Commentary on the Pentateuch, Commentary 1 · Chapter 10
CHAP. X. Verſ. 5. By theſe were the the Iſles of the Gentiles]
THat is, foreign en foreign, & foreign, quaſi dila…atio. foreign Ignis Domini. Q. Curtius ſaith of Darim, that he called upon the ſacred and eternall fire.the Countries of Europe and Aſia the leſs, inhabited by Japhets poſterity. Europe hath its name, in Greek, from the latitude, and large ſurface of it; which anſwers well to the name of Japhet (ſignifying inlargement) who together with his off-ſpring, was by Gods appointment, to rule there far and wide toward the Weſt and North. Aſia hath its name from two Hebrew words that ſignifie the fire of the Lord, which in Perſia and other parts thereof, they ſuperſtitiouſly deified. Aſia the leſs, was ſo called firſt by Attalus King of Pergamus; who being the laſt of that name, and race, made the Romans his heyrs by will. They turned his Country into a Province, and called it Aſia by the name of the Continent; as devouring, doubtleſs, in hope, that whole part of the world, by this ſmall beginning. Hence, likely, came that firſt diſtinction of the leſſer Aſia.
Verſ. 8. Nimrod, he began to be a mighty one] His name ſignifies a Rebell: he was the chiefe Babel-builder, and there began to be a mighty one, a Giant, ſaith the Greek (ſuch another as Goliah was in his generation, 1 Sam. 17.51. where the ſame word is uſed) a Magnifico, a Grandio, ſuch a one as ſought to make himſelf great even to a proverb, verſ. 9. But there is a double greatneſs: Firſt, Genuine. Secondly, Belluine. This latter is no ſuch commendation; a beaſt in this may, and doth exceed us; as in the latter, we exceed our ſelves, and others.
Verſ. 9. He was a mighty hunter] Of men, whoſe lives he ſacrificed to his luſt, not of beaſts for ſacrifice to the Lord, as Aben-Ezra will have it, and takes occaſion thereupon highly to commend him. Epiphan. hereſ. 38.But there wanted not thoſe that commended Cain alſo for killing his brother, and were therefore called Cainites. Of others we read, that extolled the Sodomites, Core and his complices, Judas the Traytor. Yea there was one Bruno found, that wrote an Oration in commendation of the Devill, who hath given him his Guerdon, no doubt, by this, unleſs he recanted that monſtrous madneſs.
Verſ. 11. Out of that land went forth Aſſur] Either becauſe wickedneſs dwelt there, Zach. 5.11. for Aſhur was a ſon of Sem; and might have ſo much goodneſs in him, verſ. 22. Or elſe he was hunted there-hence by Nimrod, who made himſelf the firſt Monarch, and had Babel, in the land of Shinar, or Chaldea, for the beginning of his Kingdome.
Verſ. 12. The ſame is a great City] As conſiſting of three Cities, and having more people within the walls, then are now in ſome one Kingdome. See the greatneſs of this City ſet forth in the, Preachers Travels, pag. 89. The greateſt City in the world at this day, is ſaid to be Quinſai in Tartary, Paul. Venet.which is a hundred miles about, as M. Paulus Venetus writeth, who himſelf dwelt therein, Turk. hiſt. fo. 75about the year 1260. Cambalu the Imperiall City, and ſeat of the great Cham of Tartary is in circuit twenty eight miles about. Nineveh was three dayes journey in Jonah's dayes: Now it is deſtroyed (as was long ſince propheſied by Nahum) being nothing elſe then a ſepulchre of her ſelf, a little Town of ſmall trade, Nah. 2. & 3.where the Patriarch of the Neſtorians keeps his ſeat at the devotion of the Turk. As Suſa in Perſia, once a Lilly (as the name ſignifies) for the ſweet ſcite, and ſo rich, as afterwards is reported, (cap. 11. Preachers Travels, 88.verſ. 30) is now called Valdac of the poverty of the place.
Verſ. 20. Theſe are the ſons of Ham] More in number, and more ſweetly ſituated, then the poſterity of either Shem or Japheth… thirty ſons and nephews of curſed Ham are here recited and regiſtred; when of bleſſed Shem we finde but ſix and twenty, and of Japheth, but fourteen. And for their Countries, Canaan hath the navell of the world (Sumen totius orbis, as one calls that Country) a land that floweth with milk for neceſſity, and hony for delight; where the hardeſt rocks ſweat out hony and oyl, Deut. 32.13. Exod. 3.17. Nihil mollius c…lo, nihil uberius ſolo, L. Flor. l. 1. c. 16 See Deut. 8.7, 8, 9, & cap. 11.11, 12.as Florus ſaith of Campania; a land that God had ſpied out among all lands for his own peculiar people, yea for himſelf to dwell in. Lo this was Hams poſſeſſion; when his two better brethren, dwelt in the more barren waſte Countries of the Eaſt and Weſt. God deals by his people here, as the hoſt doth by his gueſts, who lets them have the beſt meats, and faireſt lodgings, but reſerves the inheritance for his children. The Lord holds his ſervants to hard-meat many times (but then they have it of free-coſt) whereas the wicked eat of the fat and drink of the ſweet, but their meat in their bowels is turned into the gall of …ſpes, God ſhall caſt it out of their bellies, Job 20.14, 15. In fatting them he doth but fit them for deſtruction, as he did theſe Canaanites, whoſe pleaſant land he afterwards made a ſpoyl to his own Iſrael. They grew a burden to that good land, which therefore for their wickedneſs ſpued them out, Lev. 18.25. after they had filled it from corner to corner, with their abominable uncleanneſſes, Ezra 9.11.
Verſ. 25. Peleg, for in his dayes was the earth divided] Eber (of whom came the Ebrews or Iſraelites, Exod. 1.15.) that he might have before his eyes a perpetuall monument of Gods juſt diſpleaſure againſt the ambitious Babel-builders, …alls his ſonne Peleg, or Diviſion, becauſe in his dayes was the earth divided. It is good to write the remembrance of Gods worthy works whether of mercy or juſtice, upon the names of our children, or otherwiſe as we can beſt, to put us in minde of them; for we need all helps, ſuch is either our dulneſs or forgetfulneſs. What was it elſe that made David ſo often to put the thorn to his breaſt? Pſal. 103.1, 2, 3. And why would God have the plates of the cenſers of thoſe ſinners againſt their own ſouls, to be a covering to the Altar, but to be a memoriall to the children of Iſrael, that no ſtranger come near to offer incenſe, that he be not as Corah and his company, &c? Numb. 16.38, 40.
Verſ. 26. Jok…an begat Almodad, &c.] This man with his ſons may ſeem to have ſeated in the Eaſt-Indies. But fallen from Hebers faith to Hetheniſme, they are written in the duſt: there's little mention of them in the Scriptures. They have loſt their Genealogie, as thoſe degenerate Prieſts, who in the time of the captivity took ſcorn to be in the regiſter, and were therefore worthily afterwards rejected by the Tirſhata.…ra 2.61.