he lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died. And Seth lived a hundred and five years, and begot Enosh. And Seth lived after he had begotten Enosh eight hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years; and he died. And Enosh lived ninety years, and begot Cainan. And Enosh lived after he had begotten Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years; and he died. And Cainan lived seventy years, and begot Mahalaleel. And Cainan lived after he had begotten Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years; and he died. And Mahalaleel lived sixty-five years, and begot Jared. And Mahalaleel lived after he had begotten Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred and ninety-five years; and he died. And Jared lived a hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Enoch. And Jared lived after he had begotten Enoch eight hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died. And Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methushelah. And Enoch walked with God after he had begotten Methushelah three hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. And Methushelah lived a hundred and eighty-seven years, and begot Lemech. And Methushelah lived after he had begotten Lemech seven hundred and eighty-two years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Methushelah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years; and he died. And Lemech lived a hundred and eighty-two years, and begot a son. And he called his name Noah, saying, This [one] shall comfort us concerning our work and concerning the toil of our hands, because of the ground which Jehovah has cursed. And Lemech lived after he had begotten Noah five hundred and ninety-five years, and begot sons and daughters. And all the days of Lemech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years; and he died. And Noah was five hundred years old, and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Lo, children are an inheritance from Jehovah, [and] the fruit of the womb a reward. As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of youth.
Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine in the inner part of thy house; thy children like olive-plants round about thy table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed that feareth Jehovah.
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Commentary on Genesis 11 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 11
Ge 11:1-32. Confusion of Tongues.
1. the whole earth was of one language. The descendants of Noah, united by the strong bond of a common language, had not separated, and notwithstanding the divine command to replenish the earth, were unwilling to separate. The more pious and well-disposed would of course obey the divine will; but a numerous body, seemingly the aggressive horde mentioned (Ge 10:10), determined to please themselves by occupying the fairest region they came to.
2. land of Shinar—The fertile valley watered by the Euphrates and Tigris was chosen as the center of their union and the seat of their power.
3. brick—There being no stone in that quarter, brick is, and was, the only material used for building, as appears in the mass of ruins which at the Birs Nimroud may have been the very town formed by those ancient rebels. Some of these are sun-dried—others burnt in the kiln and of different colors.
slime—bitumen, a mineral pitch, which, when hardened, forms a strong cement, commonly used in Assyria to this day, and forming the mortar found on the burnt brick remains of antiquity.
4. a tower whose top may reach unto heaven—a common figurative expression for great height (De 1:28; 9:1-6).
lest we be scattered—To build a city and a town was no crime; but to do this to defeat the counsels of heaven by attempting to prevent emigration was foolish, wicked, and justly offensive to God.
6. and now nothing will be restrained from them—an apparent admission that the design was practicable, and would have been executed but for the divine interposition.
7. confound their language—literally, "their lip"; it was a failure in utterance, occasioning a difference in dialect which was intelligible only to those of the same tribe. Thus easily by God their purpose was defeated, and they were compelled to the dispersion they had combined to prevent. It is only from the Scriptures we learn the true origin of the different nations and languages of the world. By one miracle of tongues men were dispersed and gradually fell from true religion. By another, national barriers were broken down—that all men might be brought back to the family of God.
28. Ur—now Orfa; that is, "light," or "fire." Its name probably derived from its being devoted to the rites of fire-worship. Terah and his family were equally infected with that idolatry as the rest of the inhabitants (Jos 24:15).
31. Sarai his daughter-in-law—the same as Iscah [Ge 11:29], granddaughter of Terah, probably by a second wife, and by early usages considered marriageable to her uncle, Abraham.
they came unto Haran—two days' journey south-southeast from Ur, on the direct road to the ford of the Euphrates at Rakka, the nearest and most convenient route to Palestine.