Genesis 11:3 KJV

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Genesis 11:3

said. Sin with their tongues punished in the same manner (Genesis 11:7 ). burn, &c. Hebrew brick bricks, and burn a burning. Figure of speech Polyptoton , emphasizing their determination. Burning in fire, not waiting for sun. See note on "brick-kiln", 2 Samuel 12:3 . slime = bitumen. So tenacious to-day that detachment almost impossible. Compare the slime of Babel with the jewels of Zion (Revelation 21:19 ). read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Genesis 11:3

"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.""Brick ... slime had they for mortar ..." The absence of building stone on the plains of Shinar led to the perfection of the brick industry, thus providing materials for the ambitious project contemplated. "The word for slime here is [~hemar], that is bitumen or asphalt."[7] This was a different substance from that used in preparing the ark for Moses, or... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Genesis 11:3

Genesis 11:3. And they said one to another, &c.— United in language and sentiment, they agreed to provide proper materials, and so to build a city, which might be a more certain habitation than moveable tents, which might also unite them under one government and polity, and give them strength and celebrity. The materials they provided, were brick instead of stone, and for mortar or cement they had slime, bitumen, a kind of liquid pitch, which sometimes is gathered under ground in brittle... 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

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

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 11:1-26

I. PRIMEVAL EVENTS 1:1-11:26Chapters 1-11 provide an introduction to the Book of Genesis, the Pentateuch, and the whole Bible."What we find in chaps. 1-11 is the divine initiation of blessing, which is compromised by human sin followed by gracious preservation of the promise: blessing-sin-grace." [Note: Mathews, p. 60.] "His [Moses’] theological perspective can be summarized in two points. First, the author intends to draw a line connecting the God of the Fathers and the God of the Sinai... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 11:3-4

The motivation for building a city was to make the builders a name (cf. Psalms 14:1). Later God would "make a name" for Abram (Genesis 12:2-3). The object of this endeavor was to establish a center by which they might maintain their unity."A defensive wall is the hallmark of a city (see Genesis 4:17). Cities in the ancient Near East were not designed to be lived in but were intended for religious and public purposes." [Note: Waltke, Genesis, p. 179.] God desired unity for humankind, but one... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 11:1-32

The Tower of Babel. The Descendants of Shem to AbrahamWe have here the ancient Hebrew explanation of the diversity of human language, and of the wide dispersion of the human race. Babylon is represented as the original centre of human civilisation after the Flood. The splendid buildings of Babylonia were among the most remarkable achievements of human power and pride. But they were repugnant to the Jews as being associated with idolatry, and their erection is here regarded as rebellion against... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 11:3

(3) Let us make brick, and burn them throughly.—Heb., for a burning. Bricks in the East usually are simply dried in the sun, and this produces a sufficiently durable building material. It marks a great progress in the arts of civilisation that these nomads had learned that clay when burnt becomes insoluble; and their buildings with “slime,” or native pitch, for cement would be virtually indestructible. In fact, Mr. Layard says that at Birs-Nimroud it was scarcely possible to detach the bricks... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Genesis 11:1-32

Youth and After Genesis 11:32 'And Terah died in Haran.' What of that? It was not until they came to Haran that they touched, as it were, their first footprints and found the old religion. There had been little temptation to pause before on the score of a people's worship, but when, worn out in body and mind, Abram suddenly came upon the old religion, his journeyings after another faith and form of worship were at an end. It was Abram the younger man who withstood the temptations of Haran. I.... read more

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Genesis 11:3

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Genesis 11:3

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Genesis 11:3

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

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

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 11:1-26

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 11:3-4

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 11:1-32

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 11:3

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Genesis 11:1-32

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