11 The distinction between the sons of God and the sons of men, now appeared again, when men began to multiply. According to this distinction, we have in this chapter,

1. The dispersion of the sons of men at Babel, Gen 11:1-9.
   where we have
   1. Their presumptuous design, to build a city and a tower, Gen 11:1-4.
      
   2. The righteous judgment of God upon them in disappointing the design, by confounding their language, and so scattering them, Gen 11:5-9.
      
2. The pedigree of the sons of God down to Abraham, Gen 11:10-26.
   with a general account of his family, and remove out of his native country, Gen 11:27-32.
   

11:1 And the whole earth was of one language - Now while they all understood one another, they would be the more capable of helping one another, and the less inclinable to separate.

11:2 And they found a plain in the land of Shinar - A spacious plain, able to contain them all.

11:3 Go to, let us make brick, let us build us a city - The country being a plain, yielded neither stone nor morter, yet that did not discourage them, but they made brick to serve instead of stone, and slime, or pitch, instead of morter.

Some think they intended hereby to secure themselves against the waters ofanother flood, but if they had, they would have chosen to build upon a mountain rather than upon a plain. But two things it seems they aimed at in building.

1. To make them a name: they would do something to be talked of byposterity. But they could not gain this point; for we do not find in any history the name of so much as one of these Babel - builders.Philo Judeus saith they engraved every one his name upon a brick; yet neither did that serve their purpose.
2. They did it to prevent their dispersion; lest we be scatteredabroad upon the face of the earth - It was done (saith Josephus) in disobedience to that command, Gen 9:1, replenish the earth. God orders them to scatter. No, say they, we will live and die together. In order hereunto they engage themselves and one another in this vast undertaking. That they might unite in one glorious empire, they resolve to build this city and tower, to be the metropolis of their kingdom, and the center of their unity.

11:5 And the Lord came down to see the city - 'Tis an expression after the manner of men, he knew it as clearly as men know that which they come upon the place to view. And the tower which the children of men builded - Which speaks,

1. Their weakness and frailty, it was a foolish thing for the childrenof men, worms of the earth, to defy heaven.
2. Their sinfulness, they were the sons of Adam, so it is in theHebrew; nay, of that Adam, that sinful disobedient Adam, whose children are by nature children of disobedience.
3. Their distinction from the children of God, from whom those daringbuilders had separated themselves, and built this tower to support and perpetuate the separation.

11:6 And the Lord said, Behold the people is one, and they have all one language - And if they continue one, much of the earth will be left uninhabited, and these children of men, if thus incorporated, will swallow up the little remnant of God's children, therefore it is decreed they must not be one. And now nothing will be restrained from them - And this is a reason why they must be crossed, in their design.

11:7 Go to, let us go down and there confound their language - This was not spoken to the angels, as if God needed either their advice or their assistance, but God speaks it to himself, or the Father to the Son and Holy Ghost. That they may not understand one another's speech - Nor could they well join hands when their tongues were divided: so that this was a proper means, both to take them off from their building, for if they could not understand one another, they could not help one another; and to dispose them to scatter, for when they could not understand one another, they could not enjoy one another. Accordingly three things were done,

1. Their language was confounded. God, who when he made man taught him tospeak, now made those builders to forget their former language; and to speak a new one, which yet was the same to those of the same tribe or family, but not to others: those of one colony could converse together, but not with those of another. We all suffer hereby to this day: in all the inconveniences we sustain by the diversity of languages, and all the trouble we are at to learn the languages we have occasion for, we smart for the rebellion of our ancestors at Babel; nay, and those unhappy controversies, which are strifes of words, and arise from our misunderstanding of one another's languages, for ought I know, are owing to this confusion of tongues. The project of some to frame an universal character in order to an universal language, how desirable soever it may seem, yet I think is but a vain thing for it is to strive against a divine sentence, by which the languages of the nations will be divided while the world stands. We may here lament the loss of the universal use of the Hebrew tongue, which from henceforth was the vulgar language of the Hebrews only, and continued so till the captivity in Babylon, where, even among them, it was exchanged for the Syriac. As the confounding of tongues divided the children of men, and scattered them abroad, so the gift of tongues bestowed upon the Apostles, Act 2:4-11, contributed greatly to the gathering together of the children of God, which were scattered abroad, and the uniting of them in Christ, that with one mind and mouth they might glorify God, Rom 15:6. (The imagination of a late writer, that God did not confound theirtongues, but their religious worship, is grounded on criticisms concerning the meaning of the Hebrew word, which are absolutely false.Beside, would God confound their religious worship? Surely, He is a God of order, and not of confusion.
2. Their building was stopped, they left off to build the city - This wasthe effect of the confusion of their tongue's; for it not only disabled them from helping one another, but probably struck a damp upon their spirits, since they saw the hand of the Lord gone out against them.
3. The builders were scattered abroad from thence upon the face of thewhole earth - They departed in companies after their families and after their tongues, Gen 10:5, Gen 10:20, Gen 10:31, to the several countries and places allotted to them in the division that had been made, which they knew before, but would not go to take possession of, 'till now they were forced to it. Observe
   1. The very thing which they feared came upon them; that dispersion which they thought to evade.
   2. That it was God's work; the Lord scattered them; God's hand is to be acknowledged in all scattering providences; if the family be scattered, relations scattered, churches scattered, it is the Lord's doing.
   3. That they left behind them a perpetual memorandum of their reproach in the name given to the place; it was called Babel, confusion.
   4. The children of men were now finally scattered, and never will come all together again 'till the great day. when the Son of Man shall sit upon the throne of his glory, and all nations shall be gathered before him, Mat 25:31-32.

8 

8:34 And when he called the people - To hear a truth of the last importance, and one that equally concerned them all. Let him deny himself - His own will, in all things small and great, however pleasing, and that continually: And take up his cross - Embrace the will of God, however painful, daily, hourly,continually. Thus only can he follow me in holiness to glory.

8:35  Mat 16:25; Luk 9:24; Luk 17:33; Joh 12:25.

8:38 Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words - That is, avowing whatever I have said (particularly of self denial and the daily cross) both by word and action. Mat 10:32; Luk 9:26; Luk 12:8.

9 

9:1 Till they see the kingdom of God coming with power - So it began to do at the day of pentecost, when three thousand were converted to God at once.