Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

DISCOURSE XVI.

THE GENERATIONS OF NOAH.

Gen. x.

WITHOUT this genealogy we should not have been able to as certain the fulfilment of Noah's prophecy: but after what has been said on that subject, I need not be particular here. The chapter contains the origin of the various nations of antiquity; and the more it is examined, and compared with universal history, the more credible it will appear. All the researches of the Asiatic Society into the ancient Hindoo records go to confirm it. But it does not comport with the object of these discourses to enter minutely into such subjects; I shall therefore pass over it with only a few remarks.

1. Concerning the posterity of Japheth, ver. 2—5. His family was the largest, and almost every one of his sons became the father of a nation. In them, we trace, among others, the names of Madia, the father of the Medes ;-of Javan, and his two sons, Kit. tim and Dodanim, the fathers of the Ionians or Greeks, and of the Romans. It was from Japheth that all the nations of Europe appear to have been peopled; who seem, at this early period, to have obtained the name of Gentiles; namely, peoples, or nations. (ver. 5.) This name was given in apostolic times to all who were not Jews; but in earlier ages it seems to have been chiefly, if not entirely, applied to the Europeans. Such at least is the meaning of the isles of the Gentiles, in which, by a synecdoche, those places which were the nearest to the situation of the sacred writer are put for all the countries beyond them. And the scriptures forseeing that Europe would from the first embrace the gospel, and for many ages be the

principal seat of its operations, the Messiah himself is introduced by Isaiah as addressing himself to its inhabitants: Listen, OH ISLES unto me ; aad hearken ye people from afar! Jehovah hath called me from the womb: and hath said unto me, It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob-I will also give thee for a light to the GENTILES, that thou shouldst be my salvation to the end of the earth. Here we see, not only the first peopling of our native country, but the kind remembrance of us in a way of mercy, and this, though far removed from the means of salvation. What a call is this to us who occupy what is denominated the end of the earth, to be thankful for the gospel, and to listen to the sweet accents of the Saviour's voice!

2. Concerning the posterity of Ham, ver. 6-20. In them, we trace, among others, the names of Cush, the father of the Ethiopians; of Mizraim, the father of the Egyptians; and of Canaan, the father of the Canaanites.

Particular notice is taken of Nimrod, the son of Cush, as the first who set up for empire. He might, for any thing I know, be fond of hunting beasts; but the connexion of his character with a kingdom, induces me to think that men were the principal objects of his pursuit, and that it is in reference to this that he is called a mighty hunter, a very proper name for what modern historians would have called a hero. Thus we see, from the beginning, that things which are highly esteemed among men are held in abomination with God. This perfectly accords with the language of the prophets, in which the great conquerors of the earth are described as so many wild beasts, pushing at one another, whose object is to seize and tear the prey.-Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord. This may denote his daring spirit, doing what he did in the face of heaven, or in defiance of the divine authority. Thus the inhabitants of Sodom are said to be wicked, and sinners before the Lord. Nimrod's fame was so great that his name became proverbial. In after times, any one who was a daring plunderer in defiance of heaven, was likened to him, just as the wicked kings of Israel were likened to Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. In short, he became the type, patern, or fa

ther of usurpers and martial plunderers. Till his time, government had been patriarchal; but his ambition led him to found a royal city, even that which was afterwards called Babel, or Babylon; and to add to it (for the ambition of conquerors has no bounds) Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Nor was this all. Either he drove Ashur, the son of Shem, from the land of Shinar, (who, taking up his residence in Assyria, built Nineveh, and other places ;) or else, as Ainsworth and the margin of our own bibles render it, He (Nimrod) went forth out of that land to Ashur, or Assyria, and builded Nineveh. This last is very probably the true meaning, as the sacred writer is not here describing what was done by the posterity of Shem, which he introduces afterwards, but by that of Ham; and it perfectly accords with Nimrod's character, to go hunting from land to land, for the purpose ofincreasing his dominion.

[ocr errors]

From Mizraim, the father of the Egyptians, descended also the Philistines. Their situation was near to that of the Canaanites; but not being of them, their country was not given to Israel. This accounts for their not attempting to take it, though in after times there were frequent wars between them.

:

Finally Moses was very particular with regard to the Canaanites, describing not only what nations they were, but what were their boundaries, that Israel might know and be content with what the Lord their God had given them. Under this head, we see much of what pertains to this world, but that is all. We may learn from it, that men may be under the divine curse, and yet be very successful for a time in schemes of aggrandizement. But if this be their all, woe unto them! There are instances, however, of individuals, even from among Ham's posterity, who obtained mercy. Of them were Rahab the harlot, Uriah the Hittite, Obededom, and Ittai, and his brethren the Gittites, and the Syrophenician woman who applied to Christ. The door of mercy is open to faith, without distinction of nations; nor was there ever a time in which the God of Israel refused even a Canaanite, who repented and embraced his word.

3. Concerning the posterity of Shem, ver. 21-32. The account of this patriarch is introduced in rather a singular manner;

[blocks in formation]

it is mentioned as an appendage to his name, a kind of title of honour that was to go along with it, that he was father of all the children of Eber, and brother of Japheth the elder. Shem had other sons as well as these, and another brother as well as Japheth; but no such special mention is made of them. When Moses would describe the line of the curse, he calls Ham the father of Canaan; and when the line of Promise, he calls Shem the father of all the children of Eber. And as Japheth had been the brother of Shem in an act of filial duty, his posterity shall be grafted in among them, and become fellow-heirs of the same promise; yet, as in divers other instances, the younger goes before the elder.

Among Shem's other descendants we find the names of Elam and Ashur, fathers of the Persians and Assyrians, two great Asiatic nations. But these, not being of the church of God, are but little noticed in the sacred history, except as they come in contact with it.

Eber is said to have had two sons, one of whom is called Peleg, division; because in his days the earth was divided. This event took place subsequently to the confusion of tongues, which is yet to be related. It seems to refer to an allotment of different countries to different families, as Canaan was divided among the Israelites by Joshua. This division of the earth is elsewhere ascribed to the Most High.* Probably it was by lot, which was of his disposing; or if by the fathers of the different families, all was subject to the direction of His providence who fixes and bounds our habitation. It is intimated in the same passage, that at the time of this division, God marked out the holy land as Israel's lot; so that the Canaanites were to possess it only during his minority, and that by sufferance. It was rather lent than given to them, from the first.

*Deut. xxxii. 8.

DISCOURSE XVII.

THE CONFUSION OF TONGUES.

Gen. xi. 1-9.

IT has been before noticed, that this story is thrown farther on, on account of finishing the former. The event took place before the division of the earth in the time of Peleg; for every family is there repeatedly said to be divided after their tongues; which implies that at that time they spake various languages, and that this was one of the rules by which they were distinguished as nations.

Prior to the flood, and down to this period, the whole earth was of one language. We are not told what this was. Whether it was the same which continued in the family of Eber, or whether from this time it was lost, is a matter of small account to us. But it seemed good in the sight of God, from hence to divide mankind into different nations, and to this end to give them each a different tongue. The occasion of this great event will appear from the following story.

The posterity of Noah, beginning to increase, found it necessary to extend their habitations. A company of them, journeying from the east, pitched upon a certain plain in the land of Shinar, by the river Euphrates. Judging it to be an eligible spot, they consulted, and determined here to build a city. There was no stone, it seems, near at hand; but there was a kind of earth very suitable for bricks, and a bituminous substance which is said to ooze from certain springs in that plain, like tar or pitch, and this they used for cement. Of these materials were afterwards built the famous walls of Babylon.

« ElőzőTovább »