Genesis 11:3 - Exposition

And they said one to another . Literally, a man to his neighbor ; α ̓ ì νθρωπος τω ͂ͅ πλησι ì ον αυ ̓ του ͂ ( LXX .). Go to . A hortatory expletive—come on (Anglice). Let us make brick . Nilbenah lebenim ; literally, let us brick bricks; πλινθευ ì σωμεν πλι ì νθους ( LXX .); laterifecimus lateres (Calvin); lebenah (from laban, to be white), being so called from the white and chalky day of which bricks were made. And burn them thoroughly . Literally, burn them to a burning ; venisrephah lisrephah, a second alliteration, which, however, the LXX . fails to reproduce. Bricks were usually sun-dried; these, being designed to be more durable, were to be calcined through the agency of fire, a proof that the tower-builders were acquainted with the art of brick-making. And they had —literally, and there was to theme— brick for stone . Chiefly because of the necessities of the place, the alluvial plain of Babylon being void of stones and full of clay; a proof of the greatness of their crime, seeing they were induced to undertake the work non facilitate operis, nec aliis commodis, quae se ad manum offerrent (Calvin); scarcely because bricks would better endure fire than would stones, the second destruction of the world by fire rather than water being by this time a common expectation (Com a Lapide). Josephus, 'Ant; lib. 1. cp. 4; Heroin, lib. 1. cp. 179; Justin, lib. 1. cp. 2; Ovid, ' Metam.,' 4.4; and Aristoph. in Avibus ( περιτευχι ì ζειν μεγα ì λαις πλι ì νθοις ο ̓ πται ͂ ς ω ̔ ì σπερ βαβυλω ͂ να ) , all attest that the walls of Babylon were built of brick. The mention of the circumstance that brick was used instead of stone "indicates a writer belonging to a country and an age in which stone buildings were familiar, and therefore not to Babylonia" (Murphy). And slime. Chemer, from chamar, to boil up; α ̓ ì σφαλτος ( LXX .); the bitumen which boils up from subterranean fountains like oil or hot pitch in the vicinity of Babylon, and also near the Dead Sea ( lacus asphaltites ). Tacitus, ' Hist.,' 5.6; Strabo, 16. p. 743; Herod; lib. h c. 179; Josephus, 'Antiq.,' lib. 1. c. 41 Pliny, lib. 35. 100. 15; Vitruvius, lib. 8. c. 3, are unanimous in declaring that the brick walls of Babylon were cemented with bitumen. Layard testifies that so firmly have the bricks been united that it is almost impossible to detach one from the mass. Had they . Literally, was to them . For mortar . Chomer . The third instance of alliteration in the present verse; possibly designed by the writer to represent the enthusiasm of the builders.