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CAIN, signifies acquired, or obtained.

Eve re

garded this, her first-born son, as a precious gift obtained from God.

ABEL. This word implies simply breath. It is supposed to allude to the short life of Abel, and may have been given at his birth prophetically; or it may have been a name which became current after his death.

The land of NOD. The word Nod is the same as exile, or banishment. This land was so called because Cain was sent thither as a banished man and a wanderer.

EDEN.

This name is said to be derived from

one which signifies pleasure. We may, therefore, infer that it means the pleasant, or beautiful land; in other words, the Paradise.

Where was the garden of Eden situated?

This point is not determined. There are, however, strong reasons for placing it on some part of the rivers Tigris and Euphrates.

Who built the first city?

Cain, and called the city Enoch, after the name of his son. GEN. 4:17.

Who was the first pastoral chief, or head of a wander ing tribe?

Jabal. "He was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle." GEN. 4:20.

Who invented musical instruments?

Jubal.

"He was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ." GEN. 4:21.

Who first discovered the art of working metals, and formed them into tools for the service of man?

Tubal-cain. "An instructor of every artificer in brass and iron." GEN. 4:22.

Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-cain, were three sons of Lamech.

Who was Nimrod?

The Bible says that he founded a kingdom, and was "a mighty one on the earth; a mighty hunter before the Lord." This does not imply any thing criminal, but his name signifies a rebel, and it is supposed that he hunted men as well as wild beasts. He is generally reckoned the first king—the first chief who engaged in war, and a leader in building the Tower of Babel.

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THE TOWER OF BABEL.

When men grew bold and multiplied,

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Come, let us build a tower !" they cried,

"A temple which to heaven shall go;
A city, our renown to show.
Come on! We'll gather into one,
All nations underneath the sun."

So Nimrod's tower, on Shinar's plain,
Rose, step by step, the skies to gain;
High walls, and palaces of pride,
Grew daily on the river's side.

Nimrod, or Bel, they called their god,
And thought not of Jehovah's rod.

;

But He their rage and folly knew
Confusion in their midst he threw.
Apart their thoughts and language ran;
Confounded was the pride of man:

Divergent flowed the sundered throngs,

And sowed the world with babbling tongues.

What was the one language spoken before the confusion of tongues?

Hebrew, or Syriac, which were originally the same. It is thought that all the languages now existing in the world can be traced to this.

Where was the Tower of Babel situated?

On the plain by the river Euphrates, where the mighty city of Babylon was afterwards built. The lofty temple of Belus, the ruins of which are still to be seen, is supposed to have been erected by Nebuchadnezzar on the foundation of the tower of Babel.

What was there wrong in building a city and a tower? The wrong lay in the impious object of the builders. The tower may have been designed as a temple for the worship of the sun, or some false god, and the city was to be the great centre of this idolatrous worship.

Bib. Prim.

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Who was Terah?

A patriarch of the line of Shem, who dwelt in "Ur of the Chaldees."

Ur was a city of Mesopotamia, beyond the river Euphrates.

All the inhabitants of this land, and Terah, probably, among the rest, worshipped the sun, moon, and stars, or bowed down to idols which their own hands had made. Terah had three sons, Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran was the father of Lot.

ABRAM, OR ABRAHAM.

God chose Abraham to be his servant and friend. He commanded him to leave his native land, his home, and friends, and remove to an unknown country whither he would lead and guide him.

This is known as the "call of Abraham."

Abraham obeyed God: Terah his father went with him; and they took also Lot the son of Haran, Haran being dead, but they left Nahor and his family behind.

At a place called Haran, or Charran, as in Acts 7:2, they tarried several years, and there Terah died.

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