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The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 11:7
Go to. An ironical contrast to the "Go to" of the builders (Lange). Let us (cf. Genesis 1:26) go down, and there confound their language (vide infra, Genesis 11:9), that they may not understand (literally, hear; so Gene…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 11:7
Babel and Zion. 1. Confusion, division, dispersion. 2. Gathering the dispersed, uniting the divided, restoring order to the confused.—W. §6. THE GENERATIONS OF SHEM (Genesis 11:10-26).
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 11:8
So (literally, and) the Lord scattered them abroad (as the result of the confusion of their speech) upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. I.e. as a united community, which does not preclud…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 11:9
Therefore is the name of it called Babel. For Balbel, confusion ( συì γχυσις, LXX; Josephus), from Balal, to confound; the derivation given by the sacred writer in the following clause (cf. for the elision of the letter…
Matthew Henry on Genesis 11:10-26
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 upon record but their names and ages; the Holy Gho…
Matthew Henry on Genesis 11:10-26
We have here a genealogy, not an endless genealogy, for here it ends in Abram, the friend of God, and leads further to Christ, the promised seed, who was the son of Abram, and from Abram the genealogy of Christ is recko…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 11:10-26
The order of grace is 1. Determined by God, and not by man. 2. Arranged after the Spirit, and not according to the flesh. 3. Appointed for the world's good as well as for the Church's safety.—W. HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 11:10-26
From Shem to Abram. I. THE SEPARATION OF THE GODLY SEED. The souls that constitute the Church of God upon the earth are always, as these Hebrew patriarchs— 1. Known to God; and that not merely in the mass, but as indivi…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 11:10-26
EXPOSITION
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 11:10
These are the generations of Shem. The new section, opening with the usual formula (cf. Genesis 2:4; Genesis 5:1; Genesis 6:9; Genesis 10:1), reverts to the main purpose of the inspired narrative, which is to trace the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 11:10-32
Divine traditions. A genealogy of Shem and of Terah, in order to set forth clearly the position of Abraham and that of his nephew Lot, and their connection with Ur of the Chaldees and Canaan. The chosen family is about…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 11:11
And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters (concerning whom Scripture is silent, as not being included in the holy line). Genesis 11:12, Genesis 11:13 And Arphaxad lived five…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 11:26
And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram. First named on account of his spiritual pre-eminence. If Abram was Terah's eldest son, then, as Abram was seventy-five years of age when Terah died (Genesis 12:4), Terah's…
Matthew Henry on Genesis 11:27-32
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, ought to remember what…
The Generations of Terah. (b. c. 1921.)
THE GENERATIONS OF TERAH. (B. C. 1921.) Here begins the story of Abram, whose name is famous, henceforward, in both Testaments. We have here, I. His country: Ur of the Chaldees. This was the land of his nativity, an ido…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 11:27
Now (literally, and, intimating the close connection of the present with the preceding section) these are the generations—the commencement of a new subdivision of the history (Keil), and neither the winding-up of the fo…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 11:27-32
PART III THE PATRIARCHAL AGE OF THE WORLD. CH. 11:27-50:26. 7. THE GENERATIONS OF TERAH (CH. 11:27-25:11).
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 11:28
And Haran died before his father. Literally, upon the face of his father; ἐνώπιον τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ (LXX); while his father was alive (Munster, Luther, Calvin, Rosenmüller); perhaps also in his father's presence (K…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 11:29
And Abram and Nahor took them wives (cf. Genesis 6:2): the name of Abram's wife was Sarai. "My princess," from sarah, to rule (Gesenius, Lange); "Strife" (Kalisch, Murphy): "Jah is ruler" (Furst). The LXX. write σάρα,…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 11:30
But Sarai was barren; she had no child. Perhaps in contrast to Milcah, who by this time had begun to have a family (Murphy).
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 11:31
And Terah took—an act of pure human volition on the part of Terah (Kalisch); under the guidance of God's ordinary providence (Keil); but more probably, as Abram was called in Ur (vide infra), prompted by a knowledge of…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 11:31
The migration of the Terachites. I. THE DEPARTURE OF THE EMIGRANTS. The attendant circumstances of this migration—the gathering of the clan, the mustering of the flocks, the farewells and benedictions exchanged with rel…
The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 11:32
And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years. So that if Abram was born in Terah's 70th year, Terah must have been 145 when Abram left Haran, and must have survived that departure sixty years (Kalisch, Dykes);…
Matthew Henry on Genesis 12:1-3
God made choice of Abram, and singled him out from among his fellow-idolaters, that he might reserve a people for himself, among whom his true worship might be maintained till the coming of Christ. From henceforward Abr…