Глава 11

Pandemonium of Babel Gen.11:1. The whole earth had one language and one dialect. Having given a general picture of the geographical settlement of primitive humanity, the writer of everyday life returns back to explain to us its reason. At first, he says, “on the whole earth,” that is, on the entire earth inhabited by people, otherwise, in all humanity, “there was one language,” or, as it stands in the Hebrew text, “one mouth,” as an organ of articulate speech and “one dialect,” i.e., the same matter and form of speech. The fact of the unity of human language constitutes the main problem of linguistics, which is carried out with a greater or lesser degree of success by all outstanding linguists: the affinity of languages ​​and the commonality of many roots in the two main branches of the human race - Semitic and Indo-Germanic - leave almost no doubt that these two main varieties once came from one common primary source. What this primitive language of all mankind was like, we can only judge by guesswork; but there is no doubt that the opinion of the ancient writers (Origen, blessed Jerome and Augustine, Diodorus, Eusebius, etc.) in favor of the primacy of one of the Semitic languages has on its side the advantage that in one Hebrew language the primitive names find their origin (Adam, Eve, Cain, Seth, etc.), that the names of many ancient peoples (Babylonians, Chaldeans, Cushites, etc.) are conveniently explained from it and that, finally, the oldest remains of human culture bear fairly clear traces of Cushitic-Semitic influence. Gen.11:2. Moving from the East, Since Noah’s ark stopped on the Ararat Mountains after the flood, Armenia was the first point of settlement for post-flood humanity. Although in relation to Palestine, where Moses wrote his narrative, Armenia lay in the northeast, the biblical authors do not have such a strict geography in the custom, but preferentially use only indications of the east and west. But on the other hand, this expression “from the east” has given some scientists reason to think that the “Ararat Mountains” does not mean Ararat of Armenia, but “Ariarat” - the highest mountain in the Indunusha (Hindu Kush?) ridge east of the Tigris - that Mount Nizir, on which, according to the Assyrian-Babylonian legend, the ship of Ut-Napistim stopped after the flood. In this case, the expression "moving from the east" would be literally true, because Mesopotamia or Shinar lies just to the west of Ariaratha. They found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. Coming out of their mountainous region, the descendants of Noah moved down the Tigris and Euphrates and stopped in the vast and fertile plain of Shinar, later the country of Babylon. Gen.11:3. And they said to each other: Let us make bricks and burn them with fire. And they used bricks instead of stones, and earthen resin instead of lime. A highly historical detail, fully justified by modern excavations, from which we see that the ancient Babylonians prepared artificial brick and were well acquainted with the use of earthen resin or modern asphalt. Gen.11:4. And they said, Let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose height reaches to heaven. The Bible gives us the very first news about the construction of the city in the story of Cain (Gen. 4:17), and then in the story of the Cushite Nimrod (Gen. 10:10). By attributing in both these cases the construction of cities to representatives of the wicked races of mankind, the Bible in this case also sees an evil intention in this fact. This intention was expressed even more clearly in the construction of a tower “high to heaven”; the last expression, of course, is hyperbolic and indicates only the extraordinary height of this tower (Deut. 1:28, 9:1). By erecting such a colossal tower, its builders wanted to erect a monument to their outstanding art and thereby immortalize themselves in the eyes of all posterity; Perhaps they also had power-hungry plans to create such a stronghold of dominion, from where it would be convenient to extend their power over the largest possible number of the population; Finally, the intention of the builders was probably to prevent the fulfillment of the divine prophecy about the general dispersion of the descendants of Noah (Gen. 9:25–27) by creating a center that would be visible to everyone and would again unite everyone around them. These are the direct and clear words of the Bible, leaving no doubt about the ambitious, power-hungry and generally ungodly intentions of the organizers of the Tower of Babel. In a similar sense, that is, in the sense of their indicated zeal for reputation, this phrase is used in other places in the Bible (2 Sam. 8:13; Isa. 63:12–14; Jer. 32:20). before we are scattered over the face of the whole earth. The initial words of the text: “before” in the Hebrew text are expressed by the conjunction ken, which fully allows for another translation of it, equivalent to the Greek μή and Russian “so as not”; in this latter form, it highlights the main idea of ​​the text about the criminality of the builders’ plans. Mixing of languages and settlement of peoples Gen.11:5. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, The Omniscient does not need a personally visible descent, since everything is revealed to Him, even the most secret thoughts of the human heart (Jer. 11:20, 17:10; Ps. 7:10; 1 Chron. 29:17), therefore, this expression is anthropomorphic, indicating the production of divine judgment over human enterprises (Gen. 18:21; Ps. 143:5). “The Lord descends to earth when, without leaving subsequent events to the will of people, He prepares to miraculously upset their plans. The Lord condescends to see the city and the tower, because their creation proved the deep corruption of the soul, and this expression indicates that the Lord paid special attention to sinners and decided to take measures to separate them” (Vlastov). which the sons of men built. “In a broad sense, this name belongs to all people, pious and wicked, and indicates their natural insignificance before the Almighty (sons of men, or Adam, means “sons of dust”); but here we are probably talking about members of the wicked Ham tribe, who were the main culprits of the enterprise and deceived members of the pious tribe into it” (Bishop Vissarion). This is confirmed by the biblical context, from which it is clear that in previous times the main builder of cities was the descendant of Ham, the Cushite Nimrod (Gen. 10:10–11). Gen.11:6. And the Lord said: Behold, there is one people, and they all have one language; and this is what they began to do, and they will not deviate from what they planned to do; “God,” says Saint John Chrysostom, “usually acts like this: when he intends to send punishment, he first shows the greatness of sins and, as it were, presents justification, and then punishes” (Gen. 3:11, 22–23, 6:5–7). So in this case, a single language - this greatest gift of divine love and the best means for developing in people the highest humane feelings of universal brotherhood and equality - was turned by people into evil, to promote the development of the violent and lower instincts of their nature. Seeing that humanity has firmly taken this disastrous path of wickedness and shows no intention of leaving it and repenting, the merciful Lord himself decided, through the extraordinary action of His omnipotence, to lead people away from it and thereby save them from complete moral destruction. Gen.11:7. Let us go down and confuse their language there, so that one does not understand the speech of the other. The words of this biblical passage, which, according to St. John Chrysostom, represent God’s appeal “to those who are equal to Himself,” that is, to the Persons of the Holy Trinity, testify to the special importance of the creative act that followed it. As an act of new creation, in content and form it is close here to the creation of the first people, which was preceded by a similar divine council (Gen. 1:26). The complete New Testament antithesis of this event is the miracle of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles in the form of tongues of fire, which restored to them the once lost ability of full mutual understanding (Acts 2:4–6). Gen.11:8. And the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth; and they stopped building the city [and the tower]. Actually, God only confused their languages, that is, forced them to speak different languages ​​and thereby destroyed the means of mutual exchange of thoughts. The dispersion of the builders was a natural consequence of the division of their interests: language serves as an external expression of thoughts and the entire spiritual content of people; hence, since the unity of language binds people and forces them to unite, the difference of language, on the contrary, separates them from each other and creates different and often even groups hostile to each other. “The confusion of language and the scattering of tribes automatically destroyed the ungodly cause, which had as its goal the political unification of tribes under the rule of one of them and, moreover, an ungodly one... This put barriers to the general outpouring of wickedness and depravity from one center... If there had been a world capital as the center of wickedness and debauchery, and if there had been one language everywhere, then the whole world would have become what the land of Canaan later became, its abominations exhausting the long-suffering of the Lord” (Bishop Vissarion). Gen.11:9. Therefore the name was given to it: Babylon, for there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord scattered them throughout all the earth. This verse is the conclusion to the entire story of the Babylonian Pandemonium. According to the meaning of this place, the miracle of confusion of languages ​​that took place here gave its name to the area itself, which received the name “Babylon”; I. Flavius ​​holds the same interpretation regarding this name. Apparently both the Bible and Josephus derive the word "Babylon" from the Hebrew verb "balal" which means "to mix." But the newest Orientalists decompose this name into its component parts - Bab-Bel, that is, “the courtyard or gate of Bel,” the ancient Babylonian deity. However, if it is possible to recognize some significance behind the latest production, then in any case it should be attributed to a later era, to the time when the veneration of the god Bel was established in Babylon, and the event of the Babylonian mixture had already been somewhat erased from the memory of the people. The significant fact of the Babylonian pandemonium and the subsequent dispersion of the peoples occurred in the era of Peleg, or Peleg, a representative of the fourth post-Flood generation, who lived approximately half of the 6th century after the Flood (Gen. 10:25, 11:16–17). In the history of the divine economy about the salvation of the human race, it forms a kind of era, ending one era - the era of the universal history of all mankind and beginning another - the history of one divinely chosen descendant of Shem, from whom, through Abraham and David, the promised Messiah himself was born. The historical authenticity of this event is confirmed by many concordant legends of antiquity and the results of modern scientific excavations in the East. Among the ancient traditions, the story of Abydenus, cited by Eusebius in his “Preparation for the Gospel,” deserves special attention, where, by the way, we read the following remarkable lines: “soon after the flood, people appeared on earth, proud of their strength and stature, despisers of the gods, who decided to build a tall tower in the place where Babylon is now, intending to rise through it to heaven itself. And so, when their construction was already approaching the sky, the gods sent strong winds that blew this tower apart. Its ruins still stand and are called Babel, because until that time all people spoke the same language, but now they were subjected to a confusion of many different languages.” Brief, but even closer to the Bible, fragments of this story were found in English. uch. Georg Smith and in the wedge-shaped texts that were part of the so-called “Chaldean genesis”. The same scientist, carrying out his famous excavations, discovered the ruins of this tower near the ruins of ancient Babylon. Judging by the descriptions of Herodotus and Pliny, this famous tower was repeatedly completed and rebuilt, having in the flourishing time of its history the significance of the main church or pantheon of Babylonian deities, namely the seven planetary deities, and each of these deities was dedicated to a special floor of the tower, painted in its own distinctive color. Gen. 11:10–11. Here is the genealogy of Shem: Shem was a hundred years old and begat Arphaxad, two years after the flood; After the birth of Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years and begat sons and daughters [and died]. This is the beginning of a new toldoth - a genealogy of Semites, which has a close and direct relationship to the line of God's chosen people. The genealogy of Shem covers as many as 17 verses (11–27 inclusive) and in its first half represents a repetition of what has already been said above (Gen. 10:22–25); but this repetition is far from literal: it omits a lot, namely, everything that is not directly related to the line of Terah and Abraham, and adds even more, namely, all the chronological dates, according to the scheme accepted in such genealogies. In its content and form, the genealogy of Shem is closely related to the similar genealogy of Seth (Gen. 5) and, as it were, constitutes its direct continuation. Therefore, everything that we have said about the meaning and meaning of that genealogy, about its persons and numbers, is quite applicable to this one: in it we must similarly see the skeleton of the ancient history of the Semites and pay attention not so much to the numbers, but to the analysis of the biblical names themselves and their general sequence. As for the digital data, in this genealogy, like the previous one, they do not inspire much confidence, since in all three main editions of the text they are indicated differently (the total duration of this period, determined by the years of birth of the patriarchs, will be 390 years according to the Hebrew text, 1040 - according to the Samaritan text, and 1270 - according to the LXX). This once again convinces us that the Bible does not have a strict and accurate chronology, and the existing one either suffered greatly from various reasons, or was introduced into it later; fortunately, all this - we repeat once again - does not relate to the essence of faith and does not have any special significance for us. Gen. 11:12–13. Arphaxad lived thirty-five[] years and begat [Cainan. After the birth of Cainan, Arphaxad lived three hundred and thirty years, begat sons and daughters, and died. Cainan lived one hundred and thirty years, and begat Salah. After the birth of Sala, Arphaxad [Kainan] lived four hundred and three [] years and begat sons and daughters [and died]. In these two verses, attention is drawn to the difference that exists between the two main texts - the Hebrew and the LXX in the calculation of the patriarchs: in the Hebrew original, Arphaxad is immediately followed by Salah, while in the LXX text Cainan is also placed between them. Referring to the fact that many of the ancient Greek codes, the text of the book. Chronicles and the genealogy of the Lord in the Evangelist Matthew (1 Chronicles 1:24, Matt. 1:1–17), as well as Josephus and Philo, do not make such an insertion; most commentators are inclined to see a later interpolation here and give preference to the Hebrew text. But we, relying on the authority of LXX and the Evangelist Luke (Luke 3:36), would rather agree to see a deliberate omission in the Hebrew Bible than an insertion in the Greek, and it is not difficult to explain the motives for such an omission, namely, the desire to achieve a ten-fold number of patriarchs, as more convenient for memorization. Gen. 11:14–26. Salah lived thirty [] years and begat Eber. After the birth of Eber, Salah lived four hundred and three [] years and begat sons and daughters [and died]. Eber lived thirty-four years and begat Peleg. After the birth of Peleg, Eber lived four hundred and thirty [] years and begat sons and daughters [and died]. Peleg lived thirty [] years and begat Raghav. After the birth of Raghav, Peleg lived two hundred and nine years and begat sons and daughters [and died]. Raghav lived thirty-two [] years and gave birth to Serukh. After the birth of Serukh, Raghav lived two hundred and seven years and begat sons and daughters [and died]. Seruch lived thirty [] years and begat Nahor. After the birth of Nahor, Serukh lived two hundred years and begat sons and daughters [and died]. Nahor lived twenty-nine [] years and begat Terah. After the birth of Terah, Nahor lived one hundred and nineteen years and begat sons and daughters [and died]. Terah lived seventy years and begat Abram, Nahor and Haran. The meaning of the names “Shem”, “Arphaxad”, “Cainan”, “Ever” and “Palek” is already known to us from the previous one: the first means “name”, the second means “neighbor of the Chaldeans”, the third means “acquisition”, the fourth means “stranger, migrant, wanderer”, the fifth means “separation, dispersion”. A number of other names in this genealogy are no less significant in their significance; so, the name, for example, “Sala,” according to a more likely explanation, indicates him as “an envoy, or an exile,” perhaps from the southern borders of the land of Arphaxad; “Raghav” means “friend” - perhaps he gave his name to the later famous “Ragas of Media”. The name “Serukh” means “fortress, strength” and therefore indicates the strength and importance of this tribe; the name "Nahor" means "fighter", probably courageously defending the interests of his clan from the onslaught of neighboring tribes. Finally, Terah’s name, according to Ewald, comes from the verb tarach, meaning “to turn, move out, leave,” and thus predicted his future fate - a native of Ur of the Chaldeans. Genealogy of Terah, father of Abraham Gen.11:27. Here is Terah's genealogy: From here begins a new biblical section - toldoth, or the genealogy of Terah, the father of Abram. The biblical historian, as the exegetes note, approaches the history of the father of believers, Abraham, with amazing gradualism: he narrows the circle of Semitic genealogies more and more and finally takes the very house and family into which Abram was born. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran gave birth to Lot. And here the writer of everyday life does not directly take Abram alone, but also points to his family situation, lists his brothers, not forgetting to mention his nephew, Lot. "Abram" - which means "father of exaltation" - is given first place here, not because he was older than the others, but apparently because of the special importance of his theocratic role. We already know the name of Abram’s second brother, Nahor, since it was given, obviously, in honor of his grandfather (Gen. 11:24); and the name of Terah’s third son, Haran, or Harran, in the Bible, in addition to personal, also has a local (topographic) meaning - in the latter sense, the term Harran denoted the northwestern part of Mesopotamia. Abram stands at the center of everything here as the ancestor of the chosen tribe, Nahor is introduced as the grandfather of Rebekah (Gen. 22:20–23), and Haran as the father of Lot. Gen.11:28. And Haran died under Terah his father, i.e., “before the face of his father,” as it stands in LXX (ἐνώπιον τοῦ πατρὸς ἀυτοῦ), in his presence. The biblical historian notes this fact, probably with the aim of showing that subsequently, in the land of the new settlement, Abram settled alone. in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans. This is a particularly important biblical detail, showing that Abraham's homeland was a distant country - the land of Ur of the Chaldeans. According to the most reliable assumption of such outstanding Orientalists as G. Smith and Rawlinson, the biblical Ur of the Chaldeans is none other than the city of Khur - the famous ancient capital of Chaldea, which lay near the modern town of Mugair, in the region of southern Babylonia. Such a close ethnographic connection of the ancestor of the Jewish people with ancient Chaldea, and through it with Babylonia and Assyria, is very important and provides the best explanation for the amazing agreement that is observed between the narratives of biblical primary history and the ancient traditions of Chaldea, or between the first chapters of the book. Genesis and data from the “Chaldean genesis”. It is obvious that all these are legends that came from one common primary source; but while the darkness of pagan Chaldea managed to obscure and disfigure much in these primitive legends, the pure light of revealed truth continued to be preserved in the line of God’s chosen people and thus reached Moses, who committed it to writing under the special guidance of the Spirit of God. Gen.11:29. Abram and Nahor took wives; Avram's wife's name: Sarah; Interested in every detail concerning the personality and family of Abram, the writer of everyday life also notes the fact of the marriage of Abram and his surviving brother, Nahor. “Sara” is the name of Abram’s own wife, according to a more accurate translation, meaning “mistress”; from chapter XX 12 tbsp. it is clear that she was a relative of Abram - or a half-sister (from different mothers), or even a niece, being Milkah's sister and the daughter of Abram's already deceased brother - Haran (Gen. 20:12). Gen.11:30. And Sarah was barren and childless. An important detail that prepares for the subsequent narrative (Gen. 16:1, 18:11–12). Terah's exit from Ur to Haran Gen.11:31. And Terah took his son Abram, and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram his son, and went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; but, having reached Harran, they stopped there. Moses here does not explain to us the motives for the relocation of Terah from his native land, but in another place (Gen. 15:6-7) he himself partly indicates, and other sacred writers directly say that this was done by him by virtue of a special divine command (Neh. 9:7; Acts 7:3-4), which obviously had as its goal the preservation of Terah’s house from contamination by general idolatry (Josh. 24:2–3). From the southern region of Ur of the Chaldeans, Terah with all the members of his family listed here moved north to the land of Canaan, that is, to the borders of Syria and Palestine; but on the way of their migration they made a more or less long stop in Harran, a region lying along the Belia River, on the direct route between Nisibia and the Gargams, often found in wedge-shaped texts and also known from the famous battle of Crassus with the Parthians. Gen.11:32. and Terah died in Haran. Even Terah himself, as touched by idolatry (Joshua 24:2), was not destined to see the promised land, but was destined to die on the way to it - in Harran. You might be interested in: