Kommentar zu Bereschit 10:25

נפלגה [THE EARTH] WAS DIVIDED — The languages became confounded and they (the peoples) were scattered abroad from the plain of Shinar, and were dispersed throughout the whole world. We may learn from this that Eber was a prophet, for he gave his son the name פלג, “division” after an event which was to happen in the future (Genesis Rabbah 37:7). For we learn in Seder Olam that it was during the last of his days that they were dispersed abroad. For if you argue that this happened early in his life (and that therefore he was not anticipating the future in so naming his son, but that the name referred to an event that had already happened), behold, his brother Joktan was younger than he and he had begotten many families previous to the dispersion, as it is said (10:26) “And Joktan begot etc.” and only afterwards is it stated “And the whole earth was etc.” (with reference to the dispersion). If, on the other hand, you argue that the dispersal happened in the middle period of his life, then I reply that the verse surely does not intend to refer to the time when the dispersion took place in an indefinite manner, but to state quite definitely when it was. Hence you may learn that it was in the year of Peleg’s death that they were dispersed.

For in his days the earth was dispersed. Eiver named his son in anticipation of the dispersion (palaga) so that later generations would realize why their life expectancy was drastically reduced from Peleg’s time onward. It was in fact a consequence of the dispersion, since rapid changes of climate have a deleterious affect on human health.

ולעבר יולד שני בנים, here too the Torah wrote the singular mode yulad, was born, instead of “were born,” as it referred to the general subject of providing progeny, just as in verse 21. We find a parallel construction with Joseph, in Genesis 41,50 וליוסף יולד שני בנים. This does not mean that the people mentioned did not have more than the two sons mentioned, seeing that the Torah specifically mentions (11,15) ויולד בנים ובנות, “he fathered sons and daughters.” The names of the two sons whose births were mentioned here must be understood as being linked to some important experience in the life of their father, who commemorated the event by the way he named these sons.

Towards the end of Eiver’s life they became dispersed. If so, how did Eiver know [to name his son Peleg]? Perforce, he was a prophet.

פלג. “Peleg.” Rabbi Joseph Kara explains the reason why this son of Ever was called peleg, “division, segment,” was because in his time when the Tower was built and destroyed, the language of mankind, which as the Torah had reported (Genesis 11,1) was uniform and the basis of their unity, was interfered with by G–d, so that eventually there were 70 nations each with a language all their own. At the same time generation after generation man’s lifespan also became drastically shortened. At the time when Peleg was born it had shrunk to about 300 years.

פלג, כי בימיו נפלגה הארץ, “Peleg,” so called as during his lifetime the population of the earth was split up. According to Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel, B’reshit Rabbah 37,7, states that former generations who had been endowed with holy spirit were able to name their children in a manner that reflected important acts that they would perform in the future, whereas we who have not been enabled to “make use of holy spirit” and who did not know i.e. we did not witness the deeds which made our forefathers famous, (as the lifespan had been so drastically curtailed) must name our children after our ancestors in order to keep alive at least some knowledge of their importance during their lifetime. [This is how this editor understands the commentary by maharzu on this passage of the Midrash. Ed.]

יקטן JOKTAN — He was so called (“the little one”) because he was so humble and thought little (ומקטין) of himself; therefore he merited the privilege of rearing all these families (Genesis Rabbah 37:7).

שם האחד פלג, the Torah immediately supplies the reason for this strange-sounding name, i.e. hardly a good omen, by writing that the split in the unity of mankind when the languages were confused occurred during his lifetime.

Early in his life. And thus Eiver was not a prophet. Perhaps, the dispersion happened early on, and he named [his son Peleg] after a past event. [This is not so,] because “Yokton... had propagated many families before this.”

נפלגה הארץ, literally: “the earth was divided;” a reference to people’s lifespans having been halved. Careful analysis of the text will show that up until the birth of Peleg, people appear to have lived for 400 years, whereas starting with him they did not live to be much more than 200 year old.

ושם אחיו יקטן. In this instance the Torah does not reveal the reason why Ever called his second son Yokton. Our sages surmise that the reason may have been that starting with Yokton, the average lifespan of people became drastically reduced. (Torah Shleymah 59 on our verse) Whereas Ever himself still lived for 464 years, his son Peleg died at 239 years. Not only did he live only a little more than half the number of years his father had enjoyed on earth, but he died while his father was still alive. The names of Ever’s sons are reminders therefore of both the splitting up of a unified mankind into different languages, followed by differing cultures, and into the shorter lifespan which became the order of the day. Apparently, Ever had been aware of this already at the time his sons were born. Clearly, Yokton, even as a baby had been so much smaller than babies had been before his time, that his father had had a premonition that he would not be able to live that long. We had mentioned earlier that the generations that had lived such long lives had also been blessed with much bigger bodies than was the case during subsequent generations. (compare 5,4 and 6,4) According to the view expressed in Seder Olam, and quoted by Rashi, Ever had been a great prophet, equipped with holy spirit, so that he must have predicted all this long before Yokton had been born, seeing that according to the sequence in which matters are reported in our chapter the Tower was built several generations after Yokton had been born already.

And if you will claim that [the dispersion took place] in his mid-life. Meaning: Peleg had a different name before the dispersion, and when it occurred, Eiver renamed him. [To this Rashi counters:] “Scripture does not come to obfuscate, but to clarify. Hence, you may conclude that in the year of Peleg’s death they were dispersed.” This eliminates the possibility that Peleg had another name beforehand, and Eiver renamed him after the dispersion occurred. For it occurred at the end of Peleg’s life, and a deceased person is not renamed on account of an event that took place at the time of or shortly before his death. Surely, Eiver named him Peleg early in Eiver’s life, on account of a future event.

And thought little of himself. Rashi is answering the question: Why does Scripture change the style of its text when telling about the birth of Eiver’s sons? For it is written: “Two sons were born to Eiver.” This is unlike other births, where it says, for instance, “Arpachshad produced Shelach,” and, “Yaktan produced Almodad, Shelef...” Perforce Scripture changed the style of its text and writes, “Two sons were born to Eiver,” [because] he named them on account of an event. But the question is: Indeed, Scripture gave a reason for naming Peleg so. But why was Yaktan named so? It must be because he thought little of himself. Eiver saw all this prophetically. But the Re’m writes that Rashi specially explains Yaktan because it is derived from קטן [which is a Hebrew word].