פרשת נח תשכ"ח - דור הפלגה

מאלו נפרדו, after the debacle with the Tower, the descendants of Yaphet chose for themselves the various islands in the Aegean as their habitat, resulting in each tribe being separated from the other.

איש ללשונו, the people on each of those islands developed a different language or dialect. The word הגויים implies that although all these tribes were offspring of Yaphet, they were in fact as if separate nations. Seeing that the descendants of Noach listed comprise a total of 70, the concept of mankind comprising “seventy nations” not including the Jewish people, was born. [If, nowadays, in the United Nations, for instance, we have far more than 70 nations represented, this in no way contradicts the sages’ reference to “the 70 nations of the world.” Ed.]

ויהי מושבם ממשא, after the dispersal of mankind, these sons of Yokton chose for themselves the land extending eastward from the valley of the Euphrates and Tigris. Rav Saadyah gaon understands the meaning of the word Mesha as what is known nowadays as Mecca, the city to which the Muslims make their pilgrimage.

אלה..אחר המבול, what does the deluge have to do with this, seeing the people were not dispersed until after they built the Tower [approximately 300 years later. Ed.]? The meaning of this verse is that all these families of Noach’s children were born after the deluge, only to be scattered all over the globe, something which occurred after the building of the Tower.

And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech.

For then will I turn to the peoples A pure language, That they may all call upon the name of the LORD, To serve Him with one consent.

And they said: ‘Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, with its top in heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’

And they said: ‘Come, let us build us a city, and a tower, with its top in heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’

And the LORD said: ‘Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is what they begin to do; and now nothing will be withholden from them, which they purpose to do.

לא יבצר מהם וגו' לעשות This is a question (although the ה which introduces an interrogative sentence is absent): SHALL THEY NOT BE RESTRAINED FROM DOING WHAT THEY IMAGINE TO DO? The word יבצר means “restraining”, as the Targum understands it; a similar instance is, (Psalms 76:13) “He restrains (יבצור) the spirit of princes”.