genesis-11:1-8,-genesis-12:1-9

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 11:4

Verse 4 4.Whose top may reach unto heaven. This is an hyperbolical form of speech, in which they boastingly extol the loftiness of the structure they are attempting to raise. And to the same point belongs what they immediately subjoin, Let us make us a name; for they intimate, that the work would be such as should not only be looked upon by the beholders as a kind of miracle, but should be celebrated everywhere to the utmost limits of the world. This is the perpetual infatuation of the world;... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 11:5

Verse 5 5.And the Lord came down. The remaining part of the history now follows, in which Moses teaches us with what ease the Lord could overturn their insane attempts, and scatter abroad all their preparations. There is no doubt that they strenuously set about what they had presumptuously devised. But Moses first intimates that God, for a little while, seemed to take no notice of them, (328) in order that suddenly breaking off their work at its commencement, by the confusion of their tongues,... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 11:6

Verse 6 6.Behold, the people is one. Some thus expound the words, that God complains of a wickedness in men so refractory, that he excites himself by righteous grief to execute vengeance; not that he is swayed by any passions, (329) but to teach us that he is not negligent of human affairs, and that, as he watches for the salvation of the faithful, so he is intent on observing the wickedness of the ungodly; as it is said in Psalms 34:16, “The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 11:7

Verse 7 7.Go to, let us go down. We have said that Moses has represented the case to us by the figure hypotyposis, (330) that the judgments of God may be the more clearly illustrated. For which reason, he now introduces God as the speaker, who declares that the work which they supposed could not be retarded, shall, without any difficulty, be destroyed. The meaning of the words is of this kind, ‘I will not use many instruments, I will only blow upon them, and they, through the confusion of... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 11:8

Verse 8 8.So the Lord scattered them abroad. Men had already been spread abroad; and this ought not to be regarded as a punishment, seeing it rather flowed from the benediction and grace of God. But those whom the Lord had before distributed with honor in various abodes, he now ignominiously scatters, driving them hither and thither like the members of a lacerated body. This, therefore, was not a simple dispersion for the replenishing of the earth, that it might every where have cultivators and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 11:1

And the whole earth . I .e. the entire population of the globe, and not simply the inhabitants of the land of Shinar (Ingiis; cf. Genesis 9:29 ). Was . Prior to the dispersion spoken of in the preceding chapter, though obviously it may have been subsequent to that event, if, as the above-named author believes, the present paragraph refers to the Shemites alone. Of one language . Literally, of one lip, i.e. one articulation, or one way of pronouncing their vocables. And of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 11:1

Unity of language. 1. The original birthright of the human race. 2. The lost inheritance of sinful men. 3. The ultimate goal of the Christian dispensation. 4. The recovered heritage of redeemed humanity.— W . read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 11:1-9

Order brought forth. We are now to trace the rise of the kingdom of God among the nations. Already in the case of Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord, that is, by permission of Divine providence, the antagonism between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world has been symbolized. Now we find the concentration of the world's rebellion and ungodliness in the false city, type of the worldly power throughout the Scriptures. It is on the plain of Shinar to which the early... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 11:2

And it came to pass, as they journeyed . Literally, in their journeyings . The root ( גָקַע , to pull up, as, e.g; the stakes of a tent when a camp moves, Isaiah 33:20 ) suggests the idea of the migration of nomadic hordes (cf. Genesis 12:9 ; Genesis 33:17 ). From the east . Ab oriente (Ancient Versions, Calvin, et alii ) , meaning either that they started from Armenia, which was in the east respectu terrae Canaan (Luther), or from that portion of the Assyrian empire... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 11:2

Note— 1. The benefit of a wandering condition. It sometimes prevents the rise of sinful thoughts and wicked deeds. So long as the primitive nomads were travelling from station to station they did not think of either rebellion or ambition. So Israel followed God fully in the wilderness. 2. The danger of a settled state. Established in the fat plain of Shinar, they wanted a city and a tower. So Israel in Canaan waxed fat and kicked. So Moab, having been at ease from his youth, retained... read more

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 11:4

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 11:5

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 11:6

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 11:7

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 11:8

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 11:1

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 11:1

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 11:1-9

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 11:2

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 11:2

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