Genesis 11:5 - Exposition

And the Lord came down . Not in visible form, as in Exodus 19:20 ; Exodus 34:5 (Onkelos), but " effectu ostendens se propin quiorem quem absentem esse judicabant " (Poole), an anthropomorphism (cf. Genesis 18:21 ; Psalms 144:5 ). " It is measure for measure ( par pari ). Let us build up, say they, and scale the heavens. Let us go down, says God, and defeat their impious thought" (Rabbi Schelomo, quoted by T . Lewis). To see (with a view to judicial action) the city and the tower which the children of men— sons of Adam ; neither the posterity of Cain, i.e. the Hamites exclusively, as the Sethites were called sons of God, Genesis 6:2 , nor wicked men in general (Junius, Piscator), imitators of Adam, i.e. rebellantes Deo (Mode, Lyre), since then the Shemites would not have been participators in the undertaking (Drusius), which some think, to have been their work exclusively (Inglis); but the members of the human race, or at least their leaders— builded .