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74 ■
'Mav í not be allo^vecl to iní'er fiom this scries that, about
the time of Reu's biith, Heber, \vho had passed over, or whq
occupied the opposite side of the stream, had coUeéted his
friends and relatives in social union; or else, that the Hebrewg
had already betaken themselves to the peaceful occupation of
shepherds — that about the time when Serug was born, Nimrod
was extending his kingdom on both sides of the Euphratc:!:,
and building Erech and Accad and Calneh, the outposts of
his great city, and that, in consequence of thio, tlie Hebrews
now began to bej9t;/;f/f.rei/, weak, andaŷiictedí
This must have been the time for Arphaxad, the great
patriarch of the Hebrew family, to begin to exert himseli^ — to
form that resolution, make that declaration, and undertake
that enterprize which gave him the name of tlie Kestorer or
healer of the D'^DD.
This design he ma}• have carried into effetì, by forming α
confederacy with liis brethren, and attacking the subjetìs of
I\'imrod in open war. And it is pretty clear, from some
allusions to this event, in the old testament, as vvell as froni
the general language of mythology, that the confusion of
tongues was not the only means employed for the breaking
up of the rebellious kingdom. The Lord confounded their
language, and theij hfl ojf to build the cit^: and then, thti
Lord scattered them from thence.
In other passages of scripture, the Lord is said to have
scattered his enemies, when he discomfitted them before the
armies of his servants. The same external means seems to
have been employed upon this occasion, accompanied perhaps
with an awful confliòl of the elements. It was in war that
the Gods and sons of tiie Gods scattered the Giants, from tliQ
heap they were raising, or buried them under its ruins.

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