I glory in being of that same race and blood.

So Virgil, AEn. viii. ver. 142, says; Sic genus amborum scindit se SANGUINE ab uno.

Thus, from one stock, do both our stems divide. See many examples of this form in Kypke. The Athenians had a foolish notion that they were self-produced, and were the aboriginals of mankind.

Lucian ridicules this opinion, aqhnaioi fasi touv prwtouv anqrwpouv ek thv attikhv anafonai, kaqaper ta lacana. The Athenians say that the first men sprung up in Attica, like radishes. Luc. Philo-pseud. 3.

To dwell on all the face of the earth] God in his wisdom produced the whole human race from one man; and, having in his providence scattered them over the face of the earth, by showing them that they sprang from one common source, has precluded all those contentious wars and bloodshed which would necessarily have taken place among the nations of the world, as each in its folly might have arrogated to itself a higher and more excellent origin than another.

And hath determined the times before appointed] Instead of protetagmenouv kairouv, the times before appointed, ABDE, and more than forty others, with both the Syriac, all the Arabic, the Coptic, AEthiopic, MS. Slavonian, Vulgate, and Itala, read prostetagmenouv kairouv, the appointed times. The difference between the two words is this: protassein signifies to place before others; but prostassein is to command, decree, appoint. The prostetagmenoi kairoi, are the constituted or decreed times; that is, the times appointed by his providence, on which the several families should go to those countries where his wisdom designed they should dwell. See Gen. x. 5-32; and see Pearce and Rosenmuller.

And the bounds of their habitations] Every family being appointed to a particular place, that their posterity might possess it for the purposes for which infinite wisdom and goodness gave them their being, and the place of their abode. Every nation had its lot thus appointed by God, as truly as the Israelites had the land of Canaan. But the removal of the Jews from their own land shows that a people may forfeit their original inheritance, and thus the Canaanites have been supplanted by the Jews; the Jews by the Saracens; the Saracens by the Turks; the Greeks by the Romans; the Romans by the Goths and Vandals; and so of others. See the notes on Gen. xi. 1-32.

John Gill's Bible Commentary

And it is a certain truth that follows upon this, that no man has any reason to vaunt over another, and boast of his blood and family; and as little reason have any to have any dependence upon their being the children of believers, or to distinguish themselves from others, and reject them as the children of unbelievers, when all belong to one family, and are of one man�s blood, whether Adam or Noah: of whom are all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth ; for from Adam sprung a race of men, which multiplied on the face of the earth, and peopled the world before the flood; these being destroyed by the flood, and Noah and his family saved, his descendants were scattered all over the earth, and repeopled it: and this is the original of all the nations of men, and of all the inhabitants of the earth; and stands opposed to the fabulous accounts of the Heathens, which the apostle might have in his view, that men at first grew up out of the earth, or after the flood were formed of stones, which Deucalion and Prometheus threw over their heads; and particularly the Athenians boasted that they sprung out of the earth, which Diogenes ridiculed as common with mice and worms. But the apostle ascribes all to one blood: and hath determined the times before appointed ; how long the world he has made shall continue; and the several distinct periods, ages, and generations, in which such and such men should live, such and such nations should exist, and such monarchies should be in being, as the Assyrian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman, and how long they should subsist; as also the several seasons of the year, as seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night; and which are so bounded, and kept so distinct in their revolutions, as not to interfere with, and encroach upon each other; and likewise the several years, months, and days of every man�s life; (see Job 7:1 14:5) to which may be added, the times of the law and Gospel; the time of Christ�s birth and death; the time of the conversion of particular persons; and all their times of desertion, temptation, affliction, and comfort; the times of the church�s sufferings, both under Rome Pagan and Rome Papal; of the holy city being trodden under foot, of the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth, and of their being killed, and their bodies lying unburied, and of their resurrection and ascension to heaven, ( Revelation 2:10 12:6 11:2,3,9,11) ( Revelation 11:12) the time of antichrist�s reign and ruin, ( Revelation 13:5) and of Christ�s personal coming, and the day of judgment, ( 1 Timothy 6:15 Acts 17:31) and of his reign on earth for a thousand years, (Rev 20:4-6). All these are appointed times, and determined by the Creator and Governor of the world: and the bounds of their habitation ; where men shall dwell, and how long they shall continue there the age or distinct period of time, in which every man was, or is to come into the world, is fixed and determined by God; nor can, nor does anyone come into the world sooner or later than that time; and also the particular country, city, town, and spot of ground where he shall dwell; and the term of time how long he shall dwell there, and then remove to another place, or be removed by death. And to this agrees the Ethiopic version, which renders the whole thus, �and hath appointed his times, and his years, how long they shall dwell�; (see Deuteronomy 32:8) to which the apostle seems to refer.

Matthew Henry Commentary

Greek Textus Receptus