As men multiplied they moved from the land of Ararat "eastward," or more strictly to the south-east, and settled in a plain. בּקעה does not denote a valley between mountain ranges, but a broad plain, πεδίον μέγα, as Herodotus calls the neighbourhood of Babylon. There they resolved to build an immense tower; and for this purpose they made bricks and burned them thoroughly (לשׂרפה "to burning" serves to intensify the verb like the inf. absol.), so that they became stone; whereas in the East ordinary buildings are constructed of bricks of clay, simply dried in the sun. For mortar they used asphalt, in which the neighbourhood of Babylon abounds. From this material, which may still be seen in the ruins of Babylon, they intended to build a city and a tower, whose top should be in heaven, i.e., reach to the sky, to make to themselves a name, that they might not be scattered over the whole earth. שׁם לו עשׂה denotes, here and everywhere else, to establish a name, or reputation, to set up a memorial (Isaiah 63:12, Isaiah 63:14; Jeremiah 32:20, etc.). The real motive therefore was the desire for renown, and the object was to establish a noted central point, which might serve to maintain their unity. The one was just as ungodly as the other. For, according to the divine purpose, men were to fill the earth, i.e., to spread over the whole earth, not indeed to separate, but to maintain their inward unity notwithstanding their dispersion. But the fact that they were afraid of dispersion is a proof that the inward spiritual bond of unity and fellowship, not only "the oneness of their God and their worship," but also the unity of brotherly love, was already broken by sin. Consequently the undertaking, dictated by pride, to preserve and consolidate by outward means the unity which was inwardly lost, could not be successful, but could only bring down the judgment of dispersion.

Genesis 11:4 Parallel Commentaries

whose.

Deuteronomy 1:28 Where shall we go up? our brothers have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we...

Deuteronomy 9:1 Hear, O Israel: You are to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than yourself...

Daniel 4:11,22 The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached to heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth...

and let.

2 Samuel 8:13 And David got him a name when he returned from smiting of the Syrians in the valley of salt, being eighteen thousand men.

Psalm 49:11-13 Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations...

Proverbs 10:7 The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.

Daniel 4:30 The king spoke, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power...

John 5:44 How can you believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that comes from God only?

lest.

Genesis 11:8,9 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there on the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city...

Psalm 92:9 For, see, your enemies, O LORD, for, see, your enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.

Luke 1:51 He has showed strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.