Genesis 11

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Genesis 11:2

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. read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Genesis 11:3

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. read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Genesis 11:4

4. a tower whose top may reach unto heaven—a common figurative expression for great height (Deuteronomy 1:28; Deuteronomy 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. read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Genesis 11:6

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. read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Genesis 11:7

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,... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Genesis 11:28

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 (Joshua 24:15). read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Genesis 11:31

31. Sarai his daughter-in-law—the same as Iscah [Genesis 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. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 11

II. PATRIARCHAL NARRATIVES 11:27-50:26One of the significant changes in the emphasis that occurs at this point in Genesis is from cursing in the primeval record to blessing in the patriarchal narratives. The Abrahamic Covenant is most important in this respect. How Abram’s family gained and provided these blessings unfolds. Israel could, and we can, identify with their experiences."Chapters 1-11 are set in Babylonia; chs. 12-36 are set in Palestine; chs. 37-50 are set in Egypt. (The same kind... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 11:1-2

Some of the Hamites migrated "east" (specifically southeast) to the plain of Shinar (cf. Genesis 10:10). This was in the Mesopotamian basin (modern Iraq)."In light of such intentional uses of the notion of ’eastward’ within the Genesis narratives, we can see that here too the author intentionally draws the story of the founding of Babylon into the larger scheme at work throughout the book. It is a scheme that contrasts God’s way of blessing (e.g., Eden and the Promised Land) with man’s own... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 11:1-9

2. The dispersion at Babel 11:1-9This pericope is a flashback that explains the division of the earth in Peleg’s time (Genesis 10:25). The main emphasis in this section is not the building of the tower of Babel but the dispersion of the peoples. We can see this in the literary structure of the passage. [Note: Ross, Creation and . . ., p. 235. Cf. J. P. Fokkelman, Narrative Art in Genesis, p. 22; Wenham, Genesis 1-15, pp. 234-38; and Waltke, Genesis, pp. 176-77.] A All the earth had one language... read more

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Genesis 11:2

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Genesis 11:3

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Genesis 11:4

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Genesis 11:6

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Genesis 11:7

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Genesis 11:28

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Genesis 11:31

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 11

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 11:1-2

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 11:1-9

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