with Nimrod: first, the four cities of his Babylonian empire, of which Babel was the capital, and then the four

cities of his conquered Assyrian empire, of which Nineveh was the capital. Now all this tallies in the most

striking manner with what we read in ancient history, and with those Assyrian monuments which within our

own lifetime have by the labors of Layard and Loftus been exhumed from their burial of many centuries, to

give witness for the Bible. For, first, we now know that the great Asiatic empire of Babylon was of Cushite

origin. Nay, even the name Nimrod occurs in the list of Egyptian kings. Secondly, we are made aware that

Babel was the original seat of the empire; and, strangest of all, that the earliest Babylonian kings bore a title

which is supposed to mean "four races," in reference to "the quadruple groups of capitals"25 of Babylonia

and Assyria. Lastly, we know that, as stated in the Bible, "the Babylonian empire extended its sway

northwards" to Assyria, where Nineveh was founded, which in turn succeeded to the empire once held by

Babel. In all these respects, therefore, the latest historical investigations have most strikingly confirmed the

narrative of Scripture.

Of the magnificence of Babel, the capital of the empire of Nimrod, "the mighty hunter," it is difficult to

convey an adequate conception, without entering into details foreign to our purpose. But some idea of it

may be formed from its extent, which according to the lowest computation, covered no less than one

hundred square miles, or about five times the size of London; while the highest computation would make it

cover two hundred square miles, or ten times the extent of London!26 Such was the world -city, the first

"beginning" of which at least Nimrod had founded.

No wonder that the worldly pride of that age should have wished to make such a place the world -capital of a

world-empire, whose tower "may reach unto heaven!" The events connected with the discomf iture of their

plan took place in the days of Peleg, the grandson of Shem. (Genesis 10:25) As Peleg was born one hundred

years after the flood, and lived two hundred and thirty-nine years, there must have been already a

considerable population upon the earth.

If evidence were required that the flood had indeed destroyed sinners but not sin, it would be found in the

bearing and language of men in the days of Nimrod and Peleg. After leaving the ark, they had "journeyed

eastward" (ch. 11:2) till they reached the extensive well-watered plain of Shinar, where they settled. Being

still all "of one language and of one speech," they resolved to build themselves there "a city, and a tower

whose top may reach unto heaven," for the twofold purpose of making themselves "a name," and lest they

"be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." Such words read singularly like those which a

Nimrod would employ, and they breathe the spirit of "Babylon" in all ages. Assuredly their meaning is: "Let

us rebel!" - for not only would the Divine purpose of peopling the earth have thus been frustrated, but such

a world-empire would in the nature of it have been a defiance to God and to the kingdom of God, even as its

motive was pride and ambition. A German critic has seen in the words "let us make us a name" - in Hebrew,

sheen - a kind of counterfeit of the Shem in whom the promises of God centered, or, if one might so express

it, the setting up of an anti-Christ of worldly power. Something of this kind seems certainly indicated in what

God says of the attempt (ver. 6): "And this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them

which they have imagined to do." These words seem to imply that the building of Babel was only intended

as the commencement of a further course of rebellion. The gathering of all material forces into one common

center would have led to universal despotism and to universal idolatry, - in short, to the full development of

what as anti-Christ is reserved for the judgment of the last days. We read, that "Jehovah came down to see

the city and the tower," that is, using our human modes of expression, to take judicial cognizance of man's

undertaking. In allusion to the boastful language in which the builders of Babel and of its tower had in their

self-confidence stated their purpose: "Go to, let us make brick," etc. (ver. 3), Jehovah expressed His purpose

of defeating their folly, using the same words: "Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language."

And by this simple means, without any outward visible interference, did the Lord arrest the grandest attempt

of man's rebellion, and by confounding their language, "scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of

all the earth." "Therefore is the name of it called Babel, or confusion." What a commentary does this history

afford to the majestic declarations of the second Psalm!