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An Exposition on the By J O H N.B U N Y A N. First published in 1691, by Charles Doe. An unfinished commentary on the Bible, found among John Bunyan's papers after his death, in his own handwriting. |
CHAPTER X.
er. 1. "Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah,
Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood."
Having thus passed over the flood, with what Noah and his sons did after; we now
come to the second plantation of the world, to wit, by the three sons of Noah; for
by these three was the world replenished after the flood. Shem was the father of
the Jews; Ham the father of the Canaanites; and Japheth, the father of the Gentiles.
So then, of Shem came the then present visible church; of Ham the opposers and enemies
of it; but of Japheth came those that should be received into the church afterwards;
as also abundance of the haters of the Lord.
Ver. 2. "The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal,
and Meshech, and Tiras."
Gomer, a consumer; Magog, covering, or melting; Madai, measuring, or judging; Javan,
making sad; Tubal, born, brought, or worldly; Meshech, prolonging; Tiras, a destroyer;
these are the English of their names.
Gomer, and Magog, and Meshech, and Tubal, are the great persecutors of the church
in the latter days (Eze 38:2). They shall be persecuted then by consumers, melters,
and men of this world (Rev 20:8). Madai, and Javan, (as some say,) were the fathers
of the Medes and Greeks. These therefore did sometimes help, and not always hinder
the church.
Ver. 3, 4. "And the sons of Gomer; Askenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. And the
sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim."
Riphath, medicine, or release; Elishah, the Lamb of God; Dodanim, beloved. Either
these names were given them by way of prophecy; implying, that of their seed should
arise many Gentile churches; or to show us, that when men, as their fathers, have
left or lost the power of godliness, yet something of the notion they may yet retain
(Isa 60:9).
Ver. 5. "By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands, every
one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations."
But this must be understood to be after the building of, and confusion at Babel;
for before they had all but one tongue; and besides, they kept all together (11:1,2).
Ver. 6. "And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan."
Cush, black. Of Ham and Mizraim came the Ethiopians, or blackamoor (Psa 105:23):
The land of Ham was the country about Egypt; wherefore Israel was first afflicted
by them.
Ver. 7. "And the sons of Cush; Seba and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and
Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba and Dedan."
Seba and Sheba, sometimes look well upon the church; but when they did not, God gave
them for her ransom (Psa 72:10; Isa 43:3).
Ver. 8. "And Cush begat Nimrod: [or the rebellious one;] he began to be a mighty
one in the earth."
The begetting of Nimrod, is accounted a thing that is over and above, and is laid
by the Holy Ghost as a blot upon Cush for ever; for when men would vilify, they used
to say, Thou art the son of the rebellious, the son of a murderer. So again, He that
begetteth Solomon's fool, (or, wicked one) he begetteth him to his own shame (Prov
17:21).
"Cush begat Nimrod." So then, the curse came betimes upon the sons of Ham;
for he was the father of Cush. For the curse, as it were, begins in rebellion, and
a rebellious one was Nimrod, both by name and nature.
"He began to be a mighty one in the earth." I am apt to think he was the
first that in this new world sought after absolute monarchy.
"He began to be a mighty one in the earth," (or, among the children of
men). I suppose him to be a giant; not only in person, but in disposition; and so,
through the pride of his countenance, did scorn that others, or any, should be his
equal; nay, could not be content, till all made obeisance to him. He therefore would
needs be the author and master of what religion he pleased; and would also subject
the rest of his brethren thereto, by what ways his lusts thought best. Wherefore
here began a fresh persecution. THAT sin therefore which the other world was drowned
for was again revived by this cursed man, even to lord it over the sons of God, and
to enforce idolatry and superstition upon them; and hence he is called "the
mighty hunter."
Ver. 9. "He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, even
as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD."
He was a mighty hunter. That is, a persecutor: Wherefore Saul's persecuting of David
is compared to hunting (1 Sam 26:20): and so is the persecution of others (Lam 4:18).
They hunt every man his brother with a net (Micah 7:2): and it may well be compared
thereto; of the dog or lion that hunteth, is void of bowels and pity; and if they
can but satisfy their doggish and lionish nature, they care neither for innocence,
nor goodness, nor life of that they pursue (1 Sam 24:11). The life, the blood, the
extirpation of the contrary party, is the end of their course of hunting (Eze 13:18,22).[43]
"He was a mighty hunter." As it is said of Jabin, "He mightily oppressed
Israel twenty years"; that is, he did it exceedingly; he went beyond others;
he was more cruel and barbarous; he was a mighty hunter. Wherefore the children of
blessed Shem, by this monster, had sore affliction (Judg 4:2,3). Noah therefore lived
to see Nimrod, the mighty one, make havock of the children of his bowels, to his
no little grief and compunction of spirit.
"He was a mighty hunter before the LORD"; or, in the presence of the Lord;
or, in defiance to him. This shows, That the hand of God was stretched forth against
his work; as also it was against Jeroboam's, by that man of God that from Judah went
down to prophesy against him; but he abode obdurate and hard; he regarded not the
Lord, nor the operation of his hands (1 Kings 13:1-3). As he also saith in another
place of the cursed brood of Antichrist, "When they fall upon the sword, they
shall not be wounded" (Joel 2:8). Let them do things never so much against the
plain text, they feel not the wounds of conscience; but this is a sore judgment,
and that under which this hunter was; and therefore the presence and hand of God
would not break him off, nor hinder his hunting of souls. But even before the face
of the keeper of the godly, would Nimrod, the rebel, hunt for their precious life
to destroy it.
Wherefore it is said, even as Nimrod, the mighty hunter, before the Lord. These words,
as it seems, was the proverb that went of him among the godly in after generations;
for he had so left his marks in the sides of the church, that she could not quickly
forget him. Wherefore, when at any time there arose another that showed cruelty to
the ways of God, he was presently compared to Nimrod, that "hunted before the
Lord." Nimrod therefore was rebellious to a proverb: And as it is said of Ahab,
so might it be said of him, "There was none like" Nimrod, "which did
sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of, [or, before] the LORD" (1 Kings
21:25).[44]
Ver. 10. "And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad,
and Calneh, in the land of Shinar."
By these words, as I suppose, are those in the chapter that followeth expounded:
Where it says, "Let us build us a city, and a tower"; for this work was
chiefly the invention of Nimrod, who, with his wicked council, contrived this work;
and as one that had made himself head of the people, he enjoined them to set to the
work.
"And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel." Babel therefore was the first
great seat of oppressors after the flood; whose situation was in the land of Shinar,
in that land which is now called Babylon. By this we may also gather, by whom our
mystical Babel was builded; to wit, by those that rebelled (as Nimrod) from the simplicity
of the gospel of Christ; for the builders, especially the chief, have a semblance
one of another. It was even such as came of the seed of the godly, as these did of
blessed Noah; who, in time, apostatizing from the word, and desiring mastership over
their brethren; they, as lords, fomented their own conceptions, and then enjoined
the people to build. As Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the ancients, that stood
before his father Solomon; so these have forsaken the counsel of the old men, the
apostles that stood before Jesus Christ; and hearkening to the counsel of a younger
sort of wanters of their grace and wisdom, they imagine and build a Babel.[45]
Ver. 11, 12. "Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the
city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen, between Nineveh, and Calah: The same is a great
city."
Nimrod having began to exalt himself; others, that were big with desires of ostentation,
did soon follow his example, making themselves captains and heads of the people,
and built them strong holds for the supportation of their glory. But they did it,
as I said, by Nimrod's example; wherefore it is said they went "out of that
land." Just thus it was at the beginning of mystical Babel: First the tyranny
began at Babel itself, where the usurper was seen to sit in his glory, before whose
face the world did tremble. Now other inferior persons, inferior, I say, in power,
but not in pride, having desire to be lords, as Nimrod himself, they will also go
build them cities; by which means Nimrod's invention could not be kept at Rome, but
hath spread itself in many and mighty kingdoms.[46]
"Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh," &c. Asshur
seems to be the second son of Shem (v 22). A fit resemblance of those persons that
have come from mystical Babel, to build their Ninevehs, and Rehoboths, and Calnehs,
in all lands. Still they have pretended religion. That they had their orders from
the apostolical see. That they were the true sons of Shem, or disciples of Christ.
But the seeing Christian should remember, that some of the children of Shem were
in Babel with rebellious Nimrod. That instead of learning humility of their father,
through the pride and rebellion of their own vain-glorious fancies, they learned
wickedness and rebellion of cursed and prodigious Nimrod.
Hence note, that what cities, that is, churches soever have been builded by persons
that have come from Romish Babel, those builders and cities are to be suspected for
such as had their founder and foundation from Babel itself. Wherefore let Israel
say, "Asshur shall not save us" (Hosea 14:3), for he shall not save himself
(Num 24:24); but as the star of Jacob ariseth, he shall fade and perish for ever.
So perish all the builders and building that hath had its pattern from mystical Babel,
unless a miracle of grace prevents.
It was Asshur that carried away the ten tribes (Ezra 4:2); it is Asshur that joineth
with the enemies of the church (Psa 83:8); it is Asshur that with others upholds
the great mart of the nations (Eze 27:23). Wherefore Asshur and all his company,
must at last go down into their pit (Eze 32:22).
So then, let Augustine the monk, come from Rome into England, and let him build his
Nineveh here; let others go also into other countries, and build their Resens and
Calahs there; these are all but brats of Babel, and their end shall be, That they
perish for ever. John saw it, and the cities, that is, the churches of the nations,
or the national churches, fell; and great Babylon, their inventor and founder, "came
into remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness
of his wrath" (Rev 16:19).
Ver. 13, 14. "And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim,
and Pathrusim, and Casluhim, [out of whom came Philistim,] and Caphtorim."
Ludim, as I suppose, may be the same with Lubim that came up with the Egyptians and
Ethiopians against Israel (2 Chron 12:3; 16:8), of whose cruelty Nahum complains;
where he saith, They also helped Nineveh against the children of God (3:9). The rest
of them were of the same disposition, especially the Philistine that came of Casluhim;
for they, both in Saul and David's days, were implacable against the church and people
of God; they were a giantish people, and trusted in their strength, and seldom overcome
but when Israel went against them in the name of the Lord their God.
Ver. 15-18. "And Canaan begat Sidon his first born, and Heth, and the Jebusite,
and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,
and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: And afterward were the families
of the Canaanites spread abroad."
These are the children of Canaan, the son of Ham, the accursed of the Lord. These
did chiefly possess the land of Canaan before Israel went out of Egypt: they were
a mighty giantish people, yet Israel must fight with them, notwithstanding they were,
in comparison to these, but as the grasshopper.
Ver. 19. "And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to
Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim,
even unto Lasha."
They bordered therefore upon the Philistines on the one side (Gen 26:15,18,19); for
Gerar and Gaza belonged to them, and they touched upon Sodom and Gomorrah, &c.
on the other (Judg 16:1,21). They were placed therefore, by the judgment of God,
between these two wicked and sinful people, that they might, as a punishment for
their former sins, be infected with the sight and infection of their ungodly and
monstrous abominations. They that "turn aside unto their crooked ways, the LORD
shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity" (Psa 125:5).
Ver. 20. "These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues,
in their countries, and in their nations."
Ham had a mighty offspring; but the judgment of God was, That they should be wicked
men, idolaters, persecutors, sinners with a high hand; such as God was resolved to
number to the sword, both in this world, and that to come; I mean, for the generality
of them.
Ver. 21. "Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother
of Japheth the elder, even to him were children born."
The manner of style which the Holy Ghost here useth in his preamble to the genealogy
of Shem, is worthy to be taken notice of; as that he is called, "the father
of all the children of Eber," and "the brother of Japheth."
By his being called, "the father of all the children of Eber," we may suppose,
that from Eber to Abraham, (by whom the reckoning of the genealogy was cut off from
Eber, and entailed to the name of Abraham,) all the children of Eber were, as it
were, the disciples of Shem, for he lived awhile after Abraham. His doctrine therefore
they might profess, though possibly with some mixture of those inventions that came
in among men afterwards; which I think were at the greatest about Abraham's time.
Besides, he shews by this, that the other children of Shem, as Elam, Asshur, Lud
and Aram, with Uz, Hul, Gether and Mash, went away with Nimrod, and the rest of that
company, into idolatry, tyranny and other profaneness; so that only the line from
Shem to Eber, and from thence to Abraham, &c. were the visible church in those
days.
"The brother of Japheth." So he was of Ham, but because Ham was cut off
for his wickedness to his father, therefore both Shem and Japheth did hold him in
abomination, and would not own that relation that before was between them, especially
in things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and of Christ: Wherefore the Holy Ghost
also, in reckoning up the kindred of Shem, excludeth Ham the younger brother, and
stops after he had mentioned Japheth: "The brother of Japheth the elder."
"Unto him were children born," unto Shem also. Unto him were children born:
The Holy Ghost doth secretly here, as he did before in the generation of Seth, insinuate
a wonder. For considering the godliness of Shem, and the ungodliness of Ham, and
the multitude of his tyrannical brood, it is a wonder that there should such a thing
as the offspring of Shem be found upon the face of the earth. For I am apt to think
that Shem, with his posterity, did testify against the actions of Nimrod; as also
against the children of Ham, in their wickedness and rebellion against the way of
God; as may be hinted after. Wherefore he, with his seed, were in jeopardy, among
that tumultuous generation. Yet God preserved him and his seed upon the face of the
earth. For let the number and wickedness of men be never so great in the world, there
must be also a church, by whose actions the ways of the wicked must be condemned.
Ver. 22. "The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and
Aram."
These children were born unto Shem: The book of Chronicles mentions four more, as
Uz, and Hul, and Gether, Meshech, or Mash; but these were the natural sons of Aram,
Shem being only their father's father.
Elam and Asshur, as also Lud and Aram, notwithstanding they were the sons of Shem,
struck off, as I think, with Nimrod, and left their father, for the glory of Babel;
yea, they had a province there in the days of Daniel (8:2). Wherefore great judgments
are threatened against Elam; as, That Elam shall drink the cup of God's fury: That
their bow shall be broken: That God would bring upon him the four winds (Jer 49:36).
And, That there should be no nation whither the captives of Elam should not come:
Yet God would save them in the latter days (v 39).
As for Lud although through the wickedness of his heart he forsook his father Shem,
and so the true religion; yet a promise is made of his conversion, when God calls
home the children of Japheth, and persuadeth them to dwell in the tents of Shem.
"I will set a sign among them [saith God,] and I will send those that escape
of them, unto the nations to Tarshish, Pul and Lud, - to Tubal and Javan, to the
isles afar off, that have not heard my fame" (Isa 66:19). Yea, thus it shall
be, although they were once the soldiers of the adversaries of the church, and bare
the shield and helmet against her (Eze 27:10). Of Asshur I have spoken before. Aram
became also an heathen, and dwelt among the mountains of the east: Out of him came
Balaam the soothsayer that Balak sent for, to curse the children of Israel (Num 23:7).
In Arphaxad, though he was not the eldest, remained the line that went from Abraham
to David; and from him to Jesus Christ (Luke 3:36).
Ver. 23. "And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash."
Uz went also off from Shem, but yet good men came from his loins; for Job himself
was of that land (Job 1:1). Yet the wrath of God was threatened to go forth against
them, because they had a hand in the persecution of the children of Israel, &c.
(Jer 25:20; Lam 4:21).
Ver. 24, 25. "And Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber. 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."
This Eber was a very godly man, the next after Shem that vigorously stood up to maintain
religion. Two things are entailed upon him to his everlasting honour: First, The
children of God, even Abraham himself, was not ashamed to own himself one of this
man's disciples, or followers; and hence he is called Abraham the Hebrew, or Ebrew
(Gen 14:13). Joseph also will have it go there: I was stolen (said he) out of the
land of the Hebrews (Gen 40:15). Nay, the Lord God himself, to show how he honoured
this man's faith and life, doth style himself the God of his fathers, to wit, the
God of the Hebrews, the Lord God of the Hebrews (Exo 3:18; 7:16; 9:1,13). Secondly,
This was the man that kept that language with which Adam was created, and that in
which God spake to the fathers of old, from being corrupted and confounded by the
confusion of Babel; and therefore it is for ever called his, the Hebrew tongue (John
5:2; 19:13,20), the tongue in which Christ spake from heaven to and by Saul (Acts
21:40; 22:2; 26:14). This man therefore, was a stiff opposer of Nimrod; neither had
he a hand in the building of Babel; for all that had, had their language confounded
by that strange judgment of God.
"And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, [or Division,]
for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan." This
division, in mine opinion, was not only that division that was made by the confusion
of tongues, but a division also that was made among men by the blessed doctrine of
God, which most eminently rested in the bosom of Shem and Eber, neither of which
had their hands in the monstrous work.[47] Wherefore, as Eber
by abstaining kept entire the holy language; so Shem, to shew that he was clear from
this sin also, is by the Holy Ghost called, "The father of all the children
of Eber." Implying, that Eber and Shem did mightily labour to preserve a seed
from the tyranny and pollution of Nimrod and Babel; and by that means made a division
in the earth; unto whom because the rebels would not adhere, therefore did God the
Lord smite them with confusion of tongues, and scatter them abroad upon the face
of all the earth.
Ver. 26. "And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah."
Here again he hath left the holy line, which is from Eber to Abraham, and makes a
stop upon Joktan's genealogy, and so comes down to the building of Babel.
Ver. 27-30. "These therefore begat Joktan": He also begat "Hadoram,
and Uzal, and Diklah, and Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba; and Ophir, and Havilah, and
Johab: All these were the sons of Joktan.—And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou
goes, unto Sephar a mount of the east."
Ver. 31. "These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues,
in their lands, after their nations."
Moses, as I said, by this relation, respecteth, and handleth chiefly those, or them
persons, who were at first the planters of the world after the flood; leaving the
church, or a relation of that, and its seed, to be discoursed after the building
of Babel, unto the tenth verse of the next chapter. Hence methinks one might gather,
that these above mentioned, whose genealogies are handled at large, as the families
of Japheth, of Ham, and Joktan are, were both, in their persons and offsprings engaged
(some few only excepted, who might adhere to Noah, Shem, and Eber) in that foul work,
the building of Babel. Now that which inclineth me thus to think, it is because immediately
after their thus being reckoned by Moses, even before he taketh up the genealogy
of Shem, he bringeth in the building thereof; the which he not only mentioneth, but
also enlargeth upon; yea, and also telleth of the cause of the stopping of that work,
before he returneth to the church, and the line that went from Shem to Abraham.
Ver. 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."
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