Gen. xi. 16. x. 25.PELEG, or Phaleg, Son of Eber, was born in the Year of the World 1757, before Christ 2243, before the Vulgar Æra 2247. The Scripture says his Father gave him the Name of Peleg, signifying Division, because in his Time the Earth began to be divided, whether it was that Noah had begun to distribute the Earth among his Descendants, some Years before the building of Babel1; or that Peleg came into the World the same Year that Babel was begun, and at the Division of Languages; or that Eber by a Spirit of Prophecy gave his Son the Name of Peleg some Years before the Tower of Babel was begun. That which here perplexes the Interpreters is, first that Peleg came into the World not above one hundred Years after the Deluge. But it should seem that the Number of Men was not then sufficient for such an Undertaking as that of Babel. Secondly, Joktan the Brother of Peleg had already thirteen Sons at the Time of the Dispersion, which happened after the Confusion of Babel. Peleg being born in the thirty-fourth Year of Eber, Gen. xi. 16. it is impossible his Brother Joktan should have such a Number of Children at the Birth of Peleg. It seems therefore that he was not born at the Time of the Dispersion. To this may be answered, that Moses has there enumerated the Names of the thirteen Sons of Joktan in Gen. x. 26. by Way of Anticipation, tho’ they were not born till a good while after the Confusion of Babel. But as they possessed a very large Country, it was convenient to take Notice of them, and to name them among the other Descendants of Noah, who divided the Provinces of the East among themselves. However this were, at the Age of thirty Years Peleg begat Reu2, and died at the Age of two Hundred and thirty nine.
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