lon, where the holy tongue ceased from being commonly used, and the mixed Hebrew (or Chaldee) came in its place."

a city and a tower.

A. M. cir. 1757.

and a tower whose top may B. C. Cir. 2247.
reach unto heaven; and let us
make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad
upon the face of the whole earth.

f Deut. i. 28.

scarcity of stones in that district; and on the same account they were obliged to use slime, that is, bitumen, (Vulg.) aopaλros, (Septuagint,) for mortar: so it appears they had neither common stone nor lime-stone; hence they had brick for stone, and asphaltus or bitumen instead of mortar.

Verse 4. Let us build us a city and a tower] On this subject there have been various conjectures. Mr. Hutchinson supposed that the design of the builders was to erect a temple to the host of heaven—the sun, moon, planets, &c. ; and, to support this interpretation, he says 'DW1 verosho bashshamayim should be translated, not, whose top may reach unto heaven, for there is nothing for may reach in the Hebrew, but its head or summit to the heavens, i. e. to the heavenly bodies: and, to make this interpretation the more probable, he says that previously to this time the descendants of Noah were all agreed in one form of religious worship, (for so he understands vesaphah

It cannot be reasonably imagined that the Jews lost the Hebrew tongue entirely in the seventy years of their captivity in Babylon; yet, as they were mixed with the Chaldeans, their children would of course learn that dialect, and to them the pure Hebrew would be unintelligible; and this probably gave rise to the necessity of explaining the Hebrew Scriptures in the Chaldee tongue, that the children might understand as well as their fathers. As we may safely presume the parents could not have forgotten the Hebrew, so we may conclude the children in general could not have learned it, as they did not live in an insulated state, but were mixed with the Babylonians. This conjecture removes the difficulty with which many have been embarrassed; one party supposing that the knowledge of the Hebrew language was lost during the Babylonish captivity, and hence the necessity of the Chaldee Tar-achath, and of one lip,) i. e. according to him, they had gums to explain the Scriptures; another party insisting that this was impossible in so short a period as seventy years.

Verse 2. As they journeyed from the east] Assyria, Mesopotamia, and the country on the borders and beyond the Euphrates, are called the east in the sacred writings. Balaam said that the king of Moab had brought him from the mountains of the east, Num. xxiii. 7. Now it appears, from chap. xxii. 5, that Balaam dwelt at Pethor, on the river Euphrates. And it is very probable that it was from this country that the wise men came to adore Christ; for it is said they came from the east to Jerusalem, Matt. ii. 1. Abraham is said to have come from the east to Canaan, Isa. xli. 2; but it is well known that he came from Mesopotamia and Chaldea. Isaiah, xlvi. 11, represents Cyrus as coming from the east against Babylon. And the same prophet represents the Syrians as dwelling eastward of Jerusalem, chap. ix. 12: The Syrians before, op mikkedem, from the east, the same word which Moses uses here. Daniel ix. 44, represents Antiochus as troubled at news received from the east; i. e. of a revolt in the eastern provinces, beyond the Euphrates.

one litany; and as God confounded their litany, they began to disagree in their religious opinions, and branched out into sects and parties, each associating with those of his own sentiment; and thus their tower or temple was left unfinished.

It is probable that their being of one language and of one speech implies, not only a sameness of language, but also a unity of sentiment and design, as seems pretty clearly intimated in ver. 6. Being therefore strictly united in all things, coming to the fertile plains of Shinar they proposed to settle themselves there, instead of spreading themselves over all the countries of the earth, according to the design of God; and in reference to this purpose they encouraged one another to build a city and a tower, probably a temple, to prevent their separation, "lest," say they, "we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth :" but God, miraculously interposing, confounded or frustrated their rebellious design, which was inconsistent with his will; see Deut. xxxii. 8; Acts xvii. 26; and, partly by confounding their language, and disturbing their counsels, they could no longer keep in a united state; so that agreeing in nothing but the necessity of sepa rating, they went off in different directions, and thus became scattered abroad upon the face of the earth. The Targums, both of Jonathan ben Uzziel and of Jerusalem, assert that the tower was for idolatrous worship; and that they intended to place an image on the top of the tower with a sword in its hand, probably to act as a talisman against their enemies. Whatever their design might have been, it is certain that this temple or tower was afterwards devoted to idolatrous purposes. Nebuchadnezzar repaired and beautified this tower, and it was dedicated to Bel, or the sun. Verse 3. Let us make brick] It appears they were An account of this tower, and of the confusion of obliged to make use of brick, as there was an utter tongues, is given by several ancient authors. Herodo

Noah and his family, landing after the flood on one of the mountains of Armenia, would doubtless descend and cultivate the valleys: as they increased, they appear to have passed along the banks of the Euphrates, till, at the time specified here, they came to the plains of Shinar, allowed to be the most fertile country in the east. See Calmet. That Babel was built in the land of Shinar we have the authority of the sacred text to prove; and that Babylon was built in the same country we have the testimony of Eusebius, Præp. Evang. lib. ix., c. 15; and Josephus, Antiq., lib. i., c. 5.

The Lord comes down to see

GENESIS.

B. C. cir. 2247.

the tower which was built. A. M. cir. 1757. 5 And the LORD came down is one, and they have all one A. M. cir. 1757. B. C. cir. 2247. to see the city and the tower, language; and this they begin to which the children of men builded. do and now nothing will be restrained from 6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people them, which they have imagined to do.

h

Chap. xviii. 21. Chap. ix. 19; Acts xvii. 26.

i Ver. 1.

k Psa. ii. 1.

(and it must have prevailed in the first ages of the world) men would necessarily have simple ideas, and a corresponding simplicity of manners. The Chinese language is exactly such as this; and the Hebrew, if stripped of its vowel points, and its prefixes, suffixes, and postfixes separated from their combinations, so that they might stand by themselves, it would nearly an

order therefore to remove this unity of sentiment and design, which I suppose to be the necessary consequence of such a language, God confounded their language-caused them to articulate the same word differently, to affix different ideas to the same term, and perhaps, by transposing syllables and interchanging letters, form new terms and compounds, so that the mind of the speaker was apprehended by the hearer in a contrary sense to what was intended. This idea is not ill expressed by an ancient French poet, Du Bartas; and not badly, though rather quaintly, metaphrased by our countryman, Mr. Sylvester.

tus saw the tower and described it. A sybil, whose oracle is yet extant, spoke both of it and of the confusion of tongues; so did Eupolemus and Abydenus. See Bochart Geogr. Sacr., lib. i., c. 13, edit. 1692. On this point Bochart observes that these things are taken from the Chaldeans, who preserve many remains of ancient facts; and though they often add circumstances, yet they are, in general, in some sort depend-swer to this character even in its present state. In ent on the text. 1. They say Babel was built by the giants, because Nimrod, one of the builders, is called in the Hebrew text 21 gibbor, a mighty man; or, as the Septuagint, yiyas, a giant. 2. These giants, they say, sprang from the earth, because, in Gen. x. 11, it is said, He went, in ps fɔ min haarets hahiv, out of that earth; but this is rather spoken of Asshur, who was another of the Babel builders. 3. These giants are said to have waged war with the gods, because it is said of Nimrod, Gen. x. 9, He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; or, as others have rendered it, a warrior and a rebel against the Lord. See Jarchi in loco. 4. These giants are said to have raised a tower up to heaven, as if they had intended to have ascended thither. This appears to have been founded on whose top may reach to heaven," which has been already explained. 5. It is said that the gods sent strong winds against them, which dispersed both them and their work. This appears to have been taken from the Chaldean history, in which it is said their dispersion was made to the four winds of heaven, y

66

bearba ruchey shemaiya, i. e. to the four quarters of the world. 6. And because the verb phuts, or a naphats, used by Moses, signifies, not only to scatter, but also to break to pieces; whence thunder, Isa. xxx. 30, is called a nephets, a breaking to pieces; hence they supposed the whole work was broken to pieces and overturned. It was probably from this disguised representation of the Hebrew text that the Greek and Roman poets took their fable of the giants waging war with the gods, and piling mountain upon mountain in order to scale heaven. See Bochart as above.

Verse 5. And the Lord came down] A lesson, says an ancient Jewish commentator, to magistrates to examine every evidence before they decree judgment and execute justice.

Verse 6. The people is one, &c.] From this, as before observed, we may infer, that as the people had the same language, so they had a unity of design and sentiment. It is very likely that the original language was composed of monosyllables, that each had a distinct ideal meaning, and only one meaning; as different acceptations of the same word would undoubtedly arise, either from compounding terms, or, when there were but few words in a language, using them by a different mode of pronunciation to express a variety of things. Where this simple monosyllabic language prevailed

Some speak between the teeth, some in the nose,
Some in the throat their words do ill dispose-

"Bring me," quoth one, "a trowel, quickly, quick!”
One brings him up a hammer. "Hew this brick,"
Another bids; and then they cleave a tree;
"Make fast this rope," and then they let it flee.
One calls for planks, another mortar lacks;
They bear the first a stone, the last an axe.
One would have spikes, and him a spade they give;
Another asks a saw, and gets a sieve.
Thus crossly crost, they prate and point in vain;
What one hath made another mars again.

These masons then, seeing the storm arrived
Of God's just wrath, all weak and heart-deprived,
Forsake their purpose, and, like frantic fools,
Scatter their stuff and tumble down their tools.
DU BARTAS.-Babylon.

I shall not examine how the different languages of the earth were formed. It certainly was not the work of a moment; different climates must have a considerable share in the formation of tongues, by their influence on the organs of speech. The invention of new arts and trades must give birth to a variety of terms and expressions. Merchandise, commerce, and the cultivation of the sciences, would produce their share; and different forms of government, modes of life, and means of instruction, also contribute their quota. The Arabic, Chaldee, Syriac, and Ethiopic, still bear the most striking resemblance to their parent, the Hebrew. Many others might be reduced to a common source, yet everywhere there is sufficient evidence of this confusion. The anomalies even in the most regular languages sufficiently prove this.

7 Go to, let us go down, and 11 And Shem lived after he be- A. M. 2158.
there confound their language, gat Arphaxad five hundred years,
m not understand one another's and begat sons and daughters.

Verse 7. Go to] A form of speech which, whatever it might have signified formerly, now means nothing. We have already seen that the Scripture chronoThe Hebrew habah signifies come, make pre-logy, as it exists in the Hebrew text, the Samaritan, paration, as it were for a journey, the execution of a purpose, &c. Almost all the versions understand the word in this way; the Septuagint have devre, the Vulgate venite, both signifying come, or come ye. This makes a very good sense, Come, let us go down, &c. For the meaning of these latter words see chap. i. 26, and xviii. 21.

Verse 9. Therefore is the name of it called Babel] babel, from bal, to mingle, confound, destroy;ject with a cautious but firm step; and, if he has not hence Babel, from the mingling together and confounding of the projects and language of these descendants of Noah; and this confounding did not so much imply the producing new languages, as giving them a different method of pronouncing the same words, and leading them to affix different ideas to them.

A. M. 2187. hundred and thirty years, and begat | and begat Abram, Nahor, and A. M. 1948. sons and daughters.

32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: years, and Terah died in Haran.