Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Genesis 11:1 - 11:4

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Genesis 11:1 - 11:4


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

The building of the Tower

v. 1. And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. Much of the explanatory matter in the preceding Chapter, as well as the mention of various languages, belongs to a later period of history, being indicated there merely for the sake of offering a complete picture. The story which is now told belongs to a period only about one hundred years after the Flood, if we may assume that it occurred at the time when Peleg was born. At that time all the people of the world still had but one speech and one language.

v. 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.
From the highlands of the Ararat range the survivors of the Flood and their families moved down, by degrees, in an easterly direction until they reached the great plain where the Euphrates and Tigris rivers flow. It is a rich and fertile plain, or was in those days, and the people were constrained to give up their nomadic form of living and establish permanent sites for homes.

v. 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.
Not only Ham and Canaan had meanwhile forsaken the religion of Noah, but other members of his family had likewise turned from the living God to the vanity and pride of their own imagination. This is indicated by the manner of their speech in proposing to build a city and a tower.

v. 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.
Their plans were made with care. Instead of the usual sun-dried brick they proposed to use burnt brick, which would be able to withstand the ravages of the weather so much the better. And instead of merely laying the bricks loosely, they planned to set them firmly by the use of asphalt, which is found in large quantities near the ruins of Babylon. Just what motive prompted them to undertake the building of such a city and tower whose top should reach to the sky is shown in their words: And let us make for us a name, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth. An arrogant, blasphemous pride was here combined with a cringing fear of the avenging justice of the Lord. They were full of enmity toward God; their purpose was to defy His almighty power and to make this city with its tower the center of the world, to which they might return even if it should happen that the Lord would scatter them into the four winds.