Matthew Henry Commentary Genesis 11
Matthew Henry Commentary
Genesis 11
Matthew Henry Commentary
Genesis 11
"And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Come, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top [may reach] unto heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." — Genesis 11:1-4 (ASV)
How soon people forget the most tremendous judgments and go back to their former crimes! Though the desolations of the deluge were before their eyes, and though they sprang from the lineage of righteous Noah, yet even during his lifetime, wickedness increases exceedingly.
Nothing but the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit can remove the sinful lusts of the human will and the depravity of the human heart.
God's purpose was that humankind should form many nations and populate all lands. In contempt of the Divine will, and against the counsel of Noah, most of humankind united to build a city and a tower to prevent their separating.
Idolatry was begun, and Babel became one of its chief centers. They made one another more daring and resolute.
Let us learn to provoke one another to love and to good works, as sinners stir up and encourage one another to wicked works.
"And Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And Jehovah said, Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is what they begin to do: and now nothing will be withholden from them, which they purpose to do. Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another`s speech. So Jehovah scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off building the city. Therefore was the name of it called Babel; because Jehovah did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did Jehovah scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." — Genesis 11:5-9 (ASV)
Here is an expression after the manner of men: the Lord came down to see the city. God is just and fair in all He does against sin and sinners, and condemns no one unheard. Pious Eber is not found among this ungodly crew, for he and his are called the children of God. Their souls did not join themselves to the assembly of these children of men. God allowed them to go on for some time, so that the works of their hands, from which they promised themselves lasting honor, might turn to their lasting reproach.
God has wise and holy purposes in allowing the enemies of His glory to carry on their wicked projects to a great extent, and to prosper long. Observe the wisdom and mercy of God in the methods taken for defeating this undertaking. And the mercy of God in not making the penalty equal to the offense; for He does not deal with us according to our sins. The wisdom of God, in choosing a sure way to stop these proceedings.
If they could not understand one another, they could not help one another; this would stop them from their building. God has various means, and effective ones, to baffle and defeat the projects of proud men that set themselves against Him, and particularly He divides them among themselves. Notwithstanding their union and obstinacy, God was above them; for who ever hardened his heart against Him and prospered? Their language was confounded.
We all suffer from it to this day: in all the pains and trouble taken to learn the languages we need, we suffer for the rebellion of our ancestors at Babel. Indeed, those unhappy disputes, which are strifes of words and arise from misunderstanding one another's words, for all we know, are due to this confusion of tongues. They stopped building the city.
The confusion of their tongues not only made them unfit for helping one another, but they also saw the hand of the Lord gone out against them. It is wisdom to abandon what we see God fights against. God is able to blast and bring to nothing all the devices and designs of Babel-builders: there is no wisdom nor counsel against the Lord. The builders departed according to their families, and the tongue they spoke, to the countries and places allotted to them.
The children of men never did, nor ever will, come all together again, until the great day when the Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of His glory, and all nations shall be gathered before Him.
"These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old, and begat Arpachshad two years after the flood. and Shem lived after he begat Arpachshad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. And Arpachshad lived five and thirty years, and begat Shelah. and Arpachshad lived after he begat Shelah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. And Shelah lived thirty years, and begat Eber: and Shelah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters. And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg: and Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters. And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu: and Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters. And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug: and Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters. And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor: and Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters. And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah: and Nahor lived after he begat Terah a hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters. And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran." — Genesis 11:10-26 (ASV)
Here is a genealogy, or list of names, ending in Abram, the friend of God, and thus leading towards Christ, the promised Seed, who was the son of Abram. Nothing is left on record but their names and ages; the Holy Ghost seeming to hasten through them to the history of Abram.
How little do we know of those who have gone before us in this world, even of those who lived in the same places where we live, as we likewise know little of those who now live in distant places! We have enough to do to mind our own work.
When the earth began to be peopled, men's lives began to shorten; this was the wise ordering of Providence.
"Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran begat Lot. And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. And Abram and Nahor took them wives: The name of Abram`s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor`s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. And Sarai was barren; She had no child. And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his son`s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram`s 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. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran." — Genesis 11:27-32 (ASV)
Here begins the story of Abram, whose name is famous in both Testaments. Even the children of Eber had become worshippers of false gods. Those who are, through grace, heirs of the land of promise, should remember what the land of their birth was; what their corrupt and sinful state was by nature. Abram's brothers were Nahor, from whose family both Isaac and Jacob took their wives, and Haran, the father of Lot, who died before his father.
Children cannot be sure that they will outlive their parents. Haran died in Ur, before the happy removal of the family from that idolatrous country. We should hasten from our natural state, so that death does not surprise us in it. We read here of Abram's departure from Ur of the Chaldees, with his father Terah, his nephew Lot, and the rest of his family, in obedience to the call of God.
This chapter leaves them about midway between Ur and Canaan, where they lived until Terah's death. Many reach Charran, and yet fall short of Canaan; they are not far from the kingdom of God, and yet never come there.
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