GENESIS CHAPTER ELEVEN OVERVIEW
Overall what is happening in this chapter is the story of the Tower of Babel is built and the linage up to Abram.
Thomas Coke (1801) – Genesis 11
Men begin to build the city and tower of Babel:
God confounds their language: and disperses them over all the earth.
The posterity of Shem: Abram marries Sarai: Terah dies.
John Gill (1776) – Genesis 11
This chapter gives an account of the inhabitants of the earth before the confusion of tongues at Babel, of their speech and language, which was one and the same, and of the place where they dwelt, Genesis 11:1 and of their design to build a city and tower, to make them a name and keep them together, which they put in execution, Genesis 11:3 of the notice the Lord took of this affair, and of the method he took to put a stop to their designs, by confounding their speech, and dispersing them abroad upon the face of the earth, Genesis 11:5 then follows a genealogy of Shem's posterity down to Abraham, Genesis 11:10 and a particular relation is given of Terah, the father of Abraham, and his family, and of his going forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, in order to go into the land of Canaan, and of his death at Haran by the way, Genesis 11:27.
Matthew Henry (1714) – Genesis 11
The old distinction between the sons of God and the sons of men (professors and profane) survived the flood, and now appeared again, when men began to multiply: according to this distinction we have, in this chapter,
I. The dispersion of the sons of men at Babel (Genesis 11:1-9), where we have:
A. Their presumptuous provoking design, which was to build a city and a tower (Genesis 11:1-4).
B. The righteous judgment of God upon them in disappointing their design, by confounding their language, and so scattering them (Genesis 11:5-9).
II. The pedigree of the sons of God down to Abraham (v. 10-26), with a general account of his family, and removal out of his native country (Genesis 11:27, etc.).
KEY EVENT
Building the tower of Babel.
KEY VERSE
Genesis 11:4 They said, "Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."
KEY INSIGHT
Genesis 9:1 says: “And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” Yet here we find no dispersion of the human race but a gathering in order for man to make his name great.
The act of building a city with a tower was an act of clear rebellion against God.
KEY THOUGHTS
Even if you try to repopulate the world from the family of a “righteous” man – there is still sin present and man will continue to fall short of the glory of God.
KEY CROSS-REFERENCE
Psalm 49:12 “But man in his pomp will not endure; He is like the beasts that perish.”
KEY INTRODUCTION
We are introduced to Abraham and Sarah in this chapter.
KEY QUOTE
“What a difference there is between men’s building and God’s; when men build their Babel, brick (made of mud) and slime are their best materials; but, when God builds his Jerusalem, he lays even the foundations of it with sapphires, and all its borders with pleasant stones.” Matthew Henry
