CHAPTER 11

(2247 B.C.)

THE TOWER OF BABEL

¹And the whole Earth was of one language, and of one speech (before the flood and immediately after the flood, there was only one language on the face of the Earth; even though we have no way of knowing specifically, that language was probably Hebrew).

²And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east (doesnt refer to every single person, but rather that a great group went in that direction, more than likely led by Nimrod; the phrase, from the east, should have been translated in the east), that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. (This prince, Nimrod, and his city, Babylon, and the plain on which it was erected, Shinar, all claim attention. They represent Satans efforts, using man as his agent, to oppose and destroy Gods Plans. God has His Prince and His City; so has Satan. And these opposing princes with their cities occupy most of the pages of the Bible the closing pages of the Book revealing the triumph of Immanuel and Jerusalem over the Antichrist and Babylon.)

³And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter (considering the materials with which they were to use, they definitely did not plan for this city and tower to be temporary).

⁴And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven (probably signifies the worship of the Zodiac, i.e., the planetary bodies); and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole Earth. (They said marks the undeniable evil of the human heart. They had no regard for what God wanted. In this one Verse, we find the seedbed of all rebellion against God, whether then or now! In fact, this was the very first organized rebellion against God. The Lord had told Noah and his sons to be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the Earth [9:1]. Now, the followers of Nimrod are doing the very opposite. The Lord wanted mankind to be scattered over the Earth, but these rebels were determined to defy what God desired.)

⁵And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built (men rule, but God overrules).

⁶And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language (which was actually the Will of God); and this they begin to do (to rebel against God): and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do (in other words, their rebellion will only intensify).

⁷Go to, let Us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one anothers speech. (The pronoun Us, as it regards the Lord, proclaims the Trinity; there is one God, but manifest in three Persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. At least a hundred or more languages were here introduced, which made it impossible for these rebels to function together with any type of cohesion.)

⁸So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the Earth (those who spoke the same language banded together and went elsewhere): and they left off to build the city (there is some evidence that they finished the tower, but not the city).

⁹Therefore is the name of it called Babel (means confusion; Babel is also the Hebrew name for Babylon; the tower of Babel and the city itself, for that matter, had their origin in deliberate, determined, enthusiastic, exalting hostility to the Divine purpose, that they should spread themselves abroad upon the face of the whole Earth; and herein lies the essence of all rebellion: whatever thought, counsel, or word derives its inspiration, be it only in an infinitesimal degree, from antagonism to the Mind of God, that is sin); 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. (As stated, men rule, but God overrules!)

THE GENERATIONS OF SHEM

¹⁰These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:

¹¹And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

¹²And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah:

¹³And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

¹⁴And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber:

¹⁵And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

¹⁶And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg:

¹⁷And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.

¹⁸And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:

¹⁹And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.

²⁰And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug:

²¹And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.

²²And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:

²³And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

²⁴And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:

²⁵And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.

²⁶And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. (The generations now pick up again with Shem, because through his lineage the Son of God would be born into the world; however, it stops here with Abraham, and for a specific reason. It was to this man that the Lord gave the meaning of Justification by Faith. Regarding spiritual things, this was a great step forward.)

THE DESCENDANTS OF TERAH

²⁷Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.

²⁸And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.

²⁹And Abram (Abraham) and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abrams wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahors wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.

³⁰But Sarai was barren; she had no child. (Abraham now comes into view, and will prove to be one of the greatest men of God who ever lived. Even though Sarah was barren, the Lord, years later, even when she was 90 years of age, would rectify that problem. In fact, from the loins of Abraham and the womb of Sarah would come the Jewish people, raised up for the express purpose of giving the world the Word of God and, as well, serving, one might say, as the womb of the Messiah.)

TERAH MOVES FROM UR TO HARAN

³¹And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his sons son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abrams wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.

³²And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran. (With the entire family leaving Ur of the Chaldees, and journeying toward Canaan, we know that by now Abraham has had the great Revelation from God. How this Revelation came to him, we arent told! The entire family goes with Abraham, which seems to not have been the Will of God.)