| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
| |
|
| 1 And the whole earth is of one pronunciation, and of the same words, |
|
| 2 and it cometh to pass, in their journeying from the east, that they find a valley in the land of Shinar, and dwell there; |
|
| 3 and they say each one to his neighbour, 'Give help, let us make bricks, and burn [them] thoroughly:' and the brick is to them for stone, and the bitumen hath been to them for mortar. |
|
| 4 And they say, 'Give help, let us build for ourselves a city and tower, and its head in the heavens, and make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of all the earth.' |
And a tower – As a protection against further disasters similar to the flood. R2846:2
Losing confidence in God, the people began the construction of the tower of Babel. PD22/33
A name – Such as Catholic, Methodist, Episcopal, etc. R718:2
|
| 5 And Jehovah cometh down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men have builded; |
|
| 6 and Jehovah saith, 'Lo, the people [is] one, and one pronunciation [is] to them all, and this it hath dreamed of doing; and now, nothing is restrained from them of that which they have purposed to do. |
|
| 7 Give help, let us go down, and mingle there their pronunciation, so that a man doth not understand the pronunciation of his companion.' |
Confound their language – The diversity of language is an effectual barrier to prevent mankind from combining for the accomplishment of his own selfish or sinful purposes. PD22/33
|
| 8 And Jehovah doth scatter them from thence over the face of all the earth, and they cease to build the city; |
|
| 9 therefore hath [one] called its name Babel, for there hath Jehovah mingled the pronunciation of all the earth, and from thence hath Jehovah scattered them over the face of all the earth. |
Called Babel – Confusion, type of Babylon, Christendom. D26
Called by the natives Babil, the gate of God. D24
Picture of a religious "tower of Babel," primarily Papacy. SM405:1
Confound the language – This corresponds well with the Protestant Reformation movement. SM405:2
|
| |
|
| 10 These [are] births of Shem: Shem [is] a son of an hundred years, and begetteth Arphaxad two years after the deluge. |
Two years after the flood – Link No.11 in the true Bible chronology. B44
Therefore Shem was not the oldest son of Noah. HG104:2
|
| 11 And Shem liveth after his begetting Arphaxad five hundred years, and begetteth sons and daughters. |
500 years – Longevity immediately shortened after the flood. R534:5
|
| 12 And Arphaxad hath lived five and thirty years, and begetteth Salah. |
Lived 35 years – Link No.12 in the true Bible chronology. B44
|
| 13 And Arphaxad liveth after his begetting Salah four hundred and three years, and begetteth sons and daughters. |
|
| 14 And Salah hath lived thirty years, and begetteth Eber. |
Lived 30 years – Link No.13 in the true Bible chronology. B44
|
| 15 And Salah liveth after his begetting Eber four hundred and three years, and begetteth sons and daughters. |
|
| 16 And Eber liveth four and thirty years, and begetteth Peleg. |
Lived 34 years – Link No.14 in the true Bible chronology. B44
|
| 17 And Eber liveth after his begetting Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begetteth sons and daughters. |
|
| 18 And Peleg liveth thirty years, and begetteth Reu. |
Lived 30 years – Link No.15 in the true Bible chronology. B44
|
| 19 And Peleg liveth after his begetting Reu two hundred and nine years, and begetteth sons and daughters. |
|
| 20 And Reu liveth two and thirty years, and begetteth Serug. |
Lived 32 years – Link No.16 in the true Bible chronology. B44
|
| 21 And Reu liveth after his begetting Serug two hundred and seven years, and begetteth sons and daughters. |
|
| 22 And Serug liveth thirty years, and begetteth Nahor. |
Lived 30 years – Link No.17 in the true Bible chronology. B44
|
| 23 And Serug liveth after his begetting Nahor two hundred years, and begetteth sons and daughters. |
|
| 24 And Nahor liveth nine and twenty years, and begetteth Terah. |
Lived 29 years – Link No.18 in the true Bible chronology. B44
|
| 25 And Nahor liveth after his begetting Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begetteth sons and daughters. |
|
| 26 And Terah liveth seventy years, and begetteth Abram, Nahor, and Haran. |
And begat Abram – Haran, the eldest, was born when Terah was 70; while Abram, the youngest, was not born until Terah was 130. Abram is mentioned first because of his greater prominence. R2855:1, R5177:3, R1595:2
Lot and Abraham were probably nearly the same age. R5177:5
|
| |
|
| 27 And these [are] births of Terah: Terah hath begotten Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran hath begotten Lot; |
Abram – Terah's youngest son. Q709:5
|
| 28 and Haran dieth in the presence of Terah his father, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldees. |
|
| 29 And Abram and Nahor take to themselves wives; the name of Abram's wife [is] Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife [is] Milcah, daughter of Haran, father of Milcah, and father of Iscah. |
Took them wives – Nahor's wife, Milcah, was the daughter of his brother Haran; and Milcah's granddaughter, Rebekah, was the wife of Isaac, Abraham's son; showing that Haran and Nahor were both much older than Abraham. R2855:4, R5177:6
|
| 30 And Sarai is barren she hath no child. |
Sarai was barren – Corresponding to the long deferred coming of Christ. PD23/34
|
| 31 And Terah taketh Abram his son, and Lot, son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, wife of Abram his son, and they go out with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go towards the land of Canaan; and they come unto Charan, and dwell there. |
And Lot – About Abram's own age. Lot had "sons-in-law which married his daughters" (Gen. 19:14) before Isaac was born. R2855:4, R5177:5
And Sarai – Probably the daughter of Haran, sister of Lot. R2846:5
And they went forth – Probably influenced by the gross idolatry about them. R3936:1
He did not stop to argue that he could do more good by remaining among his idolatrous and wicked neighbors. R3936:4
Ur of the Chaldees – Now called Mugheir, at which place the name "Abu Ramu " (Abram) has been found on tablets recently unearthed. R3935:3
|
| 32 And the days of Terah are two hundred and five years, and Terah dieth in Charan. |
Were 205 years – Link No.19 in the true Bible chronology. B44
|