42 | Genesis 10:30
30 The re gion where they lived stretched from Me sha to ward Se phar, in the east ern hill country.
31 These are the sons of Shem by their clans and lan guages, in their ter ri to ries and nations.
32 These are the clans of No ah’ s sons, s ac cord ing to their lines of de scent, within their na tions. From these the na tions spread out over the earth t af ter the flood.
The Tower of Babel
Now the whole world had one lan guage and a com mon speech. 2 As peo ple moved
11 eastward, a they found a plain in Shi nar b u and set tled there.
3 They said to each other,“ Come, let’ s make bricks v and bake them thor oughly.” They used brick in stead of stone, and tar w for mor tar. 4 Then they said,“ Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heav ens, x so that we may make a name y for our selves; other wise we will be scat tered over the face of the whole earth.” z
5 But the Lord came down a to see the city and the tower the peo ple were build ing. 6 The Lord said,“ If as one peo ple speak ing the same lan guage they have be gun to do this, then noth ing they plan to do will be im pos si ble for them. 7 Come, let us b go down and con fuse their lan guage so they will not un der stand each other.” c
8 So the Lord scat tered them from there over all the earth, d and they stopped build ing the city. 9 That is why it was called Ba bel c e— because there the Lord con fused the lan guage of the whole world. From there the Lord scat tered them over the face of the whole earth.
10:32 s ver 1 t Ge 9:19 11:2 u Ge 10:10 11:3 v Ex 1:14 w Ge 14:10
11:4 x Dt 1:28; 9:1 y Ge 6:4 z Dt 4:27
11:5 a ver 7; Ge 18:21; Ex 3:8; 19:11, 18, 20
11:7 b Ge 1:26 c Ge 42:23
11:8 d Ge 9:19; Lk 1:51 11:9 e Ge 10:10 11:12 f Lk 3:35
From Shem to Abram
11:10-27pp— Ge 10:21-31; 1Ch 1:17-27
10 This is the ac count of Shem’ s fam ily line.
Two years af ter the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he be came the fa ther d of Arphaxad. 11 And af ter he be came the fa ther of Ar phaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters.
12 When Ar phaxad had lived 35 years, he be came the fa ther of She lah. f 13 And af ter he be came the fa ther of She lah, Ar phaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daugh ters. e
a 2 Or from the east; or in the east b 2 That is, Babylonia c 9 That is, Babylon; Babel sounds like the Hebrew for
confused. d 10 Father may mean ancestor; also in verses 11-25. e 12,13 Hebrew; Septuagint( see also Luke 3:35, 36 and note at Gen. 10:24) 35 years, he became the father of Cainan. 13 And after he became the father of Cainan, Arphaxad lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters, and then he died. When Cainan had lived 130 years, he became the father of Shelah. And after he became the father of Shelah, Cainan lived 330 years and had other sons and daughters
10:30 Mesha... Sephar. Unknown. 10:32 the nations spread out. This does not happen until after the tower of Babel incident( 11:1 – 9), so this verse does not follow chronological order.
11:1 – 9 The Tower of Babel. The people of the earth want to make a name for themselves, even if this means opposing God. God’ s creation of the many languages of the human race leads them to spread across the earth and give up their defiant plans. 11:2 people moved eastward. In the eastern part of the Fertile Crescent, the waters of the Persian Gulf receded in the fourth millennium BC. There is archaeological evidence that people lived there. People who have not yet“ spread out over the earth”( 10:32) settle in Shinar( i. e., Bab ylon, 10:10). They band together for security. 11:3 bake them thoroughly. Mud bricks can simply dry in the heat of the sun, but the strongest ones were fired in kilns. Oven-fired bricks were more expensive and used only for the facades of special buildings. brick instead of stone. Brick is characteristic building material in Mesopotamia, where it is far more abundant than building stone. 11:4 tower. Hebrew migdāl. It usually refers to a fortress and emphasizes security. Here it may be associated with the pyramid-shaped ziggurats that humans in early Mesopotamian cities used to access the divine world of the god they worshiped. In some views, the ziggurat was primarily a staircase for the god; the temple was near the bottom of the stairs that went up the side of the ziggurat. The city was built to house the ziggurat, the temple, and other buildings for the priests, king, and army. a name. A reputation guaranteeing that one would be honored after death. This account intentionally contrasts with Abram and the“ name” God promises him( 12:1 – 3) by calling him out from the same urban environment and into a“ backwater” land with little promise for security and worldly success. Because the people feared being“ scattered” and were vulnerable, they planned to unite and build a powerful fortress that would allow them to call down their god to protect them and their descendants. 11:5 the Lord came down to see. The builders constructed their tower to the heavens. Ironically, God had to descend to reach them. 11:6 nothing they plan to do will be impossible. It will not be beyond their reach. The tower is a central fortress that opposes God’ s plans. Cities, though at times blessed by God( e. g., Jerusalem) and centers for the expansion of the gospel( as in Acts), can also be evil centers of rebellion against God. 11:7 us. The plural pronoun may reflect the divine court, where decisions are made that overturn the deliberations of any human court, or it may suggest God’ s self-reflection as a deity far more complex in personhood than other gods( see note on 1:26). confuse. Hebrew n-b-l, a wordplay on“ brick”( Hebrew l-b-n). This does not permanently remove the danger of the city, but it mitigates the threat of a one-world government where no alternative worship is allowed. 11:9 Babel. Bab ylon( see 10:8 – 10 and notes). Babel( Hebrew b-b-l) is a wordplay on“ confused”( Hebrew n-b-l; see note on v. 7). The name“ Babel” is translated as“ Bab ylon” everywhere else in the OT. Bab ylon becomes symbolic of human opposition to God and the antithesis of the city that God desires to have constructed for his glory on the earth. 11:10 – 26 From Shem to Abram. This genealogy forms the most direct line in Genesis, with no notes or glosses. It is regular and formulaic, suggesting an interest only in recording the line to show the connection between Shem and Abram. The life spans of these patriarchs before Abram’ s grandfather remain unusually long, gradually descending from 500 to 200 years. Perhaps this demonstrates the effects of sin on even the best of the human race. See 6:3 and note. 11:10 account. See note on 2:4. Shem. Means“ name,” perhaps related to the“ name” the Babel builders wanted and the“ name” God promised Abram( see v. 4; 12:2 and notes).