1 (P). The Generations of the Sons of Noah. 2 5 (P). The Sons of Japheth. 6, 7, and 20 (P). The Sons of Ham. 8 19, and 21 (J). Nimrod, Babylon, and Assyria: Egypt and Canaan. 22 31 (P). The Sons of Shem. The names of Noah's sons only occur in Genesis and in the parallel genealogical list i... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now these are the generations_ The title of a new section in P; see note on Genesis 2:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The sons of Japheth_ These are names of peoples who for the most part seem to have dwelt in remote northern and western regions in Asia Minor. _Gomer_ Mentioned also in Ezekiel 38:6. Probably the people dwelling in the region of Pontus in Asia Minor, and called by the Greeks Cimmerians (Κιμμέριοι)... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ashkenaz_ Mentioned in Jeremiah 51:27 along with Ararat; and now generally identified with the region of Armenia. It is worth noticing that the mediaeval Jews explained this name as denoting Germany. Thus the Ashkenazim are the German Jews. _Riphath_ In 1 Chronicles 1:6 the name appears as "Diphat... [ Continue Reading ]
_the sons of Javan_ The names here mentioned are evidently geographical. Javan's sons are well-known Greek colonies and settlements or communities. This example will serve to illustrate the composition of the genealogical list. _Elishah_ Mentioned in Ezekiel 27:7 as a place from which there was a t... [ Continue Reading ]
_Of these_, &c. It is probable that the text in this verse has suffered. As in Genesis 10:20 we find "these are the sons of Ham" and in Genesis 10:31 "these are the sons of Shem," so we should expect in this verse "these are the sons of Japheth." We should, therefore, probably put a full stop after... [ Continue Reading ]
The Sons of Ham 6. The races described as "the sons of Ham" are first traced in the most southerly regions. If the name has any connexion with _Kamt_, the native name of Egypt, it is noticeable that it is here applied to the parent stock of peoples, not only in Egypt, but also in South Arabia, Phoe... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the sons of Cush_ The names given in this verse are usually identified with the names of tribes, or places, on the African coast, or on the opposite shores of Arabia. _Seba_ Cf. Psalms 72:10; Isaiah 43:3; Isaiah 45:14, where it is named with Egypt and Cush; identified by Josephus (_Ant. Jud_.... [ Continue Reading ]
(J). Nimrod, Assyria and Babylon: Canaan and Egypt 8 12 (J). Nimrod 8. _Cush begat Nimrod_ In connexion with the "sons of Cush" we have here an Israelite tradition that the foundation of the Assyrian and Babylonian empires was due to "a son of Cush," named Nimrod. What, if any, was deemed to be th... [ Continue Reading ]
_a mighty hunter before the Lord_ The phrase "before the Lord" is merely descriptive of magnitude, cf. Genesis 23:6, "a great prince" (Heb. _a prince of God_), Jonah 3:3, "Nineveh was an exceeding great city" (Heb. _a city great unto God_). But it is possible that the expression is traceable to some... [ Continue Reading ]
_the beginning of his kingdom_ Nimrod is represented, not as the founder of the Babylonian cities, but as their king. His four cities are enumerated: 1. _Babel_, i.e. Babylon, as the Hebrew is rendered in the Greek: Assyrian _Babilu_, possibly = "the gate of God." This was the capital of the Babylo... [ Continue Reading ]
_Out of that land_, &c. This verse preserves an historical tradition: (1) that the cities of Assyria were of later origin than those of Babylonia; (2) that they owed their existence to the development of the Babylonian power in a northerly direction; whether by conquest or by colonization we cannot... [ Continue Reading ]
_Resen_ Not yet identified; but conjectured to lie among the mounds which conceal ruins between Nineveh and Nimrud. (_the same is the great city_)] This is a note added by the compiler; or, possibly, as Skinner suggests, a gloss, referring to Nineveh, which is misplaced. 13 19 (J). The descendants... [ Continue Reading ]
_Mizraim_ In Genesis 10:6, "the sons of Ham" are Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. The "sons of Cush" were given in Genesis 10:7. In Genesis 10:13 the genealogy is continued with the "sons of Mizraim." The intervening passage (Genesis 10:8) has been a parenthesis. The names here mentioned are probably... [ Continue Reading ]
_Pathrusim_ Clearly to be identified with Upper Egypt, "the southlanders." "The land of the midday," Egyptian _Ptrsi_, is the Pathros of Isaiah 11:11; Jeremiah 44:1; Jeremiah 44:15; Ezekiel 29:14; Ezekiel 30:14. _Casluhim_ Not known; LXX Χασμωνιείμ, which has caused Max Müller to conjecture _Nasamo... [ Continue Reading ]
_Canaan_ Observe that we pass from Cush and Mizraim to Canaan, the fourth son of Ham; omitting Put, the third son in Genesis 10:6. _Zidon his firstborn_ "Firstborn"; i.e. the capital, and most ancient city, of the Phoenicians. The Phoenicians called themselves Zidonians, and were so called by the I... [ Continue Reading ]
_the Jebusite_ The Canaanite tribe dwelling in Jerusalem and its neighbourhood: cf. Joshua 15:63; Judges 1:21; 2 Samuel 5:6. _the Amorite_ In the Tel-el-Amarna tablets the name _Amurru_is given to the dwellers in the north of Canaan in distinction from the _Kinaḥi_, the dwellers in southern Canaan.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the Hivite_ The Hivites, dwellers in the country about Gibeon (Joshua 9:7) and Sichem (Genesis 34:2); while Joshua 11:3 and Judges 3:3 speak of the Hivites as dwelling near Mount Hermon and Mount Lebanon, though in neither passage is the reading (? Hittites) certain. _the Arkite_ A Phoenician trib... [ Continue Reading ]
_the Arvadite_ Arvad, a famous maritime town, the modern _Ruwâd_on an island 100 miles north of Zidon; cf. Ezekiel 27:8; Ezekiel 27:11. _the Zemarite_ The dwellers in Simyra, modern _Sumra_, a few miles south of _Ruwâd_. It appears in the Tel-el-Amarna Letters as Zumur. _the Hamathite_ The dweller... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the border of the Canaanite_ This verse describes the geographical limits of the extension of the Canaanite peoples in a southerly direction, with Zidon as the starting-point in the north. As the limit on the south-west, we have "toward Gerar unto Gaza," and on the south-east "toward Sodom and... [ Continue Reading ]
_These are the sons of Ham_(P), &c. Cf. Genesis 10:31; and the note on Genesis 10:5. The synonyms here given are characteristic of P's fondness for redundancy and repetition.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Sons of Shem (J and P) 21. _And unto Shem_, &c. The brief account in verse is from J. _the father of all the children of Eber_ This is the point in the description of Shem which would seem most honourable to Israelite readers. The names "Eber" and "Hebrew" are almost identical in the Hebrew lan... [ Continue Reading ]
_The sons of Shem_ This is the account by P, corresponding to the previous mention of "the sons of Japheth," Genesis 10:2, and "the sons of Ham," Genesis 10:6. _Elam_ The name of a people and a country east of the Tigris and north of the Persian Gulf. The Elamites were at one time supreme in Wester... [ Continue Reading ]
_the sons of Aram_ These names convey nothing to us, though presumably they possessed importance in the geography of the Hebrews. _Uz_ The country of Job: see Job 1:1. Generally considered to have been in the south of Palestine. The name occurs again in another genealogy, Genesis 22:21; Genesis 36:... [ Continue Reading ]
_begat Shelah_ R.V. marg. "The Sept. reads _begat Cainan, and Cainan begat Shelah_." This addition is followed in Luke 3:36. _Eber_ See note on Genesis 10:21. Eber is evidently the most important name in this genealogy. As the grandson of Arpachshad, his name stands geographically in some kind of c... [ Continue Reading ]
(J). Genealogy of Shem A section from J, who speaks not of peoples, but of individuals of the heroic age. See Genesis 11:10-19 (P) for a duplicate mention of "Arpachshad, … Peleg.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Peleg_ R.V. marg. That is, _Division_. His descendants are not recorded. In Genesis 11:18-23 (P) Peleg is the father of Reu, the father of Serug, the father of Nahor. Eber's two sons, Peleg and Joktan, apparently represent the two divisions of Shemites, Peleg the northern or Mesopotamian, Joktan th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hazarmaveth_ This name is very probably reproduced in the district of S. E. Arabia called the _Ḥadramaut_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Uzal_ Mentioned in Ezekiel 27:19, cf. R.V. marg., as a place from which iron was brought. Traditionally the old name of _Sana_the chief town of Yemen.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Obal_ In 1 Chronicles 1:22 _Ebal_, where LXX Cod. B omits. Here several MSS. of the LXX omit the name. _Sheba_ See also Genesis 10:7: presumably the Sabeans of south-west Arabia whose extant inscriptions shew that at one time they must have been a prosperous and civilized community. For the Queen... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ophir_ Famous for its trade in the days of Solomon, 1 Kings 9:28; 1Ki 10:11; 1 Kings 22:48, and for its gold of especial purity. Cf. Job 22:24; Job 28:16; Psalms 45:9; Isaiah 13:12. Its locality has been much disputed; it has been identified, at different times, with regions in India, East Africa,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Mesha_ Dillmann conjectures "Massa" (Genesis 25:14), a north Arabian tribe. This is not improbable, if this verse delimits the geographical borders of "the sons of Joktan." _Sephar_ Probably the same as _Daphar_, a town on the south coast of Arabia. _the mountain of the east_ Better, as marg., _t... [ Continue Reading ]
_These are_, &c. Cf. Genesis 10:5_; Genesis 10:20_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_of these were the nations divided_ Cf. Genesis 10:1; Genesis 9:19. The word rendered "divided" is different from that in Genesis 10:25, but is the same as that which is found in Genesis 10:5. Looking back we can discern the object of the compiler in demonstrating (1) the unity of the race through N... [ Continue Reading ]