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A.C. 2234.

5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

6 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.

7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9 Therefore is the name of it called *Babel; " because a Wisd. x. 5. 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.

* That is, confusion.

b1 Chron. i. 5, &c.

+ Or, as some read it, Rodanim.

cl Chron. i. 8, &c.

t Gr. Babylon.

Or, he went

GENESIS X 2.

1 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.

b

2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.

3 And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.

4 And the sons of Javan; Elishab, and Tarshish, Kittim, and †Dodanim.

5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.

C

6 ¶ And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.

7 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.

8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.

9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was ‡ Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

11 Out of that land § went forth Asshur, and builded out into Assy- Nineveh, and || the city Rehoboth, and Calah,

ria.

|| Or, the

streets of the city.

12 And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.

2 The tenth chapter of Genesis is inserted here, because it relates the history of mankind according to their several languages. It must therefore refer to a period subsequent to that recorded in the beginning of the eleventh chapter, where mankind are represented as speaking but one language.

13 And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Leha- A.C. 2231,

bim, and Naphtuhim,

14 And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim,) and Caphtorim.

*

don.

15¶And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, Heb. Tzi16 And the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, 17 And the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,

18 And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.

19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar, unto †Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, +Hcb. Azzah. and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha,

20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.

21 Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born.

22 The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.

23 And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.

e

24 And Arphaxad begat § Salah; and Salah begat Eber. 25 And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan.

26 And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth and Jerah,

27 And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah,

28 And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,

29 And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan.

30 And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest, unto Sephar a mount of the east.

31 These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.

32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.

The Genealogy of Shem.

GENESIS XI. VER. 10-27.

10 ¶ These are the generations of Shem3: Shem was

* The sacred historian having related the manner in which the primæval religion was corrupted, proceeds immediately to give an account of the line of the Messiah.

17, Chr

d] Chron. i.

* Heb. Arpachshad.

Heb. Shelah.

el Chron. i.

19.

that is, di

2348.

f 1 Chr. i. 17.

A. C. 2348. an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after

2311.

2281.

2247.

el Chr. i. 19.
f Called,

Luke iii. 35,
Phalec.

2217.

2185.

the flood:

11 And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hurdred years, and begat sons and daughters.

12 And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah :

13 And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

14 And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber:

15 And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

16 And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat 'Peleg :

17 And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.

18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:

19 And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.

20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat

g Luke iii. 35, Serug:

Saruch.

2155.

21 And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.

22 And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor: 23 And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat h Luke iii. 34, Terah :

Thara.

i Josh. xxiv. 2. 1 Chron. i. 26.

2130.

a ch. ii. 3.

h

25 And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.

26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

CHAPTER II.

The Life of Job 4.

SECTION I.

JOB I. VER. 1—6.

The holiness, riches, and religious care of Job for his children.

a

1 THERE was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

♦ The trial of Job is placed before the life of Abraham, on the authority of Dr. Hales. Job himself, or one of his contemporaries, is generally supposed to have been the author of this book; which Moses obtained when in Midian; and, with some alterations, addressed to the Israelites. Dr. Hales' arguments are as follow:

2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three A. C. 2130. daughters.

1. The silence of this book respecting the Exodus, the passage of the Red Sea, the promulgation of the law, &c. &c. which took place in the vicinity of the country of Job, and which were so apposite in his debate on the ways of Providence, seems to prove that it was written prior to those events.

2. Its silence respecting the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, shews that it was written before that event.

3. The longevity of Job places him among the patriarchs which long preceded Abraham. He survived his trial 140 years; and is supposed to have attained to that age before his trial began.

4. The manners and customs are exclusively those of pure and ancient patriarchism. He was the priest in his own family; and the institution of an established priesthood does not appear to have taken place till the days of Abraham.

5. The very ancient custom of prostration, as a mark of respect, does not even appear to have been known in Arabia, in the time of Job. Job was one of "the greatest men of the east," yet we do not find this adoration paid to him. See the marks of respect shewn to Job, chap xxix.

6. The most ancient kind of idolatry seems to have been Zabianism, which, in the time of Job, was regarded with abhorrence, as a novelty deserving judicial punishment. (Job xxxi. 26.)

7. In the time of Job, the stars Chimah, and Chesil, or Taurus and Scorpio, (Job ix. 9,) were the cardinal constellations of spring and autumn. Dr. Hales calculates, in the usual manner, from their present position, the probable period of Job's trial.

Such are the arguments of the venerable Dr. Hales, which have induced me to place the history of the life of Job, before that of Abraham. They do not, however, appear to fix his exact era; for the mere circumstance, that Job mentions certain stars, does not prove them to have been the cardinal constellations in his day. With Dr. Hales, therefore, I have placed the life of Job before that of Abraham, but have supposed him to have lived about the year 2130 B.C. The postdiluvian patriarchs, who lived the same number of years, were contemporary with each other. Job is said to have lived 280 years; and it is supposed that his life was prolonged on account of his piety and sufferings. If we allow fifty years for this unusual term, his age will be found to be of the same length as that of Serug, the great-grandfather of Abraham, who flourished about this time.

But my chief reason for assigning to the life of Job its present date, is derived from a consideration of the manner in which God has condescended to deal with mankind.

Idolatry, as we read in the preceding chapter of this Period, had occasioned the dispersion from Babel. It was gradually encroaching still further on every family, which had not yet lost the knowledge of the true God. Whoever has studied the conduct of Providence, will have observed, that God has never left himself without witnesses in the world, to the truth of his religion. To the old world, Noah was a preacher and a witness; to the latter times of patriarchism, Abraham and his descendants; to the ages of the Levitical law, Moses, David, and

A. C. 2130.

*Or, cattle.

dry.

3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and Or, husban five hundred she asses, and a very great thoushold; so Heb. sons of that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east. 4 And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.

the east.

b Gen. viii. 20. ch. xlii. 8.

b

5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all for Job said, It may be that el Kings xxi. my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. ite all the Thus did Job § continually.

10, 13.

days.

SECTION II.

First Trial of Job.

JOB I. VER. 6. TO THE END.

6¶ Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and *Satan came Hob in the also among them.

*Heb. the adversary

midst of them.

7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? d1 Pet. v. 8. Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down

+ Heb. Hast thou set thy heart on.

in it.

8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou consi

the Prophets; and to the first ages of Christianity, the apostles and the martyrs were severally witnesses of the truth of God. But we have no account whatever, unless Job be the man, that any faithful confessor of the one true God, arose between the dispersion from Babel, and the call of Abraham. If it be said, that the family of Shem was the visible church of that age, it may be answered, that it is doubtful whether even this family were not idolaters; for Joshua tells the Israelites, (Jos. xxiv. 2.) that the ancestors of Abraham were 'worshippers of images.

Job therefore, in this age of error, may be considered as the faithful witness, in his day, to the hope of the Messiah: he professed the true religion, and his belief in the following important truths; the creation of the world by one Supreme Being; the government of that world by the Providence of God; the corruption of man, by nature; the necessity of sacrifices to propitiate the Deity; and the certainty of a future resurrection. These were the doctrines of the patriarchal age, as well as of the Jewish and Christian covenants. They are the fundamental truths of that one system of religion, which is alone acceptable to God, by whatever name it may be distinguished in the several ages of the world.-Vide Hales' Analysis, vol. ii. p. 53, &c.; Abp. Magee on the Book of Job; Disc. on the Atonement, vol. ii.; Bishop Patrick on Job.

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