lobatene in Armenia, the names of many cities in this country beginning with Chol. From Gether perhaps Gadara, the chief city of Perea might have its name. But fome critics fuppofe Gether to have fettled more to the North. Mafh, called Mefech i. Chron: i. 17, refided probably in Mefopotamia, about mount Mafius, from which flowed a river called Mafca.

24. Salah is thought to have been the father of the Sufiani, their chicf city, next to Sufa, being called Sela.

25. Peleg perhaps gave his name to the town on the Euphrates called Phalga,not far from the place where the river Chaboras runs into it. On this river was Charan, built by Haran the brother of Abraham. The great difperfion of the heads of families, which took place in the time of Peleg, was probably by divine direction.

Jocktan, or Jecktan, the Arabs confider as the proper founder of their nation. They call him Kahtan, and from him may have come the Catinatæ, à people in Arabia Felix mentioned by Ptolemy; and a city in the territory of Mecca ftill retains the name of Baifeth, Jecktan, or the feat of Jecktan.

26. Almodad may have given his name to a people called by Ptolemy Allumiatæ, in the middle of Arabia Felix. Sheleph may have been the father of the Salapeni in the neck of Arabia, not far from the fource of the river Botrus. Hazarmaveth, called by the Arabians Hadramuth, is thought to have fettled in that part of Arabia which abounded with fpices. From Jerah perhaps came a nation called Jerachæi, who lived near the Red fea.

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37. Ha

27. Hadoram feems to have fixed himself in the most remote corner of Arabia, towards the Eaft, where was a nation called Dirmati, and the extreme promontory of this country is by the Greeks called Corodamon, by a tranfpofition of the letters. Uzal is the name of a city in Yemen, in the fouth of Arabia Felix. Dicklah fignifies a palm, or a grove of palm trees, and therefore the Minei, a people in Arabia Felix which abounds with those trees, is conjectured to have been defcended from him.

28. Obal may have croffed the Red fea into Arabia Troglodytica, where we meet with the name of Sinus Abalytes, and a nation with a name fimilar to it. Abimael might be the father of the Mali, or the Malitæ, a people in Arabia Felix next to the Minæi above mentioned. From this Sheba defcended thofe Sabæans whofe metropolis was upon a mountain called by the antients Seba, between the Minai and the Catabanes In a later period it was changed to Maraiba.

29. Ophir, I am inclined to think with Mr. Bruce, was fettled in Africa to which he gave name, on the coaft of the Mozambique. The Havilah here menti. oned might give a name to a country called Chaulan, a part of Arabia Felix, near to the Sabians. Jobab was probably the founder of the Jobabites, mentioned by Ptolemny, near to the Sachalites.

30. Mefa, or Mufa, was a famous port of the Red fea in the West, and Sephar was the metropolis of a country at the foot of mount Climax, in the East of Arabia

Ch.

Ch. XI. 2. The Eaft in the fcriptures refpects Paleftine, and as the ark rested in Armenia, the difperfion must have been from that quarter. Befides Ararat is a little to the Eaft of Shinar, to which they were approaching.!

4. Babylon was afterwards built of those materials, viz. of bricks, probably baked in the fun; bitumen with which that country abounds, being used instead of mor

tar.

9. The object of this building was evidently to prevent that separation which the Divine Being intended, and had perhaps exprefsly ordered. It was, therefore, an act of difobedience, but as far as appears, of idolatry, tho' this tower might afterwards ferve for this purpose. It seems to have been intended for a centre of union, and for this purpose the builders of it must have agreed upon fome form of government, and their diffention on this fubject has been thought to be the cause of their separation.

In Joshua, ix. 2, the fame word which is here ren dered one language, is by our tranflators supposed to fignify agreement. For there feveral nations are faid to have fought against the Ifraelites with one accord.

But as the confufion of their language is opposed to their fpeaking one language, which enabled them to form this confederacy, it muft, I think, mean their speaking different languages; and tho' this might have taken place in a courfe of time, from natural causes, the difperfion was too fudden for that to have been the ocfion of it.

On the whole, it appears probable that there was a divine interpofition, as it is fufficiently declared, in this bufinefs. And as men had before this time continued together, and of course had had much intercourse with one another, their mere feparation from any cause of difagreement could only have produced new words, but not a new grammar, or new structures of the language; and yet Mr. Jones has fhewn that there are traces of at least three radically different languages among men, the Arabic, the Hindoo, and the Tartarian. And if we take any of these, and confider the changes that have taken place in it in the courfe of feveral thousands of years, by people intirely feparated from each other, we fhall find it radically the fame, and no fuch differences in it, as between any two of the three above mentioned, As, therefore, speech was, I doubt not, originally of divine infpiration, this change produced in it was probably effected in the fame manner. But we may prefume it was not carried farther than was neceffary for that purpofe; fo that ftill there are in all languages many words in common, as we find to be the cafe.

Some fuppofe that it was only a part of mankind that were concerned in this building. But it evidently appears from the narration that the great majority at leaft were concerned in it. If a few of the more pious and better difpofed were not there, living at a great diftance, they might not be able to prevent what was refolved upon by the reft.

As it is probable that this Babel was that which was afterwards called Babylon, the high tower that Herodotus defcribes as exifting in his time in the centre of that

city might be this very antient ftructure, tho' perhaps improved. The pyramids of Egypt have lasted much longer than this; and tho' it was not built in a manner fo folid as thefe, it might, no doubt, have continued till long after the time of Herodotus, if it had not been purpofely demolished, for which there could hardly have been any fufficient reason.

10, In the Samaritan copy, and the version of the LXX, a hundred years are added to the lives of each of these patriarchs before they had their eldest fons, which adds much to the time that paffed between the deluge and that of Abraham; and this better accounts for the origin of idolatry in that period. For we can hardly fuppofe that fuch an enormity could have taken place while Shem, and the other fons of Noah were living, as must have been the cafe according to the Hebrew copy; tho' living at a great distance, and being in years, they might not have fo much influence, as we generally fuppose they must have had.

13. Between Arphaxad and Salah there is the LXX and the gospel of Luke, Cainan; and yet, as it is not in the Samaritan, it may have been an interpolation; tho' it is much easier to fuppofe that a person who copied this genealogy fhould omit a name rather than infert one; because for this we cannot imagine any good reafon, whereas mere inattention will naturally account for the other.

17. Some think the Hebrew nation had its name from this Heber. But as it does not appear that he was a perfon of any note, it is more probable that this appellation was given to Abraham and his family by the an