A. M. 1757. A. C. 2247; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 2857. A. C. 2554. GEN. CH. xi. TO VER. 10. are so confounded together that one knows not what to make of it. Its figure is square, and rises in form of a pyramid with four fronts, which answer to the four quarters of the compass, but it seems longer from north to south than from east to west, and is, as far as I could judge by my pacing it, a large quarter of a league. Its situation and form correspond with that pyramid which Strabo calls the tower of Belus; but even in his time it had nothing remaining of the stairs and other ornaments mentioned by Herodotus, for the greatest part of it was ruined by Xerxes and Alexander, who designed to have restored it to its former lustre, but was prevented by death. "There appear no marks of ruins round the compass of this rude mass, to make one believe that so great a city as Babylon ever stood here. All that one can discover, within fifty or sixty paces of it, is only the remains here and there of some foundations of buildings; and the country round about it is so flat and level, that one can hardly conceive it should be chosen for the situation of so noble a city, or that there ever were any considerable structures on it. But considering withal, that it is now at least four thousand years since that city was built, and that in the time of Diodorus Siculus, as he tells us, it was almost reduced to nothing, I, for my part, am astonished that there appears so much as there does. "The height of this mountain of ruins is not in every part equal, but exceeds the highest palace in Naples. It is a misshapen mass, wherein there is no appearance of regularity. In some places it rises in points, is craggy, and inaccessible, in others it is smooth, and of easy ascent. Whether ever there were steps to ascend it, or doors to enter into it, it is impossible at present to discover; and from hence one may easily judge, that the stairs ran winding about on the outside, and that, being the less solid parts, they were the soonest demolished, so that there is not the least sign to be seen of them now. "In the inside of it, there are some grottos, but so ruined that one can make nothing of them; and it is much to be doubted, with regard to some of them, whether they were built at the same time with the work, or made since by the peasants for shelter, which last seems to be more likely. It is evident from these ruins, however, that the tower of Nimrod (so our author calls it) was built with great and thick bricks, as I carefully observed, causing holes to be dug in several places for that purpose; but they do not appear to have been burned, but only dried in the sun, which is extremely hot in these parts. "In laying these bricks, neither lime nor sand was made use of, but only earth tempered and petrified; and in those parts which made the floors, there had been mingled with the earth, which served instead of lime, bruised reeds or hard straws, such as large mats are made of, to strengthen the work. In several other places, especially where the strongest buttresses were to be, there were, at due distances, other bricks of the same size, but more solid, and burnt in kilns, and set in good lime or bitumen, but the greater number were such as were dried in the sun." This is the most of what this sedulous traveller could discover; and yet, upon the foot of these remarks, he makes no doubt to declare, "That this ruin was the ancient Babel or the tower of Nimrod (as he calls it), for besides the evidence of its situation, it is so acknowledged to be, and so called by the inhabitants of the country to this very day." Notwithstanding some others are of a contrary opinion, namely,' that this and some other ruins not far distant from it, are not the remains of the original tower, but rather some later structures of the Arabs. We cannot dismiss this subject, however, without making some reflections on the vanity and transitoriness of all sublunary things, as well as the veracity of all God's predictions; since that goodly city, which was once the pride of all Asia, and the designed metropolis of the whole universe, according to the words of the prophets, 'is fallen, is fallen low, very low, and become a dwelling-place for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing without an inhabitant;' and that stately tower, which once reared its head on high, and seemed to menace the stars, is brought down to the ground, even to the dust; insomuch, that the place of it is to be seen no more; or, if by chance found out by some inquisitive traveller, the whole is now become only a confused heap of rubbish, according to the word of God by the same prophet; I will roll thee down from the rocks, and make thee as a burnt mountain, and they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations, but thou shalt be an everlasting desolation, saith the Lord.'" 'Universal History, b. 1. c. 2. Isa. xxi. 9. and Jer. li. 37. Jer. li. 25, 26. 3 a Various have been the conjectures respecting the reasons which induced the human race to unite, as one man, in this great enterprise. Some have supposed that their design was to raise a tower so high as to enable them to climb up to heaven; a strange Scripture:- Let us build a city, and a tower whose top may opinion, founded upon a literal interpretation of these words in reach unto heaven;' an expression evidently intended to signify no more than that its height was to be uncommonly great. Similar expressions are to be found in Deut. i. 28, and ix. 1, where the cities of the heathen nations, who inhabited the land of Canaan, are described as 'great, and walled or fenced up to heaven.' Nor was it uncommon for the Greek poets to use the expressions, high as heaven, or reaching to the sun, when they wished to describe things of an extraordinary height. Josephus and some them from a second deluge, which they greatly dreaded; but had others have thought that it must have been designed to preserve that been the case, they would have betaken themselves to the mountains, and not made choice of the low country, for building a place of security. A third opinion is, that, as the tower was in the form of a pyramid, to the figure of which the flame of fire bears a resemblance, it was a monument designed in honour of the sun, to whose influence they ascribed the drying up of the flood. But there is no foundation in Scripture for that conjecture, and the date of that species of idolatry was probably not so early as it supposes. The reason assigned in Scripture is, Let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.' The most probable conjecture, therefore, seems to be, that, as they were now in a vast plain, undefined by any buildings, or roads, or any distinct boundaries; and as they must soon separate to attend their flocks, or go in quest of provisions, or jected division of the earth among his posterity;-they built this perhaps dreading a dispersion, in consequence of Noah's protower, as a pharos, or landmark, to enable them to find their way back to the surrounding city; which, with its immense tower, they believed would be a lasting monument of their fame, and design had been to make the whole world one kingdom, and transmit their name with honour to posterity. In this view, their Babel its metropolis. 6 This interpretation seems also to account for the reason of the divine frustration of their great design, and of their consequent dispersion. It is given in these words, 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; that is, not as some have explained the words, A. M. 1759. A. C. 2245; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 2859. A. C. 2552. GEN. CH. x.; AND CH. xi. VER. 10. TO THE END. SECT. III. CHAP. I.-Of the Dispersion and First Settlement of the Nations. THE HISTORY. In what manner the children of Noah were admitted to the possession of the several countries they afterwards came to inhabit, the sacred historian has not informed us; but this we may depend on, that this great division of the earth was not the result of chance, but of mature deliberation; not a confused irregular dispersion, wherein every one went where he pleased, and settled himself where he liked best, but a proper assignment of such and such places, for every division and subdivision of each nation and family to dwell in. a Japheth, as we said before, though usually mentioned last, yet was in reality the eldest son of Noah, and accordingly has his 'Mede's Discourses, 49, 50. b. 1. -if this scheme shall succeed, the divine plan for the government of the world will be frustrated; but, as the words more naturally signify, this their first attempt, and if they succeed in it, they will think themselves able for any undertaking,-no enterprise will appear too great for them. Accordingly, the very dispersion which they dreaded, they brought upon themselves, by their vain attempt to avoid it. The name of it was 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.'-Ancient Universal History, vol. 1. Edinburgh Encyclopædia, article Babel. a According to the Armenian tradition, recorded by Abalfaragi, Noah distributed the habitable earth from north to south between his sons, and gave to Ham the region of the blacks; to Shem the region of the tawny (fuscorum); and to Japheth the region of the ruddy (ruborum). p. 9. And he dates the actual division of the earth in the 140th year of Peleg, A. C. 2614, or 541 years after the deluge, and 191 years after the death of Noah, in the following order: To the sons of Shem was allotted the middle of the earth, namely, Palestine, Syria, Assyria, Samaria, (Singar or Shinar,) Babel (or Babylonian), Persia, and Hegar (Arabia). To the sons of Ham, Terman (or Idumea, Jer. xlix. 7), Africa, Nigritia, Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia, Sciudid, and India, (or India east and west of the river Indus.) To the sons of Japheth, also Garbia (the north), Spain, France, the countries of the Greeks, Sclavonians, Bulgarians, Turks, and Armenians, (Annals, p. 11.) In this curious and valuable geographical chart, Armenia, the cradle of the human race, was allotted to Japheth by right of primogeniture; and Samaria and Babel to the sons of Shem. The usurpation of these regions, therefore, by Nimrod, and of Palestine by Canaan, was in violation of the divine decree. Though the migration of the three primitive families from the central regions of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria, began about A. C. 2614, or 541 years after the deluge; yet it would be a considerable length of time before they all reached their destinations. Sir William Jones conjectures that the migration lasted about four centuries, (Asiatic Researches, vol. 4. p. 4.) in the course of which, by successive colonizations, they established far distant communities, and various modes of society and government. The Phoenicians, Arabians, Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Lybians, southwards; the Persians, Ethiopians, Indians, and Chinese, eastwards; the Scythians, Celts, and Tartars, northwards; and the Goths, Greeks, and Latins, even as far as the Peruvians and Mexicans of South America, and the Indian tribes of North America, westwards. All these various inhabitants of the globe retain a striking affinity in the leading principles of their language, customs, and religions, however diversified in process of time, from each other, by local circumstances; such affinity evincing their common descent from one and the same parent stock-Hales's Analysis, vol. 1. p. 351. and vol. 2. p. 50. Second edition.-ED. ¿ The following account of the plantations of the three sons of | descendants here placed in the front of the genealogy. He had seven sons: Gomer, who seated himself in Phry. gia; Magog, in Scythia; Madai, in Media; Javan, in Ionia, or part of Greece; Tubal, in Tibarene; Mashech, in Moschia, (which lies in the north-east parts of Cappadocia); and Tiras, in Thrace, Mysia, and the rest of Europe towards the north. The sons of Gomer were Ashkanaz, who took possession of Ascania, (which is part of Lesser Phrygia); Riphah, of the Riphæan mountains; and Togarmagh, of part of Cappadocia and Galatia. The sons of Javan were Eliskah, who seated himself in Peloponnesus; Tarshish, in Spain; Kittim, in Italy; and Dodanim 2 (otherwise called Rhodanim) in France, not far from the banks of the river Rhone, to which he seems to have given the name. By these, and the colonies which in some space of time proceeded from them, not only a considerable part of Asia, but all Europe and the islands adjacent were stocked with inhabitants; and the several inhabitants were so settled and disposed of, that each tribe or family who spake the same language kept together in one body; and (though distant in situation) continued, for some time at least, their relation to the people or nation from whom originally they sprang. Shem, the second son of Noah, (and from whom the Hebrew nation did descend,) had himself five sons; whereof Elam took possession of a country in Persia, called after himself at first, but in the time of Daniel it obtained the name of Susiana; Assur, of Assyria; Arphaxad, of Chaldea; Lud, of Lydia; and Aram, of Syria, as far as the Mediterranean Sea. The sons of Aram were Uz, who seated himself in the country of Damascus; Hul, near Cholobatene in Armenia; Mash, near the mountain Masius; and Gether, in part of Mesopotamia. Arphaxad had a son named Salah, who settled near Susiana, and begat Eber, (the father of the Hebrew nation,) who had likewise two sons: Peleg, whose name imports division, because in his days mankind was divided into several colonies; and Jocktan, who had a large offspring to the number of thirteen sons, all seated in Arabia Felix, and who, in all probability, were the progenitors of such people and nations as in those parts, in after ages, had some affinity to their several names. For here it was that the Allumœota, who took their name from Almodad, the Selapeni, from Sheleph, and the Abalita, from Obal, &c., lived, namely, from that part of Arabia which lies between Musa (a famous sea-port in the Red Sea), and the mountain Climax, which was formerly called Sephar, from a city of that name built at the bottom of it, and then the metropolis of the whole country. Ham, the youngest son of Noah, had four sons: whereof Cush settled his abode in that part of Arabia which lies towards Egypt; Mizraim, in both Upper 1 Chron. i. 7. Noah and their descendants, is extracted from Bochart's Phaleg.; Heidegger's Historia Patriarchum, vol. 1. Essay 22; Wells' Sacred Geography, vol. 1; Bedford's Scripture Chronology, b. 2; Shuckford's Connection, vol. 1; Parker's Bibliotheca Biblica, vol. 1; the Authors of the Universal History, b. 1; Le Clerc and Pa. trick's Commentaries; Poole and Ainsworth's Annotations, with other authors of the like nature; from whom we have made use of the most probable conjectures, and to whom we refer the reader, rather than encumber him with a multitude of explanatory notes, A. M. 1759. A. C. 2245; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 2859. A. C. 2552. GEN. CH. x.; AND CH. xi. VER. 10. TO THE END. and Lower Egypt; Phut, in part of Lybia ; and Canaan, | merly the Scythians, but now the Tartars dwell: that in the land which was afterwards called by his name, and the posterity of Ham held in their possession all Africa, in other adjacent countries. and no small part of Asia; 2 Mizraim, both the Upper, Lower, and Middle Egypt, Marmorica, and Ethiopia, both east and west; Phut, the remainder of Africa, Lybia Interior and Exterior, Numidia, Mauritania, Getulia, &c.; Cush, all Arabia that lies between the Red Sea and the Gulf; beyond the Gulf, Carmania, and no small part of Persia; and towards the north of Arabia (till expelled by Nimrod), Babylonia, and part of Chaldea: and Canaan, Palestine, Phoenicia, part of Cappadocia, and that large tract of ground along the Euxine Sea, even as far as Colchis: and that the pos terity of Shem had in their possession part both of the Greater and Lesser Asia; 3 in the Lesser, Lydia, Mysia, and Caria; and in the Greater, Assyria, Syria, Mesopotamia, Armenia, Susiana, Arabia Felix, &c., and perhaps eastward all the countries as far as China. The sons of Cush, were Seba, who settled on the south-west part of Arabia; Havilah, who gave name to a country upon the river Pison, where it parts with Euphrates, to run into the Arabian Gulf; Sabtah, who lived on the same shore (but a little more northward) | of the Arabian Gulf; Raamah, who, with his two sons, Sheba and Dedan, occupied the same coast, but a little more eastward; and Sabtecha, who (we need not doubt) placed himself among the rest of his brethren. But among all the sons of Cush, Nimrod was the person who in those early days distinguished himself by his bravery and courage. His lot chanced to fall into a place that was not a little infested with wild beasts; and therefore he betook himself to the exercise of hunting, and, drawing together a company of stout young fellows, not only cleared the country of such dangerous creatures, but, procuring himself likewise great honour and renown by his other exploits, he raised himself at length to the dignity of a king (the first king that is supposed to have been in the world), and, having made Babylon the seat of his empire, laid the foundation of three other cities, namely, Erech, Accad, and Calneth, in the neighbouring provinces; and so, passing into Assyria, and enlarging his territories there, he built Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen, (Larissa,) situate upon the Tigris. But to return to the remainder of Ham's posterity. 3 46 These are the plantations of the families of the sons of Noah in their generations,' and after this manner were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.' And now to descend to a more particular account of the posterity of his son Shem, from whom the Hebrews (who are the proper subjects of our history) were descended. A. M. 1658, or 2258. A. M. 1693, A. M. 1723, or 2657. A. M. 1787, Mizraim, his second son, became king of Egypt, which after his death was divided into three kingdoms by three of his sons; Ananim, who was king of Tanis or Lower Egypt, called afterwards Delta; Naphtulim, who was king of Naph or Memphis in Upper Egypt; and Pathrusim, who set up the kingdom of Pathros or Thebes in Thebais. Ludim and Lehabim peopled Lybia. A. M. 1757, Caslubim fixed himself at Cashiotis, in the entrance of Egypt from Palestine; and having two sons, Philistim and Caphterim, the latter he left to succeed him at Cashiotis, and the former planted the country of the Philistines, between the borders of Canaan and the Mediterranean Sea. The sons of Canaan were Sidon, the father of the Sidonians, who lived in Phoenicia ; Heth, A. M. 1819, the father of the Hittites, who lived near Hebron; Emor, the father of the Amorites, who lived in the mountains of Judea; and Arvad, the father of the Arvadites, not far from Sidon: but whether the other sons of Canaan settled in this country cannot be determined with any certainty and exactness; only we must take care to place A. M. 1878, them somewhere between Sidon and Gerar, and Admah and Zeboim; for these were the boundaries of their land. Upon the whole, then, we may observe, that the posterity of Japheth came into the possession, not only of all Europe, but of a considerable portion of Asia; for two of his sons, Tiras and Javan, together with their descendants, had all those countries which from the Mediterranean Sea, reach as far as Scandinavia northward ; and his other sons, from the Mediterranean extending themselves eastward over almost all Asia Minor, and part of Armenia, over Media, Iberia, Albania, and those vast regions towards the north, where for'Heidegger's Hist. Patriar. vol. 1. Essay 22. Sect. 1. or 2919. A. M. 1849, or 3128. A. M. 1948, 2 Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he had a son named Arphaxad ; after which time he lived 500 years; so that the whole of his life was 600. Arphaxad, when 35 (135),a had a son named Salah, after which he lived 403 (303); in all 438. Salah, when 30 (130), had a son named Eber (from whom his descendants were called Hebrews), after which he lived 403 (303) years; in all, 433. Eber, when 34 (134), had a son named Peleg, in whose time (as we said) the earth came to be divided; after which he lived 430 (330) years; in all, 464. Peleg, when 30 (130), had a son named Reu, after which he lived 209 (109), years; in all, 239. Reu, when 32 (132), had a son named Serug; after which he lived 207 (107) years; in all 239. Serug, when 30 (130), had a son named Nahor, after which he lived 200 (100) years; in all 230. Nahor, when 29 (79), had a son named Terah; after which he lived 119 (69) years; in all 148. But of all these persons, it must be remarked, that they had several other children of both sexes, though not recorded in this history. Terah, when 70 (130), had three sons, one af ter another, Abram, Nahor, and Haran; whereof Haran, the eldest, died, before his father, in his native country of Ur, leaving behind him one son, whose name was Lot, and two daughters, Heidegger's Hist. Patriar, vol. 1. Essay 22. Sect. 2. 3 a All the dates within () are taken from Dr Hales's Analysis A. M. 1997. A. C. 2007; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3318. A. C. 2093. GEN. CH. x.; AND CH. xi. VER. 10. TO THE END. whereof the elder, namely, Milcah, was married to her uncle Nahor, and the younger, a whose name was Sarai, was married to her uncle Abram; but at this time she was barren, and had no children. 1 The corruption of mankind was now become general, and idolatry and polytheism began to spread like a contagion; the people of Ur in particular, as is supposed by the signification of the name, worshipped the element of fire, which was always thought a proper symbol of the sun, that universal god of the east. Terah, the father of Abram, 2 was certainly a companion (some say a priest) of those who adored such strange gods; nor was Abram himself (as it is generally imagined) uninfected. But God being minded to select this family out of the rest of mankind, and in them to establish his church, ordered Terah to leave the place of his habitation, which was then corrupted in this manner; which accordingly he did, and taking with him his son Abram and his wife, | together with his grandson Lot, left Ur, with an intent to go into Canaan, but in his journey fell sick at Haran (which Stephen calls Charran) a city of Mesopotamia, where being forced to make his abode for some time, d in the 145th (205th) year of his age he died. 'See Calmet's Dictionary on the word Ur. a It is very probable that Sarai was called Iscah, before she left Ur; because, in the 29th verse, we read that Haran had a daughter of that name; and yet we cannot suppose but that, had she been a distinct person, Moses would have given us an account of her descent, because it so much concerned his nation to know from whom they came both by the father and mother's side.— Patrick's Commentary. The city of Ur was in Chaldea, as the Scripture assures us in more places than one; but still its true situation is not so well known. For some think it to be the same as Camarina in Babylonia; others confound it with Orcha, or Orche in Chaldea; while others again take it for Ura or Sura, upon the banks of the river Euphrates. Bochart and Grotius maintain that it is Ura, in the eastern part of Mesopotamia, which was sometimes (as it appears from Acts vii. 2, 4.) included under the name Chaldea; and this situation seems the more probable, not only because it agrees with the words of St Stephen in the above-cited place, but with the writings of Ammianus Marcellinus likewise, who himself travelled this country, and mentions a city of this name, in the place where Bochart supposes it, about two days' journey from Nisibis.-Wells' Geography, vol. 1. e Haran, which is likewise called Charan, according to the Hebrew, and Charran, according to the Greek pronunciation, was a city situated in the west or north-west part of Mesopotamia, on a river of the same name, which very probably runs into the river Chaboras, as that does into the Euphrates. It is taken notice of by Latin writers, on account of the great overthrow which the Parthians gave the Roman army under the command of Crassus, and, as some think, had its name given by Terah, in memory of Haran, his deceased son. But others think it is much better derived from the word Hharar, which denotes its soil to be hot and adust, as it appears to be from a passage out of Plutarch, in the life of Crassus, and several other ancient testimonies.-See Calmet's Dictionary, Wells' Geography, and Le Clerc's Commentary in locum. d St Stephen (in Acts vii. 4.) tells us, that after the death of his father, Abraham removed from Haran, or, as he calls it Charran, to the land of Canaan. In Gen. xii. 4. we are told that Abraham was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Charran.' In Gen. xi. 26, it is said that Terah was 'seventy years old when he begat Abraham;' and yet, in verse 32. of the same chapter, it is affirmed, that he died, being two hundred and five years old.' But at this rate Terah must have lived 60 years after Abraham's going from Haran: for 75 (the number of Abraham's years when he left Haran) being added to 70, the number of Terah's years when he begat Abraham, make 145 CHAP. II.-Difficulties Obviated, and Objections Answered. Ir may seem not a little strange to some, perhaps, why Moses, in his account of the times, both preceding and subsequent to the flood, should be so particular in setting down the genealogies of the patriarchs; but he who considers that this was the common method of recording history in those days, will soon perceive that he had reason sufficient for what he did, namely, to give content and satisfaction to the age wherein he wrote. We indeed, according to the present taste, think these genealogies but heavy reading; nor are we at all concerned who begat whom, in a period that stands at so distant a prospect; but the people, for whom Moses wrote, had the things either before their eyes, or recent in their memories. They saw a great variety of nations around them, different in their manners and customs, as well as their denominations. The names whereby they were then called, were not to them so antique and obsolete as they are to us. They knew their meaning, and were acquainted with their derivation. And therefore it was no small pleasure to them to observe, as they read along, the gradual increase of mankind; how the stem of Noah spread itself into branches almost innumerable, and how, from such and such a progenitor, such and such a nation, whose history and adventures they were no strangers to, did arise. Nor can it be less than some satisfaction to us, even at this mighty distance, to perceive, that, after so many ages, the change of languages, and the alteration of names, brought in by variety of conquests, we are still able to trace the footsteps of the names recorded by Moses; by the help of these can discover those ancient nations which descended from them, and with a little care and application, the particular regions which they once inhabited; whereof the best heathen geographers, without the assistance of these sacred records, were never in a capacity so much as to give us a tolerable guess. But there is a farther reason for our historian's writing in this manner. God had promised to Adam, and, in him, to all his posterity, a restoration in the person of the Messiah. This promise was renewed 3 to Noah, and afterwards confirmed to Abraham, the great founder of * See Bishop Sherlock's Use and Intent of Prophecy. years only; whereas the account in Genesis is, that he lived 205. This therefore must certainly proceed from a fault crept into the text of Moses; because of the 205 years which are given to Terah, when he died at Haran, he only lived 145, according to the Samaritan version, and the Samaritan chronicle, which, without doubt, do agree with the Hebrew copy, from which they were translated.-An Essay for a New Translation. But, as Dr Hales justly remarks, the chronology of this period has been considerably embarrassed by the vulgar error that Abraham was the eldest of Terah's sons, because he is first named. The consequence of this has been, that the date of his birth is usually assigned to the seventieth year of Terah, because it is said that Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. "But this is the date of the birth of Haran, who was undoubtedly the eldest son; because his daughters, Milcah and Iscah (the latter surnamed Sarai and Sarah) were married to their uncles, Nahor and Abram respectively; and Sarah was only ten years younger than her husband, Gen. xvii. 17.; Abram was probably the youngest son, born by a second wife, Gen. xx. 12, when Terah was 130 years old, Gen. xi. 32; xii. 4.”—Analysis, &c. vol. 2. p. 107, second edition.-ED. A. M. 1997. A. C. 2007; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 3318. A. C. 2093. GEN CH. x. AND CH. xi. VER. 10. TO THE END. the Jewish nation. Fit therefore it was, in this regard, that he should record exact genealogies, and that all other sacred historians should successively do the same: nor can we sufficiently admire the divine wisdom, in settling such a method, in the beginning of the world, by Moses, and carrying it on by the prophets, as might be of general use, as long as the world should last. For, as the expectation of the Messiah put the Jews upon keeping an exact account of all their genealogies; so, when Christ came into the world, it was evident, beyond dispute, that he was of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, and of the lineage of David, according to the promises, which had, from time to time, been recorded of him. It is well worth our observation, however, that, in the catalogue which Moses gives us of the descendants of Noah, he makes mention of no more than sixteen sons of the three brothers, or principal founders of so many original nations; nor of any more than seven of these sixteen, of whom it is recorded that they had any children; and even of these seven, there is one (we may observe) whose children are not numbered. 1 But it is not to be imagined, that in two or three hundred years, upon a moderate calculation, or even but in one hundred years, at the lowest account, Noah should have had no more than sixteen grandsons, and that, of these too, the majority should go childless to the grave; it is much more likely, or rather self-evident that the nine grandsons, of whom we find nothing in Scripture, were nevertheless fathers of nations, as well as any of the rest, and not only of original nations called after their names, but of lesser and subordinate tribes, called after their sons' names; and (what makes the amount to seem much less) there is reason to suppose, that how many soever the grandchildren of Noah were, we have, in this tenth chapter of Genesis, the names of those only who were patriarchs of great nations, and only of such nations as were in the days of Moses known to the Hebrews. For, if we read it attentively, we shall perceive, 2 that the design of the holy penman, is not to present us with an exact enumeration of all Noah's descendants, (which would have been infinite) no, nor to determine who were the leading men above all the rest; but only to give us a catalogue, or general account of the names of some certain persons, descended of each of Noah's children, who became famous in their generations; and so pass them by, as having not space enough in his history to pursue them more minutely. For we may observe, that the constant practice of our author (as it is indeed of all other good authors) is to cut things short that do not properly relate to his purpose; and when he is hastening to his main point, to mention cursorily such persons as were remarkable (though not the subject he is to handle) in the times whereof he treats. Thus, in the entrance of his history, his business was to attend to the line of Seth, and therefore, when he comes to mention the opposite family of Cain, he only reckons up eight of them, and these the rather because they were the real inventors of some particular arts, which the Egyptians vainly laid claim to. And, in like 'Bibliotheca Biblica, vol. 1., Occasional Annotations, 17. 2 Shuckford's Connection, b. 3. • Gen. iv. manner, when he comes to the life of Isaac, Jacob's was the next line wherein his history was to run, and therefore he contents himself with giving us a catalogue of some of Esau's race, but such of them only as were in after-ages the dukes of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possession,' as he expres ses it. Unless, therefore, we would desire it in an author, that he should be luxuriant and run wild, we cannot, with any colour of reason, blame the divine historian for stopping short upon proper occasions; for had he pursued all the families descended from Noah into their several plantations, and there given us the history of all their various adventures, the world, we may almost say, would not have contained the books which he must have written. What grounds there may be for the supposition I cannot tell; but to me there seems to be no reason why we should be obliged to maintain, that all the parts of the habitable world were peopled at once, immediately after the confusion of languages. The historian, indeed, speaking of the persons he had just enumerated, gives us to know, that by these were the nations divided after the flood;' but how long after the flood he does not intimate: so that there is no occasion to understand the words, as though he meant, that, either by these only, or by these immediately, or by these all at once, was the earth replenished; but only, that among others (unmentioned because not so well known to the Jews) there were so many persons of figure descended from the sons of Noah, who, some at one time, and some at another, became heads of nations, and had, by their descendants, countries called after their names; so that by them the nations were divided, that is, people were broken into different nations on the earth, not all at once, or immediately upon the confusion, but at several times, as their families increased and separated after the flood. For, considering that the number of mankind was then comparatively small, and the distance of countries, from the place of their dispersion, immensely wide; it is more reasonable to think that these several plantations were made at different times and by a gradual progression. Moses indeed informs us, that the earth was portioned out among the children of Noah after their tongues: supposing, then, that the number of languages was, according to the number of the heads of nations, sixteen, these sixteen companies issued out of Babel at separate times, and by separate routes, and so took possession of the next adjacent country whereunto they were to go. Here they had not settled long before the daily increase of the people made the bounds of their habitation too narrow; whereupon the succeeding generation, under the conduct of some other leader, leaving the place in possession of such as cared not to move, penetrated farther into the country, and there settling again, and again becoming too numerous, sent forth fresh colonies into the places they found unoccupied; till, by this way of progression on each side, from the centre to every point of the circumference, the whole world came in time to be inhabited in the manner that we now find it. If then the several parts of the globe were, by the sons of 4 Gen. xxxvi. 43. |