RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Tabernacle, The Mcmaio Table of the Nations
late refinement. The regulations suit an agricultural, not a nomadic, environment, and point to an original feast celebrated in vineyards and gardens, in accordance with the modern Palestinian custom. After Deuteronomy had made the festival universal, to be kept at the Temple, a definite dating became necessary, and such fixation appears first in Ezekiel (xlv. 25) for the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the later reckoning, where the offerings are also prescribed. The final step appears in Lev. xxiii. and the date is that of Ezekiel, but an additional day was added to the duration, each day having its offering, while the first and eighth days were marked by convocations of the people and abstinence from labor. The method of the first celebration after the promulgation of the new law is described in Neh. viii. 14 sqq., the booths being erected on the roofs, in the temple court and private courts, and in the streets. The Chronicler depends upon this latest code, and consequently ascribes to Solomon a celebration lasting eight days in the seventh month (II Chron. vii. 8 sqq., cf. I Kings viii. 66). The importance of the festival for post-exilic times is indicated by Zech. xiv. 16 sqq., where not to attend yearly is regarded as a grievous sin. The interest in the festival is shown in the development of attendant customs (cf. II Mace. x. 7; Josephus, Ant., III., x. 4, XIII., xiii. 5; Mishna, tract Sukkah), tending to greater minuteness in details. Thus prescription was given as to the kind of branches to be carried in the right and in the left hand, the altar of burnt offering was to be encircled once daily and seven times on the seventh day, and a special libation of water was made. A high point was reached in the night between the first and the second day. The priests and Levites erected in the front court of the women a double gallery for the spectators. In the middle of the front court was placed a great candlestick with four golden cups to serve as lamps, and then a torch dance took place while the Levites sang psalms, this continuing till first cock-crowing, when two priests stationed at Nicanor's gate gave on the trumpet the signal to cease. The Psalms sung at the feast were xxix., 1. 16 sqq., xciv. 16 sqq., and 8 sqq., lxxxi. 7 sqq., lxxxii. 5 sqq., Ixv., cxiii.-exviii. (F. Buhl.)
Bibliography: The Bible Dictionaries; JE, xi. 656-662; C. F. Kent, Student's Old Testament, vol. iv., New York, 1907; and the full literature under Feasts and Festivals.
TABLE OF THE NATIONS.
Literary Analysis (§ 1).
The J Source (§ 2).
Character of the J Narrative (§ 3).
Japheth in the Narrative of P (§ 4).
Gush in P (§ 5).
The Sons of Cush (§ 6).
Shem (§ 7).
General Review (§ 8).
The chapter containing the so-called " Table of the Nations," Gen. x., is composed of two parts which go back to the documents J and P To the latter belong verses la, 2-7, 20, 22, 23, 31, 32, the chief divisions of which are marked by the formulas : " the sons of Japheth are. .," " of Ham,"
" of Shem"; with similar formulas for the
subdivisions; while the close of each division is marked by the formula : " these are the eons of .,
after their families, after their tongues," etc., with a variation for the end of the whole in verse 32.
This forms the basis of the exposition
i. Literary by the redactor; the pieces from J are
Analysis, interwoven. But other materials are
clearly intruded, as where verse 9 breaks the thread between 8 and 10 to complete the picture of Nimrod. So verse 24 gives a different account of Eber from that in 21 and 25 sqq.; in the former he is great-grandson of Shem, in the latter he is the son. The remainder of the chapter belongs to J.
The material taken from J in verses 8-20, dealing with Ham, diverges in form from P in that the items are not bound together with the word " son," which
has in Hebrew a wider sense than in
2. The English, but by the expression " he
J Source, begat "or the passive " were born." J
derives Babel and Asshur from Cush, while P in 22 derives Asshur from Shem. This difference has been ascribed to an error of the redactor, who equated the Kasshu of the cuneiform inscriptions with the African Cushites (see Assyria, VI., 2, § 1; Babylonia, VI., 5). A better explanation is that which makes J refer Cush here to the Arabian district of that name (see Cush and Nimrod). Verses 13-14 differ in form from verse 8; the latter uses the singular, the former the plural, a fact explained by Gunkel as due to the fact that 13-14 are later parts of the document J. Among the seven sons of Egypt (Mizraim) Lud (singular of Ludim) is mentioned in Ezek. xxvii. 10, xxx. 5; Isa. Ixvi. 19; Jer. xlvi. 9, and is to be regarded as a people who were neighbors to Egypt; the same is true of the Anamim. The Pathrusim were no doubt the inhabitants of Pathros (Isa. xi. 11; Jer. xliv. 1, 15; Ezek. xxx. 14), especially of Upper Egypt; the Egyptian pata-res means southland. Erman suspects that for " Naphtuhim " the text should read " Pathmahim," which corresponds to Pathrusim and means " northland." Nothing is known of a people corresponding to the Gasluhim; but the Caphtorim are generally connected with Crete. Verses 15-19 deal with Canaan. Comparison of verses 8 and 15 show that the redactor united passages in which different magnitudes were comprehended: Cush is the name of a people and a land; Nimrod is the name of a legendary person ; Canaan, of a land; Sidon, of a city; Heth, of a people (see Canaan; Phenicia; and Hittites). Verses 16- 18a are a later insertion, aiming to enumerate the Canaanites more completely (see Amorites; Jebus, Jebusites; Canaan; and Phenicia for treatment of the peoples named). The Hamathites were inhabitants of the city and kingdom of Hamath on the Orontes (see Syria). Verses 18b-19 deal with the spread of the Canaanites southward to Gerar, and are a later part of the J source. The completest selection from J is found in verses 21- 30; Shem is designated as the father of all the children of Eber, and this last name has here a wide connotation, covering not only the line of Peleg which leads to Abraham, but also the line of Joktan. The name Eber may be connected with the expression 'ebher hannahar, " beyond the river," of Isa. vii. 20, the land beyond the Euphrates,
fcable of the Nations