Page:An Exposition of the Old and New Testament (1828) vol 1.djvu/113

Rh the remembrance of it in the name of his son; and justly may our sons be called by the same name, for in our days, in another sense, is the earth, the church, most wretchedly divided.

CHAP. XI. The old distinction between the sons of God, and the sons of men, (professors and profane,) survived the flood, and now appeared again, when men began to multiply: according to this distinction, we have, in this chapter, I. The dispersion of the sons of men at Babel, v. 1..9, where we have, 1. Their presumptuous provoking design, which was, to build a city and a tower, v. 1..4. 2. The righteous' judgment of God upon them in disappointing their design, by confounding their language, and so scattering them, v. 5..9. II. The pedigree of the sons of God down to Abraham, v. 10..26, with a general account of his family, and removal out of his native country, v, 27..32.

ND the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 4. And they said, Go to, 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. The close of the foregoing chapter tells us, that by the sons of Noah, or, among the sons of Noah, the nations were divided in the earth after the flood, that is, were distinguished into several tribes or colonies; and the places they had hitherto lived in together being grown too straight for them, it was either appointed by Noah, or agreed upon among his sons, which way each several tribe or colony should steer its course, beginning with the countries that were next them, and designing to proceed further and further, and to remove to a greater distance from each other, as the increase of their several companies should require. Thus was the matter well settled, one hundred years after the flood, about the time of Peleg's birth: but the sons of men, it should seem, were loath to scatter into distant places; they thought, the more the merrier, and the safer, and therefore they contrived to keep together, and were slack to go to possess the land which the Lord God of their fathers had given them. Josh. 18. 3, thinking themselves wiser than either God or Noah. Now here we have,

I. The advantages which befriended their design of keeping together. 1. They were all of one language, v. 1. If there were any different languages before the flood, yet Noah's only, which, it is likely, was the same with Adam's, was preserved through the flood, and continued after it. Now, while they all understood one another, they would be the more likely to love one another, and the more capable of helping one another, and the less inclinable to separate one from another. 2. They found a very convenient commodious place to settle in, v. 2, a plain in the land of Shinar, a spacious plain, and able to contain them all, a fruitful plain, and able, according as their present numbers were, to support them all; though perhaps they had not considered what room there would be for them when their numbers should be increased. Note, Inviting accommodations, for the present, often prove too strong temptations to the neglect of both duty and interest, as it respects futurity.

II. The method they took to bind themselves to one another, and to settle together in one body. Instead of coveting to enlarge their borders by a peaceable departure under the divine protection, they contrived to fortify them, and as those that were resolved to wage war with heaven, they put themselves into a posture of defence. Their unanimous resolution is, let us build a city and a tower. It is observable, that the first builders of cities, both in the old world, ch. 4. 17, and in the new world here, were not men of the best character and reputation: tents served God's subjects to dwell in, cities were first built by those that were rebels against him, and revolters from him. Observe here,

1. How they excited and encouraged one another to set about this work. They said, Go to, let us make brick, v. 3, and again v. 4, Go to, let us build us a city; by mutual excitements they made one another more daring and resolute. Note, Great things may be brought to pass, when the undertakers are numerous and unanimous, and stir up one another to it. Let us learn to provoke one another to love and to good works, as sinners stir up and encourage one another to wicked works. See Ps, 122. 1. Isa. 2. 3, 5. Jer. 50. 5.

2. What materials they used in their building. The country being plain, yielded neither stone nor mortar, yet that did not discourage them from their undertaking, but they made brick to serve instead of stone, and slime or pitch instead of mortar. See here, (1.) What shift these will make, that are resolute in their purposes: were we but thus zealously affected in a good thing, we should not stop our work so often as we do, under pretence that we want conveniences for carrying it on. (2.) What a difference there is between men's building and God's; when men build their Babel, brick and slime are their best materials; but when God builds his Jerusalem, he lays even the foundations of it with sapphires, and all its borders with pleasant stones, Isa. 54, 11. 12. Rev. 21. 19.

3. For what ends they built. Some think they intended hereby to secure themselves against the waters of another flood. God had told them indeed he would not again drown the world; but they would trust to a tower of their own making, rather than to a promise of God's making, or an ark of his appointing: if, however, they had had this in their eye, they would have chosen to build their tower upon a mountain, rather than upon a plain; but three things, it seems, they aimed at in building this tower.

(1.) It seems designed for an affront to God himself; for they would build a tower, whose top might reach to heaven, which bespeaks a defiance of God, or at least a rivalship with him; they will be like the Most High, or come as near him as they can, not in holiness, but in height. They forget their place, and, scorning to creep on the earth, resolve to climb to heaven, not by the door, or ladder, but some other way.

(2.) They hoped hereby to make them a name; they would do something to be talked of now, and to give posterity to know that there had been such men as they in the world; rather than die and leave no memorandum behind them, they would leave this monument of their pride, and ambition, and folly. Note, [1.] Affectation of honour, and a name among men, inspires with a strange ardour for great and difficult undertakings, and often betrays to that which is evil, and offensive to God. [2.] It is just with God to bury those names in the dust, which are raised by sin. These Babel-builders put themselves to a great deal of foolish expense, to make them a name; but they could not gain even this point, for we do not find in any history the name of so much as one of these Babel-builders; Philo