Commentary on Genesis, Chapter 10

Commentary on Genesis · Chapter 10

p. 168CHAP. X.

Ver. 1. NOW theſe are the Generations of the Sons of Noah, &c.] As he had often before mentioned the three Sons of Noah, ſo now he mentions them again, being to give an Account of their Children, by whom the Earth was peopled after the Flood. And he reckons them in the ſame order he had always done, (VI. 10. VII. 13. IX. 18.) firſt Shem, then Ham, and laſt of all Japhet. But it is obſervable, that in the next Verſe he gives an Account firſt of the Sons of Japhet: Who was indeed the eldeſt. There is great uſe of this Genealogy, as Maimonides ſhows, (Par. III. More Nev. c. 50.) becauſe the Doctrine of the Creation of the World, which is the Foundation of the Law, (i. e. of Religion,) would not have been ſo eaſily believed; if Moſes had not given an Account of the Succeſſion of Mankind, p. 169from the firſt Man to the Flood; and from the Flood to his own time: Showing from whom all Nations were derived, and how they came to be diſperſed.

Shem, is named firſt of Noah's Sons, becauſe the bleſſed Seed was to ſpring out of his Family: In which the true Religion was preſerved: Which was ſoon loſt in the Poſterity of the other two; among whom their Names remained in great Honour. For,

Ham was the Heathen Jupiter, who was called Hammon in Egypt, which, it will appear, was part of Ham's Portion, and is called the Land of Ham, as every one knows, in many places of the Pſalms. And accordingly the ſame Country is called by Plutarch foreign.

Japhet alſo ſeems to have been the ſame with Japetus, whom the Greeks own to have been their Father. Nor do they know any Name of greater Antiquity; which made them give it to decrepit Perſons, (as many, particularly Bochart, have obſerved,) and it became a Proverb in that Country, Older than Japetus. Whom their Poets feign to have attempted War againſt Jupiter; becauſe of the Diſſentions which the unlikeneſs of their Manners begat between them. Which ſeems to be nothing but the Story in Chapter IX. of this Book, verſe 22. For Ham, as I ſaid, is the Heathen Jupiter.

Ver. 2. The Sons of Japhet.] Were ſeven; the eldeſt of which, Gomer, had three Sons; and the fourth, Javan, had four: Whoſe Names we have in the following Verſes.

Gomer.] It's hard, at this diſtance, to find what Country was peopled by his Poſterity; but Bochartus p. 170in his Phaleg hath made ſuch probable Conjectures, about this and all that follow, from other Scriptures, and from neighbouring Places, and the Relicks of their Names in ancient Geographers, and ſuch-like things, that they carry a great appearance of Truth in them. Our famous Cambden (in his Account of the firſt Inhabitants of Britain) thinks that the Cimbri and Cimmerii deſcended from this Gomer, who gave them their Name; and that the old Britains came from him, becauſe they call themſelves Kumero, Cymro, and Kumeri; which ſeems to denote them the Poſterity of Gomer. But this, as alſo the Notion of Ludov. Capellus in his Chron. Sacra, p. 104. (who, if this of Mr. Camben be not accepted, propounds another, of the Comari and Chomari, a People in Scythia (mentioned by Ptolomy) within the Mountain Imaus, near Bactriana,) is confuted by what we read in Ezekiel, who makes Gomer to have been a Neighbour of Torgamah, Ezek. XXXVIII. 6. And Torgamah was a Nation that uſually went to the Marts of Tyre, XXVII. 14. and conſequently were not ſeated in the furthermoſt part of the North; but, as will appear afterward, not very far from Tyre. And in ſome Country thereabouts we muſt ſeek for Gomer: Who, it's likely, gave Phrygia its Denomination. For a part of it was called foreign, by Diodorus and Heſychius, becauſe it look'd as if it were burnt. Such was all the Country about Cayſter, Maeander, and the City Philadelphia. Now this is the very ſignification of Gomer. For in the Hebrew Gamar is to conſume; and ſo the Chaldee and Syriac frequently uſe it: Whence Gumra, or Gumro is a Coal. And Phrygia is of the ſame ſignification, (for foreign in Greek is to torrifie,) which being the Name of part p. 171of the Country, in time became the Name of the whole.

Magog.] The ſecond Son of Japhet, was in all likelihood the Father of the Scythians; which is the Opinion of Joſephus, Theodoret, St. Hierom, and others. For all that is ſaid in Scripture about Magog exactly agrees to them; as Bochartus hath ſhown at large, out of Ezekiel. L. III. Phaleg, c. 13.

Madai.] From him the Country of Media took its Name: Where he and his Children ſetled. And it is the farthermoſt Country Eaſtward, where any of the Poſterity of Japhet inhabited. What is the Name of this Country at preſent, is not eaſie to tell; the ancient name and limits of Countries ſo remote, being quite worn out of memory. But it is no improbable Conjecture of Bochartus, (L. III. c. 14.) That the ancient Sarmatae took their Name from this Man, Sear or Sar-Madai, being in Chaldee, as much as the Relicks of Madai, or the Medes. Dr. Jackſon, I think, hath well obſerved, (Book I. c. 16.) that Scythia or the North part of Aſia-Minor, and other parts adjacent, were inhabited by the Sons of Japhet, before they came into Greece, (where the next Son ſetled,) or the other parts of Europe.

Javan] Planted himſelf in Greece; under which word is comprehended, not only Achaia and the reſt of the Countries thereabout; but even Macedonia, and the Nations neighbouring to it, towards the Weſt: The Sea that waſhes them, being called the Ionian Sea. And indeed the Hebrew word foreign taking away the Vowels, may be either read Javan or Ion. From whence the Iones; whom Homer calls Jaones, which is near to Javan; which a Perſian in Ariſtophanes his Acharnenſes pronounces Jaonau: As Grotius p. 172obſerves, Annot. in L. I. De V. R. C. Hence Daniel calls Alexander, who came out of Macedonia, the King of Javan, VIII. 21. And the Chaldee Paraphraſe hath here inſtead of Javan, Macedonia. See Bochart. L. III. c. 3.

Tubal and Meſhech.] Theſe two are conſtantly joyned together by Ezekiel in many places, XXVII. 13. XXXII. 26, &c. Which is a ſign theſe two Brothers planted themſelves not far from one another. And no Conjecture ſeems ſo probable as that of Bochartus, who takes theſe to be the People, whom the Greeks call Moſchi and Tibareni: Who are as conſtantly joyned together in Herodotus, as Moſchech and Tubal are in Ezekiel. And none need wonder that Tubal was changed into Tubar and then into Tibar: For nothing was more common among the Greeks, than to change the Letter L into R, as foreign for Belial, and foreign for Phicol, &c. The Moſchi inhabited the Mountains called Moſchici, North-Eaſt of Cappadocia, and all the Mountains (as Bochart thinks) from the River Phaſis to the Pontus-Cappadodicus. The Tibareni were in the middle between the Trapezuntii and the Inhabitants of Armenia the leſs. So Strabo deſcribes them, who was born not far from theſe Countries, and had reaſon to know them. Nor is this a new Opinion of Bochart's, that the Tibareni came from Tubal: For Epiphanius in his Ancorats, mentions among the Deſcendants of Japhet, foreign, together with the Chalybes and Moſſynaeci: Whom our Broughton follows.

Tiras.] Or, Thiras, the youngeſt of the Sons of Japhet, poſſeſſed Thrace and Myſia, and the reſt of Europe towards the North. For foreign is Thiras or Thras by the change of the Letter Samech into Xi: Which p. 173in the Greek Alphabet (received from the Phoenicians) anſwers to the Letter Samech; ſo that ſome of the Hebrews write Thracia with an ſ, Thraſia: And a Thracian Woman is called by the Greeks themſelves foreign and foreign: Which comes very near to Thiras. And that great Man Bochartus ſays a great deal more to confirm this; which was the Opinion, he ſhows, of many of the Ancients. Phaleg, L. III. c. 2. And in late times, of Ludovicus Capellus, who adds that poſſibly Tros and Troes were derived from this Thiras.

Ver. 3. And the Sons of Gomer.] Now follows an Account of thoſe that deſcended from the eldeſt Son of Japhet. Aſhkenaz was the eldeſt Son of Gomer; whoſe Poſterity ſetled in Bithynia, (where we find the foot-ſteps of his Name, in the Sinus Aſcanius, and Aſcanius Lacus, and Amnis,) and in Troas, and the leſſer Phrygia: In which is a Country and a City called Aſcania, and Aſcaniae-Inſulae. Into which Country the Offspring of Aſhkenaz brought Colonies from Gomer, or the greater Phrygia: And extended themſelves to the Sea. Which being called by the People upon the Coaſt Aſcenaz, was pronounced by the Greeks foreign. Which being an odious Name in their Language, ſignifying inhoſpitable, they changed it into the contrary, and called it foreign, the Euxin Sea. See more in the fore-named Author, L. III. c. 9. Ludov. Capellus hapned upon the ſame Conjecture. Riphath, or Diphath, as it is written in 1 Chron. 1.6. Whoſe Poſterity Joſephus thinks to have inhabited Paphlagonia: Which is a Country near to Phrygia, upon the Euxine Sea: And there are remainders of the Name in ſeveral places, both ways written, with Reſh, or with Daleth; as Bochart ſhows, p. 174L. III. c. 10. Mela places the Riphaces in this Country, as Grotius obſerves, Annot. in L. I. De V. R. C.

Togarmah.] His Poſterity, it is manifeſt, ſetled Northward of Judaea, by that place in Ezek. XXXVIII. 6. where the Greek Scholiaſt ſaith, ſome hereby underſtand the Cappadocians and Galatians. And indeed, Cappadocia lies near to Gomer or Phrygia, with whom Togarmah is wont to be joyn'd: And in reſpect of Judaea it lies Northward: And was moſt famous for excellent Horſes; which the Prophet ſaith came from Togarmah, Ezek. XXVII. 14. The Greek Interpreters conſtantly write it Torgama, or Thorgama; from whence the Name of the Trogmi or Trocmi may well be thought to be derived: Who, Strabo ſaith, L. XII. lived near Pontus and Cappadocia: And it appears by Ptolomy, they poſſeſſed ſome Cities in Cappadocia it ſelf. This People are called by Stephanus, Trocmeni, and in the Council of Chalcedon, Trocmades, or Trogmades: For their Biſhop is often mentioned foreign. See Bochart in the ſame Book, Cap. 11.

Ver. 4. And the Sons of Javan.] Having told us what Sons Gomer had, he informs us who had deſcended from Javan: Who had four Sons, that gave Names to four Provinces.

Eliſhah.] His firſt-born inhabited Peloponneſus: In which their was an ample Country, called by the Ancients Elis: and one part of it called by Homer, Aliſium. I omit the other Arguments whereby Bochartus proves this to be the part of the Earth, where Eliſhah's Poſterity ſetled, not far from their Father Javan. Nay, Ludovicus Capellus, p. 105. Chronol. Sacra. thinks the foreign, Aeoles, and the Country Aeolia had its Name from thence.

p. 175Tarſhiſh.] (Or, Tarſis.) Neither peopled Ciliciae where we meet with a like Name, nor the Coaſt about Carthage, as ſome of the Ancients thought; but, as Euſebius, and from him our Broughton, and lately Bochart, have obſerved, from him came the Iberi in Spain. foreign. Which Name of Iberi came, as Bochart thinks, from the Phoenicians, who called the Bochart and utmoſt Limits of any thing Ebrim or Ibrim, a word often uſed in the Syriack Verſion of the Pſalms and the New Teſtament. From whence, it is not unlikely, the Spaniards were called by this Name of Iberi, becauſe they were thought to poſſeſs the utmoſt Ends of the Earth Weſtward. However we may well think Tarſhiſh to be Spain, or that part of it which was moſt frequented by the Phoenicians, viz. About Gades and Tarteſſus: As Bochartus, I think, hath proved by evident Arguments; fetched chiefly from what Ezekiel ſays of Tarſis, (XXVII. 12.) and comparing it with this Country. L. III. Phaleg, c. 7.

Kittim.] The ſame Author hath proved by ſolid Arguments, and by good Authority, that from him came the People who inhabited Italy: In which there were anciently many footſteps of this Name. For there was in Latium it ſelf a City called foreign, as Halycarnaſſaeus tells us: Which was one of thoſe ſeven great and populous Cities taken by Coriolanus, as Plutarch, in his Life, tells us. There was a River called foreign about Cumae; mentioned by Ariſtotle, as turning Plants into Stones. And the very Name of Latines anſwers to Chittim: For moſt ſay it comes à latendo, being formed to expreſs this ancient Scripture Name. For Chetema in Arabick (which is a branch of the Hebrew Tongue) is to hide: And p. 176Chetim is hidden, and latent. And ſo no doubt it was anciently uſed in Hebrew: For what better ſence can we make of thoſe words of Jeremy II. 22. thy inquity, foreign, is hidden or laid up with me: According to an uſual expreſſion in Scripture, Deut. XXXII. 34. Job XXI. 9. Hoſ. XIII. 12. where there are words of the like import with this. That famous Man, Bochart, ſaith a great deal more, to aſſert this, L. III. c. 5.

Dodanim.] He is called Rhodanim, in 1 Chron. I. 7. By whom the Greek Interpreters underſtand the People of Rhodes, (and ſo do ſeveral of the Ancients,) but the Name of that Iſland is much later than Moſes his time: And therefore it is better to underſtand hereby, that Country now called France: Which was peopled by the Poſterity of this Son of Javan. Who when they came to this Coaſt, gave Name (as Bochart conjectures) to the great River Rhodanus. Where it is likely they firſt ſeated themſelves, and called the adjacent Coaſt Rhodanuſia: Which had anciently in it a City of the ſame Name, mentioned by Stephanus; and ſaid to be ſeated in foreign, in tractu Maſſilienſi, where now ſtands Marſeilles. See Bochart, L. III. c. 6. Theſe Dodanites are never mentioned in any other places of Scripture, which makes it the more difficult where to find them: But this Account ſeems more probable than that of our learned Mede, who places them in Epirus, (where there was a City called Dodona,) and part of Peloponneſus: All which, and ſeveral Countries thereabout, ſeem to be comprehended under the Name of Javan.

Ver. 5. By theſe were the Iſles of the Gentiles divided.] By the word Iſles we commonly underſtand Countries compaſſed round about by the Sea. But p. 177there were not ſuch Iſlands enough to contain the Sons of Japhet, (though theſe were part of their Portion,) and therefore we muſt ſeek for another ſence of this word. Which the Hebrews uſe (as Mr. Mede hath obſerved) to ſignifie, all thoſe Countries divided from them by the Sea; or, ſuch as they uſed not to go to, but by Sea. See Book I. Diſc. 47. Many places teſtifie this, Iſai. XI. 10, 11. XL. 15. Jer. II. 10, &c. Now if Moſes wrote this Book in Egypt, (as he thinks it probable,) they commonly went from thence to Phrygia, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia by Sea, as well as to Greece, Italy, &c. To Media indeed, he thinks, they did not uſe to go by Sea, and therefore makes this an Objection againſt Madai being the Father of the Medes: For their Country cannot be called an Iſle. But the far greater part of the Regions, peopled by the Sons of Japhet, being ſuch as he confeſſes the Hebrews call Iſles, Moſes might well ſay, the Iſles of the Gentiles were parted among them, though Media be comprehended which was not ſuch an Iſle. But there is no need of all this, if we take the word we tranſlate Iſle, for a Region, Country, or Province. And ſo it plainly ſignifies, Job XXII. 30. Iſai. XX. 6. where, in the Margin, we tranſlate it Country. And then the word Goim, which we render Gentiles, ſignifies a multitude of People; as it doth often in Scripture: Particularly Gen. XVII. 4, 16. And ſo we tranſlate it, Nations, in the laſt word of this Verſe; and in the laſt Clauſe of this Chapter; by theſe were the [Goim] Nations divided in the Earth. Which may ſerve to explain this Phraſe here; which we may thus interpret, by theſe, or among theſe, were divided the Regions of the People or Nations (deſcended from Japhet) in their Lands; in the ſeveral Countries which they poſſeſſed.

p. 178Divided.] It appears by the following words, (according to his Language, Family, and Nation,) this great Diviſion of the Earth was made orderly; and not by a confuſed irregular Diſperſion, wherein every one went whither he liſted, and ſeated himſelf where he thought good. This Mr. Mede thinks is alſo ſuggeſted in the very word we tranſlate divided: Which ſignifies not a ſcattered, but a diſtinct Partition.

Every one after his Tongue, or Language.] The ſame is ſaid ver. 20. and ver. 31. of the Poſterity of Cham and Shem. Which ſignifies they did not all ſpeak the ſame Language, but doth not prove that every one of the fore-mentioned People, had a Language peculiar to themſelves, diſtinct from the reſt, and not underſtood by them. As when Ahaſuerus is ſaid to have cauſed Letters to be written to an hundred twenty ſeven Provinces, according to their Language and their Writing, (Eſth. XIII. 9.) it doth not prove there were ſo many ſeveral ſorts of Writing, and ſo many ſeveral Languages in his Empire: But only that to each of them was directed a Letter, in that Language which they ſpake.

After their Families, in their Nations.] The Particle in denotes, as Mr. Mede obſerves, Families to be ſubordinate to Nations, as parts to a whole. Families are parts of a Nation, and a Nation is an Offſpring containing many Families. So here was a two-fold order in this Diviſion. Firſt, They were ranged according to their Nations; and then every Nation was ranked by his Families. So that every Nation had his Lot by himſelf; and in every Nation, the Families belonging to it, had their Portion by themſelves. The number of Nations deſcended from Japhet p. 179were ſeven, according to the number of his Sons, who were all Founders of ſeveral Nations. But the number of Families is not here intirely ſet down: For Moſes names only the Families of Gomer and Javan. Whoſe Children perhaps are rather to be lookt upon as Founders of Nations; and therefore mentioned by Moſes, when the Poſterity of the reſt are omitted.

Ver. 6. And the Sons of Ham.] Having given an Account of the Sons and Grand-Sons of Japhet, the eldeſt Son of Noah, he next proceeds to the Sons of Ham, the ſecond Son of Noah, which were Four: And gives an Account alſo of every one of their Sons, and of ſome of their Grand-Sons.

Cuſh.] Gave Name to a Country very often mention'd in Scripture; which moſt of the Ancients take for Aethiopia, and ſo we commonly tranſlate the word Cuſh. But if by Aethiopia they meant that Country South of Egypt, and not an Eaſtern Country, (which may be a queſtion,) Jonathan is rather to be followed, who here Paraphraſes it Arabia. For Cuſh is the ſame with Chuſan, (only this latter is a diminutive,) which is made the ſame with Midian, Habak. III. 7. And ſo Moſes his Wife is called a Chuſhite, (we render it Aethiopian,) for ſhe was a Midianite, Exod. II. 16, 21. and therefore was of Arabia, not of Aethiopia: And ſo we ſhould tranſlate it, (Numb. XII. 2.) an Arabian Woman. And there is a Demonſtration of it in Ezek. XXIX. 10. that Cuſh cannot be Aethiopia; for, when God ſaith he will make Egypt deſolate, from the tower of Syene, to the border of Cuſh, if we ſhould underſtand by Cuſh the Country of Aethiopia, it will be as if he had ſaid, from Aethiopia to Aethiopia. For every one p. 180knows Syene was the Border of Egypt towards Aethiopia: And therefore here being two oppoſite Borders, it is manifeſt that Cuſh, which is the oppoſite term to Syene, cannot be Aethiopia, but Arabia: Which bounded that part of Egypt, which is moſt remote from Aethiopia. A great number of other Arguments, out of the Scriptures, evince this: Which Bochartus hath collected, L. IV. Phaleg, c. 2. and Philip. Beroaldus aſſerted the ſame thing, before him.

Mizraim.] The Father of them who inhabited Egypt, whoſe Metropolis [Alcairo] the Arabians at this Day call Meſer; and the firſt Month among the ancient Egyptians was called Meſori: And Cedrenus calls the Country it ſelf Meſtra, as Grotius obſerves in his Annot. in L. I. De V. R. C. and Lud. Capellus in his Chronol. Sacra, p. 109. And this word Mizraim being of the Dual Number, (which ſhows it to be the Name of the Country rather than of a Perſon,) denotes two Egypts, as Bochart obſerves. For ſo there were, the higher and the lower. All that Country was called the higher, where Nile runs in one Stream: The lower was that, where it is divided into many: Which the Greeks call Delta, from its triangular form.

Phut.] All Africa was divided between Mizraim and Phut, as Bochartus obſerves. For all Egypt, and ſeveral other parts of Africa, as far as the Lake Trilonides, (which divides Africa into two almoſt equal parts,) fell to Mizraim. The reſt, beyond that Lake, to the Atlantick Ocean, was the Portion of Phut. Of which Name there are ſome footſteps, in the City Putea, which Ptolomy, L. III. c. 1. calls foreign. And the River called Phut, mentioned by Pliny, as Grotius p. 181notes; and a Country, which St. Hierom in his time ſays was called Regio Phutenſis: Which lies not far from Fez. Another Name of Africa is Lub, which we often meet withall in Scripture: Whence the Name of Lybia. Concerning which, and a great many other Proofs that Phut was planted in Africa, ſee the famous Bochartus, L. IV. Phaleg, c. 33.

Canaan.] The youngeſt Son of Ham, every one knows, gave Name to that Country, which God gave afterwards to the Iſraelites. Which the Phoenicians, who deſcended from the Canaanites, called foreign, by a contraction of the word Canaan, as many have obſerved out of Euſebius, L. I. Praepar. c. 10. who quotes Sanchuniathon and Philo-Byblius for it. It is ſo certain that the Phoenicians had their Original from the Canaanites, that the LXX uſe their Names promiſcuouſly. For example, Shaul is called, Gen. XLVI. 10. the Son of a Canaanitiſh Woman: Whom in Exod. VI. 15. they call the Son of a Phoenician Woman. And ſo in the New Teſtament, the Woman whom St. Matthew calls a Woman of Canaan, XV. 22. St. Mark calls a Syrophoenician, VII. 26. We never indeed find the Phoenicians called Canaanites by the Greeks: For their Poſterity, being aſhamed (as we may ſuppoſe) of that Name, becauſe of the Curſe pronounced upon Canaan, choſe to be called rather Syrians, or Aſſyrians, or Sidonians, or Phoenicians. For Syria, which was a common Name to a great many People round about, was at firſt proper to them; from the Metropolis of Phoenicia, which was Tyre, in Hebrew Sor or Sur; from whence Surim, and thence the Greek foreign. They that would ſee more of this, may read the fore-named Author. L. IV. Phaleg, c. 34.

p. 182Ver. 7. In this Verſe Moſes acquaints us, what People deſcended from the eldeſt Son of Ham, viz. Cuſh, who had five Sons: And the fourth of them had two.

Seba.] There were four Nations, that had the Name of Seba or Shebah, as Bochart obſerves, L. II. c. 25. Three of them are mentioned here in this Chapter. The firſt of them, this Son of Cuſh is written with Samech; all the reſt with Schin: viz. The Grand-Son of Cuſh, who was the Son of Raamah or Rhegma, in the end of this Verſe. The third was the Son of Jocktan, the Son of Shem, verſe 28. And the fourth was a Grand-Child of Abraham, by his Son Jokshan. XXV. 3. They that deſcended from the three firſt of theſe, were a People given to Trade; from the fourth came a People addicted to Robbery. The firſt, the ſecond, and the fourth, were ſeated near the Perſian Sea; the third near the Arabian. Whence Pliny ſaith the Sabaeans ſtretched themſelves to both Seas, L. V. c. 28. For all theſe four People, were comprehended under the Name of Sabaeans, though very different one from another. But it may be doubted whether the Sabaeans, who deſcended from Jokshan the Grand-Child of Abraham, did live near the Perſian Sea. And I ſhall ſhow upon XXV. 3. that Bochart himſelf thought otherwiſe, upon further Conſideration.

And as for this Seba, he was the Father of a People in Arabia called Jemamites, as Alcamus an Arabian Writer tells us. Whoſe words are, A certain Man called Saba gathered together the Tribes of the Jemamites: i. e. He was the Founder of the People called by that Name, from a famous Queen of that Country called Jemama. See Bochartus, L. IV. c. 8. p. 183where he ſhows where they were ſituated: And that they are the Sabaeans who are ſaid by Agatharcides to have been a very tall proper People, mentioned Iſai. XLV. 14.

Havilah.] Or, Chavilah. There were two Havilahs alſo: One the Son of Cuſh here mentioned; another the Son of Jocktan, verſe 29. From this Havilah ſeem to have come the People called Chanlothaei, by Eratoſthenes: Who were ſeated in Arabia Foelix, (as Strabo tells us,) between the Nabataei and the Agraei, i. e. the Hagerens. By Pliny they are called Chavelaei, (which comes neareſt to the Hebrew Name,) who were feated in that part of the Country, which lay towards Babylon. As appears by this, that in the Scripture the Wilderneſs of Shur (nigh Egypt) and Havilah are oppoſed, as the moſt remote oppoſite Bounds of Arabia. Thus the Iſhmaelites are ſaid to have dwelt from Havilah to Shur, Gen. XXV. 18. that is before Egypt, è Regione Egypti, over-againſt Egypt, as Bochart tranſlates it. That is, Havilah bounded them on the North-Eaſt; and Shur on the South-Weſt: Which Shur was near to Egypt. And ſo Saul is ſaid to have ſmitten the Amalekites from Havilah to Shur, &c. 1 Sam. XV. 7. Where we tranſlate the laſt words, over againſt Egypt.

Sabta.] Or Sabtha, (whom the Ancients call Sabatha, or Sabathes,) ſeems to have been ſetled in that part of Arabia Foelix called Leanitis, upon the Perſian Sea. Where there was a City, not far diſtant from the Sea, called by Ptolomy foreign. From whence they ſent Colonies over the Sea into Perſia, as Bochart ſhows by ſeveral Arguments, L. IV. c. 10. For there is an Iſland on that Coaſt called Sophtha; and a People called Meſſabatae or Maſſabathae upon the p. 184Confines of Media: From the Chaldaean word Meſa, (which ſignifies middle,) and Sabatha; as if one would ſay, the Mediterranean Sabtae.

Raamah.] Or, as the Ancients pronounce his Name, Rhegma, was ſituated in the ſame Arabia, upon the Perſian Sea. Where there is a City mentioned by Ptolomy's Tables Rhegama; in the Greek Text expreſly foreign, Rhegma. And ſo Stephanus mentions both foreign and foreign about the Perſian Gulph.

Sabtecha.] Or Sabtheca, as ſome read it, was the youngeſt Son of Cuſh; except Nimrod, who is mentioned by himſelf. It is hard to find the place of his Habitation: But the reſt of the Sons of Cuſh being ſeated about the Perſian Sea, (except Nimrod, who, as Moſes tells us, went to Babylon,) Bochartus thinks it reaſonable to ſeek for him in that part of Caramania, where there was a City called Samydace, and a River Samydachus: Which, he thinks may have come from Sabetecha, by the change of the Letter B into M: Which was very frequent in Arabia and the neighbouring Countries. For Merodach, is alſo called Berodach, in the Book of the Kings. And in the Chaldee Paraphraſe, Baſan is called Bathnan and Mathnan: And Abana (the famous River of Damaſcus) is expounded Amana: And Meccha and Beccha, are the ſame City among the Arabians. In like manner Sabtecha or Sabithace, might be changed into Samydace. Now into Caramania there was a ſhort cut over the Streights of the Perſian Gulph, out of Arabia. I ſee nothing any where more probable than this Conjecture of a very learned Man. L. IV. Phaleg, c. 4.

p. 185And the Sons of Ramah; Sheba and Dedan.] He gives an account of none of Cuſh's other Sons poſterity, but only of this: Whoſe two Sons were ſeated near him and one another. For the younger of them, Dedan, ſeems to have left his Name in a City now called Dadan, hard by Rhegma, upon the ſame Shore, Eaſt-ward. And from this Dadan the Country now hath its Name: Of which Ezekiel ſpeaks, XXVII. 15. as Bochart ſhews plainly, L. IV. c. 6. And Sheba (or as others read it, Seba, or Saba) his elder Brother, was ſeated in the ſame Country not far from Dedan, where Pomponius mentions a People called Sabaei; and Arrianus ſpeaks of a great Mountain not far off, called Sabo, from this Saba: Whoſe poſterity eaſily paſſing over the Straits before-mentioned, into Caramania, might poſſibly give Name to a City there, which Ptolomy calls Sabis: And Pliny mentions a River of the ſame Name: And Dionyſ. Periegetes ſpeaks of a People called Sabae. Of whom the Scripture ſeems to ſpeak in thoſe places where Sheba and Seba are joined together, LXXII. 10. The Kings of Sheba (i. e. of this Country) and Seba ſhall offer Gifts. And ſometimes Sheba and Raamah (for Rhegma) are joined, Ezek. XXVII. 22. where the Prophet ſpeaks of this Sheba the Son of Rhegma; who brought thoſe precious Commodities there mentioned, out of Arabia: They lying very commodiouſly for Traffick upon the Perſian Gulph. And theſe are the People alſo mentioned, verſe 23. of that Chapter, with ſundry other Nations; who lived upon Tigris and Euphrates, which run into the Perſian Sea; and therefore it is reaſonable to think that Sheba's poſterity lived near the ſame Sea.

p. 186Ver. 8. And Cuſh begat Nimrod.] Beſides all the fore-mentioned, he alſo begat this Son; whom Moſes diſtinguiſhes from the reſt, and mentions him alone by himſelf, becauſe he was the moſt eminent among his Brethren, though born the laſt; a mighty Commander, as Moſes here deſcribes him. Thus in the Title of Pſal. XVIII. it is ſaid David was delivered out of the hand of all his Enemies, and out of the hand of Saul: Who is particularly mentioned by himſelf, becauſe he was his Chief Enemy. Sir W. Raleigh thinks he was begotten by Cuſh, when his other Children were become Fathers; and ſo being younger than his Grandſons, he is named after an account is given of every one of them.

Nimrod.] The Author of the Chronicon Alexandr. thinks he was the ſame with Ninus: But Voſſius rather takes him for him, whom the Greek Writers call Belus, that is, Lord: And that Ninus was his Son, ſo called from the very thing it ſelf, Nin in Hebrew ſignifying a Son, L. I. de Idolol. cap. 24. The ſame Chronicon ſaith, that Nimrod taught the Aſſyrians to worſhip the Fire: And both Elmacinus and Patricides affirm the ſame. See Hotting. Smegma Orient. L. I. c. 8. p. 272. Which if it be true, I doubt not was as an Emblem of the Divine Majeſty; which uſed to appear in a glorious Flame. Ʋr a City of Chaldaea ſeems to have had its name from the Fire which was there worſhipped: And that Ʋr alſo from whence Abraham came, the Hebrews fanſie had the ſame original; for their Fable is, That Abraham was thrown into the Fire, becauſe he would not Worſhip it; and by the power of God delivered, as St. Hierom tells us in his Queſtions upon Geneſis.

p. 187He began to be a mighty one in the Earth.] He was the firſt great Warrior and Conqueror; ſo Gibbor is to be underſtood, not for a Giant, or Man of great Stature; but for a potent Perſon: And as ſome will have it, a more ſevere Governour than they had been, who only exerciſed Paternal Authority. For he was the firſt that put down the Government of Elderſhip, or Paternity (as Sir W. Raleigh ſpeaks) and laid the Foundation of Soveraign Rule.

Ver. 9. He was a mighty Hunter.] Or rather, mighty in Hunting: For the Word tzid doth not ſignify a Hunter, but Hunting. Which ſhows by what means he came to be ſo great a Monarch. He hardned himſelf to Labour by this Exerciſe (which was very toilſom) and drew together a great Company of robuſt Young Men, to attend him in this ſport: Who were hereby alſo fitted to purſue Men, as they had done wild Beaſts. For this was lookt upon in all ages, as the rudiment of Warfare, (as Bochart ſhews out of a great many Authors, L. IV. cap. 12.) All the Heroes of old, ſuch as Neſtor, Theſeus, Caſtor, Pollux, Ʋlyſſes, Diomedes, Achilles, Aeneas, &c. being all bred up to hunting, as Xenophon informs us. And it was not without ſome ſuch reaſon, that noble Families carry in their Coats of Arms (as Enſigns of their valorous Atchievements) Lyons, Bears, Tygers, &c. from their killing ſuch like fierce Creatures. For it muſt be farther noted, that in this Age of Nimrod, the Exerciſe of Hunting might well be the more highly eſteemed, and win him the Hearts of Mankind; becauſe he delivered them, by this means, from thoſe wild Beaſts, whereby they were much infeſted, and very dangerouſly expoſed, while they were but few, and lived ſcattered up p. 188and down, in the open Air, or in Tents, but weakly defended. The deſtroying of wild Beaſts, (and perhaps of Thieves whom he hunted alſo) was a great ſervice in thoſe times, and made many join with him in greater deſigns which he had at laſt; to ſubdue Men, and make himſelf Maſter of the People, who were his Neighbours, in Babylon, Suſiana, and Aſſyria. The memory of this hunting of his, was preſerved by the Aſſyrians (who made Nimrod the ſame with Orion) who joined the Dog and the Hare (the firſt Creature perhaps that was hunted) with his Conſtellation. This Mr. Selden obſerves in his Titles of Honour, Part. I. cap. I. where he farther notes that he is to this day called by the Arabians, Algebar, the mighty Man, or the Giant: From the Hebrew Gibbor here in the text.

Before the Lord.] i. e. To the higheſt degree. For ſo, a great City to God, is a very great City, Jonah III. 3. and a Child very beautiful is called foreign, fair to, or before God, Acts VII. 20. Or the meaning may be, he was truly ſo, not only in common opinion. For that is ſaid to be before God, which really is: Becauſe God cannot be deceived with falſe appearances.

Wherefore it is ſaid, even as Nimrod the mighty, &c.] i. e. Thence came the common Proverb: Which Moſes alledges as a proof of the Truth of what he delivered. Nothing being more uſual in his days, than for Men to ſay when they would expreſs how exceeding great any Man was, He is like Nimrod, the mighty Hunter before the LORD. Thus common Sayings are quoted in other places, nothing being more notorious than ſuch Proverbial Speeches, Numb. XXI. 27. 1 Sam. X. 12.

p. 189It is not improbable that Nimrod is the ſame with him whom the Greeks call Bacchus; whoſe Conqueſts in the Eaſt, as far as India, are nothing elſe but the Expeditions of Nimrod and his Succeſſors. The very Name of Bacchus imports this, which was made out of Bar-Chus the Son of Cuſh, as Dammaſek, (i. e. Damaſcus,) was out of Darmaſek. Many other Arguments for this, are collected by Bochartus, L. I. Phaleg, cap. 2.

Ver. 10. The beginning of his Kingdom was Babel.] (See XI. 5, 8.) Which, according to the Gentile Writers was built by Belus, (the ſame with Nimrod, who was called Belus, as I noted before, from Baal, becauſe of his Dominion and large Empire, over which he was an abſolute Lord.) They that ſay, his Son Ninus (or, as Philo-Byblius, his Son Babylon) was the Builder, may be thus reconciled with the fore-mention'd Opinion; That Belus began it, and his Son much augmented it. See Voſſ. L. I. De Idol. c. 24. & L. VII. c 9. There are thoſe that ſay it was built by Semiramis, but as they have it only from Cteſias, who is not to be relied on againſt Beroſus and Abydenus, who wrote the Hiſtory of that Country out of the ancient Records, and ſay Belus built it; ſo if it be true, we muſt underſtand it of her rebuilding it, after it was decayed, or adding greater Splendor to it. And this alſo muſt be underſtood not of the Wife of Ninus, for it is a queſtion whether he had any Wife of that Name: Or, if he had, ſhe was different from her whom the Greeks ſo much magnifie, who lived almoſt two thouſand Years after the Son of Belus, as Salmaſius obſerves (Exercit. in Solin. p. 1228.) out of Philo-Byblius.

p. 190And Erec, &c.] Having built Babel, which he made the chief City of his Kingdom, he proceeded to build three Cities more, in the ſame Country. Which, they that think he won by Conqueſt, imagine alſo that he made Babel the Head City, becauſe he won it firſt; and then the other. And all this, ſay ſome, before the diſperſion we read of in the next Chapter: Which others think hapned after the diſperſion. Erec ſeems to have been the City, which Ptolomy calls Arecca, and Ammianus, Arecha: Which lay in the Country of Suſiana upon the River Tigris. Whence the Areccaei Campi in Tibullus, as Salmaſius obſerves in his Exercit. in Solinum, p. 1194. From whence Huetius thinks the Country below it was called Iraque; mentioned by Alferganus, and other Arabian Writers.

Acchad.] It is an hard matter to give any account of this City; but the LXX calling it Archad, from the Chaldee Idiom, which is wont to change the Daghes, which doubles a Letter, into R, (as Darmaſek for Dammaſek, i. e. Damaſcus; and by the ſame reaſon, Archad for Acchad,) the footſteps of this Name may be thought to remain in Argad, a River of Sittacene in Perſia. For nothing is more common, than to change ch into g.

Chalne.] It is ſometimes called Chalno, Iſai. X. 9. and Channe, Ezek. XXVII. 23. From whence the Country called Chalonitis, (mentioned by Pliny, and Strabo, Polybius, and Dionyſ. Periegetes,) may well be thought to have taken its Name: Whoſe chief City was called Chalne, or Chalone, (which is the ſame,) and afterwards changed by Pacorus, King of Perſia, into Cteſiphon.

p. 191Ver. 11. Out of that Land went forth Aſhur.] This Tranſlation is not ſo likely, as that in the Margin, He went out into Aſſyria. For Moſes is ſpeaking of what Nimrod the Son of Cuſh did, and not of the Sons of Shem, among whom Aſhur was one. Nor is it agreeable to the order of Hiſtory to tell us here what Aſhur did, before there be any mention of his Birth, which follows, verſe 22. Beſides, it was not peculiar to Aſhur, the Son of Shem, that he went out of the Land of Shinar: For ſo did almoſt all Men who were diſperſed from thence. Add to this, that Aſſyria is called the Land of Nimrod by Micah, V. 6. They ſhall waſte the Land of Aſſyria with the Sword, and the Land of Nimrod with their Lances; or, in the entrance thereof, as we tranſlate it. Therefore it is very reaſonable to take Aſhur here, not for the Name of a Man, but of a Place, as it is frequently: And expound the word Aſhur, as if it were Leaſhur into Aſhur; as beth in 2 Sam. VI. 10. is put for lebeth; other Examples there are of this, 2 Sam. X. 2. 1 Chron. XIX. 2. By going forth into Aſhur, Bochart thinks is meant Nimrod's making War there: For ſo the Hebrew Phraſe go forth, imports in 2 Sam. XI. 1. Pſalm LX. 12. Iſai. XLII. Zac. XIV. 3. So Nimrod went forth into Aſſyria, which belong'd to the Children of Shem: But was uſurped, he thinks, by this Son of Cuſh; who had no right to it, but what he got by his Sword. If this be true, Mr. Mede's Obſervation which I mentioned upon verſe 27. of the foregoing Chapter, [That the Poſterity of Cham never ſubdued either thoſe of Japhet, or Shem,] muſt be underſtood of ſuch large Conqueſts as they two made over one another, and over him.

p. 192And builded Niniveh.] Which Nimrod ſo called from his Son Ninus: The very word Niniveh being as much as Ninus his habitation, foreign. Thus Cain built a City and called it, not by his own, but his Son's Name, IV. 17. This was the chief City of Aſſyria, and flouriſhed in great Glory till it was utterly razed by the Medes, and never again re-built. It ſtood on the Weſt-ſide of Tigris.

Rehoboth.] There was a City of this Name upon Euphrates, which was famous for the Birth of Saul, one of the Kings of Edom, Gen. XXXVI. 37. which the Arabians call Rahabath-Melic, i. e. Rahabath of the Kings, a little below Cercuſium, at the Mouth of the River Chaboras. But this being two far diſtant from Niniveh, (to which this and the two following Cities were Neighbours) Bochart's Conjecture is not unreaſonable, That this is the City which Ptolomy calls Birtha, on the Weſt of Tigris, at the Mouth of the River Lycus. For in the Chaldee Tongue Streets are called Birtha; and that is the ſignification of Rehoboth, as the Margin of our Bible will inform the Reader.

Calah, or Calach.] Seems to have been the chief City of the Country called Calachene; about the Fountain of the River Lycus: Which Strabo often mentions.

Ver. 12. And Reſen, &c.] The fore-named great Man conjectures this to have been the City, which Xenophon calls Lariſſa, ſituate upon the Tigris: Which Moſes might well call a great City. For ſo Xenophon ſays it was, and deſcribes the heighth of the Walls to have been an hundred Foot, the breadth five and twenty, and the compaſs of it eight Miles about. The Greeks found it in Ruines, and uninhabited, when p. 193they came into thoſe parts; being deſtroyed by the Perſians, when they ſpoiled the Medes of their Empire. And it is poſſible, as Bochart goes on, the Greeks asking whoſe City that was, and the Aſſyrians anſwering Lereſen, i. e. Reſen's, (adding, as is uſual, le, the Note of the Genitive Caſe,) they might thence call it Lariſſa. Such a miſtake, he ſhows, there is in the Vulgar Tranſlation of the Bible; which takes this Particle le for part of the Name. For, in 1 Chron. V. 26. where it is ſaid the King of Aſſyria, carried the Iſraelites to Halah, the Vulgar ſays unto Lahelah. Whereas it is certain from 2 Kings XVII. 6. that it ſhould be unto Halah, or Helah. However it is reaſonable to think, that theſe words, this is a great City, belongs to Reſen, not to Niniveh: Whoſe greatneſs as well as Babylon's was very well known; and therefore theſe words ſeem to be added to denote Reſen to be a great deal bigger than the two before-named, Rehoboth and Calah. See Bochart. L. IV. c. 23.

They that think Nimrod ſetled his Kingdom in Babel before the Diſperſion, by confuſion of their Languages, imagine that he made this Expedition into Aſſyria, (where he built Niniveh, and the reſt of the Cities here mentioned,) after they were forced to leave off their vain-glorious building at Babel, and to diſperſe themſelves into other Countries.

Ver. 13. And Mizraim (the ſecond Son of Cham) begat Ludim.] By whom we are to underſtand the Aethiopians, as Bochart hath proved by many Arguments, (which I ſhall not mention,) and therefore underſtands by theſe words, that the Aethiopians were a Colony of the Egyptians. L. IV. Phaleg, c. 26. For it appears by Diodorus that they were near of kin; having many things common to both Nations; which p. 194he reckons up, and are ſufficient to perſuade thoſe who conſider them, that they had the ſame Original: The only difference among them, being this; which of them was of greateſt Antiquity. The Egyptians fanſied they were the firſt of all Men; and the Aethiopians pretended that they living more Southerly, had a ſtronger Sun; which contributed more efficaciouſly to natural Generation: And that Egypt was a Country thrown up by the Mudd which Nilus left, and ſo got out of the Sea. But Moſes hath determined this Controverſie in theſe words, and by the reſt of his Hiſtory. Which ſhows that the firſt Men after the Flood, came from the Mountains of Armenia, which is in the North; and conſequently they went to the Southerly Countries by degrees, through Aſſyria, Babylon, Syria, and Egypt into Aethiopia. And their diſcourſe is ridiculous about the Original of Egypt, unto which we ſee nothing added by the Nile, in many Ages.

Anamim.] Our Broughton takes theſe to be the Numidians, among whom he finds Anubis. Others take them for the Anaitae in Aethiopia. But theſe Anamims being derived from Mizraim, we are rather to ſeek them about Egypt: And the Opinion of Bochartus is probable that they are the Nomades, who lived about Ammon and Naſamonitis; and called Anamii from Anam, which ſignifies a Sheep among the ancient Egyptians, as it doth among the Arabians. For the Nomades fed Sheep, as Herodotus tells us, and lived upon them, (whereas they abſtained from eating Cows or Swine,) and their Garments alſo, as he tells us, were of Sheep-Skins.

p. 195Lehabim.] Theſe are thought to be the Lybians; but that being a Name which belongs to the greateſt part of Africa, it cannot be well thought that ſo great a Portion fell to this Son of Mizraim, or that ſo many People were deſcended from him. Therefore Bochart with great reaſon thinks the Lehabaei were not all the Lybians; but thoſe whom Ptolomy, Pliny, and others call Lybiaegyptii: Becauſe they lived next to Egypt on the Weſt of Thebais, in a ſandy, aduſt Soil, burnt by exceſſive heat; from whence he thinks they had the Name of Lehabim. For Lehaba ſignifies both a Flame and Heat. As in Joel I. 19. The flame (lehaba in the Hebrew,) or ſcorching heat, hath burnt all the trees of the field.

Naphtuhim.] Theſe ſeem to be the People of Nephthuah; and what that is, we may learn from Plutarch: Who in his Book De Iſide & Oſiride, ſays, the Egyptians call the Country and the Mountains that lie upon the Sea, Nephthun, which may incline us to think that the Naphtuhim were thoſe People that lived upon the ſhoar of the Mediterranean in Marmarica: For the People upon the Red-Sea belonged to Arabia, not to Egypt. It is not improbable that from hence came the Name of Neptune, who originally was a Lybian God; and known to none but that People.

There was a City called Nepata by Pliny, which Grotius thinks may explain this Name: But it was in Aethiopia; and Moſes is ſpeaking of the Sons of Mizraim.

Ver. 14. And Pathruſim.] Who were the Inhabitants, it is likely, of Patros: Which was a part of Egypt; though repreſented ſometime in Scripture as a Country diſtinct from it: Juſt as Thebais is in ſome p. 196Authors ſaid to be, whereas it was the upper Egypt. Bochart hath brought a great many Arguments to prove this: Particularly from Ezekiel XXIX. 14. which ſhows clearly that Pathros belongs to Egypt: For the Prophet foretelling that God would bring again the Captivity of Egypt, he ſaith he would cauſe them to return into the Land of Pathros, into the Land of their Habitation, or Nativity: That is, into Thebais, which Nebuchadnezzar had principally afflicted, carrying moſt of the Inhabitants of Thebes into Captivity. This ſeems a more probable Account of the Pathruſim, than theirs who take them to be the Pharuſi, (as Grotius doth,) or Phautuſii; who were a People of Aethiopia.

Caſluhim, or Caſluchim.] Theſe were the Colchi, who though they lived far from Egypt, from whence they are ſaid here to deſcend, yet there are a great many Arguments, that they had their Original from that Country. For ſeveral ancient Authors ſay ſo, as Herodotus, Diodorus, Strabo, and Ammianus: All of great Credit. And there are many Reaſons whereby Herodotus proves it, (as Bochart ſhows in his admirable Work, often mentioned, L. IV. Phaleg, c. 31.) they agreeing in ſo many things, eſpecially in their Manners and Language, that one can ſcarce have any doubt of it. Theſe People were ſeated at the Eaſt-end of the Euxine Sea.

Out of whom came Philiſtim.] They were the offſpring of the People of Colchis, as will appear in what follows.

And Caphtorim.] Theſe were a People near to Colchis, as appears from hence; that the Philiſtim, who are ſaid here to come from Caſluchim, in other places are ſaid to have come from Caphtor, Jer. p. 197XLVII. 4. Amos IX. 7. And Moſes himſelf relates how the Avims nigh to Gaza (a famous City of the Philiſtim) were driven out by the Caphtorim, Deut. II. 23. All the Ancients therefore are in the right, who take the Caphtorim, for the Cappadocians: Yet, not all the Inhabitants of that Country, (part of which was poſſeſſed by other People, as was ſaid before,) but that part of Cappadocia which was next to Colchis, viz. About Trapezund, where Colchis ended. For there we find the City called Side, and the Country Sidene, mentioned by Strabo. Now Side in Greek (as Bochart ingeniouſly obſerves) ſignifies the ſame with Caphtor in Hebrew, viz. Malum punicum: And therefore in all likelihood, the ſame Country was called by the Hebrews Caphtor, and by the Greeks Sidene.

What invited the Caphtorim out of Egypt into this Country, is hard to tell, at this diſtance of time. But Strabo thinks it was the Fame of the Gold, wherewith this Country abounded. And as this drew them thither, ſo perhaps the coldneſs of the Country, very much different from that wherein they were born; or elſe their Neighbours the Scythians, and Meſech and Tubal, (viz. the Moſchi and Tibareni,) who dwelt near them, and might be troubleſome to them, made them think of returning back again. And in their way through Paleſtine they fell upon the Avim, whom they diſpoſſeſſed of their Country, and ſetled there, (Deut. II. 23.) by the Name of Philiſtim.

Ver. 15. And Canaan.] Now follows an Account of the Poſterity of Ham's youngeſt Son.

Sidon.] Was his firſt-born: Who was the Founder of the famous City called by his Name, Sidon: p. 198Which Trogus ſaith was ſo called from plenty of Fiſh on that Coaſt. And ſo the preſent Name of it, Said, ſignifies Fiſhing or Fiſhery: As the Town in Galilee called Bethſaida, is as much as the place of Fiſhing: For that Sea upon which it lies, the Hebrews ſay, abounded with Fiſh. However the Sidonians came from this Son of Canaan; and ſome of them, (if he did not found it himſelf,) called the City by this Name, in memory of him. It was far more ancient and famous than Tyre: For we read of it in the Books of Moſes, and Joſhua, and the Judges: But nothing of Tyre till the Days of David. Nor doth Homer mention Tyre; though he ſpeaks of Sidon, and the Sidonians in many places.

Heth.] His ſecond Son, was the Father of the Hittites, or the Children of Heth, often mentioned in Scripture: Who dwelt about Hebron and Beerſheba, in the South of the Land of Canaan. They were a very Warlike People, and ſtruck a Terror into their Neighbours: From whence the word Hittha, ſeems to be derived, which ſignifies fright and ſudden Conſternation; ſuch as came upon the Syrians, when they thought the Kings of the Hittites were coming againſt them, 2 Kings VII. 6. This was the Country of the Anakims: For from Arba, who was an Hittite, deſcended Anak; and from him thoſe three Giants, Ahiman, Sheſhai, and Talmai, and the reſt of the Anakims, Numb. XIII. 22, 33. Joſh. XV. 13, 14.

Ver. 16. The Jebuſite.] This People, who were ſituated near to the former, deſcended from Jebus the third Son of Canaan: And were a very Warlike People alſo; for they kept Jeruſalem and the Fortreſs of Zion, to the times of David; notwithſtanding all the Power of the Benjamites. And when p. 199David beſieged it, they mock'd at his Attempt, 2 Sam, V. 8.

And the Emorite.] They came from Emor, the fourth Son of Canaan, and are commonly called Amorites: Who poſſeſſed the Mountainous parts of Judaea; and many of them paſſed over Jordan, and making War upon the Moabites and Ammonites, ſeized upon Baſhan and Heſhbon, and all the Country between the Rivers of Jabbok and Arnon, Numb. XIII. 29. Joſh. V. 1. In memory of which Victory ſome Canaanite Poet made a Triumphing Song, which Moſes hath recorded, Numb. XXI. 27. What a mighty People theſe were we learn from Amos II. 9.

Gergaſite.] There was a Remnant of this People about Geraſa or Gadara beyond Jordan in our Saviour's time, Matth. VIII. 28. Mark V. 1. Luke VIII. 26. And they were called, perhaps, by this Name from the fat, clayie Soil of the Country where they lived; for garges in Hebrew is white Clay.

Ver. 17. And the Hivite, or Hevite.] They lived in and about Mount Hermon, as we read Joſh. XI. 3. which being toward the Eaſt of the Land of Canaan, they are call'd Radmonites, i. e. Orientals or Eaſterlings, Gen. XV. 19. The Gibeonites and Sichemites were Colonies from them, (Joſh. XI. 19. Gen. XXXIV. 2.) who dwelt more Weſtward: The former of them, Neighbours to Jeruſalem; and the latter to Samaria.

Arkite.] This People, Bochart thinks, inhabited Mount Libanus, where Ptolomy and Joſephus mention a City called Arca or Arce: In which, he thinks, was the Temple Veneris Architidis, worſhipped by the Phoenicians, as Macrobius tells us, L. I. Saturn. p. 200c. 27. Pliny alſo Mentions Arca among the Cities of the Decapolitan Syria, and ſaith it was one of thoſe which had a Royal Juriſdiction, under the Name of a Tetrarchy, as Salmaſius obſerves in his Exerc. in Solin. p. 576.

Sinite.] St. Hierom ſaith, that not far from Arca there was a City called Sin; where we may ſuppoſe theſe People to have dwelt. But Bochart rather by the Sinites underſtands the Peleuſiots, whoſe City was called Sin; which is of the very ſame ſignification with Peluſium.

Ver. 18. And the Arvadite.] Theſe People are the ſame with the Aradii, who poſſeſſed the Iſland called Aradus upon the Coaſt of Phoenicia, and part of the neighbouring Continent: Where a place called Antaradus, oppoſite to the Iſland, was ſeated. Strabo and others ſpeak of this Iſland, and mention another of the ſame Name in the Perſian Gulph, (as Salmaſius obſerves upon Solinus, p. 1023.) whoſe Inhabitants ſaid, they were a Colony from this Iſland I now ſpeak of, and had the ſame Religious Rites with theſe Aradians. Who were very skilful in Navigation, and therefore joyned by Ezekiel with Zidon, XXVII. 8. where he makes them alſo a Warlike People, verſe 11.

Zemarite.] They who make theſe the ſame with the Samaritans; do not obſerve that theſe Names are written quite differently in the Hebrew. And that the Samaritans ſo much ſpoken of in Scripture, had their Name from Somron. And therefore Bochart thinks theſe are the Samarites mentioned by St. Hierom, who ſays, they inhabited the Noble City of Edeſſa in Coeloſyria (it ſhould be the City of Emeſa or Emiſa which was in that Country, but Edeſſa in p. 201Meſopotamia, beyond Euphrates) and ſo both the Chaldee Paraphraſes have here for Zemarite, Emiſaei. But I do not ſee why we ſhould not rather think this Son of Canaan (Zemarus) from whom the Zemarites came, was the Founder of the City of Zemaraim (Joſh. XVIII. 22.) which fell to the Lot of the Tribe of Benjamin.

Hamathite.] Theſe were the poſterity of the laſt Son of Canaan: From whom the City and Country of Hamath took its Name. Of which Name there were Two; one called by the Greeks Antiochia, the other Epiphania: The former called the Great, Amos VI. 2. to diſtinguiſh it from this, which St. Hierom ſays in his time was called Epiphania, and by the Arabians (in the Nubian Geographer) Hama. This is the City which is meant when we ſo often read that the bounds of Judaea were to the Entrance of Hamath, Northward, Numb. XIII. 21. XXXIV. 8. and other places. For it is certain they did not reach to Antiochia, but came near to Epiphania.

Afterwards were the Families of the Canaanites ſpread abroad.] In proceſs of time they enlarged their bounds: For they poſſeſſed all the Country, which lies from Idumaea and Paleſtine, to the mouth of Orontes: Which they held for Seven hundred Years, or thereabout. Moſes indeed confines the Land of Canaan in narrower bounds toward the North, (as hath been ſaid) but we muſt conſider that he deſcribes only that part of Canaan, which God gave to the Iſraelites for their Portion. Now there being Eleven Nations who had their Original (as appears from this and the foregoing Verſes) from ſo many Sons of Canaan; we do not find that the Firſt, and the Five laſt were devoted by God to deſtruction, p. 202as the reſt were. For we read nothing of the Zidonians, Arkites, Sinites, Aradites, Zemarites, and Hamathites, among thoſe Nations, upon whom the Sentence of Exciſion was pronounced by God, and their Country beſtowed upon the Iſraelites. But read of Two others not here mentioned, who made up the Seven Nations, whom God ordered to be cut off, viz. the Perizzites, and thoſe who were peculiarly called Canaanites, who ſprang from ſome of the fore-named XI. Families; but we do not know from which. We ſhall meet with it in the XV. Chapter of this Book.

Ver. 19. And the border of the Canaanites, &c.] Here Moſes deſcribes the Bounds of that Country, which was given by God to the Jews.

From Sidon.] i. e. The Country of Sidon, which extended it ſelf from the City, ſo called, towards the East, as far as Jordan, or near it. This therefore may be lookt upon as the Northern bounds of the promiſed Land.

As thou comeſt to Gerar unto Gaza, &c.] Theſe and all the reſt belong to the Southern bounds: For theſe two were Cities near to the Philiſtims. We often read of Gaza; and Gerar was famous for Abraham's and Iſaac's ſojourning there (Gen. XX. 1. XXVI. 1.) and for the overthrow of the Cuſhites, 2 Chron. XIV. 13.

Sodom and Gomorrha, &c.] Theſe Four Cities, are famous for their deſtruction, by Fire and Brimſtone from Heaven.

Even unto Laſhah.] Or Laſa, which St. Hierom takes for Callirrhoe, as doth Jonathan alſo: A place famous for hot Waters, which run into the dead Sea. But Bochartus (L. IV. Phaleg, c. 37.) doubts p. 203of this, becauſe Callirrhoe was not in the Southern part of Judaea, as Laſhah was: He propounds it therefore to conſideration, whether it may not be a City of the Arabs called Luſa: Which Ptolomy places in the middle way, between the Dead Sea, and the Red.

Ver. 20. Theſe are the Sons of Ham; after their Families, &c.] This is ſufficiently explained by what was ſaid upon verſe 5. where Moſes concludes his account of the Sons of Japhet. Only it may be obſerved in general, that theſe Four Sons of Ham and their Children, had all Africa for their Portion (Mizraim having Egypt, and Phut the reſt) and no ſmall part of Aſia which fell to the ſhare of Cuſh and Canaan.

Ver. 21. Ʋnto Shem alſo, the Father of all the Children of Eber.] That is, of the Hebrew Nation, whom Moſes would have to know from what an illuſtrious Original they ſprung; and therefore breaks off the Thread of his Genealogy, to give a ſhort touch of it. I can give no reaſon ſo likely as this, why he calls Shem the Father of Eber's Children, rather than of any other deſcended from him. He having told them before, that Ham was the Father of Canaan, (IX. 22.) whom God Curſed, and at the ſame time Bleſſed Shem: He now tells them, that this bleſſed Man was the Father from whom their Nation was deſcended; that they might comfort themſelves in their noble Stock, and believe Canaan ſhould be ſubdued by them.

The Brother of Japhet the Elder.] Scaliger tranſlates theſe Words, Sem the Elder Brother of Japhet: But the he which is prefixt to Gadol, i. e. Greater, plainly directs us to referr the Word Greater or Elder p. 204to him who was laſt ſpoken of, viz. Japhet. Who may be plainly proved to have been the Eldeſt Son of Noah, from this obſervation, That Noah was Five hundred years old, before any of his Three Sons, Sem, Ham, and Japhet were born, V. 32. When he was Six hundred Years old he entred into the Ark with them, VII. 11. And when he came out, two Years after the Flood, Shem begat Arphaxad, being then an Hundred Years old, XI. 10. and conſequently Noah was Six hundred and two. From whence it follows that Shem was born when Noah was Five hundred and two Years old: And therefore Japhet muſt be two Years older than he; for Noah began to have Children when he was Five hundred. But God preferred Shem before him; giving hereby an early demonſtration (of which there were many inſtances afterward) that he would not be confined to the order of Nature, in the diſpoſal of his Favours; which he frequently beſtowed upon the Younger Children: As he did upon Jacob, and in after-times upon David, who was the youngeſt and meaneſt of all his Father's Children.

Even unto him were Children born.] Perhaps he was the laſt of his Brethren that married; and then Moſes ſhews in the following Verſes, had Five Sons: the Progeny of two of which are mentioned, but the reſt paſſed over in ſilence.

Ver. 22. Elam.] Was his Firſt-born; from whom came the Elamites, mentioned Acts II. 9. Whoſe Metropolis was the famous City of Elymais. They lay between the Medes and Meſopotamians (as Bochartus ſhows, L. II. Phaleg, c. 2.) and were a very Warlike and Fierce People, as Iſaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel teſtifie. The Suſians were a neighbouring People, p. 205but different from them: And therefore when Daniel ſays Suſhan was in the Province of Elam, he takes Elam in a large ſence; as Pliny and Ptolomy alſo do, who mention Elamites at the mouth of the River Eulaeus ( Ʋlai in Daniel) which was below Suſiana. See Salmaſius Exerc. in Solin. p. 1193, 1194. And thus Joſephus may be allowed to ſay the Elamites were foreign, the Founders of the Perſians, who were a diſtinct People from them: Though often comprehended under this Name of Elam.

Aſhur.] From whom came the People called at firſt Aſſyres, and afterward Aſſyrians: Which was a Name as large as their Empire, comprehending even Syria it ſelf; which in ſeveral Authors is the ſame with Aſſyria. But in proper ſpeaking it was only that Country, whoſe head was Niniveh, called ſometimes Adiabene, and Aturia or Aſſyria.

Arphaxad.] Many, following Joſephus, make him the Father of the Chaldees. But I find no good reaſon for it; and it ſeems more probable that the Chaldees (in Hebrew, Chaſdim) came from Cheſed one of Abraham's Brother's Sons, Gen. XXII. 22. which St. Hierom poſitively affirms. Therefore it is more reaſonable to think Arphaxad gave Name to that Country, which Ptolomy calls Arraphachitis: Which was a part of Aſſyria.

Lud.] Seems to have given Name to the Country of Lydia, which lay about Maeander; and included in it Myſia and Caria, which lay on the South ſide of that River. Which having the moſt Windings and Turnings in it, of any River in the World (for it returns ſometimes towards its Fountain) the Phoenicians call this Country, and another, viz. Aethiopia, p. 206that lay upon the Nile (which next to Maeander is the moſt crooked of all Rivers) by the Name of Lud: Which in their Language ſignified bending, or crooked. See Bochart. L. II. Phaleg, c. 12.

Aram.] From whom ſprung the Syrians, whoſe Name anciently was Aramai; the Children of Aram. A Name not unknown to the ancient Graecians; for Homer mentions the foreign in his ſecond Book of Iliads; and ſo doth Heſiod; and Strabo alſo ſaith, that many underſtood by the Arimi, the Syrians. And the Syrians at this day call themſelves Aramaeans. But Syria being ſo large a Name, that Ancient Authors extend it to all thoſe Countries that lay between Tyre and Babylon; we muſt not take all the People of them to have been the poſterity of Aram. For it is evident ſome of them deſcended from Canaan, others from Aſhur, others from Arphaxad. Therefore thoſe are to be thought to have come from him, to whom the Name of Aram is praefixt or ſubjoined, as Aram-Naharajim, and Padan-Aram (i. e. the Meſopotamians) Aram-Soba (the People of Palmyra, and the Neighbouring Cities) Aram-Damaſek (ſituated between Libanus and Anti-Libanus, whoſe chief City was Damaſcus) and perhaps Aram-Maacha, and Aram-Bethrehob; which were places beyond Jordan, one of which fell to the ſhare of Manaſſeh, the other of Aſſer.

Ver. 23. And the Children of Aram, &c.] The Four Perſons that follow in this Verſe, are called the Sons of Shem, 1 Chron. I. 17. Nothing being more ordinary in ſcripture, than to call thoſe the Sons of any Perſon, who were his Grandſons, XXIX. 5, &c.

p. 207Ʋz.] Or Ʋtz, the Firſt-born of Aram, is generally ſaid to have been the builder of Damaſcus: The Valley belonging to which, is by the Arabians at this day called Gaut, and Gauta, which differs from Ʋtz in the Letters, but not in the Pronunciation; it being common to pronounce the Letter Ajin by our G. as in the Words Gaza and Gomorrha Accordingly the Arabick Paraphraſt for Ʋtz hath here Algauta. There were two other Ʋz's beſides this, one the Son of Nahor (Abraham's Brother) Gen. XXII. 21. whoſe Country was Auſitis in Arabia Deſerta: The other was of the poſterity of Edom, Gen. XXXVI. 28.

Hull.] Or Chul. Grotius obſerves out of Ptolomy that there was a City in Syria called Chollae, which he thinks might be founded by this ſecond Son of Aram. But Bochart more probably conjectures that his poſterity poſſeſſed the Country called Cholobetene, which was a part of Armenia. For the Armenians, and Arabians, and Syrians were much alike, as Strabo ſaith, in their Shape of Body, Speech, and manner of Life. And there are divers Cities, which Ptolomy places in this Country, that begin with Hol or Chol; as Cholus, Choluata, Cholana: And Cholobetene (the Name of the Country) which in their Language is Gholbeth, ſignifies as much as the Houſe or Seat of Chol.

Gether.] It is hard to give any account of the Country where his poſterity-ſetled, unleſs they gave the River Getri its Name, which the Greeks call foreign; which runs between the Carduchi, and the Armenians, as Xenophon tells us. This is Bochart's Conjecture, which is a little nearer than that of Grotius, (Annot. in L. I. de Ʋ. R. C.) who explains p. 208this by the City Gindarus in Ptolomy, and the People called by Pliny, Gindareni, in Coelo-Syria. But after all, it may ſeem as probable that Gadara, the chief City of Peraea, which Ptolomy places in the Decapolis of Coelo-Syria, had its Name and Original from this Gether.

Maſh.] Who is called Meſech, in 1 Chron. I. 17. ſeated himſelf, as Bochart thinks, in Meſopotamia, about the Mountain Maſius, (which is Grotius's conjecture alſo) from whence there flowed a River which Xenophon calls Maſca. The Inhabitants of which Mountain Stephanus calls Maſiaeni; and perhaps the Moſcheni, whom Pliny ſpeaks of, between Adiabene and Armenia the greater, were deſcended from this Maſh or Meſech.

Ver. 24. And Arphaxad begat Salah.] Having given an account of the poſterity of Shem's youngeſt Son; he now tells us what People deſcended from his third Son.

Salah.] In Hebrew Shelah. His Father being born but two Years after the Flood (XI. 10.) ſeems to have given this Name to his Son, to preſerve the Memory of that dreadful Puniſhment: That his Poſterity might not incur the like by their Sins. For Sela ſignifies the letting forth of Waters, Job V. 10. He is thought to have been the Father of the Suſiani: The chief City of their Country, next to Suſa, being called Sela, as we find in Ammian. Marcellinus: Either becauſe he was the Founder of it, or in Memory of him.

And Salah begat Eber.] The Father of thoſe from whom came the Hebrew Nation (as was ſaid before, Verſe 21.) Abraham being deſcended from him in the Sixth Generation. All other derivations of the p. 209Name of Hebrew have great Objections lie againſt them; but this hath none, that I can ſee; and is moſt agreeable to the Grammar of that Language, in which all ſuch Names ending in Jod (as foreign doth) are noted to come either from a Place, or Country, or People, or Author: Therefore ſince there is no Country, or Place from which the Name of Hebrew can be derived, it is moſt reaſonable to deduce it from the Author of this People, Heber. And it is authorized by that Speech of Balaam, Numb. XXIV. 24. Where as by Aſhur is meant the Aſſyrians, ſo by Heber, in all reaſon, we are to underſtand the Hebrews.

Ver. 25. Peleg.] Either he, or ſome of his Poſterity in memory of him, it is not unlikely, gave Name to a Town upon Euphrates, called Phalga; not far from the place, where the River Chaboras runs into it: Upon which Charrah ſtood, built by Charan the Brother of Abraham.

For in his Days was the Earth divided.] The great Diſperſion, which we read of in the following Chapter, fell out juſt when he was born, which made his Father call him by this Name, ſignifying Diviſion, and Separation. Which it appears, by the Account given of his Anceſtors, (XI. from verſe 10, to 16.) hapned in the Hundred and firſt Year after the Flood. In that Year the Tower of Babel and their Language were confounded; upon which neceſſarily followed the Separation here mentioned. The Age that preceeded, from the Deluge to this Diviſion, is called by the ancient Poets, the Golden Age, (as Bochart obſerves, L. I. Phaleg, c. 9.) becauſe the Earth not being divided, they enjoyed all things in common. And Noah (whom they called Saturn) governing p. 210them, not as Kings do their Subjects, but as Parents their Children, not ſo much with Fear and Dread, as with Love and Reverence to his fatherly Authority; it made the World ſo happy as it hath not been ſince.

Joktan or Jektan.] The Brother of Peleg, had a numerous Offspring, of thirteen Sons; all ſeated in the inmoſt parts of Arabia Foelix. So the Arabians, it is certain, derive their own Original: Who in this may as well be credited, as the Europaeans who derive themſelves from Japetus, or Japhet, and the Africans from Cham or Hammon. They call him Cahtan, (as our Mr. Pocock, as well as others, obſerves,) by which Name the Arabick Paraphraſt upon this place, explains that of Jektan. And this Cahtan they ſay expreſly was the Son of Eber, the Son of Salah, &c. From whence the Name of Catanitae, a People in Arabia Foelix mention'd by Ptolomy; and a City, in the Territory of Mecha, ſtill retains the very Name of Jektan, being called Baiſath-Jektan, i. e. the Seat or Habitation of Jektan, in the Arabian Geographer. See Mr. Pocock's Notes upon Abul-Farajus concerning the Original of the Arabians, p. 38, 39.

Ver. 26. Almodad.] The eldeſt Son of Joktan ſeems to have given Name to the People whom Ptolomy calls foreign, in the middle of Arabia Foelix, near the Original of the River Lar, which runs into the Perſian Gulph. The Greeks who knew little of this People, who lived a great way from the Sea, might eaſily miſpronounce their Name; calling them Allumaeotae, inſtead of Almodaei.

Sheleph, or Saleph.] Was, it is likely, the Father of the Salapeni. For ſuch a People there were, mentioned by Ptolomy, who calls them foreign: p. 211Who were remote from the reſt, about the Neck of Arabia; not far from the Spring of the River, Betius.

Hatzermaveth.] Though the Arabians write this Name with the very ſame Letters, yet it ſounds among them thus, Hadramuth, or Chadramuth. Which the Greeks pronounce divers ways, becauſe of the ambiguous ſound of the two Letters, Tzadi and Cheth: For ſometimes he is called Aſarmoth, ſometimes (without an A.) Sarmoth, and Armoth, and Atermoth, as Bochartus hath obſerved. Who thinks the Country called Chatramitis or Atramitis, Chatramotis or Atramotis, to have been peopled by the Children of this Hadramuth, as the Arabians pronounce this Name Hatazmaveth. foreign, Salmaſius ſhows is the Name of a City or Place, and foreign, of a People or Nation. Exercit. in Solin. p. 489. And the ſame People he obſerves (p. 490.) are called by Artemidorus, foreign, whoſe Country was that part of Arabia which abounded with Frankincenſe, Myrrh, Caſſia, and Cinnamon, as Theophraſtus tells us. And Strabo calls them (as he there notes) foreign, and Ʋranius in Stephanus foreign: So differently was this hard Word pronounced. Who were ſo famous, that Euſtathius Antioch. Euſebius, and others, make this Hatzermaveth the Father of the Arabians, and Epiphanius derives their Language from him; which they (as was ſaid before) derive from Jektan himſelf; looking upon the Dialect of Chadramitis as barbarous. See Bochartus, L. II. Phaleg, c. 16. where he obſerves that Hatzermaveth in Hebrew ſignifies the Entrance of Death, and Hadhramauth in Arabick, the Region of Death: Becauſe the Air of that Country was very thick and foggy, (and p. 212conſequently unwholſom,) as Arrianus relates; who ſaith, that the Frankincenſe and Myrrh, were therefore gathered only by the King's Slaves, and by condemned Perſons.

Jerah, or Jerach.] From whom came the People called Jerachaei, who lived near the Red-Sea; called by Agatharcides and others foreign, Alilaei: Which is the very ſame in Arabick, with the other in Hebrew. For Hilal is the Moon in that Language, as Jerach is in Hebrew. And the Nubienſian Geographer mentions a People about Mecha, who at this day are called Bene-hilal, the Children of Jerach, as the Hebrews would have expreſſed it. It ſeems they are come more towards the Eaſt, when anciently they dwelt in the South. Ptolomy mentions alſo an Iſland, upon the Coaſt of the Alilaei, which he calls foreign: But it doth not ſignifie the Iſle of Hawks, (as the Greeks fanſied, who imagined all theſe old words to come from their Tongue,) but of the Jerachaei.

Ver. 27. Hadoram.] He ſeems to have fixed his Seat in the utmoſt Corner of Arabia towards the Eaſt, where there was a People, whom Pliny calls Drimati: A Name eaſily made from Hadoramus. And the extream Promontory of that Country is called by the Greeks Corodamon, by tranſpoſing the Letters D and R from Hadoramus. I can find nothing more likely, than this Conjecture of that great Man Bochartus, who hath out-done all that went before him in this Argument. L. II. Phaleg, c. 20.

Ʋzal.] Abraham Zachut, as he alſo obſerves, ſays the Jews (who in his time dwelt there) called the chief City of Aljeman, by the Name of Ʋzal. Now the Kingdom of Aljeman or Jeman, is the South-part p. 213of Arabia Foelix: As the very Name of Jeman imports, which ſignifies both the Right-hand and the South.

Diklah.] Both in the Chaldee and Syriack Language Dicla ſignifies a Palm, or a Grove of Palms: Which led Bochartus to conclude that the Minaei, a People of Arabia Foelix, whoſe Country abounds with ſuch Trees, were the Poſterity of this Diklah. Both Pliny and Strabo mention them. And this is far more probable than the Conjecture of Ludovicus Capellus, That the Country of Dangala in Aethiopia, near Egypt, might have its Name from this Man: For that is too remote from the reſt of this Man's Poſterity: And ſo is foreign mentioned, as he obſerves, by Herodotus, Chronolog. Sacra, p. 108.

Ver. 28. And Obal.] Which in the Arabick pronunciation is Aubal, as Cocab, a Star in Hebrew, is in Arabick Caucab, &c. The Poſterity of this Aubal or Obal, Bochart thinks, paſſed over the Streights of the Sinus Arabicus, out of Arabia Foelix, into Arabia Troglodytica; where we meet with this Name, in the Sinus Abalites, (which others call Analites,) and in a great trading Town called by Arrianus foreign; and in a People who lived in that Sinus, called by Ptolomy, foreign, and foreign; I believe it ſhould be foreign from this Obal.

Abimael.] Which the Arabians pronounce Abimâl, i. e. the Father of Mali, or the Malitae; a People in Arabia next to the Minaei before-mentioned. Theophraſtus ſaith, Mali is the Metropolis of a Country in Arabia the Spicy. From whence the People called Malitae, whom Ptolomy calls Manitae, by an uſual change of the Letter L into N, as Nabonidus is the ſame with Labonidus, &c. And it is probable that p. 214Mali is the contraction of Abimali: Nothing being more common than in compound Names to omit the firſt part. As Sittim, Numb. XXV. 1. for Abel-Sittim, XXX. 49. Hermon very often for Baal-Hermon, Judg. III. 3. Nimrim for Beth-Nimrim, and Salem for Jeruſalem.

Sheba.] From whom came the Sabaeans, who ſometimes comprehend a great many People, but here are to be taken ſtrictly for thoſe, upon the Red-Sea; between the Minaei and the Catabanes: Whoſe Metropolis, which ſtood upon an high Mountain full of Trees, is called by ancient Authors Saba and Sabai, Sabo and Sabas, as Salmaſius ſhows out of Stephanus, Agatharcides, and others; who ſay that this City was foreign, much the faireſt of all in Arabia. Excerc. in Solin. p. 491, 492, &c. In latter times this Name was changed into Mariaba, the ancient Name being loſt, as the ſame Salmaſius there obſerves, p. 497, & 1118. Which Pliny ſaith ſignifies as much as Dominos omnium, the Lords of all: For from Rabba, to rule, comes Marab, which ſignifies in their Language (as Bochart obſerves) the Seat of thoſe that Rule: That is, the Royal City, where their Kings lived. The Nubienſian Geographer ſaith, the Queen of Sheba came from hence to hear the Wiſdom of Solomon.

Ver. 29. And Ophir.] Which the Arabians pronounce Auphir, ſignifying abundance: Gold being found there in ſuch plenty that they exchanged it for Braſs and Iron, giving a double or triple proportion of Gold for them. Bochart thinks he gave the Name of foreign to an Iſland in the Red-Sea, mentioned by Eupolemus in Euſebius. And obſerves that there were two Ophirs, one belonging to India, whither p. 215Solomon's Ships went once in three Years, (which he takes for Taprobana, now Zeilan,) and the other belonging to Arabia, where the Poſterity of this Ophir, here mentioned, ſetled. Whoſe Country he takes to have been near to the Sabaeans their Brethren; which Stephanus and Ptolomy call Caſſanitis. The ſame in ſence with Ophir; for Choſan is a Treaſure, which the Arabians write Chazan, from which comes the word Gaza, for abundance of Riches.

Havilah, or Chavilah.] See Verſe 7. where we had this Name before, among the Sons of Cuſh; from whom the Havilah here ſpoken of is very different: Giving Name, it is probable to the Country which the Nubienſian Geographer calls Chaulan: And ſays it was a part of Arabia Foelix, nigh alſo to the Sabaeans; which he accurately deſcribes. See Phaleg, L. II. cap. 28.

Jobab.] The Father of the Jobabites, near to the Sachalites, as Ptolomy expreſly ſays; if inſtead of Jobaritae in him, we read Jobabitae, as Bochartus corrects the Paſſage, with great Reaſon. And thinks alſo the Reaſon of this Name to be plain: For Jebab in Arabick ſignifies a Deſart: And there are many ſuch in the Country of the Jobabites above the Sinus of Sachalites.

Ver. 30. And their dwelling was from Meſha, &c.] This Concluſion confirms what hath been ſaid, that all the thirteen Sons of Joktan were ſeated in Arabia Foelix; except Obal; who went it's likely, after Moſes's time, over into Abalites; the Paſſage being ſhort croſs that ſtreight before-mentioned, (Verſe 28.) which was not above four or five Miles broad. For Arabia Foelix lies between the Red-Sea and the Perſian Gulph. Now Meſa, or Muſa, or Muza was a p. 216famous Port-Town in the Red-Sea, which the Egyptians and Aethiopians frequented in their way to the Country of the Sapharites in the Eaſt; from whom they brought Myrrh, Frankincenſe, and ſuch like things. Ptolomy's Tables plainly ſnow this, That from Muſa the Sapharitae lay directly Eaſtward; and Saphar was the Metropolis of the Country at the foot of the Mountain Climax: Which anciently, it's likely, was called Saphar, from the City at the bottom of it. And thus we are to underſtand Moſes when he ſays here, that Sepher was a Mountain of the Eaſt; not Eaſtward from Judaea, but from Meſha, which was in the Weſt. See Bochart, L. II. Phaleg, c. 30. where he obſerves that the Arabick Paraphraſt (of the Paris Edition) takes Meſha to be Meccha, and inſtead of from Meſha to Sephar, ſaith from Meccha to Medina. Which is nearer Truth than their Opinion, who place the Children of Joktan about Cophetes, upon the Coaſt of India. But he ſhows that ſome of the Children of Cuſh ſetled between Meccha and Medina: And it ſufficiently appears that Joktan's Children dwelt in the inmoſt part of Arabia Foelix; and are the Genuine Arabians.

Ver. 31. This is explained, Verſe 5.

Ver. 32. By theſe were the Nations divided after the Flood.] They and their Deſcendants ſhared the whole Earth among them as it is ſaid expreſly, IX. 18. Of them was the whole Earth overſpread. But according to the foregoing Account we find only three parts of the Earth, Europe, Aſia, and Africa poſſeſſed by the three Sons of Noah and their Children. Which hath made ſome ſo bold as to ſay, there were other People in America, who were not drown'd by the Flood. And one of their Reaſons why it was not peopled p. 217from any of the other three parts of the Earth is, that we can give no Account how Lions, Bears, Wolves, Foxes, and ſuch-like Creatures ſhould get thither: For none, ſure, would carry them by Shipping, though Men themſelves might, by that means, paſs over into thoſe Regions. But this difficulty is not ſo great as they make it. For it is manifeſt, That though the Continent of America was found full of ſuch Beaſts, when the Spaniards firſt came thither, yet none of the Iſlands, though very large, which lay remote from the Land, had any Lions, Tygers, or ſuch-like Creatures in them. Which is a demonſtration, that theſe Creatures, were not originally from that part of the Earth; for then the Iſlands would have been furniſhed with them, as well as the Continent; juſt as they are with all ſorts of Vegetables: And conſequently the Continent it ſelf was ſtored with theſe Creatures from ſome other part of the Earth. Which might be done by ſome Neck of Land not yet diſcovered; which joyns ſome part of Europe, or Aſia, to the Continent of America. Or, if there be no ſuch Neck of Land now extant, yet there may have been ſuch a Bridge (as we may call it) between the Northern parts of Aſia, or Europe, and ſome Northern part of America; or, between the South-Eaſt part of China, or the Philippine Iſlands, and the Southern Continent of that other part of this World: Though now broken of (as many ſuppoſe England to have been from France) by the violence of the Sea, or by Earthquakes; which have made great alterations in the Earth. And truly, he that obſerves (as that great Man the Lord Chief Juſtice Hales ſpeaks, in his Book of the Origin of Mankind, §. II. c. 7.) the infinite number of Iſlands, lying between the Continent p. 218of China and Nova Guinea, the moſt contiguous to each other; hath probable reaſons to believe, that theſe were all formerly one Continent, joyning China and Nova Guinea together: Though now, by the irruption of the Sea, crumbled into many ſmall Iſlands.