Gordon noted,
<< The Expositor's Bible Commentary is among the minority. Its position is
that since the Babel account interrupts the list of descendants of Shem
after the list of Joktan's descendants and then lists Peleg's descendants
after the Babel account, the people involved in the Babel account were
just one branch of Shem's descendants. >>
I see no logical connection between the fact that the account interrupts
Shem's genealogy and the conclusion that therefore the people of Gen 11:2
were just one branch of Shem's descendants.
Poole, the 17th century commentator, following Calvin, thought that because
the beginning of Nimrod's kingdom was Babel (Gen 10:10) that the people were
Ham's descendants; and he specifically denies that Shem's descendants were
involved.
But, even if the people of Gen 11:2 were just one branch of humanity, it
would not change the overall context of Gen 11:1 from being a statement about
all of humanity. Remove the chapter division, which is a late addition, and
you see the reference to the "earth" in a universal sense in the preceding
verse, 10:32. It is that context, the context of all humanity having been
destroyed by the Flood that sets up the meaning of "earth" in 11:1 as
referring to the incipient humanity that descended from Noah, all speaking
his language---whatever it was. There are a number of other reasons for
understanding Gen 11:1 as universal. I have delineated them in my paper on
the Tower of Babel, attached to this email. [If anyone reading this would
like a copy, just email me.]
<<Although the early church fathers apparently believed that the Flood was
global, it appears that some of them realized that there were some
problems associated with this view. Ambrose, for example, in considering
Genesis 8:1 observed that there is a lot of wind on the ocean, but sea
level is not dropping. Therefore he decided that the wind (or breath or
spirit in the Hebrew) referred to the Holy Spirit, a view that perhaps
noone holds today.>>
I cannot see the logical connection between the understanding of ruah as the
Holy Spirit instead of wind in Gen 8:1 and the extent of the Flood.
Best wishes,
Paul
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