Genesis 10:12
Ver. 12. And Resen, between Nineveh and Calah,.... This was another city built by Ashur, situated between those two cities mentioned: the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it Talsar, or Thalassar, see Isa 37:12 The conjecture of Bochart {b} is more probable, that it is the Larissa of Xenophon, situated on the Tigris; though Junius thinks it is either Bassora, or Belcina, which Ptolemy {c} places on the Tigris, near Nineveh:the same is a great city: which Jarchi interprets of Nineveh, called a great city, and was indeed one, being sixty miles in circumference, Jon 1:2 but the construction of the words carries it to Resen, which might be the greatest city when first built; and, if understood of Larissa, was a great city, the walls of it being one hundred feet high, and the breadth twenty five, and the compass of it eight miles. Benjamin of Tudela says {d}, that in his time Resen was called Gehidagan, and was a great city, in which were 5000 Israelites; but according to Schmidt, this refers to all the cities in a coalition, Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and Resen, which all made that great city Nineveh; or were a Tetrapolis, as Tripoli was anciently three cities, built by the joint interest of the Aradians, Sidonians, and Tyrians, as Diodorus Siculus {e} relates.{b} Phaleg. l. 4. c. 23. {c} Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 5. c. 19.) {d} Itinerarium, p. 75. {e} Bibliothec. l. 16. p. 439. Genesis 10:13Ver. 13. And Mizraim begat Ludim,.... Mizraim was the second son of Ham, of whom See Gill on "Ge 10:6". Ludim he is said to beget, the word being plural, is not the name of a man, but of his posterity; and the sense is, that Mizraim begat the father of the Ludim, whose name very probably was Lud, which name is preserved in Isa 66:19. These Ludim are the same with the Lydians, Jer 46:9 and whose country is called Lydia, Eze 30:5 but to be distinguished from Lydia in Asia Minor, and the Lydians there who sprung from Lud, a son of Shem, Ge 10:22 for, as these sprung from Mizraim, the founder of Egypt, they must be somewhere thereabout; and Bochart {f} has proved, by various arguments, that they are the Ethiopians in Africa, now called Abyssines, whose country lies to the south of Egypt, a people formerly famous for archery, as Lud and the Lydians are said to be, Isa 66:19 and whoever reads the accounts Diodorus Siculus {g} gives of the Egyptians and Ethiopians, will easily discern a likeness between them, and that the one sprung from the other; both deifying their kings; showing a like carefulness about their funerals; both using hieroglyphics; having the like order of priests, who used shaving; and circumcision was common to them both, as Herodotus observes {h}:and Ananzim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim: the name of the father of the Anamim very probably was Anam, though we have no account of him elsewhere: according to Hillerus {i}, the Anamim were called so from the pastoral life they led; and, by a transposition of letters, were the same with the Maeonians, who inhabited that tract of land in Asia which was washed by the river Maeonia, or Maeander, and bordered on Lydia; but, as these were the descendants of Mizraim, they must be sought for somewhere about Egypt: much better therefore does Mr. Broughton {k} take them to be the Nubians and Numidians, which were near both Egypt and Ethiopia; though Bochart {l} seems to be most correct, in making them to be the Ammonians, who, Herodotus says, were a colony of the Egyptians and Ethiopians; these lived about Ammon and Nasamonitis, and in that part of Lybia in which the temple of Jupiter Ammon stood, and are the Nomades, that lived a pastoral life; and Bochart {m} thinks they are called Anamim, from Anam, which, in the Arabic language, signifies a "sheep", because they fed sheep, and lived upon them, and clothed themselves with their skins. The word Lehabim, the name of another people from Mizraim, signifies "flames"; and were so called, as Jarchi observes, because their faces were like flames, see Isa 13:8 burnt with the heat of the sun, living near the torrid zone; and therefore could not be the Lycians, as Hillerus {n} thinks, the inhabitants of a country in Asia, between Caria and Pamphylia, formerly called Lycia, now Aidimelli, which he observes abounds with places that have their names from fire and flames, as Mount Chimaera, the cities Hephaestium, Myra, Lemyra, Habessus, Telmessus, Balbura, and Sirbis; but these were too far from Egypt, near which it is more probable the Lehabim were, and seem to be the same with the Lubim, which came with Shishak out of Egypt to invade Judea, 2Ch 12:3 and who were called Lybians, Jer 46:9 and their country Lybia, Eze 30:5 of which Leo Africanus {a} says, that it is a desert, dry and sandy, having neither fountains nor springs; which was near Egypt as well as Ethiopia, with which it is joined in the above place, see Ac 2:10. The word Naphtuhim, the name of another people that sprung from Mizraim, according to Hillerus {o}, signifies "open"; and he thinks they are the Pamphylians, who used to admit promiscuously all into their ports and towns, which were open to all strangers, and even robbers, for the sake of commerce; but, as these were a people in lesser Asia, they cannot be the people here meant. Bochart {p} observes, from Plutarch, that the Egyptians used to call the extreme parts of a country, and abrupt places and mountains adjoining to the sea, Nepthys, the same with Nephthuah; and therefore he is of opinion, that these Naphtuhim dwelt on the shores of the Mediterranean sea, near Egypt, in Marmorica; not far from whence was the temple of Aptuchus, mentioned by Ptolemy {q}, and placed by him in Cyrene, which carries in it some trace of the name of Naphtuhim; and he suspects that Neptune had his name from hence; he being a Lybian god, as Herodotus {r} says; for none ever used his name before the Lybians, who always honoured him as a god: and it may be observed, from Strabo {s}, that many of the temples of Neptune were on the sea shore. Some place these people about Memphis, the name of which was Noph, Isa 19:13 but perhaps it may be much better to place them in the country of Nepate, between Syene and Meroc, where Candace, queen of Ethiopia, had her royal palace in the times of Strabo {t}.{f} Phaleg. l. 4. c. 26. {g} Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 143, &c. {h} Euterpe sive, l. 2. c. 104. {i} Onomastic. Sacr. p. 283. {k} See his Works, p. 4, 60. {l} Phaleg. l. 4. c. 30. col. 284. {m} Ib. c. 42. {n} Onomastic. Sacr. p. 281, 583. {a} Descriptio Africae, l. 1. p. 74. {o} Onomastic Sacr. p. 161, 178, 283, 421. {p} Phaleg. l. 4. c. 26. {q} Geograph. l. 4. c. 4. {r} Herodot. Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 21. Euterpe sive, l. 2. c. 50. {s} Geograph, l. 8. p. 237. {t} Geograph. l. 17. p. 564. Genesis 10:14Ver. 14. And Pathrusim,.... These are other descendants of Mizraim, the name of whose father very probably was Pathros, from whom the country of Pathros was called, and which is not only spoken of in Scripture along with Egypt, but as a part of it, Isa 11:11 and these Pathrusim were doubtless the inhabitants of it; which, as Bochart {u} has shown, is no other than Thebais, or the upper Egypt. Hillerus {w} takes the word to be compounded of tap and Myowr, and renders it the corner of the Rosians, and makes it to be the same with the bay of Issus, where was a colony of Egypt, called Cilicians; but the former is more probable.And Casluhim; these also were the posterity of Mizraim, by another son of his, from whence they had their name: according to Hillerus {x}, they are the Solymi, a people near the Lycians and Pisidians, that came out of Egypt, and settled in those parts; but it is much more likely that they were, as Junius {y} observes, the inhabitants of Casiotis, a country mentioned by Ptolemy {z} in lower Egypt, at the entrance of it, where stood Mount Casius: but Bochart {a} is of opinion that they are the Colchi, the inhabitants of the country now called Mingrelia, and which, though at a distance from Egypt, the ancient inhabitants came from thence, as appears from several ancient authors of good credit, as the above learned writer shows.Out of whom came Philistim, or the Philistines, a people often spoken of in Scripture: these sprung from the Casluhim, or were a branch of that people; according to Ben Melech they sprung both from them and from the Pathrusim; for Jarchi says they changed wives with one another, and so the Philistines sprung from them both; or these were a colony that departed from them, and settled elsewhere, as the Philistines did in the land of Canaan, from whence that part of it which they inhabited was called Palestine: and, if the Casluhim dwelt in Casiotis, at the entrance of Egypt, as before observed, they lay near the land of Canaan, and could easily pass into it. Some think this clause refers not to what goes before, but to what follows after,and Caphtorim, and read the whole verse thus: "and Pathrusim, and Casluhim, and Caphtorim, out of whom came Philistim"; that is, they came out of the Caphtorim. What has led to such a transposition of the words in the text is Am 9:7 "and the Philistines from Caphtor": but though they are said to he brought from a place called Caphtor, yet did not spring from the Caphtorim: to me it rather seems, that the two latter were brothers, and both sprung from the Casluhim; since the words may be rendered without a parenthesis: "and Caluhim, out of whom came Philistim and Caphtorim"; though perhaps it may be best of all to consider the two last as the same, and the words may be read, "out of whom came Philistim, even", or that is, "the Caphtorim"; for the Philistines, in the times of Jeremiah, are said to be the remnant of the country of Caphtor, Jer 47:4 and as in Amos the Philistines are said to come out of Caphtor, in De 2:23 they are called Caphtorim, that came out of Caphtor, who destroyed the Avim, which dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Azzah, or Gaza, afterwards a principal city of the Philistines: for then, and not before their settlement in the land of Canaan, were they so called; for the word Philistim signifies strangers, people of another country; and the Septuagint version always so renders the word: their true original name seems to be Caphtorim. Bochart {b} indeed will have the Caphtorim to be the Cappadocians, that dwelt near Colchis, about Trapezunt, where he finds a place called Side, which in Greek signifies a pomegranate, as Caphtor does in Hebrew; and so Hillerus {c} takes it for a name of the Cappadocians, who inhabited rwh tpk "Cappath Hor", or the side of Mount Hor, orrwth Pk, the side of Mount Taurus; and in this they both follow the Jewish Targumists, who everywhere render Caphtorim by Cappadocians, as the three Targums do here, and Caphtor by Cappadocia, and as Jonathan on De 2:23 but then thereby they understood a people and place in Egypt, even Damietta, the same they suppose with Pelusium; for other Jewish writers say {d}, Caphutkia, or Cappadocia, is Caphtor, and in the Arabic language Damietta: so Benjamin of Tudela says {e}, in two days I came to Damietta, this is Caphtor; and it seems pretty plain that Caphtor must be some place in Egypt, as Coptus, or some other, and that the Caphtorim, or Philistines, were originally Egyptians, since they descended from Mizraim.{u} Phaleg. l. 4. c. 31. {w} Onomastic. Sacr. p. 161, 585. {x} Ibid. p. 161, 583, 777. {y} In loc. {z} Geograph. l. 4. c. 5. {a} Phaleg. l. 4. c. 31. {b} Phaleg. l. 4. c. 32. {c} Onamastic. Sacr. p. 160, 282. {d} Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Cetubot, c. 13, p. 11. {e} ltinerarium, p. 125. Genesis 10:15Ver. 15. And Canaan begat Sidon his firstborn,.... Canaan is the fourth son of Ham; the posterity of Phut, his third son, are omitted: the firstborn of Canaan was Sidon, from whom the city of Sidon had its name, being either built by himself, who called it after his own name, or by some of his posterity, who called it so in memory of their ancestor: it was a very ancient city, more ancient than Tyre, for that was built by the Sidonians; Homer makes mention of it, but not of Tyre: it is now called Said, as it was in the times of Benjamin of Tudela {f}. Justin {g} says it had its name from the plenty of fish on its coasts; but, since Canaan had a son of this name, it was no doubt so called from him.And Heth; the father of the Hittites, who dwelt about Hebron, on the south of the land of Canaan; for when Sarah died, the sons of Heth were in possession of it, Ge 23:2 of this race were the Anakim, or giants, drove out from hence by Caleb, Nu 13:22 and these Hittites became terrible to men in later times, as appears from 2Ki 7:6 hence htx signifies to terrify, affright, and throw into a consternation.{f} Itinerarium. p. 34. {g} E. Trogo, l. 18. c. 3. Genesis 10:16Ver. 16. And the Jebusite,.... Who had their name from Jebus, a third son of Canaan, and from whom Jerusalem was called Jebus, Jud 19:10 and where his posterity continued to dwell when the land of Canaan was possessed by the Israelites; for they were so strong and powerful, that the men of Judah could not drive them out from thence, and here they remained until the times of David, who dispossessed them of it, Jos 15:63. There is an island near Spain, formerly called Ebusus, now Ibissa, where was one of the colonies of the Phoenicians, in which, Bochart {g} observes, the name of the Jebusites is thought to remain.And the Emorite; so called from Emor, the fourth son of Canaan, commonly called the Amorite, a people so strong and mighty, that they are compared to cedars for height, and to oaks for strength, Am 2:9 they dwelt both on this and the other side Jordan: Sihon, one of their kings, made war on the king of Moab, and took all his country from him unto Arnon, Nu 21:26 and in the times of Joshua there were several kings of the Amorites, which dwelt on the side of Jordan westward, Jos 5:1 hence it may be Amor, in the Arabic tongue signifying to command, and Emir, a commander.And the Girgasite; the same with the Gergesene in Mt 8:28 who, in the times of Christ, lived about Gerasa, or Gadara: a Jewish writer {h} says, that when they left their country to Israel, being forced to it by Joshua, they went into a country which to this day is called Gurgestan.{g} Phaleg. l. 4. c. 36. fol. 304. {h} R. Zacuth. Sepher. Jachasin, fol. 135. 2. Genesis 10:17Ver. 17. And the Hivite,.... These dwelt in Hermon, a part of Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal Hermon unto the entering in of Hamath, Jos 11:3 to the east of the land of Canaan; hence they were sometimes called Kadmonites, or Easterlings, Ge 15:19 and are thought to have their name from dwelling in holes and caves like serpents; hence Cadmus the Phoenician, and his wife Hermonia, who seem to have their names from hence, are reported to be turned into serpents, they being Hivites, which this word signifies, as Bochart {i} observes.And the Arkite; the same with the Aruceans, or Arcaeans, Josephus {k} speaks of in Phoenicia about Sidon, and from whom the city Arce had its name, which he places in Lebanon; and is mentioned by Menander {l} as revolting to the king of Assyria, with Sidon and old Tyre; and which is reckoned by Ptolemy {m} a city of Phoenicia, and placed by him near old Byblus; and hence Bothart {n} thinks Venus had the name of Venus Architis, said by Macrobius {o} to be worshipped by the Assyrians and Phoenicians.And the Sinite: either the inhabitants of the wilderness of Sin, who dwelt in the northern part of the desert of Arabia, or the Pelusiotae, as Bochart {p} thinks, the inhabitants of Pelusium, which was called Sin, Eze 30:15 the former being its Greek name, the latter its Chaldee or Syriac name, and both signify "clay", it being a clayey place; but Canaan or Phoenicia seems not to have reached so far; Jerom speaks of a city not far from Arca called Sin, where rather these people may be thought to dwell.{i} Ut supra. (Phaleg. l. 4. c. 36. fol. 304.) {k} Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 2. & l. 5. c. 1. sect. 23. {l} Apud Joseph. Antiqu. l. 9. c. 14. sect. 2. {m} Geograph. l. 5. c. 15. {n} Ut supra. (Phaleg. l. 4. c. 36. fol. 304.) {o} Saturnal. l. 1. c. 21. {p} Ut supra. (Phaleg. l. 4. c. 36. fol. 304.) Genesis 10:18Ver. 18. And the Arvadite,.... The inhabitants of Arvad, or Aradus, an island in the Phoenician sea; it is mentioned with Sidon, Eze 27:8 so Josephus says {q}, the Arudaeans possessed the island Aradus: it is about a league distant from the shore; Strabo {r} says it is twenty furlongs from land, and about seven in circumference, and is said to be built by the Sidonians; it is now, as Mr. Maundrel {s} says, by the Turks called Ru-ad, or, as Dr. Shaw says {t}, Rou-wadde;See Gill on "Eze 27:8".And the Zemarite; who perhaps built and inhabited Simyra, a place mentioned by Pliny {u}, not far from Lebanon, and along with Marathos, and Antarados, which lay on the continent, right against the island Aradus, or Arvad, and near the country of the Aradians. Strabo {w} makes mention of a place called Taxymira, which Casaubon observes should be Ximyra, or Simyra; and Mela {x} speaks of the castle of Simyra as in Phoenicia. There was a city called Zemaraim in the tribe of Benjamin, Jos 18:22 which Bishop Patrick suggests, and Ainsworth before him, that Zemarus, the son of Canaan, might be the founder of; and there is also a mountain of the same name in Mount Ephraim, 2Ch 13:4.And the Hamathite: who dwelt in Amathine, as Josephus {y}, and was in his time called by the inhabitants Amathe; but the Macedonians called it, from one of their race, Epiphania, which seems to have been the country called Amathite,He removed from Jerusalem, and met them in the land of Amathis: for he gave them no respite to enter his country. (1 Maccabees 12:25)there was another Hamath, called Antiochia, but cannot be meant, since Hamath was the northern border of the land of Israel, then called the entrance of Hamath, which border was pretty near to Epiphania, but not so far as Antioch; this is the Amathus of Syria, twice mentioned by Herodotus, as Hillerus {z} observes: but both Reland {a} and Vitringa {b} are of opinion, that the Hamath so often mentioned in Scripture, which doubtless had its name from the Hamathite, is neither Antiochia nor Epiphania, but the city Emesa, or Emissa, which lay below Epiphania, upon the Orontes, nearer Damascus and the land of Canaan; and Hamath is mentioned with Damascus and Arpad, or Arvad, Isa 10:9 and, according to Eze 47:16. Hamath must lie between Damascus and the Mediterranean sea.And afterwards were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad; not only these eleven, but two more which are not mentioned, the Canaanites properly so called, and the Perizzites; these families at first dwelt in one place, or within narrow limits; but, as they increased, they spread themselves further every way, and in process of time possessed all the country from Idumea and Palestine to the mouth of the Orontes, and which they held about seven hundred years, when five of these families, with the two other above mentioned, were cast out of the land for their sins, and to make way for the people of Israel.{q} Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 2. {r} Geograph. l. 16. p. 518. {s} Journey from Aleppo, &c. p. 19. Ed. 7. {t} Travels, p. 267. Ed. 2. {u} Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 20. {w} Geograph. l. 16. p. 518. {x} De situ orbis, l. 1. c. 12. {y} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 2.) {z} Onomastic. Sacr. p. 780. {a} Palestina Illustrata, tom. 1. l. 1. p. 121, 123, 317. {b} Comment. in Jesaiam, c. 10, 9. Genesis 10:19Ver. 19. And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon,.... This is to be understood, not of the Canaanites, properly so called, but of them in general; and is a description of the bounds of the land of Canaan, as possessed by the people of Israel: the northern or north west border of it was Sidon, see Ge 10:15 and is to be understood of the country which reached from that city towards the east almost as far as Jordan:as thou comest from Gerar unto Gaza; two cities of the Philistines, well known in Scripture, the former for being the place where Abraham and Isaac sometimes sojourned, and the latter for Samson's exploits in it; these were the southern or south west border of the land of Canaan:as thou goest unto Sodom and Gomorrah, and Admah and Zeboim; four cities destroyed by fire from heaven, as is after related in this book; these lay to the south or south east part of the land:even unto Lashah; which, according to the Targum of Jonathan, is Callirrhoe, a place famous for hot waters, which run into the Dead sea, and who in this is followed by Jerom; but since it was not in the southern part of Judea, as Lashah was, Bochart proposes {a} Lusa, as being more likely to be the place, a city of the Arabs, which Ptolemy {b} puts in the midway between the Mediterranean and the Red sea; but this is objected to by Reland {c}, since the southern borders of the land of Canaan were from the extremity of the Dead sea unto the Mediterranean sea, from which Lusa was at a great distance: the Samaritan version of this verse is very different from the Hebrew, and is this,"and the border of the Canaanites was from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates, and unto the hinder sea:''i.e. the western or Mediterranean.{a} Phaleg. l. 4. c. 37. col. 309. {b} Geograph. l. 5. c. 17. {c} Palestina Illustrata, tom. 2. p. 871. Genesis 10:20Ver. 20. These are the sons of Ham,.... His sons and grandsons, which some reckon to be thirty, others thirty one, if the Philistines are taken in:after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, [and] in their nations: families of the same language joined together and dwelt in the same country, See Gill on "Ge 10:5" all Africa and a considerable part of Asia were possessed by the four sons of Ham and their posterity; Mizraim had Egypt, and Phut all the rest of Africa; and Cush and Canaan had a large portion in Asia. Genesis 10:21Ver. 21. Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber,.... And for the sake of those Shem is particularly said to be the father of, is this genealogy given, and indeed the whole book of Genesis wrote: Eber was the great-grandson of Shem, and is here spoken of by anticipation, and Shem is called not the father of either of his immediate sons, but of the posterity of this man; because the Hebrews sprung from him in his line, among whom the church of God and the true religion were preserved, and from whom the Messiah was to come, as he did: the word Eber, Jarchi interprets, "beyond the river, Euphrates" or "Tigris", or both, as describing the seat of the posterity of Shem; but as this too much straitens them, since they inhabited on both sides, Dr. Hyde {d} has shown that the word used may refer to both, to those beyond these rivers, and to those on this side; see Nu 24:24the brother of Japheth the elder; he was the brother of Ham too, but he is not mentioned because of the behaviour towards his father, and because of the curse that was upon him and his; but Shem's relation to Japheth is expressed to show that they were alike in their disposition; and it may be to signify, that in times to come their posterity would unite in spiritual things, which has been fulfilled already in part, and will be more fully by the coalition of the Jews, the posterity of Shem, and of the Gentiles, the posterity of Japheth, in the Christian church state: and from hence we learn that Japheth was the eldest of Noah's sons, though some render the words, "the elder brother of Japheth" {e}; and so make Shem to be the eldest; but as this is contrary to the accents, so to the history: for Noah was five hundred years old when he began to beget sons, Ge 5:32 he was six hundred when he went into the ark, Ge 7:11 two years after the flood Shem begat Arphaxad, when he was one hundred years old, and Noah six hundred and two, Ge 11:10 so that Shem must be born when Noah was five hundred and two years old; and since he begot children, there must be one two years older than Shem, which can be no other than Japheth, since Ham is called his younger son, Ge 9:24.even to him were [children] born, who are reckoned as follow.{d} Hist. Relig. Pers. c. 2. p. 47, 48. {e} lwdgh tpy yxa "fratre Japheth majore". V. L. Samar. Syr. Ar. "frater major natu ipsius Japheth", Tigurine version; "fratri Japheti majori", Cocceius; so some in Vatablus. Genesis 10:22Ver. 22. The children of Shem,.... Whose names areElam and Ashur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram; and who, as Josephus {f} says, inhabited Asia, from Euphrates to the Indian ocean: his first born, Elam, was the father of the Elymaeans, from whom sprung the Persians, as the same writer observes, and his posterity are called Elamites, Ac 2:10 their country Elam, and is sometimes mentioned with Media, when the Persians and Medes are intended, Isa 21:2 see also Isa 22:6, &c. in Daniel's time, Shushan, in the province of Elam, was the seat of the kings of Persia: the country of Elymais, so called from this man, is said by Pliny {g} to be divided from Susiane by the river Eulaeus, and to join with Persia; and the famous city of Elymais, the metropolis of the country, is placed by Josephus {h} in Persia. Ashur, the second son of Shem, gives name to Assyria, a country frequently mentioned in Scripture; and which, according to Ptolemy {i}, was bounded on the north by part of Armenia the great, and the mountain Niphates, on the west by Mesopotamia and the river Tigris, on the south by Susiane, and on the east by part of Media. Strabo says {k} they call Babylonia, and great part of the country about it, Assyria, in which was Ninus or Nineveh, the chief city of the Assyrian empire; and which was built by Ashur, as Josephus {l} affirms, and says he gave the name of Assyrians to his subjects: Arphaxad, the third son of Shem, from him that part of Assyria, which lay northward next to Armenia, was called Arphaxitis, as it is probable that was its original name, though corruptly called by Ptolemy {m} Arrapachitis: Josephus says {n}, he gave name to the Arphaxadaeans, whom he ruled over, now called Chaldeans; and indeed the name of the Chaldeans may as well be derived from the latter part of Arphaxad's name, dvk, "Chashad", as from Chesed, the son of Nahor, and brother of Abraham, as it more commonly is; since the Chaldeans were called Chasdim before Chesed was born, and were a nation when Abraham came out of Ur, before Chesed could be old or considerable enough to build towns and found a nation; see Ge 11:31 though Bochart treats this as a mere dream, yet he is obliged to have recourse to the usual refuge, that Ur was called Ur of the Chaldees, by anticipation. The fourth son of Shem was Lud, from whom sprung the Lydians, a people of Asia minor, and whose country is called Lydia, including Mysia and Caria, which all lay by the river Maeander; and Lud, in the Phoenician language, signifies bending and crooked, as that river was, being full of windings and turnings: some think that the posterity of Lud are carried too far off from those of his brethren, but know not where else to fix them. From Aram, the last son of Shem, sprung the Aramaeans, called by the Greeks Syrians, as Josephus {o} observes; and by Homer {p} and Hesiod {q} arimoi, and so says Strabo {r}; some by the Arimi understand the Syrians, now called Arami; and elsewhere {s} he observes, that they who are by us called Syrians, are by the Syrians themselves called Aramaeans, and this is the name they give to themselves to this day: the country inhabited by them included Mesopotamia and Syria, and particularly all those places that have the name of Aram added to them, as Padan Aram, and Aram Naharaim (which is Mesopotamia), Aram of Damascus, Aram Zobah, Aram Maacha, and Aram Beth Rehob, Ge 28:2 and the title of Ps 60:1: the Septuagint version here adds, "and Cainan", but without any authority.{f} Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4. {g} Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 27. {h} Antiqu. l. 12. c. 8. sect. 1. {i} Geograph. l. 6. c. 1. {k} Ib. l. 16. p. 507. {l} Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4. {m} Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 1.) {n} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4.). So R. Gedaliah, in Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 76. 2. {o} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4.) {p} Iliad. 2. {q} Theogonia. {r} Geograph. l. 13. p. 431. l. 16. p. 540. {s} Ib. l. 1. p. 28. Genesis 10:23Ver. 23. And the children of Aram,.... The four following persons are called the sons of Shem, 1Ch 1:17 being his grandsons, which is not unusual in Scripture,Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash: the first of these sons of Aram, Uz, is generally thought to be the founder of Damascus; so Josephus {t} says. Usus founded Trachonitis and Damascus, which lies between Palestine and Coelesyria: there was a place called Uz in Idumea, La 4:21 and another in Arabia, where Job dwelt, Job 1:1 but neither of them seems to be the seat of this man and his posterity, who, in all probability, settled in Syria: his second son Hul, whom Josephus {u} calls Ulus, according to him, founded Armenia; which notion may be strengthened by observing that Cholobotene is reckoned a part of Armenia by Stephanus {w}; which is no other than Cholbeth, that is, the house or seat of Chol, the same with Hul; and there are several places in Armenia, as appears from Ptolemy {x}, which begin with Chol or Col, as Cholus, Cholua, Choluata, Cholima, Colsa, Colana, Colchis: but perhaps it may be better to place him in Syria, in the deserts of Palmyrene, as Junius and Grotius; since among the cities of Palmyrene, there is one called Cholle, according to Ptolemy {y}. Gether, the third son, is made by Josephus {z} to be the father of the Bactrians; but these were too far off to come from this man, and were not in the lot of Shem: Bochart {a} finds the river Getri, which the Greeks call Centrites, between Armenia and the Carduchi, whereabout, he conjectures, might be the seat of this man; but perhaps it may be more probable, with Grotius and Junius, to place him in Coelesyria, where are the city Gindarus of Ptolemy {b}, and a people called Gindareni, by Pliny {c}; though Bishop Patrick thinks it probable that Gadara, the chief city of Peraea, placed by Ptolemy {d} in the Decapolis of Coelesyria, had its name from this man: Mr. Broughton derives Atergate and Derceto, names of a Syrian goddess, from him, which was worshipped at Hierapolis in Coelesyria, as Pliny says {e}. The last of the sons of Aram, Mash, is called Meshech, in 1Ch 1:17 and here the Septuagint version calls him Masoch; his posterity are supposed to settle in Armenia, about the mountain Masius, thought to be the same with Ararat, and which the Armenians call Masis; perhaps the people named Moscheni, mentioned by Pliny {f}, as dwelling near Armenia and Adiabene, might spring from this man.{t} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4.) {u} Ibid. {w} Apud Bochart. Phaleg. l. 2. c. 9. col. 81. {x} Geograph. l. 5. c. 13. {y} Geograph. l. 5. c. 15. {z} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4.) {a} Phaleg. l. 2. c. 10. {b} Geograph. l. 5. c. 15. {c} Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 23. {d} Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 5. c. 15.) {e} Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 23. {f} Ib. l. 6. c. 9. Genesis 10:24Ver. 24. And Arphaxad begat Salah,.... Or Shelach which signifies "a sending forth"; that is, of waters: it is part of the name of Methuselah, given him by his father, as prophetic of the flood, see Ge 5:21 and Arphaxad, who was born two years after the flood, gives this name to his first born, as commemorative of it: according to some, from him are the Susians {g}; and in Susiana is found a city called Sele, by Ptolemy {h}; but this seems not to be a sufficient proof:and Salah begat Eber; from whom, Josephus {i} says, the Jews were called Hebrews from the beginning; and which, perhaps, is as good a derivation of their name as can be given, and seems to be confirmed by Nu 24:24 though some derive it from Abraham's passing over the rivers in his way from Chaldea into Syria; but be it so, why might not this name be given to Eber, as prophetic of that passage, or of the passage of his posterity over the Euphrates into Canaan, as well as Eber gave to his son Peleg his name, as a prediction of the division of the earth in his time? the Septuagint version of this text inserts a Cainan between Arphaxad and Salah, but is not to be found in any Hebrew copy, nor in the Samaritan, Syriac, and Arabic versions, nor in Josephus, see Lu 3:36.{g} Vid. Bochart. Phaleg. l. 2. c. 13. col. 92. {h} Geograph. l. 6. c. 3. {i} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4.) Genesis 10:25Ver. 25. And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg,.... Bochart {k} thinks, that either Peleg, or one of his posterity, in memory of him, gave the name of Phalga to a town situated on the Euphrates; though the reason of the name, as given by Arrianus, as he himself observes, was because it divided between the two Seleucias, as the reason of Peleg's name was;for in his days was the earth divided; among the three sons of Noah, and their respective posterities; their language was divided, and that obliged them to divide and separate in bodies which understood one another; hence that age, in which was this event, was usually called by the Jews the age of division; whether this was done about the time of his birth, and so this name was given him to perpetuate the memory of it, or in some after part of his life, and so was given by a spirit of prophecy, is a question: Josephus, Jarchi, and the Jewish writers, generally go the latter way; if it was at the time of his birth, which is the sense of many, then this affair happened in the one hundred and first year after the flood, for in that year Peleg was born, as appears from Ge 11:11and his brother's name was Joktan, whom the Arabs call Cahtan, and claim him as their parent, at least, of their principal tribes; and say he was the first that reigned in Yaman, and put a diadem on his head {l}; and there is a city in the territory of Mecca, about seven furlongs or a mile to the south of it, and one station from the Red sea, called Baisath Jektan, the seat of Jektan {m}, which manifestly retains his name; and there are a people called Catanitae, placed by Ptolemy {n} in Arabia Felix.{k} Phaleg. l. 2. c. 14. col. 93. {l} Vid. Pocock. Specimen. Arab. Hist. p. 39. 55. {m} Arab. Geograph. apud Bochart. Phaleg: l. 2. c. 15. col. 98. {n} Geograph, l. 6. c. 7. Genesis 10:26Ver. 26. And Joktan begat Almodad,.... And twelve more mentioned later: the Arabic writers {o} say be had thirty one sons by one woman, but all, excepting two, left Arabia, and settled in India; the Targum of Jonathan adds,"who measured the earth with ropes,''as if he was the first inventor and practiser of geometry: from him are thought to spring the Allumaeotae, a people whom Ptolemy {p} places in Arabia Felix, called so by the Greeks, instead of Almodaei: Mr. Broughton {q} sets Eldimaei over against this man's name, as if they were a people that sprung from him; whereas this word is wrongly put in Ptolemy {r} for Elymaeans, as it is in the Greek text, a people joining to the Persians:[and] Sheleph and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah: to the first of these, Sheleph, the Targum of Jonathan adds,"who drew out the water of the rivers;''his people are supposed by Bochart {s}, to be the Alapeni of Ptolemy {t}, which should be read Salapeni, who were, he says, more remote from the rest, almost as far as the neck of Arabia, and not far from the spring of the river Betius. The next son, Hazarmaveth, or Hasermoth, as in the Vulgate Latin, is thought to give name to a people in Arabia, called by Pliny {u} Chatramotitae, and by Ptolemy Cathramonitae, whose country, Strabo says {w}, produces myrrh; according to Ptolemy {x} they reached from the mountain Climax to the Sabaeans, among whom were a people, called, by Pliny {y}, Atramitae, who inhabited a place of the same name, and which Theophrastus calls Adramyta, which comes nearer the name of this man, and signifies the court or country of death: and in those parts might be places so called, partly from the unwholesomeness of the air, being thick and foggy, and partly from the frankincense which grew there, which was fatal to those that gathered it, and therefore only the king's slaves, and such as were condemned to die, were employed in it, as Bochart {z} has observed from Arrianus; as also because of the multitude of serpents, with which those odoriferous countries abounded, as the same writer relates from Agatharcides and Pliny. The next son of Joktan is Jerah, which signifies the moon, as Hilal does in Arabic; and Alilat with the Arabians, according to Herodotus {a}, is "Urania", or the moon; hence Bochart {b} thinks, that the Jeracheans, the posterity of Jerah, are the Alilaeans of Diodorus Siculus {c}, and others, a people of the Arabs; and the Arabic geographer, as he observes, makes mention of a people near Mecca called Bene Hilal, or the children of Jerah; and he is of opinion that the island Hieracon, which the Greeks call the island of the Hawks placed by Ptolemy {d}, in Arabia Felix, adjoining to the country which lies upon the Arabian Gulf, is no other than the island of the Jeracheans, the posterity of this man: the Arabs {e} speak of a son of Joktan or Cahtan, they call Jareb, who succeeded his father, which perhaps may be a corruption of Jerah; and another, called by them Jorham.{o} Apud Pocock. Specimen. Arab. Hist., p. 40. {p} Geograph. l. 6. c. 7. {q} See his Works, p. 3. 59. {r} Ut supra, (Geograph. l. 6.) c. 5. {s} Phaleg. l. 2. c. 16. col. 99. {t} Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 5.) {u} Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. {w} Geograph. l. 16. p. 528. {x} Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 5.) {y} Nat. Hist. l. 12. c. 14. {z} Phaleg. l. 2. c. 17. col. 102. {a} Thalia sive, l. 3. c. 8. {b} Ut supra, (Phaleg. l. 2.) c. 19. {c} Bibliothec. l. 3. p. 179. {d} Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 5.) {e} Apud Pocock. Specimem. Arab. Hist. p. 40. Genesis 10:27Ver. 27. And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah. The posterity of Hadoram, from the likeness of the name and sound, might seem to be the Adramitae of Ptolemy {f}, but Bochart {g} thinks they are the Drimati of Pliny {h}, who dwelt in the extreme corner of Arabia, to the east, near the Macae, who were at the straits of the Persian Gulf; and he observes, that the extreme promontory of that country was called Corodamum, by transposition of the letters "D" and "R": Uzal gave name to a city which is still so called; for R. Zacuth {i} says, the Jews which dwelt in Yaman, the kingdom of Sheba, call Samea, which is the capital of the kingdom of Yaman, Uzal; and who also relates, that there is a place called Hazarmaveth unto this day, of which see Ge 10:26 the kingdom in which Uzal is said by him to be was the south part of Arabia Felix, as Yaman signifies, from whence came the queen of the south, Mt 12:42 and Uzal or Auzal, as the Arabs pronounce it, is the same the Greeks call Ausar, changing "L" into "R"; hence mention is made by Pliny {k} of myrrh of Ausar, in the kingdom of the Gebanites, a people of the Arabs, where was a port by him called Ocila {l}, by Ptolemy, Ocelis {m}, and by Artemidorus in Strabo, Acila {n}, and perhaps was the port of the city Uzal, to the name of which it bears some resemblance: Diklah signifies a palm tree, in the Chaldee or Syriac language, with which kind of trees Arabia abounded, especially the country of the Minaei, as Pliny {o} relates; wherefore Bochart {p} thinks the posterity of Diklah had their seat among them, rather than at Phaenicon or Diklah, so called from the abundance of palm trees that grew there, which was at the entrance into Arabia Felix at the Red sea, of which Diodorus Siculus {q} makes mention; and so Artemidorus in Strabo {r} speaks of a place called Posidium, opposite to the Troglodytes, and where the Arabian Gulf ends, where palm trees grew in a wonderful manner, on the fruit of which people lived, where was a Phaenicon, or continued grove of palm trees; and here is placed by Ptolemy {s} a village called Phaenicon, the same with Diklah.{f} Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 5.) {g} Ut supra, (Phaleg. l. 2.) c. 20. {h} Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. {i} Juchasin, fol. 135. 2. {k} Nat. Hist. l. 12. c. 16. {l} lb. c. 19. {m} Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 5). So Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 23. {n} Geograph. l. 16. p. 529. {o} Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. {p} Ut supra. (Phaleg. l. 2. c. 22.) {q} Bibliothec. l. 3. p. 175. {r} Geograph. l. 16. p. 34. {s} Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 5.) Genesis 10:28Ver. 28. And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba. The first of these, Obal, or Aubal, as the Arabs pronounce, Bochart {t} is obliged to make his posterity pass over the straits of the Arabian Gulf out of Arabia Felix into Arabia Troglodytice; where he finds a bay, called by Pliny {u} the Abalite bay, which carries in it some trace of this man's name, and by Ptolemy {v} the Avalite bay; and where was not only an emporium of this name, but a people called Avalites and also Adulites, which Bishop Patrick believes should be read "Abulites", more agreeably to the name of this man, but Pliny {w} speaks of a town of the Adulites also: Abimael is supposed by Bochart {x} to be the father of Mali, or the Malitae, as his name may be thought to signify, Theophrastus {y} making mention of a place called Mali along with Saba, Adramyta, and Citibaena, in spicy Arabia, which is the only foundation there is for this conjecture: Sheba gave name to the Sabaeans, a numerous people in Arabia; their country was famous for frankincense; the nations of them, according to Pliny {z}, reached both seas, that is, extended from the Arabian to the Persian Gulf; one part of them, as he says {a}, was called Atramitae, and the capital of their kingdom Sabota, on a high mountain, eight mansions from which was their frankincense country, called Saba; elsewhere he says {b}, their capital was called Sobotale, including sixty temples within its walls; but the royal seat was Mariabe; and so Eratosthenes in Strabo {c} says, the metropolis of the Sabaeans was Mariaba, or, as others call it, Merab, and which, it seems, is the same with Saba; for Diodorus Siculus {d} and Philostorgius {e} say, the metropolis of the Sabaeans is Saba; and which the former represents as built on a mountain, as the Sabota of Pliny is said to be,{t} Ut supra, (Phaleg. l. 2.) c. 23. {u} Nat. Hist. l. 26. c. 29. {v} Geograph. l. 4. c. 7, 8. {w} Nat. Hist. l. 26. c. 29. {x} Ut supra. (Phaleg. l. 2. c. 24.) {y} Ut supra, (Hist. Plant. l. 9.) c.4. {z} Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. {a} Ib. l. 12. c. 14. {b} Ut supra. (Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28.) {c} Geograph. l. 16. p. 528. {d} Bibliothec. l. 3. p. 180. {e} Hist. Ecclesiast. l. 3. p. 477. Genesis 10:29Ver. 29. And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab,.... If several of the sons of Joktan went into India, as the Arabs say, one would be tempted to think that Ophir in India, whither Solomon sent his ships once in three years, had its name from the first of these;See Gill on "Ge 10:26" but as this would be carrying him too far from the rest of his brethren, who appear to have settled in Arabia, some place must be found for him there; and yet there is none in which there is any likeness of the name, unless Coper can be thought to be, a village in the country of the Cinaedocolpites, on the Arabian Gulf, as in Ptolemy {f}, or Ogyris, an island in the same sea, Pliny {g} makes mention of the same with the Organa of Ptolemy {h}, placed by him on the Sachalite bay; wherefore Bochart {i} looks out elsewhere for a seat for this Ophir, or "Oupheir", as in the Septuagint version, and finding in a fragment of Eupolemus, preserved by Eusebius {k}, mention made of the island of Ourphe, which he thinks should be Ouphre, or Uphre, situated in the Red sea, seems willing to have it to be the seat of this man and his posterity, and that it had its name from him; or that their seat was among the Cassanites or Gassandae, the same perhaps with the tribe of Ghassan, Aupher and Chasan signifying much the same, even great abundance and treasure: Havilah, next mentioned, is different from Havilah, the son of Cush, Ge 10:7 and so his country; but it is difficult where to fix him; one would rather think that the Avalite bay, emporium, and people, should take their name from him than from Obal, Ge 10:28 but Bochart {l} chooses to place him and his posterity in Chaulan, a country in Arabia Felix, in the extreme part of Cassanitis, near the Sabaeans: and Jobab, the last of Joktan's sons, was the father of the Jobabites, called by Ptolemy {m} Jobarites, corruptly for Jobabites, as Salmasius and Bochart think; and who are placed by the above geographer near the Sachalites in Arabia Felix, whose country was full of deserts, as Jobab in Arabic signifies, so Bochart {n} observes, as the countries above the Sachalite bay were, by which these Jobabites are placed:all these were the sons of Joktan; the thirteen before mentioned, all which had their dwelling in Arabia or near it, and which is further described in the following verse.{f} Geograph. l. 6. c. 7. {g} Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. {h} Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 7.) {i} Phaleg. l. 2. c. 27. {k} Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 30. p. 457. {l} Ut supra, (Phaleg. l. 2.) c. 20. {m} Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 7.) {n} Ut supra, (Phaleg. l. 2.) c. 29. Genesis 10:30Ver. 30. And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Zephar, a mount of the east. Mesha, which is thought to be the Muza of Ptolemy and Pliny, was a famous port in the Red sea, frequented by the merchants of Egypt and Ethiopia, from which the Sappharites lay directly eastward; to whose country they used to go for myrrh and frankincense, and the like, of which Saphar was the metropolis, and which was at the foot of Climax, a range of mountains, which perhaps might be formerly called Saphar, from the city at the bottom of it, the same with Zephar here: by inspecting Ptolemy's tables {o}, the way from one to the other is easily discerned, where you first meet with Muza, a port in the Red sea, then Ocelis, then the mart Arabia, then Cane, and so on to Sapphar or Sapphara; and so Pliny says {p}, there is a third port which is called Muza, which the navigation to India does not put into, only the merchants of frankincense and Arabian odours: the towns in the inland are the royal seat Saphar; and another called Sabe; now the sons of Joktan had their habitations all from this part in the west unto Zephar or Saphar eastward, and those were reckoned the genuine Arabs: Hillerus {q} gives a different account of the situation of the children of Joktan, as he thinks, agreeably to these words of Moses; understanding by Kedem, rendered the east, the mountains of Kedem, or the Kedemites, which sprung from Kedem or Kedomah, the youngest son of Ishmael, Ge 25:15 and Zephar, the seat of the Sepharites, as between Mesha and Kedem; for, says he, Mesha is not Muza, a mart of the Red sea, but Moscha, a famous port of the Indian sea, of which Arrian and Ptolemy make mention; and from hence the dwelling of the Joktanites was extended, in the way you go through the Sepharites to the mountainous places of Kedem or Cadmus: perhaps nearer the truth may be the Arabic paraphrase of Saadiah {r}, which is"from Mecca till you come to the city of the eastern mountain, or (as in a manuscript) to the eastern city,''meaning perhaps Medina, situate to the east; so that the sense is, according to this paraphrase, that the sons of Joktan had their dwelling from Mecca to Medina; and so R. Zacuth {s} says, Mesha in the Arabic tongue is called Mecca; and it is a point agreed upon by the Arabs that Mesha was one of the most ancient names of Mecca; they believe that all the mountainous part of the region producing frankincense went in the earliest times by the name of Sephar; from whence Golius concludes this tract to be the Mount Zephar of Moses, a strong presumption of the truth of which is that Dhafar, the same with the modern Arabs as the ancient Saphar, is the name of a town in Shihr, the only province in Arabia bearing frankincense on the coast of the Indian ocean {t}.{o} Geograph. l. 6. c. 7. {p} Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 23. {q} Onomastic. Sacr. p. 116. {r} In Pocock. Specimen Hist. Arab. p. 34. {s} In Juchasin, fol. 135. 2. {t} Universal History, vol. 18. p. 353. Genesis 10:31Ver. 31. These are the sons of Shem,.... His sons, and grandsons, and great grandsons, in all twenty six, no doubt but there were many more, but these are only mentioned; for none of the sons of Elam, Ashur, and Lud, are named, and but one of Arphaxad's, and one of Salah's, and two of Eber's, and none of Peleg's; when it is not to be questioned but they had many, as is certain of Arphaxad, Salah, Eber, and Peleg, Ge 11:13after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations: from hence sprung various families at first, and these of different languages upon the confusion of Babel, which thenceforward formed different nations, dwelt in different lands; which have been pointed at as near as we can at this distance, and with the little helps and advantages we have: it seems from hence that Shem's posterity were of different languages as well as those of Ham and Japheth. Genesis 10:32Ver. 32. These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations,.... This is the account of their families, from whom the several nations of the earth sprung:and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood; not immediately, not till they were so increased as to form distinct nations; not till Peleg's time, when the division was made; not until the building of the city and tower of Babel, for unto that time these families were together, and then and not before were they dispersed abroad upon the face of the earth; and by degrees peopled all the known parts of the world, Asia, Africa, and Europe, and no doubt America, though the way of their passage thither is unknown to us; and to this partition of the earth by the three sons of Noah, Pindar {u} seems to have respect, when he says,"according to the ancients, Jupiter and the immortal ones parted the earth;''and he speaks of one man having three sons, who dwelt separate, the earth being divided into three parts.{u} Olymp. Ode 7.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.