there were seventy nations, with seventy sundry languages, R. Menachem, on Gen. 11.
Vers. 10. old] Hebr. sox, and so in the rest that [unspec 10] follow. See the notes on Gen. 5. 32. and compare this genealogy with that there. Ten Patriarchs are there reckned from Adam to Noe; and ten here, from Sem to Abraham: both of them proceeding with the linage of our Lord Christ, who came of all these fathers according to the flesh, Luke 3. There each fathers generation is set down in three verses, here but in two: and their death is not spo∣ken of. Howbeit the lives of men, are now short∣ned to the halfe.
Vers. 11. 500 yeere] By this we may gather, that [unspec 11] Sem lived till Isaak sonne of Abram was fifty yeres old, and saw ten generations after him before hee dyed. A singular blessing both to him and them.
Vers. 12. begat Salah] or, Shelach: and as the ho∣ly [unspec 12] Ghost counted the time of Arphaxads birth, two yeeres after the flood; vers. 10. so may wee gather it for all the rest: as Sala was borne 37 yeeres after the flood, and after the creation of the world, 1693 The Greek translation inserteth here, a man which never was, by the Hebrew verity, saying that Ar∣phaxad begat Kainan: and that Kainan lived 130 yeeres, and begat Sala. Also the time of each fathers procreation, is for the most part changed in the Greeke. This seemeth to be done purposely: that the true genealogy might not bee knowne to the heathen, for whom the Greeke Bible was first translated. And because in all Greeke Bibles Kai∣nan was set downe: the Evangelist also, (to beare with the worlds weaknesse, or for other causes seeming good to the Spirit of God, reckneth Kai∣nan betweene Arphaxad and Sala, in Luke 3. 36. But neither here, nor in 1 Chron. 1. nor in any Hebrew text, in his name recorded. See a like thing in Gen. 46. 20.
Vers. 14. begat Heber] after the flood, 67 yeeres, [unspec 14] in the yeere of the world 1723.
Vers. 16. begat Phaleg] or, Peleg: after the flood [unspec 16] 101 y. and of the world, 1757.
Vers. 17. 430 yeere] So Heber lived till Abraham [unspec 17] was dead, Gen. 25. 7. and was the longest liver of all that were borne after the flood; and they that came after him, lived not past halfe his dayes.
Vers. 18. begat Ragau] or Rehu: after the flood [unspec 18] 131 y. and of the world, 1787.
Vers. 20. begat Saruch] or Serug: after the flood [unspec 20] 163 y. and of the world, 1819.
Vers. 22. thirty yeere] at the same age, Phaleg and [unspec 22] Salah, are before noted to have begotten their sonnes. begat Nachor] after the flood 193. and of the world 1849.
Vers. 24. begat Tharah] or Terach: after the flood [unspec 24] 222 y. and of the world, 1878.
Vers. 26. begat Abram, Nachor, and Haran] that is, began to beget: and so begat one of these three (to [unspec 26] weet Haran) not all in the same yeere: The like was before in Noes begetting Sem, Cham, and Iapheth, Gen. 5. 32. where Sem for dignity was named first, as Abram is here; and Iapheth the el∣dest, last, as Haran is here. For Tharah the father, dyed 205 yeares old, vers. 32. then Abram depar∣ted from Charran, 75 yeere old, Gen. 12. 4. wher∣fore Abram was borne, not when Tharah was 70 but when he was 130 yeere old, which was after the flood. 352 yeere, and of the world 2008.
Vers. 28. land of his nativity] that is, his native [unspec 28] country: or, as the Greeke saith, wherein hee was borne. Vr of the Chaldees] that is, Vr in the land of the Chaldeans; which land Stephen calleth also Mesopotamia, Act. 7. 2. 4. for it lay betweene two rivers. And Chaldea is by humane writers also called Mesopotamia, Plin. hist. b. 6. c. 27. Vr sig∣nifieth Light and Fire: here the Chaldee para∣phrast taketh it to be the name of a Citie, but the Greeke translateth it a Country: and Stephen in Act. 7. 4. saith, the land of the Chaldeans. And the Chaldees being idolaters, in likelihood consecra∣ted and named this place unto and of the Fire, which they had seene to come downe from hea∣ven upon the Fathers sacrifices, (as is noted on Gen. 4. 4.) and whereof they were wont to light lamps for to keepe the fire, which thereupon they called Orimasda, lights of grace. So other heathens after used to honour fire, as Qu. Curtius, b. 4. saith of Darius, that he called upon the sacred and eternall Fire. Or it might be a place of sacrificing in Chal∣dea, as God had his Vr (that is, Fire) in Sion, and Fornace in Ierusalem, Esay 31. 9 So the Ierusalemy paraphrast calleth it here, the fiery fornace of the Chal∣dees. Chaldees] or Chaldeans: called in Hebrew Chasdim, and s tunred into l, maketh Chaldim: the holy Ghost in Greeke (whom wee follow) calleth it so, Chaldees, Act. 7. 4. And because they much used Astrology, therefore in time it was common for Astrologers to be called Chaldeans, as in Dan. 2. 2. 4. 5.
Vers. 29. Sarai] she was daughter of Abrams fa∣ther, [unspec 29] though not of his mother, Gen. 20. 12. her name was changed to Sarah, as Abram also was na∣med Abraham: see Gen. 17. 15. 5. daughter of Haran] by this also it appeareth, that Haran was eldest of the three brethren. And this Milcah (or Melcha, as the Greeke writeth her) was grand∣mother to Rebecca, Isaaks wife, Gen. 22. 20. 23. Ischa,] in Greeke Iescha; the Iewes thinke this was Sarai, and that she had two names: and was said to be daughter of Tharah, Gen. 20. 12. as being his grandchild.
Vers. 31. Tharah tooke Abraham,] It appeareth [unspec 31] by Ios. 24. 2. that these fathers were fallen to idola∣try, and served other gods in Chaldea or Mesopota∣mia: and there the God of glory appeared to Abram, and said, Come thou forth from thy land, and from thy kinred: and come into the land which I will shew thee, Act. 7. 2. 3. whereas therefore Tharah here tooke Abram, &c. it seemeth Abram acquainted his father with this oracle of God, and that Tharah re∣penting, consented also to goe out; and is for it made as principall in the journey. with them] that is, with Tharah and Abram, whom Moses by this word them, implyeth to be author under God of this removall towards Canaan, agreeable to Stephens narration, Act. 7. as is before noted. Wherefore also in Gen. 15. 7. and Neh. 9. 7. it is manifested that the calling was specially of Abram.