Armenia in comments -- Book: Genesis (tGen) Ծննդոց
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tGen 10:3 Ashkenaz - Probably gave his name to Sacagena, a very excellent province of Armenia. Pliny mentions a people called Ascanitici, who dwelt about the Tanais and the Palus Maeotis; and some suppose that from Ashkenaz the Euxine Sea derived its name, but others suppose that from him the Germans derived their origin.
Riphath - Or Diphath, the founder of the Paphlagonians, which were anciently called Riphataei.
Togarmah - The Sauromates, or inhabitants of Turcomania. See the reasons in Calmet. Genesis 10:4 tGen 10:22 Elam - From whom came the Elamites, near to the Medes, and whose chief city was Elymais.
Asshur - Who gave his name to a vast province (afterwards a mighty empire) called Assyria.
Arphaxad - From whom Arrapachitis in Assyria was named, according to some; or Artaxata in Armenia, on the frontiers of Media, according to others.
Lud - The founder of the Lydians. In Asia Minor; or of the Ludim, who dwelt at the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris, according to Arias Montanus.
Aram - The father of the Arameans, afterwards called Syrians. Genesis 10:23 tGen 10:23 Uz - Who peopled Caelosyria, and is supposed to have been the founder of Damascus.
Hul - Who peopled a part of Armenia.
Gether - Supposed by Calmet to have been the founder of the Itureans, who dwelt beyond the Jordan, having Arabia Desert on the east, and the Jordan on the west.
Mash - Who inhabited mount Masius in Mesopotamia, and from whom the river Mazeca, which has its source in that mountain, takes its name. Genesis 10:24 tGen 10:26 Joktan - He had thirteen sons who had their dwelling from Mesha unto Sephar, a mount of the east, which places Calmet supposes to be mount Masius, on the west in Mesopotamia, and the mountains of the Saphirs on the east in Armenia, or of the Tapyrs farther on in Media. In confirmation that all men have been derived from one family, let it be observed that there are many customs and usages, both sacred and civil, which have prevailed in all parts of the world; and that these could owe their origin to nothing but a general institution, which could never have existed, had not mankind been originally of the same blood, and instructed in the same common notions before they were dispersed. Among these usages may be reckoned,
1. The numbering by tens.
2. Their computing time by a cycle of seven days.
3. Their setting apart the seventh day for religious purposes.
4. Their use of sacrifices, propitiatory and eucharistical.
5. The consecration of temples and altars.
6. The institution of sanctuaries or places of refuge, and their privileges.
7. Their giving a tenth part of the produce of their fields, etc., for the use of the altar.
8. The custom of worshipping the Deity bare-footed.
9. Abstinence of the men from all sensual gratifications previously to their offering sacrifice.
10. The order of priesthood and its support.
11. The notion of legal pollutions, defilements, etc.
12. The universal tradition of a general deluge.
13. The universal opinion that the rainbow was a Divine sign, or portent, etc., etc.
See Dodd.
The wisdom and goodness of God are particularly manifested in repeopling the earth by means of three persons, all of the same family, and who had witnessed that awful display of Divine justice in the destruction of the world by the flood, while themselves were preserved in the ark. By this very means the true religion was propagated over the earth; for the sons of Noah would certainly teach their children, not only the precepts delivered to their father by God himself, but also how in his justice he had brought the flood on the world of the ungodly, and by his merciful providence preserved them from the general ruin. It is on this ground alone that we can account for the uniformity and universality of the above traditions, and for the grand outlines of religious truth which are found in every quarter of the world. God has so done his marvellous works that they may be had in everlasting remembrance.
Next: Genesis Chapter 11
tGen 10:1 - Section VIII - The Nations
- Japheth
2. גמר gomer, "Gomer, completion; related: complete;" Κιμμέριοι Kimmerioi. מגוג māgôg, "Magog, Caucasian, Skyth." מדי māday, "Madai, middle: Mede." יון yāvān, "Javan"; Ἰάων Iaōn; "Sanskrit, Javana; Old Persian, Juna." תבל tubāl, "Tubal"; Τιβαρηνοὶ Tibareenoi. משׁך meshek, "Meshek, drawing possession, valor"; Μόσχοι Moschoi, תירס tı̂yrās, "Tiras;" Θρᾷξ Thrax.
3. אשׁכנו 'ashkenaz, "Ashkenaz," Ἀσκάνιος Askanios. ריפת rı̂ypat, "Riphath," ὄρη Ῥίπαια oree Ripaia, תגרמה togarmâh "Togarmah, Thorgom, ancestor of the Armenians."
4. אלישׁה 'elı̂yshâh, "Elishah;" Ἧλις Eelis, Ἑλλὰς Hellas, Αἰολεῖς Aioleis. תדשׁישׁ tarshı̂ysh, "Tarshish, breaking, fastness: Tartessus, Tarsus, Tyrseni." כתים kı̂tı̂ym, "Kittim, smiters; Citienses;" Κᾶρες Kares; דדנים dodānı̂ym, "Dodanim, Dodona, Dardani."
5. אי 'ı̂y, "meadow, land reached by water, island; related: be marked off or bounded (by a water line)." גוי gôy, "nation; related: be born;" γεγάασι gegaasi.
The fifth document relates to the generations of the sons of Noah. It presents first a genealogy of the nations, and then an account of the distribution of mankind into nations, and their dispersion over the earth. This is the last section which treats historically of the whole human race. Only in incidental, didactic, or prophetic passages do we again meet with mankind as a whole in the Old Testament.
The present chapter signalizes a new step in the development of the human race. They pass from the one family to the seventy nations. This great process covers the space of time from Noah to Abraham. During this period the race was rapidly increasing under the covenant made with Noah. From Shem to Abraham were ten generations inclusive; and, therefore, if we suppose the same rate of increase after as we have supposed before, there would be about fifteen million inhabitants when Abraham was thirty years of age. If, however, we take eight as the average of a family, and suppose eleven generations after Shem at the one hundredth year of Abraham's life, we have about thirty million people on the earth. The average of the three sons of Noah is higher than this; for they had sixteen sons, and we may suppose as many daughters, making in all thirty-two, and, therefore, giving ten children to each household. The present chapter does not touch on the religious aspect of human affairs: it merely presents a table of the primary nations, from which all subsequent nationalities have been derived.
Gen 10:1-2
The sons of Japheth. - Japheth is placed first, because he was, most probably, the oldest brother Gen 9:24; Gen 10:21, and his descendants were the most numerous and most widely spread from the birthplace of mankind. The general description of their territory is "the isles of the nations." These were evidently maritime countries, or such as were reached by sea. These coastlands were pre-eminently, but not exclusively, the countries bordering on the north side of the Mediterranean and its connected waters. They are said to belong to the nations, because the national form of association was more early and fully developed among them than among the other branches of the race. There is, probably, a relic of Japheth in the, Ιαπετὸς Iapetos, Japetus of the Greeks, said to be the son of Uranus (heaven), and Gaea (earth), and father of Prometheus, and thus in some way connected with the origin or preservation of the human race.
Fourteen of the primitive nations spring from Japheth. Seven of these are of immediate descent.
(1) Gomer is mentioned again, in Ezekiel Eze 38:6, as the ally of Gog, by which the known existence of the nation at that period is indicated. Traces of this name are perhaps found in the Κιμμέριοι Kimmerioi, (Homer, Odyssey Eze 11:14; Herodotus Eze 1:15; Eze 4:12), who lay in the dark north, in the Krimea, the Kimbri who dwelt in north Germany, the Kymry, Cambri, and Cumbri who occupied Britain. These all belong to the race now called Keltic, the first wave of population that reached the Atlantic. Thus, the Γομαρεῖς Gomareis, of Josephus (Ant. 1:6.1) may even be identified with the Galatae. This nation seems to have lain to the north of the Euxine, and to have spread out along the southern coasts of the Baltic into France, Spain, and the British Isles.
(2) Magog is mentioned, by Ezekiel Eze 38:6, as the people of which Gog was the prince. It is introduced in the Apocalypse Rev 20:8, as a designation of the remote nations who had penetrated to the ends or corners of the earth. This indicates a continually progressing people, occupying the north of Europe and Asia, and crossing, it may be, over into America. They seem to have been settled north of the Caspian, and to have wandered north and east from that point. They are accordingly identified by Josephus (Ant. 1:6.1) with the Skyths, and include the Mongols among other Skythic tribes.
(3) Madai has given name to the Medes, who occupied the southern shore of the Caspian. From this region they penetrated southward to Hindostan.
(4) Javan is traced in the Ιάονες Iaones, Iones, who settled in the coasts of the Aegean, in Peloponnesus, Attica, and subsequently on the coast of Asia Minor, and accordingly denotes the Greeks in the language of the Old Testament Isa 66:19; Eze 27:13; Dan 8:21. The name Yunau is found in the cuneiform inscriptions of the times of Sargon, referring to a western people.
(5) Tubal and (6) Meshek are generally associated. (Eze 27:13; 38; 39) connects them, on the one hand, with Magog, and on the other, with Javan. Josephus (Ant. 1:6.1) finds Tubal in Iberia, and Meshek in Cappadocia, tracing the name in Mazaca. Their names are seemingly detected in the Tibareni and Moschi, and their seat was probably between the Euxine and the Caspian, whence they spread themselves northward and westward. The names of the rivers Tobal and Mosqua bear a strong resemblance to these patriarchal names.
(7) Tiras is referred by Josephus to Thrace. The name is perhaps discernible in the Tyras or Dniester. The seat of the nation was east of the Euxine, whence it spread to the north. Thus, we have the original starting-points of these seven nations about the Caspian, the Euxine, and the Aegean Seas.
Gen 10:3
Gomer has three sons, who are the founders of as many nations.
(8) Ashkenaz is supposed to have lain south of the Euxine, and to be traceable in its original name ἄξενος axenos, and in the Ascanius and Ascania of Bithynia, perhaps in Scandinavia. Part of the nation may have migrated to Germany, which is called Ashkenaz by the Jews, and where the word Sachsen (Saxon) occurs. It perhaps contains the root of the name Asia.
(9) Riphath seems to have travelled north, and left his name in the Rhipaean mountains. Josephus, however, places him in Paphlagonia, where the name Tobata occurs (Diphath) Ch1 1:6.
(10) Togarmah is said to have been settled in Armenia. By a tradition in Moses Chorenensis, Haik, the ancestor of the Armenians, is the son of Thorgom, the son of Gomer. At all events, the Black Sea might convey colonies from Gomer to Asia Minor and Armenia.
Gen 10:4
Javan has four sons, who are the heads of nations.
(11) Elishah is noted by Ezekiel Eze 27:7 as a nation whose maritime country produced purple, which agrees with the coast of Laconia or the Corinthian Gulf. The name has been variously sought in Elis, Hellas, and Aeolis. The last is due to Josephus. It is possible that Elea or Velia, in the south of Italy, may contain some reference to the name.
(12) Tarshish is conjectured by Josephus to be the people of Cilicia; which, he affirms, was anciently called Tharsus, and the capital of which was Tarsus. But whether this be the primitive seat of Tarshish or not, it is almost certain that Spain retains the name, if not in Tarraco, at least in Tartessus.
(13) Kittim is discovered, by Josephus, in Cyprus, where we meet with the town of Citium Κίτιον Kition. He adds, however, that all the islands and the greater part of the seacoasts are called Χεδίμ Chedim by the Hebrews. We may therefore presume that the Kittim spread into northern Greece, where we have a Κίτιον Kition in Macedonia, and ultimately into Italy, which is designated as "the isles of Kittim" Num 24:24; Isa 23:1; Jer 2:10; Eze 27:6; Dan 11:30.
(14) Dodanim leaves a trace, perhaps, in Dodona, an ancient site of the Hellenes in Epirus, and perhaps in Dardania, a district of Illyricum.
Gen 10:5
Thus, we have discovered the ancient seats of Japheth, Iapetos - , around the Caspian, the Euxine, the Aegean, and the north of the Mediterranean. From these coastlands they seem to have spread over Europe, northern, western, and southern Asia, and, both by Behring's Straits and the Atlantic, they at length poured into America. So true is it that Japheth was enlarged, and that by them were "the isles of the nations divided."
In their nations. - We here note the characteristics of a nation. First. It is descended from one head. Others may be occasionally grafted on the original stock by intermarriage. But there is a vital union subsisting between all the members and the head, in consequence of which the name of the head is applied to the whole body of the nation. In the case of Kittim and Dodanim we seem to have the national name thrown back upon the patriarchs, who may have themselves been called Keth and Dodan. Similar instances occur in the subsequent parts of the genealogy. Second. A nation has a country or "land" which it calls its own. In the necessary migrations of ancient tribes, the new territories appropriated by the tribe, or any part of it, were naturally called by the old name, or some name belonging to the old country. This is well illustrated by the name of Gomer, which seems to reappear in the Cimmerii, the Cimbri, the Cymri, the Cambri, and the Cumbri. Third. A nation has its own "tongue." This constitutes at once its unity in itself and its separation from others. Many of the nations in the table may have spoken cognate tongues, or even originally the same tongue. Thus, the Kenaanite, Phoenician, and Punic nations had the same stock of languages with the Shemites. But it is a uniform law, that one nation has only one speech within itself. Fourth. A nation is composed of many "families," clans, or tribes. These branch off from the nation in the same manner as it did from the parent stock of the race. Genesis 10:6
tGen 10:1 Descendants of Japhet. - In Gen 10:1 the names of the three sons are introduced according to their relative ages, to give completeness and finish to the Tholedoth; but in the genealogy itself Japhet is mentioned first and Shem last, according to the plan of the book of Genesis as already explained in the introduction. In Gen 10:2 seven sons of Japhet are given. The names, indeed, afterwards occur as those of tribes; but here undoubtedly they are intended to denote the tribe-fathers, and may without hesitation be so regarded. For even if in later times many nations received their names from the lands of which they took possession, this cannot be regarded as a universal rule, since unquestionably the natural rule in the derivation of the names would be for the tribe to be called after its ancestor, and for the countries to receive their names from their earliest inhabitants. Gomer is most probably the tribe of the Cimmerians, who dwelt, according to Herodotus, on the Maeotis, in the Taurian Chersonesus, and from whom are descended the Cumri or Cymry in Wales and Brittany, whose relation to the Germanic Cimbri is still in obscurity. Magog is connected by Josephus with the Scythians on the Sea of Asof and in the Caucasus; but Kiepert associates the name with Macija or Maka, and applies it to Scythian nomad tribes which forced themselves in between the Arian or Arianized Medes, Kurds, and Armenians. Madai are the Medes, called Mada on the arrow-headed inscriptions. Javan corresponds to the Greek Ἰάων, from whom the Ionians (Ἰάονος) are derived, the parent tribe of the Greeks (in Sanskrit Javana, old Persian Junâ). Tubal and Meshech are undoubtedly the Tibareni and Moschi, the former of whom are placed by Herodotus upon the east of the Thermodon, the latter between the sources of the Phasis and Cyrus. Tiras: according to Josephus, the Thracians, whom Herodotus calls the most numerous tribe next to the Indian. As they are here placed by the side of Meshech, so we also find on the old Egyptian monuments Mashuash and Tuirash, and upon the Assyrian Tubal and Misek (Rawlinson).
Gen 10:3
Descendants of Gomer. Ashkenaz: according to the old Jewish explanation, the Germani; according to Knobel, the family of Asi, which is favoured by the German legend of Mannus, and his three sons, Iscus (Ask, Ἀσκάνιος), Ingus, and Hermino. Kiepert, however, and Bochart decide, on geographical grounds, in favour of the Ascanians in Northern Phrygia. Riphath: in Knobel's opinion the Celts, part of whom, according to Plutarch, crossed the ὄρη Ῥίπαια, Montes Rhipaei, towards the Northern Ocean to the furthest limits of Europe; but Josephus, whom Kiepert follows, supposed Ῥιβάθης to be Paphlagonia. Both of these are very uncertain. Togarmah is the name of the Armenians, who are still called the house of Thorgom or Torkomatsi.
Gen 10:4
Descendants of Javan. Elishah suggests Elis, and is said by Josephus to denote the Aeolians, the oldest of the Thessalian tribes, whose culture was Ionian in its origin; Kiepert, however, thinks of Sicily. Tarshish (in the Old Testament the name of the colony of Tartessus in Spain) is referred by Knobel to the Etruscans or Tyrsenians, a Pelasgic tribe of Greek derivation; but Delitzsch objects, that the Etruscans were most probably of Lydian descent, and, like the Lydians of Asia Minor, who were related to the Assyrians, belonged to the Shemites. Others connect the name with Tarsus in Cilicia. But the connection with the Spanish Tartessus must be retained, although, so long as the origin of this colony remains in obscurity, nothing further can be determined with regard to the name. Kittim embraces not only the Citiaei, Citienses in Cyprus, with the town Cition, but, according to Knobel and Delitzsch, probably "the Carians, who settled in the lands at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea; for which reason Ezekiel (Gen 27:6) speaks of the "isles of Chittim." Dodanim (Dardani): according to Delitzsch, "the tribe related to the Ionians and dwelling with them from the very first, which the legend has associated with them in the two brothers Jasion and Dardanos;" according to Knobel, "the whole of the Illyrian or north Grecian tribe."
Gen 10:5
"From these have the islands of the nations divided themselves in their lands;" i.e., from the Japhetites already named, the tribes on the Mediterranean descended and separated from one another as they dwell in their lands, "every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations." The islands in the Old Testament are the islands and coastlands of the Mediterranean, on the European shore, from Asia Minor to Spain. Genesis 10:6
tGen 10:2
The sons of Japheth,.... Who though mentioned last, the genealogy begins with him, by a figure which rhetoricians call a "chiasm". The posterity of Japheth are those whom Hesiod (z) often calls "Iapetionides", and him "Iapetus". According to Josephus (a), the sons of Japheth inhabited the earth, beginning from the mountains Taurus and Amanus, and then went on in Asia unto the river Tanais, and in Europe unto Gadira. Seven of his sons are mentioned, and the first is Gomer; from whom, according to the same writer (b), came the Gomareans or Gomerites, in his time called by the Greeks Galatians, that is, the Gauls of Asia minor, who inhabited Phrygia; both Gomer and Phrygia signifying the same, as Bochart (c) observes, and the country looking as if it was torrified or burnt; and Pliny (d) makes mention of a town in Phrygia, called Cimmeris; and the Cimmerians and Cimbri are derived by some from this Gomer, whom Herodotus (e) makes mention of as in Asia and Scythia, and speaks of a country called Cimmerius, and of the Cimmerian Bosphorus; and these seem to be the Gauls before mentioned, under a different name; and it is to be observed, that the Welsh, who sprung from the Gauls, call themselves to this day Cumero, or Cymro and Cumeri. It is plain from Eze 38:6 that Gomer and his people lay to the north of Judea, and the posterity of Japheth went first into the northern parts of Asia, and then spread themselves into Europe: six more of his sons follow, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras; the first of these, Magog, was the father of a northern people which bore his name, see Eze 38:2 and according to Josephus (f), who is generally followed, are the same that were called Scythians; from Madai came the Medes, often spoken of in Scripture, along with the Persians; so Josephus (g) says, from him came the nation of Madaeans, whom the Greeks call Medes; and very frequently in Scripture the Medes go by the name of Madai, their original ancestor; see Dan 5:28 but Mr. Mede (h) is of opinion, that Macedonia was the seat of this Madai, which was formerly called Aemathia; that is, as he gives the etymology of it, "Madai", the country of Madai; but the former sense is generally received. Javan is by all agreed to be the father of the Grecians; hence Alexander, king of Grecia, is in Dan 8:21 called king of Javan; and one part of Greece bore the name of Ionia; and the sea that washed it is called the Ionian sea. And his posterity are "Iaonians", in Homer (i) and Aristophanes (k); and the scholiast of the latter says, that the Barbarians call all Greeks Iaonians. The next son of Japheth is Tubal or Thobel, as Josephus calls him, who says (l) the Thobelians in his time were called Iberians, a people in Asia, that dwelt near the Euxine sea; and in Albania was a place called Thabilaca, as may be seen in Ptolemy (m), and another called Thilbis, from whom might spring the Iberians in Europe, now called Spaniards; but Bochart (n) thinks that the Tibarenes are the descendants of Tubal, a people that dwelt between the Trapezuntii and Armenia the less; and he wonders that this never was thought of by any; but in that he is mistaken, for our countryman Mr. Broughton (o) makes the Tibarenes to spring from Tubal; and Epiphanius (p) many hundreds of years before him. Meshech, his next son, is mentioned along with Tubal in Eze 27:13 from him came the Mosocheni, as Josephus (q), who in his time were called Cappadocians, with whom there was a city then named Mazaca, since Caesarea (r); and these seem to be the same that Pliny (s) calls Moscheni, who inhabited the mountains Moschici, which were at the north east of Cappadocia. Some derive the Muscovites from them, which is not improbable: the last of Japheth's sons is Tiras or Thiras, which Jarchi interprets very wrongly by Paras, or Persia; much better the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, and so a Jewish chronologer (t), by Thracia; for the descendants of Thiras, as Josephus (u) observes, the Greeks call Thracians; and in Thrace was a river called Atyras (w), which has in it a trace of this man's name; and Odrysus, whom the Thracians worshipped, is the same with Tiras, which god sometimes goes by the name of Thuras; and is one of the names of Mars, the god of the Thracians. (z) In Theogonia. (a) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1. (b) Ib. (c) Phaleg. l. 3. c. 8. col. 171, 172. (d) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 30. (e) Clio sive, l. 1. c. 16, 103. & Melpomene sive, l. 4. c. 11, 12, 13. (f) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.) (g) Ib. (h) Dissert. 48. (i) Iliad. 13. ver. 685. (k) Acharneus. act. 1. scen. 3. p. 376. (l) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1. (m) Geograph. l. 5. c. 12. (n) Phaleg. l. 3. c. 12. col. 180. (o) See his Works, p. 2, 58. (p) Ancorat. p. 546. (q) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.) (r) Vid. Ammian. Marcellin. l. 20. p. 170. Ed. Vales. (s) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 9, 10. (t) Sepher Juchasin, fol. 145. 1. Vid. T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 10. 1. (u) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.) (w) Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 4. c. 11. Genesis 10:3 tGen 10:3
And the sons of Gomer,.... Who was the first of the sons of Japheth, three of whose sons are mentioned, and they are as follow: Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah; the first of these seated himself in the lesser Asia, in Pontus and Bithynia, where were some traces of his name in the river Ascanius, and in the Ascanian lake or bay; and also in the lesser Phrygia or Troas, where was a city called Ascania, and where were the Ascanian isles (x), and the Euxine Pontus, or Axeine (y), as it was first called, which is the sea that separates Asia and Europe, and is no other than a corruption of the sea of Ashkenaz. It seems to have been near Armenia, by its being mentioned along with Minni or Armenia, in Jer 51:27. Germany is by the Jews commonly called Ashkenaz; perhaps some of the posterity of Ashkenaz in Asia might pass into Europe, and Germany might be a colony of them; so Mr. Broughton (z) observes of the sons of Gomer, that they first took their seat in Asia, and then came north and west into Muscovy and Germany. The next son of Gomer was Riphath. Josephus (a) says, that the Riphathaeans which came from him are the Paphlagonians, a people of Asia Minor, near Pontus, so that he settled near his brother Ashkenaz; perhaps his posterity are the Arimphaei of Pliny (b), and the Riphaeans of Mela (c), who inhabited near the Riphaean mountains, which might have their name from this son of Gomer, who in Ch1 1:6 is called Diphath, the letters and being very similar. His third son is called Togarmah, who had his seat in the north of Judea, see Eze 38:6 his posterity are the Phrygians, according to Josephus (d); but some place them in Galatia and Cappadocia; and Strabo (e) makes mention of a people called Trocmi, on the borders of Pontus and Cappadocia; and Cicero (f) of the Trogmi or Trogini, who may have their name from hence; for the Greek interpreters always call him Torgama or Thorgana. The Jews make the Turks to be the posterity of Togarmah. Elias Levita says (g), there are some that say that Togarmah is the land of Turkey; and Benjamin of Tudela (h) calls a Turkish sultan king of the Togarmans, that is, the Turks; and among the ten families of Togarmah, which Josephus ben Gorion (i) speaks of, the Turks are one; and perhaps this notion may not be amiss, since the company of Togarmah is mentioned with Gog, or the Turk; see Gill on Eze 38:6. The Armenians pretend to be the descendants of Togarmah, who, with them, is the son of Tiras, the son of Gomer, by his son Haik, from whom they and their country, from all antiquity, have bore the name of Haik (k). (x) Strabo Geograph. l. 12. p. 387, 388. & l. 14. p. 468. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 4. 12. & 5. 30, 31, 32. (y) Vid. Orphei Argonautic, ver. 84. (z) See his Works, p. 2, 58. (a) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.) (b) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 2. (c) De Situ Orbis, l. 1. c. 2. (d) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.) (e) Geograph. l. 4. p. 130. & l. 12. p. 390. (f) De Divinatione, l. 2. (g) In Tishbi, p. 259. (h) ltinerarium, p. 27, 54. (i) Hist. Heb. l. 1. c. 1. p. 3. (k) See the Universal History, vol. 1. p. 377. Genesis 10:4 tGen 10:11
Out of that land went forth Ashur,.... It is a question whether Ashur is the name of a man or of a country; some take it in the latter sense, and render the words, "and out of that land he went forth into Assyria"; so Onkelos; and in this way go Junius and Tremellius, Piscator, Bochart, Cocceius, and others, and the margin of our Bible, and interpret it of Nimrod; and the Targum of Jonathan is express for him, which is this:"out of that land went forth Nimrod, and reigned in Assyria, because he would not be in the council of the generation of the division, and he left four cities; and the Lord gave him therefore a place (or Assyria), and he built four other cities, Nineveh, &c.''so Theophilus of Antioch says (m), that Nebroth (Nimrod) built the same; but then the generality of interpreters which take this way give another and better reason for Nimrod's going out of Shinar or Babylon into Assyria than the Targumist gives; which is, that not content with his own dominions, and willing to enlarge them, he went out and made war upon Assyria, and seized upon it, and built cities in it, and added them to his former ones; in favour of this sense it is urged, that Moses is speaking of what Nimrod the son of Cush did, of the line of Ham, and not of the sons of Shem, among whom Ashur was; and that it is not probable he should introduce a passage relating to a branch of Shem, when he is professedly writing about that of Ham; nor is it agreeable to the history to speak of what Ashur did, before any mention of his birth, which is in Gen 10:22 nor was it peculiar to him to go out of the land of Shinar, since almost all were dispersed from thence; add to which, that Assyria is called the land of Nimrod, Mic 5:6 to which it may be replied, that parentheses of this sort are frequent in Scripture, see Sa2 4:4 besides, it seems appropriate enough, when treating of Nimrod's dominion and power, in order to show his intolerable tyranny, to remark, that it was such, that Ashur, a son of Shem, could not bear it, and therefore went out from a country he had a right unto; and as for the text in Mic 5:6 the land of Nimrod and the land of Assyria are manifestly distinguished from one another: add to this, that, if Nimrod so early made a conquest of Assyria, it would rather have been called by his own name than his uncle's; and it is allowed by all that the country of Assyria had its name from Ashur, the son of Shem; and who so likely to have founded Nineveh, and other cities, as himself? Besides these, interpreters are obliged to force the text, and insert the particle "into", which is not in it; and the order and construction of the words are more natural and agreeable to the original, as in our version and others, which make Ashur the name of a man, than this, which makes it a country: but then it is not agreed on who this Ashur was; some will have him to be of the posterity of Ham, and a son of Nimrod, as Epiphanius (n) and Chrysostom (o); but this is not probable, nor can any proof be given of it; Josephus (p) is express for it, that Ashur, the son of Shem, built Nineveh, and gave the name of Assyrians to those that were subject to him. The reason of his going out from Shinar, as given by Jarchi, is, when he saw his sons hearkening to Nimrod, and rebelling against the Lord, by building a tower, he went out from them; or it may be, he was drove out by Nimrod by force, or he could not bear his tyrannical government, or live where such a wicked man ruled: and as Nimrod built cities and set up an empire, Ashur did the same in his own defence and that of his posterity: and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah. The first of these cities, Nineveh, the Greeks commonly call Ninus, is placed by Strabo (q) in Atyria, the Chaldee name of Assyria, who generally suppose it had its name from Ninus, whom Diodorus Siculus (r) makes the first king of the Assyrians, and to whom he ascribes the building of this city; and who, one would think, should be Ashur, and that Ninus was another name of him, or however by which he went among the Greeks; and so this city was called after him; or rather it had its name from the beauty of it, the word signifying a beautiful habitation, as Cocceius (s) and Hillerus (t) give the etymology of it; or perhaps, when it was first built by him, it had another name, but afterwards was called Nineveh, from Ninus, who lived many years after him, who might repair, adorn, and beautify it. It was destroyed by the Medes and Babylonians, as foretold by Nahum, and it is difficult now to say where it stood; the place where it is supposed to have been is now called Mosul; of which place Rauwolff (u) says, who was there in 1574, that"there are some very good buildings and streets in it, and it is pretty large, but very ill provided with walls and ditches;--besides this, I also saw, (says he,) just without the town, a little hill, that was almost quite dug through, and inhabited by poor people, where I saw them several times creep in and out as pismires in ant hills: in this place, or thereabouts, stood formerly the potent town of Nineveh, built by Ashur, which was the metropolis of Assyria;--at this time there is nothing of antiquities to be seen in it, save only the fort that lieth upon the hill, and some few villages, which the inhabitants say did also belong to it in former days. This town lieth on the confines of Armenia, in a large plain:''See Gill on Jon 1:2, Jon 3:1, Jon 3:2, Jon 3:3, Nah 1:8 The next city, Rehoboth, signifies "streets", and so it is rendered in the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem; and, because in the Chaldee language streets are called "Beritha", Bochart (w) thinks that this Rehoboth is the city which Ptolemy (x) calls Birtha, on the west of Tigris, at the mouth of the river Lycus, though he places it by Euphrates; wherefore it should rather be Oroba, he places at the river Tigris (y), near to Nineveh also. The last city, Calah, or Calach, was a principal city in the country, by Ptolemy (z) called Calacine, and by Strabo (a) Calachene, and mentioned by both along with Adiabene, a country in Assyria. (m) Ad Autolycum, l. 2. p. 106. (n) Contra Haeres. l. 1. p. 3. (o) In Genes. Homil. 29. (p) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4. (q) Geograph. l. 16. p. 507. (r) Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 90, 91. (s) In Jonam, 1, 2. (t) Onomast. Sacr. p. 304, 431. (u) Travels, part 2. c. 9. p. 166. (w) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 21. col. 256. (x) Geograph. l. 5. c. 19. (y) Ibid. l. 6. c. 1. (z) Ibid. (a) Geograph. l. 11. p. 347, 365. & l. 16. p. 507. Genesis 10:12 tGen 10:22
The children of Shem,.... Whose names are Elam and Ashur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram; and who, as Josephus (f) says, inhabited Asia, from Euphrates to the Indian ocean: his first born, Elam, was the father of the Elymaeans, from whom sprung the Persians, as the same writer observes, and his posterity are called Elamites, Act 2:10 their country Elam, and is sometimes mentioned with Media, when the Persians and Medes are intended, Isa 21:2 see also Isa 22:6, &c. in Daniel's time, Shushan, in the province of Elam, was the seat of the kings of Persia: the country of Elymais, so called from this man, is said by Pliny (g) to be divided from Susiane by the river Eulaeus, and to join with Persia; and the famous city of Elymais, the metropolis of the country, is placed by Josephus (h) in Persia. Ashur, the second son of Shem, gives name to Assyria, a country frequently mentioned in Scripture; and which, according to Ptolemy (i), was bounded on the north by part of Armenia the great, and the mountain Niphates, on the west by Mesopotamia and the river Tigris, on the south by Susiane, and on the east by part of Media. Strabo says (k) they call Babylonia, and great part of the country about it, Assyria, in which was Ninus or Nineveh, the chief city of the Assyrian empire; and which was built by Ashur, as Josephus (l) affirms, and says he gave the name of Assyrians to his subjects: Arphaxad, the third son of Shem, from him that part of Assyria, which lay northward next to Armenia, was called Arphaxitis, as it is probable that was its original name, though corruptly called by Ptolemy (m) Arrapachitis: Josephus says (n), he gave name to the Arphaxadaeans, whom he ruled over, now called Chaldeans; and indeed the name of the Chaldeans may as well be derived from the latter part of Arphaxad's name, "Chashad", as from Chesed, the son of Nahor, and brother of Abraham, as it more commonly is; since the Chaldeans were called Chasdim before Chesed was born, and were a nation when Abraham came out of Ur, before Chesed could be old or considerable enough to build towns and found a nation; see Gen 11:31 though Bochart treats this as a mere dream, yet he is obliged to have recourse to the usual refuge, that Ur was called Ur of the Chaldees, by anticipation. The fourth son of Shem was Lud, from whom sprung the Lydians, a people of Asia minor, and whose country is called Lydia, including Mysia and Caria, which all lay by the river Maeander; and Lud, in the Phoenician language, signifies bending and crooked, as that river was, being full of windings and turnings: some think that the posterity of Lud are carried too far off from those of his brethren, but know not where else to fix them. From Aram, the last son of Shem, sprung the Aramaeans, called by the Greeks Syrians, as Josephus (o) observes; and by Homer (p) and Hesiod (q) and so says Strabo (r); some by the Arimi understand the Syrians, now called Arami; and elsewhere (s) he observes, that they who are by us called Syrians, are by the Syrians themselves called Aramaeans, and this is the name they give to themselves to this day: the country inhabited by them included Mesopotamia and Syria, and particularly all those places that have the name of Aram added to them, as Padan Aram, and Aram Naharaim (which is Mesopotamia), Aram of Damascus, Aram Zobah, Aram Maacha, and Aram Beth Rehob, Gen 28:2 and the title of Psa 60:1, the Septuagint version here adds, "and Cainan", but without any authority. (f) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4. (g) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 27. (h) Antiqu. l. 12. c. 8. sect. 1. (i) Geograph. l. 6. c. 1. (k) Ib. l. 16. p. 507. (l) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4. (m) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 1.) (n) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4.). So R. Gedaliah, in Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 76. 2. (o) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4.) (p) Iliad. 2. (q) Theogonia. (r) Geograph. l. 13. p. 431. l. 16. p. 540. (s) Ib. l. 1. p. 28. Genesis 10:23 tGen 10:23
And the children of Aram,.... The four following persons are called the sons of Shem, Ch1 1:17 being his grandsons, which is not unusual in Scripture: Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash: the first of these sons of Aram, Uz, is generally thought to be the founder of Damascus; so Josephus (t) says. Usus founded Trachonitis and Damascus, which lies between Palestine and Coelesyria: there was a place called Uz in Idumea, Lam 4:21 and another in Arabia, where Job dwelt, Job 1:1 but neither of them seems to be the seat of this man and his posterity, who, in all probability, settled in Syria: his second son Hul, whom Josephus (u) calls Ulus, according to him, founded Armenia; which notion may be strengthened by observing that Cholobotene is reckoned a part of Armenia by Stephanus (w); which is no other than Cholbeth, that is, the house or seat of Chol, the same with Hul; and there are several places in Armenia, as appears from Ptolemy (x), which begin with Chol or Col, as Cholus, Cholua, Choluata, Cholima, Colsa, Colana, Colchis: but perhaps it may be better to place him in Syria, in the deserts of Palmyrene, as Junius and Grotius; since among the cities of Palmyrene, there is one called Cholle, according to Ptolemy (y). Gether, the third son, is made by Josephus (z) to be the father of the Bactrians; but these were too far off to come from this man, and were not in the lot of Shem: Bochart (a) finds the river Getri, which the Greeks call Centrites, between Armenia and the Carduchi, whereabout, he conjectures, might be the seat of this man; but perhaps it may be more probable, with Grotius and Junius, to place him in Coelesyria, where are the city Gindarus of Ptolemy (b), and a people called Gindareni, by Pliny (c); though Bishop Patrick thinks it probable that Gadara, the chief city of Peraea, placed by Ptolemy (d) in the Decapolis of Coelesyria, had its name from this man: Mr. Broughton derives Atergate and Derceto, names of a Syrian goddess, from him, which was worshipped at Hierapolis in Coelesyria, as Pliny says (e). The last of the sons of Aram, Mash, is called Meshech, in Ch1 1:17 and here the Septuagint version calls him Masoch; his posterity are supposed to settle in Armenia, about the mountain Masius, thought to be the same with Ararat, and which the Armenians call Masis; perhaps the people named Moscheni, mentioned by Pliny (f), as dwelling near Armenia and Adiabene, might spring from this man. (t) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4.) (u) Ibid. (w) Apud Bochart. Phaleg. l. 2. c. 9. col. 81. (x) Geograph. l. 5. c. 13. (y) Geograph. l. 5. c. 15. (z) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4.) (a) Phaleg. l. 2. c. 10. (b) Geograph. l. 5. c. 15. (c) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 23. (d) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 5. c. 15.) (e) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 23. (f) Ib. l. 6. c. 9. Genesis 10:24
tGen 10:23
Aram--In the general division of the earth, the countries of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Syria, fell to his descendants.
Genesis 10:24