The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 234

line of promise, number thirty, of whom (Josephus, Gescnius, Kalisch); the Ethic,. only four were immediate descendants. Their pians of Arabia, whose chief city Wll8 Sabota territory generally embraced the southern (Kr obel, Rosenm\\ller, Lange, Keil). And portions of the globe. Henoe the name Raamah. 'Piyµa (LXX.) ; Rngma on tho Ham has been connected with c,r.,0, to be Persian Gulf, in Oman (Bocho.rt, Rosen• mirm, though Kalisch declares it to be not miillcr, Kalisch, Lange). And Sabteohah. of Hebrew, but Egyptian origin, appearing Nigritia (Targum, Jonathan), which the name in the Chme of the Rosetta Stone. The most Subatok, discovered on Egyptian monuments, usual ancient name of the country was Kein, ~ems to favour (Ko.lisch); on the cast of the the black land. Scripture speaks of Egypt as Persian Gulf at Samydace of Carmnnia (Bo- the land ofHnm (Ps. lxxdii. 51; cv. 23; cvi. chnrt, Knobel, Rosenmiiller, Lango). And 22). Cush. Ethiopia, including Arabia" quai t~e sons of ~aama1!,; Sheba. The principal mater est," and Abyssinia "qnai coloma" city o~ Arabia. Fehx. q Kings x. 1 ; Job i. (Michaelis. Rosenmiillcr). The original settle- 16 ; n. 19 ; Ps. lxxu. 10, 15 ; Isa. lx. 6 • ment of Cush, however, is belie,ed to have Jer. vi. 20; Ezek. xxvii. 22; Joel iii. 8) • been on the Upper N'ile, whence he afterwards occurs again (eh. v. 28) n.s o. son of Joktan; spread to Arabia, Babylonia, India (Knobel, ~robably was peopled both by Hamites and Kalisch, Lange, Rawlinson). Murphy thinks Shemites. And Dedan. Daden on the he may haYe started from the Caucasus, the Persian Gulf (vide Isa. xx:i. 13; Jer. xlix. Caspian, and the Cossaci of Khusistan, and 8 ; Ezek. xxv. 13 ; xxvii. 12-16). migrated south (to Egypt) and east (to India). Ver. 8.-And Cush begat-not necessarily Josephus mentions thnt in his day Ethiopia as immediate pro~enitor, any ancestor being was called Cush ; the Syriac transla.tcs av,ip in Hebrew styled a. father-Nimrod ; . the A,f!io,J, (Acts nii. 27) by Cuschaeos; the rebel, from maradh, to rebel; the name of ancient Egyptian name of Ethiopia was a person, not of a people ;-Namuret in li:eesh, Kish, or Kush (' Records of the Past,' ancient Egyptian, Though not one of the i,. 7). The Cushites are described as of a great ethnic heads, he is introduced into the black colour (Jer. riii. 23) and of great stature register of nations as the founder of imperi- (Isa. xlv. 14). And ]l[izra.im.. A dual fonn alism. Under him society passed from the probably designed to represent the two patriarchal condition, in which each separato Egypts, upper and lower (Gesenius, Keil, clan or tribe owns the sway of its natural Kalisch), though it has been discovered in head, into that (more abject or more civilised an,:,ient Egyptian as the name of a Hittite according n.s it is viewed) in which many chief (circa B.C. 1300, contemporary with different clans or tribes recognise the sway Rame,ses II.), mitten in hieroglyphics of one who is not their natural head, but M' a,zrima, Ma being the sign for the dual has acquired his ascendancy and dominion The old Egyptian name is Kemi, Chemi, by conquest. This is the principle of with obvious reference to Ham ; the name monarchism. Eastern tradition has painted Egypt being p::-obably derived from Kaphtah, Nimrod as a gigantic oppressor of the the land of Ptah. The singular form Mazor people's liberties and an impious rebel against is found in later books (2 Kings xix. 24; the Divine authority. Josephus credits him Isa. rix. 6; xxxv. 25), and usually denotes with having instigated the building of the Lower Egypt. And l'hut. Phet (Old Egyp- tower of Babel. He has been identified with tian), Phaiat (Coptic); the Libyans in the the Orion of the Greeks. Scripturo may north of Africa (Josephus, LXX., Gesenius, seem to convey a bad impression of Nimrod, Bochart). Kalisch suggests Buto' or Butos, but it does not sanction the abrnrdities of the capital of the delt;a of the Nile. And Oriental legend. He began to be a mighty Canaan. Hebrew, Kenaan ('Dide on eh. ix. one-Gwbor (vide eh. vi. 4) ; what he had 25). The extent of the territory occupied been previously being expressed in ver. 6- by the fourth son of Ham is defined in vers. in the earth. Not i71'1 riji; -yijt (LXX.), 15---19. as if pointing to his gigantic stature, but Ver. 7.-And the sons of Cush; Seba. either among men generally, with refer• Meroe, in Nubia, north of Ethiopia (Josephus, ence to his widespread fame, or perhnps Ant.,' ii. 10). And Havile.h. EbiH (LXX.); better "in the land" where he dwelt, which may refer to an African tribe, the Avalitae, was not Babel, but Arabia (vide ver. 6). south of Babelmandeb (Keil, Lange, Murphy), Ver. 0.-He was a mighty hunter. or the district of Ohanian in Axabia Felix Originally doubtless of wild beasts, which, (Rosenmiiller, Kalisch, Wordsworth). Verse according to Bochart, was the first step to 29 mentions Havila.h as a Shemite territory. usurping dominion over men and using them Kalisch regards them as " the same country, for battle. "Nempe venationum prmtextu extending from the Arabian to the Persian collegit juvenwn robustam manum, qunm Gulf, and, on account of its vast extent, easily talib118 exerr:itue ad belli labores induravit" divided into two distinct parts" (cf. eh. ii. ll). (' Phaleg.,' !iv. 12). Before the Lord. 1. Alld &abtah. The ABtaborans of Ethiopia 'Evavrlov ~-vplou (LXX.), in n spirit of do-  on. x. 1--112.J THE BOOK OF G F.NESIS. 159