Genesis 10:25 Commentary and Bible Study

Now Jewish tradition has it – but for no good reason necessarily, but it is possible – that Eber did not cooperate in the building of the great tower of Babel. As a result – there is no note of this in the Bible – their language was left to them unchanged and from Eber you get Hebrew, and so the Jews used to claim that Hebrew was the original language from Adam. Well, there is no note of it anywhere in the Bible, but it is not unlikely that Eber refused to cooperate in the building of the tower of Babel, because he and his family represented the godly line, and the tower of Babel was an act of rebellion against God.‘Unto Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg.’ That is an interesting name because it means division – ‘For in his days was the earth divided.’ There is only one division of any great significance that the Bible speaks of – the division caused by God’s judgment on the tower of Babel. He confounded their language and scattered ‘them abroad upon the face of all the earth.’ So Peleg was evidently born at the time of Babel, and so he was named ‘the division’ by Eber. From this, according to the old chronology, we can roughly date the time of the confusion of tongues at least from the creation, if not backwards from now. Remember in chapter 9:1 there is this great command that the people should multiply and that they should replenish the earth. That meant that they should not all remain in one place. But this was an orderly thing. In Deuteronomy 32.7, Moses reminds them of their history – ‘Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee. When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the people of the children of Israel. For the Lord’s portion is his people.’ This actually does not refer to the land apportioned to Israel. This refers back long before then to all the nations, where they should go, where they should live. God determined the boundaries of each nation. You might get the impression from the history of the tower of Babel that when God confused their languages and they were dispersed, it was a haphazard thing. But no, this was a planned thing. They knew where they were to go. In Acts 17:26 this is the great statement of Paul: God ‘hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.’ That refers back to the history of Genesis.