genesis-11:4,-genesis-11:6,-genesis-11:8-niv

F. B. Hole's Old and New Testament Commentary - Genesis 11:1-4

Gen_11:1 Gen_13:4 . The closing verse of Genesis 10.0 alluded to the distribution of the nations of the earth after the flood. The first nine verses of Genesis 11.0 tell us how that division came about. For some time after the flood nations did not exist. All men were descendants of Noah: a rapidly increasing family, but all speaking alike. As time went on population increased and the urge to push outward from the original centre became irresistible. The pioneers of this movement were... read more

Paul E. Kretzmann

The Popular Commentary by Paul E. Kretzmann - Genesis 11:1-4

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... read more

Johann Peter Lange

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Critical, Doctrinal and Homiletical - Genesis 11:1-9

FOURTH SECTIONThe Tower of Babel, the Confusion of Languages, and the Dispersion of the Nations Genesis 11:1-91And the whole earth was of one language [lip], and of one speech.1 2And it came to pass, as they journeyed2 from the east3, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly [literally, to a burning]. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar [cement]. 4And they said,... read more

Frederick Brotherton Meyer

F.B. Meyer's 'Through the Bible' Commentary - Genesis 11:1-9

the Confusion of Tongues Genesis 11:1-9 Driven by the fear of another deluge, though God had given distinct assurances to the contrary, and impelled by the desire to perpetuate their name and memory to coming generations, Noah’s descendants began to build on the plain of Shinar-a fertile valley watered by the Euphrates and Tigris. Babel, Babylon and Babylon the Great, such is the lineage of the apostasy which has ever opposed the Church of God; like a shadow, stealing along the wall at our... read more

G. Campbell Morgan

G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible - Genesis 11:1-32

In this chapter we have the account of a human movement against dispersion. The movement was one of rebellion and was frustrated by divine interposition. The divine intention was the covering of the whole earth. The human action was in opposition to that, as men said, "Lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." This rebellious purpose was frustrated by the confusion of tongues. Necessarily belief in this story demands belief in the possibility of God's direct intervention... read more

Robert Neighbour

Wells of Living Water Commentary - Genesis 11:1-9

The Tower of Babel Genesis 11:1-9 INTRODUCTORY WORDS We will give some suggestion as to the connecting link between our last study, and today's. There are two outstanding considerations. 1. Noah's drunkenness. Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood. Just when he began to be a husbandman we may not know, probably soon after he had adjusted himself to his new environment, inasmuch as his sons were still with him. As to his drunkenness we may observe: (1) God tells the... read more

Peter Pett

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 11:1-9

THE SIN OF THE NATIONS (11:1-9). We are now to be shown why the nations divided up into different languages with the consequent suspicions, hatreds and warfares which resulted. Overall it will be seen as a result of puffed up pride and deliberate rebellion against God. (This chapter is only seen as a new chapter in our Bibles. In the record it was simply a continuation of the narrative). God has not been mentioned in Genesis 10:0 except as a superlative (Genesis 11:9). The nations have grown... read more

Arthur Peake

Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 11:1-9

Genesis 11:1-1 Samuel : . The City, the Tower, and the Confusion of Speech.— The section plainly belongs to J but not to the same stratum as the story of the Flood, nor is it consistent with the origin assigned to the various nations in Genesis 11:10. It is an æ tiological story (p. 134), naturally not historical, answering the question, Why is it that though the races of mankind have sprung from a common ancestry they speak so many different languages? The Divine jealousy, which fears what a... read more

Matthew Poole

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible - Genesis 11:4

Whose top may reach unto heaven, i.e. a very high tower; a usual hyperbole, both in Scripture, as Deuteronomy 1:28; Deuteronomy 9:1, and in other authors. This tower and its vast height is noted by Herodotus, Diodorus, and others. Let us make us a name, i.e. a great name, as the phrase is elsewhere used. Compare also 2 Samuel 7:9, with 1 Chronicles 17:8. See also Isaiah 63:12,Isaiah 63:14; Daniel 9:15. They take no care for God's name, and the defence and propagation of the true religion, as... read more

Joseph Exell

Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary - Genesis 11:1-9

CRITICAL NOTES.—The whole earth.] The then known world with all its human inhabitants. One language and of one speech.] Heb. Of one lip, and one (kind of) words. Murphy renders, “Of one lip and one stock of words,” and remarks, “In the table of nations the term ‘tongue’ was used to signify what is here expressed by two terms. This is not undesigned. The two terms are not synonymous or parallel, as they form the parts of one compound predicate. ‘One stock of words,’ then, we conceive, naturally... read more