Scofield Reference Notes And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. [1] one language
The history of Babel ("confusion") strikingly parallels that of the professing Church. (1) Unity Gen 11:1 --the Apostolic Church Acts 4:32,33 (2) Ambition Gen 11:4 using worldly, not spiritual means Gen 11:3 ending in a man-made unity--the papacy; (3) the confusion of tongues Gen 11:7 --Protestantism, with its innumerable sects. See Scofield Note: "Isa 13:1". And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. Margin Babel
i.e. confusion. See Scofield Note: "Gen 11:1" See Scofield Note: "Isa 13:1". These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: [1] generations of Shem
Genesis 11. and 12. mark an important turning point in the divine dealing. Heretofore the history has been that of the whole Adamic race. There has been neither Jew nor Gentile; all have been one in "the first man Adam." Henceforth, in the Scripture record, humanity must be thought of as a vast stream from which God, in the call of Abram and the creation of the nation of Israel, has but drawn off a slender rill, through which He may at last purify the great river itself. Israel was called to be a witness to the unity of God in the midst of universal idolatry Dt 6:4 Isa 43:10-12 to illustrate the blessedness of serving the true God Dt 33:26-29 to receive and preserve the divine revelations Rom 3:1,2 Dt 4:5-8 and to produce the messiah Gen 3:15 21:12 28:10,14 49:10 2Sam 7:16,17 Isa 4:3,4 Mt 1:1. The reader of scripture should hold firmly in mind: (1) that from Gen 12. to Mat 12.45 the Scriptures have primarily in view Israel, the little rill, not the great Gentile river; though again and again the universality of the ultimate divine intent breaks into view (e.g. Gen 12:3 Isa 2:2,4 5:26 9:1,2 11:10-12 42:1-6 49:6,12 Isa 52:15 54:3 55:5 60:3,5,11-16 61:6,9 62:2 66:12,18,19 Jer 16:19 Joel 3:9,10 Mal 1:11 Rom 9. 10. 11. Gal 3:8-14. (2) that the human race, henceforth called Gentile in distinction from Israel, goes on under the Adamic and Noahic covenants; and that for the race (outside Israel) the dispensations of Conscience and of Human government continue. The moral history of the great Gentile world is told in Rom 1:21-32 and its moral accountability in Rom 2:1-16. Conscience never acquits: it either "accuses" or "excuses." Where the law is known to the Gentiles it is to them, as to Israel, "a ministration of death," a "curse" Rom 3:19,20 7:9,10 2Cor 3:7 Gal 3:10. A wholly new responsibility arises when either Jew or Gentile knows the Gospel Jn 3:18,19,36 15:22-24 16:9 1Jn 5:9-12. And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah:
And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber:
And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg:
And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.
And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:
And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.
And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug:
And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.
And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:
And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:
And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.
And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.
And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.
And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.
But Sarai was barren; she had no child.
And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. Margin Terah
The name means delay. And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran. Scofield Reference Notes by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield [1917] Bible Hub |
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