VERSE 1 Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words (~ydIx'a] ~yrIb'd>W tx'a, hp'f' #r,a'h'-lk' yhiy>w: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. hayah "used" + noun m.s.constr. kol all; "whole" + def.art.w/noun both s.abs. eretz + noun f.s.abs. shaphah lip; "language" + adj.f.s.abs. echadh single; "same" + waw w/noun m.p.abs. dabar word, speech, vocabulary]).

ANALYSIS: VERSE 1

1. If all mankind came from one ancestral population, then they originally all spoke the same language.
2. All the different nations, tribes, and languages among men have a common origin in the not-too-distant-past.
3. That fact that even though the various languages are widely different from each other, all can be analyzed in terms of the science of linguistics, and all can be learned by men of other languages.
4. This too, demonstrates that an original language common in nature and origin is behind the many dialects on this earth.
5. Some seventy families were involved in this momentous episode based on the number of names in the Table of Nations in chapter 10.
6. As we have seen they were divided into three main ancestral families: the Japhethetic, the Hamitic, and the Semitic (cf. 10:32).
7. Although the major language groups are so different from each other as to make it inconceivable at first glance that they could have come from a common ancestral group, the very fact that all languages can be evaluated by common principles of linguistics, and that people can learn languages other than there native tongue, implies an original common source for all of them.
8. Noam Chomsky a leading linguist, is convinced that languages, though completely different on the surface, reflect an underlying commonality related to the uniqueness of man himself.
9. Dr. Gunther Stent, professor of molecular biology at the University of California (Berkeley) summaries Chomsky’s analysis as follow: "Chomsky holds that the grammar of a language is a system of transformational rules that determines a certain pairing of sound and meaning. It consists of a syntactic component, a semantic component, and a phonological component. The surface structure contains the information relevant to the phonological component, whereas the deep structure contains the information relevant to the semantic component, and the syntactic component pairs surface and deep structures. Hence, it is merely the phonological component that has become differentiated during the course of human history, or at least since the construction of the Tower of Babel." (Limits to the Scientific Understanding of Man, Science 187, Mar. 21, 1975: 1054)
10. Doubtless the Tower of Babel is from men like Stent and Chomsky simply a figure of speech, but the figure is appropriate because the miraculous confusion of tongues at Babel does provide the only meaningful explanation for the phenomena of languages.
11. The "phonological component" of speech (its surface form) is the sounds associated with various meanings, through which people of a particular tribe actually communicate with each other.
12. Each phonology is different from the phonology of another tribe so that one group cannot understand another group.
13. However, at the "semantic" level, the deep structure, the "universal grammar," all humans have fundamentally the same thoughts that need to be expressed in words.
14. It was the phonologies or the surface forms of languages, that were supernaturally confused at Babel, so that even though all still had the same basic logic and understanding of experience, they could no longer work together and finally they could no longer stay together, simply because they could no longer talk together.
15. Traditions similar to the Babel story exist in various other ancient nations and even primitive tribes.
16. Although not as frequently encountered as traditions of the great Flood, many tribes do have a tradition of a former age when all people spoke the same language until the languages were confused as a judgment of the gods.
17. There is solid reason to accept the Biblical record of the confusion of tongues at Babel as the only viable account of the origin of the different major language groups of the world.
18. Evolutionists have no better answer, and the reason modern scientists tend to reject it is because it is miraculous.
19. Much is involved in understanding the brain and its control of human speech.
20. Readings which deal with this subject include: "Language and Its Structure:Some Fundamental Linguistic Concepts" Langacker, Ronald D. (Harcourt Jovanovich, N.Y., 1973, which reflects the older thinking that there was no Mother Tongue; "The Origin of Language: Tracing the Evolution of the Mother Tongue" Wiley, N.Y., 1994 documents language superfamiles, and helped prove the viability of the Mother Tongue thesis; three recent authors that accept a Mother Tongues, but one which developed and diversified with no divine assistance: Dunbar, Robin, "Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of Language"; Pinker, Steven, "The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language" and, McWhorter, John H., "The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language."
21. The oldest passage in the recorded human history about historical linguistics is Gen. 11 verse 1.
22. The transliterated Hebrew of this verse reads: VaYiHee Kol HaAreTZ SsPHaH AKHaT ooDiVaRim AKHaDim.
23. Perhaps you can hear "whole" in Kol, "earth" in AReTZ, or the English "word" in DaVar?
24. These are echoes of the Edenic speech in English words.
25. Once most people accepted the existence of the Tower of Babel, then modern linguists rejected it as myth.
26. Finally, contemporary scholars have come to accept an archaeological Tower of Babel, and even the concept of an original global human language—as long as there was no deity in first creating it, the "confusing" or diversifying tongues.
27. Premier evolutionists and linguists conceded that human language and the uniquely human capacity for language is a mystery.
28. M.I.T’s William Chomsky, has recently speculated that the brain was hardwired for language by some sort of superhuman engineer.
29. Middling academics and writers still posit that humans developed grammars and vocabularies out of simian gestures and grunts!
30. The first person to speak was Adam who had the divine neshamah blown into his nostrils (Gen. 2:7).
31. And with that act Man becomes Homo Sapiens.
32. Sapient means thinking, and unlike emoting, thinking requires language.
33. Adam received the ability to think abstractly, truly something no animal can do, and something that classifies humans as being image bearers.
34. ALL humans think in Edenic, at the output stage, or spoken language, is always a variation of the Edenic.
35. The African Hottentots are an isolated tribe that speaks in an elaborate code of clicks and whistles—not the usual consonants nor the ordinary vowels (which even within neighborhoods of large cities vary).
36. Perhaps in the case of the Hottentots some children got lost and isolated from the speakers and so developed a code of signals instead of the usual verbal phrases.
37. Chinese with its many dropped consonants replaced by tones is still a form of the language of Eden.
38. Language for homo sapiens is factory-installed, the programming came with our neurological and anatomical hardware.
39. There is a paranormal phenomenon among humans where a speaker in a self-hypnotic trance can "speak in tongues."
40. Called Glossolalia, this ecstatic, unintelligible and repetitive speech is usually considered a speech-related neurological disturbance—not the brain accessing an unknown language.
41. More rare and less documented or understood is the phenomenon called Xenoglossia.
42. This involves the ability to spontaneously speak in a foreign language without prior exposure.
43. If this was ever scienfically confirmed, it would surely support the Edenics scenario, where people all have an original computing language or primal language program, and are a only a neurological disturbance away from being able to access even long dead languages.
44. The original 70 super languages were variants of the Edenic much like the spectrum bends light to different colors.
45. The book of Genesis is about "separation" or diversity.
46. The Creator made the original or "pure" forms of language or dog.
47. In the genome schema was the ability to adapt and diversify.
48. Thus Chinese doesn’t resemble English, nor do Great Danes look like Pugs.
49. Christopher Columbus’ first mate was a Jew named De Torres and he was responsible for naming the exotic New World’s large, fan-tailed pheasant.
50. He named it a TooKey (exotic bird in Hebew); others heard it as "turkey."
51. He also named the New World cannibals KeLeBH (dog in Hebrew).
52. This was heard as "carib", and so the region of the Carib people came to be called the Caribbean.
53. The first universities in America, Harvard and Yale, have Hebrew among their course requirements and their school mottos.
54. The first doctoral dissertation in the New World, at Harvards’ school of divinity, is about Hebrew as the Mother Tongue.
55. Later the Continental Congress debated whether Hebrew should become the new American language!
56. Noah Webster, America’s premier lexicographer, gives many "Shemitic" (Semitic) etymologies for English words in what was supposed to be the great American dictionary.
57. For example, he cites YeLeD, boy in Hebrew—(the LD root appears throughout Semitic)—as the source of LAD.
58. By contrast, the Oxford English Dictionary, says "origin unknown."
59. Webster’s work would soon be eclipsed by the British Ben Johnson, and the European’s new thinking that Biblical theories were embarrassingly old fashioned in the new man-centered Age of Reason.
60. So Harvard trashed the Hebrew EMet (truth) for the Lation motto veritas (truth).
61. The American Heritage Dictionary put out their chart of Proto-Indo-European and it derivatives they have thirteen branches.
62. When Genesis 10 list the subfamilies of Japheth (the Indo-Europeans) the total is fourteen (remarkably close to the Bible’s thirteen).
63. Abram’s native Chaldee, was spun off from Edenic at Babel.
64. How then could Abram found a clan of Hebrew speakers, rather than, a dialect break-off of Chaldean?
65. Observing the time line, it is easier to presume that Shem son of Noah never lost his Edenic language.
66. Shem and his son Eber are thought to have taught this language to Abram.
67. Shem lived about a century and a half (c. 1800 BC) after the birth or Abram (1950 BC).
68. There was able opportunity for Abram to have had contact with Shem or Eber and came to master the Edenic Mother Tongue and make it the language of his new race.
69. It is the contention of this presentation that the oldest human speech was proto-Semitic.
70. Man possesses a unique throat bone (the hyoid bone) to enable speech far more sophisticated than dolphins or than any other species that hunts and gathers.
71. The evolutionary Bow-wow theory predicts that languages would have names for dogs that sound like bark.
72. None do, so the Bow-wow theory is for the dogs.
73. The linguist Langacker (old school) notes how dozens of unrelated languages have papa-type words for father and mama-sounding words for mother.
74. He believed that M and P sounds were the earliest made by babies.
75. Gaga is the first baby sound and there are no mother or father words like gaga.
76. The Aleph-Mem, EM, the Hebrew mother, reverses to be MeY, as in a mother, while the Hebrew Aleph-Bhet, reverses to mean Come, as in come from.
77. Only Hebrew offers meaning, or sense to sounds.
78. Only human beings are sapient (thinking).
79. The ability to think and speak is a divine gift and this gift of language was given to man at his creation and diversified into some 70 super languages at Babel.
80. Subsequently, there are five to six thousand sub dialects in the world.
81. The Stanford professor Joseph H. Greenberg proved that there were only 8 true African languages, not hundreds deriving from the original eight "superlanguages."
82. Linguists counted hundreds of American Indian languages and Greenberg proved there were only three Amerind superlanguages.
83. For decades his work was bitterly opposed, and only now is considered valid.
84. Most contemporary linguists can accept Monogenesis of Language.
85. Robin Dunbar does not add a dozen zeros to the theoretical time line and he writes: "Babel may not have been so very long ago…The Tower of Babel was no myth: it really did exist…the myth-makers of ancient Israel seem to have been on to something. Linguists now believer that the world’s languages to in fact have a common origin. However, the period of this common language long predates the building of the Tower of Babel."
86. Data for the above points comes from the web site "The Tower of Babel and the Confusion of Languages" by Lambert Dolphin. Principle emphasis is from "History of the Idea of the Mono-Genesis of Language" by Isaac Mozeson and Joshua Ben.
87. The above is an apologetic designed to demonstrate that this story of the diversification of human speech is supported by good science.
88. The language of Noah and his family was the language of the antediluvians and this language persisted after the Flood to the time of the dispersion in the days of Peleg.
89. This means the Mother Tongue continued to be the singular speech for over a century (2300 to 2235 BC).
90. The setting for this opening verse is post-Flood and asserts that human-to-human communication consisted of "one language" (literally "lip") and "one vocabulary" ("words").
91. This does not contradict Genesis 10 which tells us in three verses that the nations were divided into separate languages.
92. Chapter 11 tells us how the diversification of the languages came to be.
93. The adjective "one" (echad) occurs two times in this verse and is translated "the same" in the NAS.
94. An alternate translation: "And the entire world had one language, and one speech."
95. This image of the whole world underscores unity.
96. There was no language barrier and so men could readily exchange ideas and work together.
97. The Sumerian epic entitled Enmerkar and the Lord of Arata speaks of a time when "the whole universe in unison spoke to Enlil in one tongue."
98. It goes on to report that the speech was confounded as a result of jealously and strife between two gods.

Earliest Mass Migration of Humanity (v.2)

VERSE 2 It came about as they journeyed east (~d,Q,mi ~['s.n"B. yhiy>w: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. hayah be; "It came about" + prep beth w/Qal infin.constr. nasa’ set out; depart; "journeyed" + prep min from + noun m.s.abs. qedem east]), that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there [~v' Wbv.YEw: r['n>vi #r,a,B. h['q.bi Wac.m.YIw [waw w/Qal impf.3m.p. matsa’ find + noun f.s.abs. biq’-ah plain, valley + prep beth w/noun both s.abs. eretz land + proper noun Shinar + waw w/Qal impf.3m.p. yashab dwell; "settle" + adv sham there]).

ANALYSIS: VERSE 2

1. At some point following the birth of sons and grandsons the burgeoning population immigrated from Ararat and to Mesopotamia.
2. In this case "southward" would have been more exact geographically.
3. However, elsewhere in Genesis MiQQeDeM when used adverbially and not as preposition, means "in the east" (2:8; 12:8).
4. Here the people are east of Canaan.
5. Relocating east of Eden was a judgment on Adam and Eve and Cain (3:24; 4:16).
6. These are people who by in large are self-willed and restless.
7. So they pull up stakes and move into Mesopotamia.
8. This does not mean that no one stayed put.
9. Only that the majority became convinced that their best interests lay elsewhere.
10. They did not disperse to the four points of the compass, but agreed to stay together until they found a suitable place to reside permanently.
11. They figured that this would be the best way for them to survive in the new world.
12. After months of travel "they found a plain/valley in the land of Shinar."
13. "They found" probably expresses joy and relief when they came upon this valley.
14. The place name Shinar is probably an old term derived from an archaic pronunciation of Sumer.
15. The term is not found in Mesopotamian documents but does occur in Egyptian (Sangar); Hittite (sanhar).
16. Shinar is the place of settlement, which is Mesopotamia (southern), first called Sumer and Akkad and then Babylonia.
17. This chapter begins with a group of people who moved from place x to place y (cf. v.31; same verb used in both verses).
18. The people here wanted to avoid a non-sedentary existence.
19. What they sought to avoid was imposed upon them when their speech was confused.
20. Clearly these people have little or no regard for God and His will.
21. Typically people are maleadjusted to the viewpoint, operational and geographical will of God.
22. They are self-willed and unwilling to comply with the Noahic Covenant which directed humanity to "fill the earth."

Their Willful Resolve (vv. 3-4)

VERSE 3 They said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly (hp'ref.li hp'r>f.nIw> ~ynIbel. hn"B.l.nI hb'h' Wh[ere-la, vyai Wrm.aYOw: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.p. amar say + noun m.s.abs. ish man + prep el to + noun m.s.constr.w/3m.s.suff. re-a neighbor, friend + Qal imper.m.s. yahab come! + Qal impf.1p. cohorative laban be white; "let us make" or "let us brick" or "lets us mold" + noun f.p.abs. lebenah brick + waw w/Qal impf.1p cohorative sharaph burn + prep lamedh w/noun f.s.ab.s sherephah burning; "thoroughly"])."

And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar (rm,xol; ~h,l hy"h' rm'xeh;w> !b,a'l. hn"beL.h; ~h,l' yhiT.w: [waw w/Qal impf.3f.s. hayah to be; "used" + prep lamedh w/3m.p.suff. "And they" + def.art.w/noun f.s.abs. lebenah brick + prep lamedh w/noun f.s.abs. eben stone + waw w/def.art.w/noun m.s.abs. chemar bitumen, tar + Qal perf.3m.s. hayah "used" + prep lamedh w/3m.p. "and they" + prep lamedh w/noun m.s.abs. chomer mortar].

VERSE 4 They said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven (~yIm;V'b; Avarow> lD'g>miW ry[i WnL'-hn<b.nI hb'h' Wrm.aYOw: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.p. amar say + Qal imper.m.s. yahab come! + Qal impf.1p cohorative banah build + prep lamedh w/1p.suff. "for ourselves" + noun f.s.abs. ir city + waw w/noun m.s.abs. migdal tower + waw w/noun m.s.constr.w/3m.s.suff. rosh top + prep beth w/noun m.p.abs.shamayim heaven], and let us make for ourselves a name [~ve WnL'-hf,[]n:w> [waw w/Qal impf.1p. cohorative ashah make + prep lamedh w/1p.suff. "for ourselves" + noun m.s.abs. shem name], otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth [#r,a'h'-lk' ynEP.-l[; #Wpn"-!P, [part pen lest, otherwise + Qal impf.1p. putz be scattered + prep al upon + noun both p.constr. peh face + noun m.s.constr. kol all + def.art.w/noun both s.abs. eretz])."

ANALYSIS: VERSES 3-4

1. Once in Shinar the émigrés are soon convinced (by their leaders) that they need to engage in a major building enterprise.
2. In v. 3 we have in the grammar a cognative accusative.
3. The translation could read: "Lets us mold bricks" is literally, "let us brick bricks."
4. Also featured here is the chiastic structure translated "and was for them brick for stone, and bitumen/tar for them for mortar (WaTTeHi LaHeM HaLLeBeNa LaBeN WeHaCHeMaR HaYa LaHeM LaChoMeR).
5. "So they had bricks for stone and asphalt for mortor" is a brief aside from the narrator’s point of view.
6. It is of course an accurate comparison of building techniques in Israel and Mesopotamia.
7. These early post-diluvian builders used kiln-dried bricks and oil that was exposed to the air (asphalt).
8. It is almost as if there is an implied disparagement of Babylonian building materials (we use stone; they have only brick!).
9. In v.4 the focus returns to the deliberators in Shinar.
10. The purpose of brick manufacturing now becomes clear—to build a city with a tower.
11. This is the second reference to city building in Genesis (cf. 4:17).
12. The tower is to be of impressive height—its top in the sky.
13. The expression "with its top in the heavens" is figurative language to describe edifices of impressive and monumental proportions.
14. The returning spies reported to Moses that the cities of the Canaanites "are great and fortified up to heaven" (Deut. 1:28).
15. The oracle of Jeremiah against economic Babylon includes a verse that bears a striking resemblance to 11:4: "Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify her lofty stronghold, from Me destroyers will come to her declares, Yahweh" (Jer. 51:53).
16. This is the equivalent of a modern skyscraper.
17. The word for "tower" is migdal, which is cognate to the adjective "great."
18. Here the allusion to Babylonian theology is most obvious.
19. The people’s ambition is further seen in the words "let us make a name for ourselves."
20. So for the builders their vain hope was that a building project of such gigantic proportions for that day and time would bring a certain fame and immortality to its founders.
21. Here we see an example of approbation lust.
22. Solomon in reversionism engaged in ostentatious public works projects (Eccl. 2:4-6).
23. The final clause in v. 4 demonstrates unequivocally their rebellion against God and His will for mankind.
24. Namely, that they were to spread out over the face of the earth as over against settling down in one locale.
25. They ignorantly and arrogantly thought that if they built themselves a secure resting place they would not be scattered over the face of the earth.
26. Again, this vain hope flies in the face of the divine command to fill the earth.
27. When men attempt to make a name for themselves they attempt to usurp the divine prerogative, which is God’s alone.
28. Only God can make a lasting name for Himself (e.g., Jer. 32:20; Neh. 9:10).
29. God makes those who serve him eternally great (Abraham" 12:2 and David: 2Sam. 7:9).
30. He is about to execute things on the earth that will bring to the attention of men everywhere that He is supreme on earth as well as in heaven.
31. The works of men will be reduced to rubble and all of man’s pretense will become as nothing.
32. Today man is trusting in technology (science) to offset permanent harm to his interests.
33. Nimrod, whose name means "let us revolt" was the driving force behind this movement to usurp God on the earth.
34. Nimrod built his cities within a century of the Flood.
35. The race as it existed at Babel opted out of the faith of Noah and gradually embraced a gross caricature of the truth (more on that later).
36. Archaeologists digging in the sands of the plains of Shinar have found the ruins of great towers.
37. These towers are called ziggurats, which were built in a circular fashion with an ascending staircase that terminates in a shrine at the top.
38. These towers were religious buildings intending to expose man to the mystery of the heavens.
39. Man cannot climb to God and assault His throne.
40. Part of these early builders motivation was fear: "lest we be scattered on the face of the earth."
41. They were conscious of a disruptive force in their midst, that was pushing them apart.
42. They feared being scattered abroad and left alone, unhonored and unsung, living in isolated communities where they would be exposed to great danger.
43. This fear was a big factor that motivated the ordinary man to build this tower and city.
44. The underlying fear was coupled with the ultimate motive: "let us make a name for ourselves."
45. Nothing has changed as we see the many public edifices with some inscription to glorify some public benefactor or official that wielded power.
46. Aside from the fact that the tower reflects a religious motivation to have God on their own terms (standard for false religion), it was the place where a cult sprang up that spread to all the nations.
47. Nimrod, son of Cush, grandson of Ham revolted against the God of his fathers and he along with Cush led a propaganda campaign in the camp of the nations when they were still living in the vicinity of Ararat.
48. As noted above, in a relatively short time they migrated to Mesopotamia to establish their own identity.
49. We can assume that he opposed the divine commandment that the 70 clans disperse from the area around Armenia, and we can suppose that he rejected the curse that Canaan would be a slave.
50. Judging by the Gilgamesh Epic we also see Nimrod’s utter hatred of the God of the great Flood and at some point he reinterprets the event to make Yahweh into a villain.
51. His reaction to all this would be one of defiance as in "I’ll fight against this Yahweh and His directives and curse on my family."
52. He probably said, "I’ll never by a slave! I’ll be the exact opposite. I will establish my power over others and liberate them from the chains of Yahweh."
53. As noted in chapter 10:8-12 Nimrod built the first world empire.
54. Those verses tell of Nimrod’s exploits while the first four verses of chapter 11 tell of the building of a city with its central feature of a tower (step pyramid).
55. At first glance these seem to be accounts of two separate incidents; but such is not the case.
56. Gen. 11:2-4 is an elaboration on the narrative in chapter 10:8-12.
57. In chapter 10 the emphasis is on Nimrod and his accomplishments and here in this chapter we have a presentation of the same subject but from the perspective of the people who labored for him.
58. In each case it is a striving to build a kingdom that excludes the living God.
59. It was not to be kingdom that was void of religion.
60. The people were propagandized and so convinced that they could succeed as to they encouraged each other in their invitation in vv. 3 & 4 to: 1) build a city with a central tower; 2) secure a lasting legacy; 3) formulate a new faith/religion.
61. This would, in their minds, forego any need to ever be separated on the earth and so form a strong force in opposition to God.
62. The religious element is seen in their reaching for the stars via their high tower.
63. Clearly the tower has a religious connotation as the people were not silly enough to literally think that they could "reach" into the starry heavens.
64. This early religion evolved from its primitive roots and survived the judgment of the confusion of their singular language.
65. The very top of the tower was to be dedicated to the worship of the stars and constellations (e.g., zodiac reinterpreted).
66. This gave rise to the idolatry associated with astrology.
67. The true signs of the Zodiac (e.g., plan of salvation in the 12 signs; cf. Gen. 1:14) were subverted by these early rebels.
68. Morris suggests that, "This project was originally presented to the people in the guise of true spirit. The tower in its lofty grandeur symbolize the might and majesty of the true God of heaven. A great temple at its apex would provide a center and an altar where men could offer their sacrifices and worship God. The signs of the Zodiac would be emblazoned on the ornate walls ceiling and walls of the temple, signifying the great story of creation and redemption, as told by the antediluvian patriarchs."
69. But of course God was not in this, but Satan was.
70. Over time the forms of this worship became extremely debased, promoting a system of superstitious astrology, idolatrous polytheism, empowered by demonism and the occult.
71. Satan is a corrupter and counterfeiter.
72. Following the dispersion from Babel the nations adopted the religion of Babylon and so was born the mother-son cult to rival the truth that the promised Messiah would be born of "the seed of the woman" (cf. Gen. 3:15).
73. This cult spread to the nations that would arise following the great dispersion from Babel (means ‘gate of God’).
74. Greece, Rome, India, Egypt and others feature a mother-son cult.
75. And this is the key to arriving at the identity of the Woman or "Great Whore that sits on may waters with whom the kings of the earth committed immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality" in Rev. 17 who is depicted in the vision of John the Apostle as having written on her forehead a mystery: "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH" (Rev. 17:5).
76. It all began at Babylon (Babel) and spread to Ninevah.
77. It is supposed that by dropping the first constant of Nimrod’s name and take the others M, R, D we arrive at the basic root of the god of Babylon, whose name was Marduk, whom some identify with Nimrod.
78. Nimrod’s evil wife was the beautiful and ambitious Semiramis (in Cairo, Egypt the Semiramis Hotel is named after her)!
79. After the violent and untimely death of her husband Nimrod she acted as the high priestess of the cult.
80. A specialized priesthood was attached to the cult in all the nations.
81. In time both she and her husband were defied and In Egypt the names were Isis and Osiris; in Greece it is Venus and Adonis, and in India it is Ushas and Vishnu.
82. In Babylon she was known as Ishthar (from which derives the name Easter!).
83. In the OT she is called "the Queen of Heaven" to whom the idolatrous Jews were offering sacrifices (cf. Jer. 7:18; 44:17,18,19,25).
84. During the Christian era this cult morphed into what we now know as the Catholic worship of Mary.
85. In Catholicism the Mother and Child are honored as co-redeemers.
86. Coming full circle the book of Revelation predicts the total destruction of this system at the hand of the Antichrist (Rev. 17 not to be confused with the Babylon of Rev. 18).
87. The early roots of this system go all the way back to this attempt to secure a global empire at Babel with a substitute faith for the masses.
88. As unimpressive as it might be in light of subsequent historical achievements, this early attempt was an attempt to establish and one-world government and a one-world religion to exploit the masses and to overturn the true faith.
89. For further reading on the topic of this cult from Babel to Rome read the book: "The Two Babylons" by Alexander Hislop (he does not see Rev. 18 for what it is; he does provided much detail on the early development of this cult visa vi Cush, Nimrod and Semiramis).
90. The seven heads (and ten horns) on the scarlet colored beast of Rev. 17 verse 3 refers to the six ancient empires that are featured in the Bible beginning with Egypt followed by Assyria, Babylonia (of his Nebs), Persian, Greece, and Rome.
91. The 7^th head with its ten horns represents the revived Roman empire of Western Europe (called today the EU) headed up by the Antichrist during the seven year tribulation.
92. All of these have had a history with this Woman.

The Divine Response (vv. 5-9)

VERSE 5 The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built (~d'a'h' ynEB. WnB' rv,a] lD'g>Mih;-ta,w> ry[ih'-ta, taor>li hw"hy> dr,YEw: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. yarad go down + proper noun Yahweh + prep lamedh w/Qal infin.constr. ra-ah see + d.o. marker + def.art.w/noun f.s.abs. ir city + waw w/d.o. marker + def.art.w/noun m.s.abs. migdal tower + rel.pro. asher which + Qal perf.3p. banah build + noun m.p.constr. ben son + def.art.w/noun m.s.abs. adam man]).

ANALYSIS: VERSE 5

1. The scene shifts from the deliberators to the 3^rd heaven.
2. The irony in this scene as over against the previous scene is impossible to miss.
3. The builders’ intentions were to build a tower that would reach "to the heavens," that its, to the very throne of God.
4. Even though they built a tower, its height was so far from heaven that God had to "come down" to see it.
5. Verse 5 functions as a bridge joining vv. 1-4 with verses 6-9.
6. Episode 1 consists of two units (vv. 1-2, 3-4), the first of which is indirect discourse and the second is direct discourse.
7. Episode two is v. 5.
8. Episode three (vv. 6-9) consists of two paragraphs (vv. 6-7, 8-9), in contrast here the first paragraph is direct discourse and the second is indirect discourse.
9. Sandwiched between episodes one and three is the second episode v. 5.
10. V. 5 present the builders as simply "the sons of men" or literally, "the sons of Adam."
11. This reduces the pretentious builders to their actual size.
12. They are but mere earth dwellers.
13. So again, this tower which men have built, God can hardly see!
14. From the height of heaven it appears almost invisible.
15. Compare Isa. 40:22: "He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers…"
16. God’s descent to earth to get a better view of the tower is clearly anthropomorphic language designed here feature divine transcendence.
17. We know, and surely the author of Genesis was aware of the concept of omniscience and omnipresence.
18. God’s divine attributes in the one psalm attributed to Moses, Psalm 90.
19. The depiction of God here as a being who needs to investigate a situation on earth is a clever and dramatic way of showing the puniness of men’s great achievements when set alongside the creator’s omnipotence!
20. God does not have to investigate a matter as men have to as He knows all things at all times, past, present and future (Job 11:11 "For He knows false men, and He sees iniquity without investigating").
21. He even knows the thoughts of a man (Ps. 94:11; 139:1, 23).
22. The Qal perfect of the verb banah indicates that the very first temple tower was completed.

Divine Deliberation (vv. 6-7)

VERSE 6 The LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language (~L'kul. tx;a; hp'f'w> dx'a, ~[; !he hw"hy> rm,aYOw [waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. amar say + proper noun Yahweh + interj hen behold + noun m.s.abs. am people + adj.m.s.abs. echad one + waw w/noun f.s.abs. shaphah lip, language + adj.m.s.abs. echad one; "same" + prep lamedh w/noun m.s.constr.w/3p.suff. kol all]).

And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them (Af[]l; Wmz>y" rv,a] lKo ~h,me rceB'yI-al{ hT'[;w> tAf[]l; ~L'xih; hz<w> [waw w/adj.m.s.abs. zeh this + Hiphil infin.constr.w/3m.p.suff. halal wound, "they began" + prep lamedh w/Qal infin.constr. ashah do + waw w/adv attah now + neg lo + Niphal impf.3m.s. batsar restrain; "will be impossible" or "will be restrained" + prep min from w/3m.p.suff.; "for them" + noun m.s.abs. kol all + rel.pro. asher which + Qal impf.3m.p. zamam purpose, devise, consider, plot; "they purpose" + prep lamedh w/Qal infin.constr. ashah "to do"]).

ANALYSIS: VERSE 6

1. The structure and sentiment expressed in this verse closely resembles 3:22, "Behold, since the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever— "
2. The divine deliberation begins with, "Behold (or "indeed") they are one people," highlights the previous chapters that all mankind is descended from Noah and his three sons.
3. But having "one language" became a problem that threatened to undermine the purpose of God for separate nations in various geographical locales, anticipated by the narrator in chapter 10 verses 5, 20, 31 and 32.
4. The episode in chapter 11 verses 1-9 tells us how we got the many languages that serve to hinder human interaction, and thus frustrating internationalism (world government versus sovereign nation states) over the course of human history.
5. The early history of humanity was a history of a singular language (Mother Tongue), but this blessing was abused when men tried to build a single society with a man-made religion.
6. Here we have the very beginnings of this activity and so God had to act to frustrate such an endeavor in order to keep His purposes on track.
7. God acts to protect human freedom on the planet, that is, the right to choose for or against the plan of God.
8. Just as eating from the tree of life would have thrown a monkey wrench into God’s plan, God preempted this by placing an angelic guard at the gates of Eden.
9. One language was an obvious facilitator or their evil purposes.
10. This had to be changed in a big way so that what these people had only "begun to do" would be nipped in the bud, otherwise, God says to Himself, there is "now nothing which they plot to do will be restrained from them" (alternated translation).
11. Here we have a situation where if God has simply ignored there actions things would have developed over time when His plan would have been frustrated.
12. God acts against evil when it threatens to undo His purposes.
13. The hubris in the builders undertaking was a forerunner of further mischief that would have over the course of time interfered with God’s plan to bring a savior into the world.
14. If all these and their descendants were allowed to concentrate their collective intellect on this project there is no telling what they would have done even in a relatively short time.
15. Technologies would have been developed and these technologies would have rendered all dissent impossible.
16. The Niphal of batsar (withheld, restrained, beyond) is found only here and in Job 42:2— "no purpose (mezimmah) of Yours can be thwarted (batsar)."
17. Here and in Job 42 verse 2 batsar is used in connection with the root zamam, "to plot, purpose."
18. See also Psa. 31:13; 37:12; 140:8; Prov. 30:32; Jer. 4:28; 51:12 for instances of this root.
19. This root is used in connection with God (Jer. 51:12) or nefarious human scheming (Deut. 19:19; Ps. 31:13; 37:12).
20. God states that "nothing that they plot will be withheld from" men if what they are engaged in is not foiled.
21. It is not the construction project nor is it even the false religion that was begun at Babel, it was what was to be if the human race was allowed sufficient time to accomplish it.
22. God knew exactly what He had to do to forestall a universal tyranny wherein positive people would be denied access to the truth.
23. This situation unchecked would have become as much of a threat to the advancement of the lineage of Messiah as the angelic infiltration that brought the Flood on a corrupt humanity.

The Godhead Plans (v.7)

VERSE 7 "Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another's speech (Wh[ere tp;f. vyai W[m.v.yI al{ rv,a] ~t'p'f. ~v' hl'b.n"w> hd'r>nE hb'h' [Wh[ere tp;f. vyai W[m.v.yI al{ rv,a] ~t'p'f. ~v' hl'b.n"w> hd'r>nE hb'h' [Qal imper.m.s. yahab come!; cf. v.3 + Qal impf.1p. cohortative yaradh go down + waw w/Qal impf.1p. cohortative balal mix, confuse + adv sham there + noun f.s.constr.w/3m.p.suff. shapah lip + rel.pro. asher + neg lo + Qal impf.3m.p. shama hear, listen + noun m.s.abs. ish man, person + noun f.s.constr. shapah lip + noun m.s.constr.w/3m.s.suff. re-a neighbor, friend, acquaintance])."

ANALYSIS: VERSE 7

1. Yaweh’s words are an obvious take-off on the builders’ words in vv. 3-4.
2. Man says, "Come, let us mold bricks (nilbenah)"; God says, "Come…let us mix up (nabelah)."
3. In v. 3 the people speak to each other and in v.7 Yahweh prevents them from speaking (e.g. with understanding) to each other.
4. Man builds a tower with its "top in the sky" to make "a name" for himself; God descends from "there" to confuse their "lip."
5. Men fear they will be "scattered over the face of the whole earth" (v.4), while Yahweh is concerned that "nothing they plot will be beyond them" (v.6).
6. "Come, let us" expresses the divine intention as over against the human presumption of v.4.
7. On the use of "us" see 1:26 (planning verse re: creation of man), 3:22 (thwart man’s quest for immortality) and here.
8. It refers to the doctrine of the plurality of the godhead known by the term the Trinity.
9. Believers from earliest times understood this doctrine.
10. "Go down" is language of accommodation and stresses divine transcendence.
11. Jesus used this language when speaking of the condescension of His deity to establish the hypostatic union in Jn. 3:13 "No one has ascended into heavne, but He who has descended from heaven: the Son of Man."
12. "Go down" is used in a parallel remark in 18:21, "I will go down to see whether they have done according to the outcry."
13. In both instances Yahweh already knows what has been going on.
14. Coming down is as prelude to judgment, whether Babel or Sodom.
15. The verb "let us confuse" (Qal imperfect of balal) is transliterated as nabelah and constitutes as word-play with "let us mold bricks" transliterated nilebbenah (v.3).
16. The reversal of sounds suggests the reversal of man’s plans on the plains of Shinar.
17. "One another’s" is parallel in vv. 3b and v.7.

The Effect (v.8)

VERSE 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city (ry[ih' tnOb.li WlD>x.Y:w: #r,a'h'-lk' ynEP.-l[; ~V'mi ~t'ao hw"hy> #p,Y"w: [waw w/Hiphil impf.3m.s. putz scatter + proper noun Yahweh + d.o. marker w/3m.p.suff. + prep min w/adv sham there + prep al upon + noun both p.constr. peh face + noun m.s.constr. kol all + def.art.w/noun both s.abs. eretz earth + waw w/Qal impf.3m.. chadal cease, stop + prep lamedh w/Qal infin.constr. banah build + def.art.w/noun f.s.abs. ir city]).

ANALYSIS: VERSE 8

1. The narrator goes from stating the divine intention in v.7 to reporting the net effect of this great miracle.
2. Each of the separate clans that migrated to the plain of Shinar was given a distinct language and this totally frustrated their scheme to side-step the will of God and make a name for them.
3. Of all the things God could have done to break up this conspiracy against God and man, He mixed up their languages so that they could not communicate with one another.
4. Maybe He did it while they were asleep and the next morning there was utter consternation and pandemonium on the plains of Shinar.
5. This was a judgment that did not hurt the body but humiliated the arrogant spirit of all involved.
6. Only the city is mentioned in this verse as it was still a work in progress.
7. Slowly and then precipitously the would-be nations began to migrate to other lands.
8. Even the Cushites left and went to Africa.
9. Over time men inhabited the far reaches of the globe while some resided in the valley an nearby places.
10. Once the languages were confused God could sit back and observe the inevitable consequence.
11. He did not need to send famine of any other natural catastrophe to get these negative people for comply with His injunction to "fill the earth."
12. To question the possibility of this miracle is to question the dictum that nothing is impossible with the Lord ("For with God nothing will be impossible" Lk. 1:37 cp. 18:27 "The things that are impossible with men are possible with God").
13. The breakup of language is seen in this Sumerian verse translated by S. N. Kramer in "The Babel of Tongues: A Sumerian Version": Once upon a time there was no snake, there was no scorpion, there was no hyena, there was no lion, there was no wild dog (?), no wolf, there was no fear, no terror; Man had no rival. In those days the lands of Shubar and Hamazi, Harmony-tongued (?) Sumer, the great land of the decrees of princeship. Uri, the land having all that is appropriate, the land of Martu, resting in security, the whole universe, the people in unison to Enlil in one tongue…the Ada, the Lord, Ada, the prince, Ada, the king, Ada, Enki, Ada, the Lord, Ada, the prince, Ada, the king, Ada, the Lord, Ada, the prince, Ada, the kings. Enki, the Lord of Abundance (whose) commands are trustworthy. The Lord of wisdom who understands the land, the leader of the gods, endowed with wisdom and the Lord of Eridu, changed the speech in their mouths, and (brought?) contention with it. Into the speech of man that (until then) had been one." (JOAS 88 (1968) 108-11).

Judgment at Babel (v.9)

VERSE 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth (#r,a'h'-lK' tp;f. hw"hy> ll;B' ~v'-yKi lb,B' Hm'v. ar'q' !Ke-l[; [prep al w/part ken = "therefore" + Qal perf.3m.s. qara call + proper noun Babel/Babylon + part ki for + adv sham there + Qal perf.3m.s. babal confuse, mix, confound + proper noun Yahweh + noun f.s.constr. shaphah lip, language]; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth [#r,a'h'-lK' ynEP.-l[; hw"hy> ~c'ypih/ ~V'miW [waw w/prep min from w/adv sham there + Hiphil perf.3m.s.w/3m.p.suff. putz scatter, disperse + proper noun Yahweh + prep al upon + noun both p.constr. peh face + noun m.s.constr. kol all + def.art.w/noun both s.abs. eretz earth]).

ANALYSIS: VERSE 9

1. Here we have another ironic element in the narrative.
2. The people on the plain of Shinar wanted to make a name for themselves, and indeed they did, it was a name of shame.
3. The very first attempt to build a city met with total frustration as the builders had to stop work due to the miracle of the language barrier.
4. From that very place the LORD dispersed the nations over all the earth.
5. The scattering process has continued over the course of all of human history.
6. What these early settlers sought to avoid (v.4c) happened to them as God is sovereign in the affairs of men and nations.
7. The narrator connects Yahweh’s confusing of the Mother Tongue with the name the city became known as—Babel.
8. The verb "confused" is babal which has the same consonants as the proper noun Babel.
9. It is not immediately clear from this verse whether Yahweh or people named this city.
10. The verb has an indefinite subject—"it was called Babel."
11. It is unlikely that we are to understand the literal etymology (inherent meaning) of the verb balal to mean Babel.
12. One cannot explain the meaning of the place name babel in the verb babal.
13. Apparently subsequent generations of those who knew the story from the divine perspective saw in the verb babal an excellent opportunity to poke fun at this aborted endeavor.
14. Babel or Babylon means "gate of the god(s) in later Babylonia.
15. It is translated most often in the Bible as "Bablylon."
16. One of the lessons learned from this episode is that God is not impressed with an edifice that He Himself did not authorize (impressive cathedrals, etc.).
17. The reference here to God’s confusing the singular language at Babel is now for the first time stated explicitly.
18. In vv. 1-8 His confusing of the language was only implied.
19. He fulfilled the intention implied in v.7.
20. Here we are informed that Yahweh "confused the language of the whole earth," and so, we must assume that there was a singular language that had served humanity since the creation of Adam.
21. The Bible supports the theory of the monogenesis of human language taught by modern linguists.
22. This is not the first mention of Babel as we encountered the term for the first time in Gen. 10:10 as the first in an list of cities that were founded by Nimrod during his ascent to power.
23. The question is, "How does the story of the confusion of tongues and the rise of Nimrod to prominence coincide?"
24. It would seem that following this earliest post-diluvian attempt to establish an international order in opposition to God’s plan for sovereign nation states that Nimrod came into prominence and attempted to create a kingdom after the debacle at Babel.
25. In 10:10 we have listed three (or four) names of places he established in southern Mesopotamia called in that verse "the land of Shinar."
26. This rebel sought to make a name for himself by subjugating peoples first in southern Mesopotamia and then moved north to expand his empire in the north (cf. 10:11).
27. Following his untimely death, the legacy was continued by his evil wife Semiramis.
28. Somehow the pagan mythology spun around his death spread to all the nations in the form of the mother-son cult to subvert the truth concerning the virgin born redeemer.
29. Nimrod apparently revived the construction project that languished do to the judgment at Babel.

Family History of Shem (vv. 10-26)

VERSE 10 These are the records of the generations of Shem (~ve tdol.AT hL,ae [adj.p.abs. elleh these + noun f.p.constr. toldeoth descendants; genealogy; "generations" + proper noun Shem]).

Shem was one hundred years old, and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood (lWBM;h; rx;a; ~yIt;n"v. dv'k.P;r>a;-ta, dl,AYw: hn"v' ta;m.-!B, ~ve [proper noun Shem + noun m.s.constr. ben son + adj.f.s.constr. me-ah hundred + noun f.s.abs. shanah year + waw w/Hiphil impf.3m.s. yaladh "became the father" + d.o. marker + proper noun Arpachshad + noun f. dual abs. shanah year; "two years + adv achar after + def.art.w/noun m.s.abs. mabbul flood]);

VERSE 11 and Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and he had other sons and daughters (tAnb'W ~ynIB' dl,AYw: hn"v' tAame vmex] dv'k.P;r>a;-ta, AdyliAh yrex]a; ~ve-yxiy>w: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. chayah live + proper noun Shem + adv achare afterwards; "after" + Hiphil infin.constr.w/3m.s.suff. yaladh "he became the father" + d.o. marker + proper noun Arpachshad + adj.f.s.constr. chamesh five + adj.f.p.abs. me-ah hundred + noun f.s.abs. shanah year + waw w/Hiphil impf.3m.s. yaladh "he had" + noun m.p.abs. ben son + waw w/noun f.p.abs. bath daughter]).

VERSE 12 Arpachshad lived thirty-five years, and became the father of Shelah (xl;v'-ta, dl,AYw: hn"v' ~yvil{v.W vmex' yx; dv;k.P;r>a;w> [waw w/proper noun Arpachshad + Qal perf.3m.s. chayah live + adj.f.s.abs. chamesh five + waw w/adj.m.p.abs. sheloshim thirty + noun f.s.abs. shanah year + waw w/Hiphil impf.3m.s. yaladh "became the father" + d.o. marker + proper noun Shelah]);

VERSE 13 and Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years after he became the father of Shelah, and he had other sons and daughters (tAnb'W ~ynIB' dl,AYw: hn"v' tAame [B;r>a;w> ~ynIv' vl{v' xl;v,-ta, AdyliAh yrex]a; dv;k.P;r>a; yxiy>w: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. chayah live + proper noun Arpachshad + adv achare after(wards) + Hiphil infin.constr.w/3m.s.suff. yaladh "he became the father" + d.o. marker + proper noun Shelah + adj.f.s.abs. shalosh three + noun f.p.abs. shanah year + waw w/adj.f.s.abs. arebba- four + adj.f.p.abs. me-ah hundred + noun f.s.abs. shanah year + waw w/Hiphil impf.3m.s. yaladh "he had" + noun m.p.abs. ben son + waw w/noun f.p.abs. bath daughter]).

VERSE 14 Shelah lived thirty years, and became the father of Eber (rb,[e-ta, dl,AYw: hn"v' ~yvil{v. yx; xl;v,w> [waw w/proper noun Shelah + Qal perf.3m.s. chayah live + adj.m.p.abs. sheloshim thirty + noun f.s.abs. shanah year + waw w/Hiphil impf.3m.s. yaladh "became the father" + d.o. marker + proper noun Eber]);

VERSE 15 and Shelah lived four hundred and three years after he became the father of Eber, and he had other sons and daughters (tAnb'W ~ynIB' dl,AYw: hn"v' tAame [B;r>a;w> ~ynIv' vl{v' rb,[e-ta, AdyliAh yrex]a; xl;v,-yxiy>w: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. chayah live + proper noun Shelah + adv achare after + Hiphil infin.constr.w/3m.s.suff. yaladh "he became the father of" + d.o. marker + proper noun Eber + adj.f.s.abs. chalosh three + noun f.p.abs. shanah year + waw w/adj.f.s.ab.s arebba four + adj.f.p.abs. me-ah hundred + waw w/Hiphil impf.3m.s. yaladh "he had" + noun m.p.abs. ben + waw w/noun f.p.abs. bath daughter]).

VERSE 16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and became the father of Peleg (gl,P'-ta, dl,AYw: hn"v' ~yvil{v.W [B;r>a; rb,[e-yxiy>w: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. chayah live + proper noun Eber + adj.f.s.abs. arebba- four + waw w/adj.m.p.abs. sheloshim thirty + noun f.s.abs. shanah year + waw w/Hiphil impf.3m.s. yaladh "became the father of" + d.o. marker + proper noun Peleg]);

VERSE 17 and Eber lived four hundred and thirty years after he became the father of Peleg, and he had other sons and daughters (tAnb'W ~ynIB' dl,AYw: hn"v' tAame [B;r>a;w> hn"v' ~yvil{v. gl,P,-ta, AdyliAh yrex]a; rb,[e-yxiy>w: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. chayah live + proper noun Eber + adv achare after + Hiphil infin.constr.w/3m.s.suff. yaladh "he became the father of" + d.o. marker + proper noun Peleg + adj.m.p.abs. sheloshim thirty + noun f.s.abs. shanah year + waw w/adj.f.s.abs. achrebba- four + adj.f.p.abs. me-ah hundred + noun f.s.abs. shanah year + waw w/Hiphil impf.3m.s. yaladh "he had" + noun m.p.abs. ben + waw w/noun m.p.abs. bath daughter]).

VERSE 18 Peleg lived thirty years, and became the father of Reu (W[r>-ta, dl,AYw: hn"v' ~yvil{v. gl,p,-yxiy>w: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. chayah live + proper noun Peleg + adj.m.p.abs. sheloshim thirty + noun f.s.abs. shanah year + waw w/Hiphil impf.3m.s. yaladh "became the father of" + d.o. marker + proper noun Reu]);

VERSE 19 and Peleg lived two hundred and nine years after he became the father of Reu, and he had other sons and daughters (tAnb'W ~ynIB' dl,AYw: hn"v' ~yIt;am'W ~ynIv' [v;Te W[r>-ta, AdyliAh yrex]a; gl,p,-yxiy>w: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. chayah live + proper noun Peleg + adv achare after + Hiphil infin.constr.w/3m.s.suff. yaladh "he became the father of" + d.o. marker Reu + adj.f.s.abs. tesha- nine + noun f.p.abs. shanah year + waw w/adj.f. dual abs. me-ah hundred; "two hundred" + noun f.s.abs. shanah year + waw w/Hiphil impf.3m.s. yaladh "he had" + noun m.p.abs. ben son + waw w/noun f.p.abs. bath daughter]).

VERSE 20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and became the father of Serug (waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. chayah live + proper noun Reu + adj.f. dual abs. shenayim two + waw w/adj.m.p.abs. sheloshim thirty + noun f.s.abs. shanah year + waw w/Hiphil impf.3m.s. yaladh "became the father of" + d.o. marker + proper noun Serug]);

VERSE 21 and Reu lived two hundred and seven years after he became the father of Serug, and he had other sons and daughters (tAnb'W ~ynIB' dl,AYw: hn"v' ~yIt;am'W ~ynIv' [b;v, gWrf.-ta, AdyliAh yrex]a; W[r> yxiy>w: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. chayah live + proper noun Reu + adv achare after + Hiphil infin.constr.w/3m.s.suff. yaladh "he became the father of" + d.o. marker + proper noun Serug + adj.f.s.abs. sheba- seven + noun f.p.abs. shanah year + waw w/adj.f. dual abs. me-ah hundred "two hundred" + noun f.s.abs. shanah year + waw w/Hiphil impf.3m.s. yaladh "he had" + noun m.p.abs. ben son + waw w/noun f.p.abs. bath daughter]).

VERSE 22 Serug lived thirty years, and became the father of Nahor (rAxn"-ta, dl,AYw: hn"v' ~yvil{v. gWrf. yxiy>w: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. chayah live + proper noun Serug + adj.m.p.abs. sheloshim thirty + noun f.s.abs. shanah year + waw w/Hiphil impf.3m.s. yaladh "became the father of" + d.o. marker + proper noun Nahor]);

VERSE 23 and Serug lived two hundred years after he became the father of Nahor, and he had other sons and daughters (tAnb'W ~ynIB' dl,AYw: hn"v' ~yIt;am' rAxn"-ta, AdyliAh yrex]a; gWrf. yxiy>w: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. chayah live + proper noun Serug + adv achare after + Hiphil infin.constr.w/3m.s.suff. yaladh "he became the father of" + d.o. marker + proper noun Nahor + adj.f. dual abs. two hundred + noun f.s.abs. shanah year + waw w/Hiphil impf.3m.s. yaladh "he had" + noun m.p.abs. ben son + waw w/noun f.p.abs. bath daughter]).

VERSE 24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of Terah (xr;T'-ta, dl,AYw: hn"v' ~yrIf.[,w> [v;Te rAxn" yxiy>w: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. chayah live + proper noun Nahor + adj.f.s.abs. tesha- nine + waw w/adj.m.p.abs. eshrim twenty + noun f.s.abs. shanah year + waw w/Hiphil impf.3m.s. yaladh "became the father of" + d.o. marker + proper noun Terah]);

VERSE 25 and Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years after he became the father of Terah, and he had other sons and daughters (tAnb'W ~ynIB' dl,AYw: hn"v' ta;m.W hn"v' href.[,-[v;T. xr;T,-ta, AdyliAh yrex]a; rAxn" yxiy>w: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. chayah live + proper noun Nahor + adv achare after + Hiphil infin.constr.w/3m.s.suff. yaladh "he became the father of" + d.o. marker + proper noun Terah + adj.f.s.constr. tesha- nine + adj.f.s.abs. esher ten + noun f.s.abs. shanah year + waw w/adj.f.s.constr. me-ah hundred + noun f.s.abs. shanah year + waw w/Hiphil impf.3m.s. yaladh "he had" + noun m.p.abs. ben son + waw w/noun f.p.abs. bath daughter].

VERSE 26 Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran (!r'h'-ta,w> rAxn"-ta, ~r'b.a;-ta, dl,AYw: hn"v' ~y[ib.vi xr;t,-yxiy>w: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. chayah live + proper noun Terah + adj.m.p.abs. shib-im seventy + noun f.s.abs. shanah year + waw w/Hiphil impf. 3m.s. yaladh "became the father of" + d.o. marker Abram + waw w/d.o. marker Nahor + waw w/d.o. marker Haran]).

ANALYSIS: VERSES 10-26

1. The genealogy of Shem here in vv. 10-26 differs from the one in 10:21-31 in that it features only first-born sons and it provides us with numerical statistics regarding each of the ten generations from Shem to Terah.
2. The structure of this genealogy is much like the one in chapter 5, in that it is a linear genealogy ending in a segmented genealogy (e.g. Shem, Ham, Japeth as over against Abram, Nahor, Haran).
3. From Adam to Eber is fourteen generations.
4. Standing at the center of this list is Enoch.
5. From Eber to Abram is seven generations.
6. Shem was 98 years old at the Flood and fathered Arpachshad when he was 100 years old, that is, two years after the Flood (v.10).
7. He lived 500 years after the birth of Arpachshad.
8. The Flood date is 2302-01.
9. Shem lived 500 years after the birth of his first-born ( 2199 BC or 2300 BC) placing his death at 1800 BC (v.11).
10. Abraham was born in 1950 BC and died in 1775 BC and so Shem and Abraham were alive on the earth for 25 years.
11. Arpachshad was 35 years of age when he fathered Shelah (2265 BC) and lived another 403 years (v.13) placing his death at 1862 BC (he too lived when Abraham was alive; vv. 12-13 ).
12. The grand total for his life span is 438 years of age.
13. In 2235 Shelah fathered Eber (age 30; v.14) and he went on to live another 403 years (1832 BC; he died 32 years after his grandfather Shem; v.15).
14. Eber lived 34 years and fathered Peleg in 2234 BC and lived after that to the age of 464 dying in 1770 BC (5 years after Abraham’s death; vv. 16-17).
15. Peleg lived 30 years and fathered Reu (2201 BC) and lived on another 209 years dying in 1962 BC at age 239 (vv. 18-19).
16. Note here the drop off with respect to longevity 400+ years to 200+ years).
17. Reu fathered Serug in 2169 BC (v.20) and lived to the age of 239, dying in the year 1930 BC (v. 21).
18. In the year 2139 Serug fathered Nahor and he lived to age 230 dying in the year 1909 BC (vv. 22-23).
19. At age 29 Nahor (2080 BC) fathered Terah, father of Abraham (v.24).
20. Nahor lived a grand total of only 148 years dying in 1961 BC (Abraham was 12 years of age when his grandfather died).
21. Note again the dramatic drop off in longevity.
22. Terah, Abraham’s father, was 70 years old when he fathered his firstborn Haran (2010 BC; cf. v. 29 which tells us Nahor married his niece, that is Haran’s daughter).
23. His other two sons were born sometime after his 70^th year.
24. According to v. 32 Terah lived to the age of 205 and he died in Haran after moving there from Ur.
25. This places his death at 1875 BC.
26. Subtract 75 years from this date and we arrive at the birth date of Abram, which is 1950 BC.
27. Abram was 75 years of age when he left Haran to journey to the land of Canaan (Gen. 12:4).
28. Abram was born when his father was age 135 in the year 1950 BC.
29. Abram departed Ur and moved with his father to Haran.
30. We do not know for sure how old Abraham was when he left with Terah and company to move to Haran.
31. We do know that he was married.
32. Abram was 75 years of age and childless when he and his wife and his nephew left Haran for Canaan.

Family History of Terah (vv. 27-32)

VERSE 27 Now these are the records of the generations of Terah (xr;T, tdol.AT hL,aew> [waw w/adj.p.abs. elleh these + noun f.p.constr. toledoth generations + proper noun Terah]).

Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran; and Haran became the father of Lot (jAl-ta, dyliAh !r'h'w> !r'h'-ta,w> rAxn"-ta, ~r'b.a;-ta, dyliAh xr;T, [proper noun Terah + Hiphil perf.3m.s. yaladh "became the father of" + d.o. marker + proper noun Abram + d.o. marker + proper noun Nahor + waw w/d.o. marker + proper noun Haran + waw w/d.o. marker + proper noun Haran + Hiphil perf.3m.s. yaladh "became the father of" + d.o. marker + proper noun Lot]).

VERSE 28 Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans (~yDIf.K; rWaB. ATd>l;Am #r,a,B. wybia' xr;T, ynEP.-l[; !r'h' tm'Y"w: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. muth die + proper noun Haran + prep al + noun both p.constr. paneh face + proper noun Terah + noun m.s.constr.w/3m.s.suff. abh father + prep beth w/noun both s.abs. eretz land + noun f.s.constr.w/3m.s.suff. molereth kin, relative + prep beth w/proper noun Ur + proper noun Chaldean, Chaldees]).

VERSE 29 Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves (~yvin" ~h,l' rAxn"w> ~r'b.a; xQ;YIw: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. laqach take + proper noun Abram + waw w/proper noun Nahor + prep lamedh w/3m.p.suff. "for themselves" + noun f.p.abs. ishah wife]).

The name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah (hK's.yI ybia]w: hK'l.mi-ybia] !r'h'-tB; hK'l.mi rAxn"-tv,ae ~vew> yr'f' ~r'b.a;-tv,ae ~ve [noun m.s.constr. shem name + noun f.s.conste. ishah wife + proper noun Abram + proper noun Sarai + waw w/noun m.s.constr. shem name + noun f.s.constr. ishah wife + proper noun Nahor + proper noun Milcah (queen) + noun f.s.abs. bath daughter + proper noun Haran + noun m.s.constr. abh father + proper noun Milcah + waw w/proper noun Iscah]).

VERSE 30 Sarai was barren; she had no child (dl'w" Hl' !yae hr'q'[] yr;f' yhiT.w: [waw w/Qal impf.3f.s. hayah "was" + proper noun Sarai + adj.f.s.abs. aqar barren + adv ayin "no" + prep lamedh w/3f.s.suff. "she" + noun m.s.abs. yaladh child; only here for this form]).

VERSE 31 Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife (AnB. ~r'b.a; tv,ae AtL'K; yr;f' taew> AnB.-!B, !r'h'-!B, jAl-ta,w> AnB. ~r'b.a;-ta, xr;T, xQ;YIw: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. laqach take + proper noun Terah + d.o. marker + proper noun Abram + noun m.s.constr.w/3m.s.suff. ben son + waw w/d.o. marker + proper noun Lot + noun m.s.constr. ben + proper noun Haran + noun m.s.constr. ben + noun m.s.constr.w/3m.s.suff. ben = "his grandson" + waw w/d.o. marker +proper noun Sarai + noun f.s.constr.w/3m.s.suff. kallah daughter-in-law + noun f.s.constr. ishah wife + proper noun Abram + noun m.s.constr.w/3m.s.suff. ben]; and they went out together from Ur of the Chaldeans in order to enter the land of Canaan; and they went as far as Haran, and settled there (~v' Wbv.YEw: !r'x'-d[; WaboY"w: ![;n:K. hc'r>a; tk,l,l' ~yDIf.K; rWame ~T'ai Wac.YEw: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.p. yatsa go out + part eth together with + prep min from + proper noun Ur + proper noun Chaldeans + prep lamedh w/Qal infin.constr. halaq go, walk; "in order to enter" + noun both s.abs. eretz land + proper noun Canaan + waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. bo enter; "they went" + prep adh as far as + proper noun Haran + waw w/Qal impf.3m.p. yashab settle, dwell + adv sham there]).

VERSE 32 The days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran (!r'x'B. xr;T, tm'Y"w: hn"v' ~yIt;am'W ~ynIv' vmex' xr;t,-ymey> Wyh.YIw: [waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. hayah "were" + noun m.p.constr. yom day + proper noun Terah + adj.f.s.abs. chamesh five + noun f.p.abs. shanah year + waw w/adj.f. dual constr. me-ah "two hundred" + noun f.s.abs. shanah year + waw w/Qal impf.3m.s. muth die + proper noun Terah + prep beth w/proper noun Haran]).

ANALYSIS: VERSES 27-32

1. The family history of Terah begins with 11:27 and ends with 25:11.
2. Terah’s name is a derivative of the Hebrew noun for the moon (yerah).
3. Terah and his father Nahor before him engaged in idolatrous practices (cf. Josh. 24:2).
4. Members of the line of Christ after the Flood slipped into idolatry.
5. V. 27 is the editorial title to the life of Abraham.
6. It may at first seem strange that the title to this extended section within the book of Genesis has a genealogical statement about Terah’s life rather than that of its principal character, Abraham.
7. V. 32 records the death of Terah, and after that there is no more mention of him.
8. Characteristic of patriarchal narratives is that the heading mentions the father and the stories focus on the sons (cf. "This is the family history of Isaac" focuses on the sons Jacob and Esau; 25:19).
9. At 205 years of age Terah died when his son Abraham was 135 years of age (11:32; cf. 11:26).
10. Terah was alive and notionally the head of the family throughout most of the period covered by the Abraham section of Genesis.
11. Abraham was age 137 when Sarah died (23:1; cf. 17:17).
12. "This is the family history of Terah" matches similar usage in 25:19 and 37:2.
13. It may seem strange that Terah’s death is recorded so early.
14. This departure from the chronological order is characteristic of Genesis to deal with less significant points first (Ishmael’s family history precedes Isaac’s, and Esau’s precedes Jacob’s (25:12, 19; 36:1; 37:2).
15. Because Terah plays no part in the subsequent life of Abraham, his death is mentioned prematurely in 11:32.
16. There may be some symbolic significance here: the plan of God centers on life in Canaan, and Terah who set out for Canaan instead settled in Haran and died there.
17. V. 26 makes mention of the three sons of Terah (cf. three sons of Adam, three sons of Noah).
18. Here in the title the three sons are mentioned as Abram, Nahor and Haran.
19. But v. 27 adds the detail that Haran fathered a son named Lot.
20. V. 28 record the untimely death of Haran.
21. The unusual preposition al (above) is behind the translation "in the presence of his father Terah."
22. This preposition is used in place of the more usual "before" (cf. Num. 3:4; lamedh w/noun for face).
23. The death of Haran in Ur explains the adoption of Lot by Haran.
24. Also, the fact that Nahor married one of Haran’s daughters (his niece) indicates that Haran who is listed third in the genealogy is actually the oldest of the three men.
25. As we have seen the order of names need not mean the order of birth (Shem, Ham and Japheth).
26. "Ur of the Chaldeans" is the well-known Ur (el-Maqayyar) in southern Iraq.
27. Ur was an important political and religious center at the time of Abraham’s exit from that city.
28. The name "Chaldean" is probably a latter addition to this book (e.g. a gloss).
29. The Chaldeans entered southern Mesopotamia around 1000 BC and became the ruling class there in the 7^th and 6^th centuries BC (see Acts 7:2).
30. Based on Hebrew Sarai’s name means "princess."
31. Sarah was the daughter of Terah by a different mother (cf. 20:12).
32. The rules of engagement back then did not prohibit the marrying of one’s niece.
33. Under the Law marrying a half-sister was forbidden (Lev. 18:9; 20:17; Duet. 27:22).
34. Contrast Gen. 29 where Jacob marries two sisters, Leah and Rachel.
35. Nahor marries Milcah.
36. The form of her name in the Hebrew is "queen."
37. Akkadian malkuta is a title of the goddess, Isthar, daughter of the moon god Sin.
38. So Nahor marries Haran’s daughter, Milcah (v.29), who will bear him eight sons, one of whom is Bethuel, father of Laban and Rebekah (cf. Gen. 22:20-23).
39. What this implies is that Nahor and Milcah and family moved to Haran sometime latter than the Terah migration of v. 31.
40. Terah and Abraham care for orphaned Lot.
41. Iscah plays no role in the life of Abraham.
42. With stark brevity the reality of a childless wife is summed up in v. 30 (cf. Judg. 13:2-3; 1Sam. 1:2-8; Isa. 54:1).
43. Digressions within a genealogy are of special significance and none more so than this one.
44. The overriding theme of the life and times of Abraham and Sarah is witness to the desperate desire for an heir.
45. Without children (particularly a male child) the man had not one to perpetuate his name and the wife enjoyed little prestige and much frustration, for she had no alternative to motherhood.
46. Further, in old age, childless couples had no children to care for them and see that they have a proper burial.
47. This traditional motif gains special momentum in that the childless couple is promised by God an heir only to be met with great delay in the fulfillment phase.
48. Terah, as head of the family, led the migration from Ur.
49. His reasons are not given.
50. Haran was located on the bank of the Balikh River, 550 miles northwest of Ur and close to the present day Syrian-Turkish border.
51. Haran like Ur was an important center of moon worship.
52. In Gen. 12:1 Abram is told to leave by himself for Canaan, but he does not separate himself until his father dies.
53. Abram was slow to fully implement the directive given him in Ur at his call to leave family and country for a land to be shown him later.
54. He took the three chief actors in the subsequent episodes, Abram, Sarai, and Lot.
55. As noted above Nahor and Milcah moved to northern Mesopotamia (cf. 22:20-24 and 24:10) some time after the Terah migration.
56. This was probably after the Abram, Sarai, Lot migration to Canaan in 1850 BC.