Noah's sons people the earth. A. M. 1657 GENESIS. 18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth of the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: father of Canaan. 19 and Ham is the These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread. 20 And Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: Chap. x. 6. Heb. Chenaan.viii. 17; x. 32; 1 Chron. i. 4, &c. a The intoxication of Noah. B. C. 2347. 21 And he drank of the wine, A. M. 1657. and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went -y Chap. v. 32.- Chap. v. 29; Prov. x. 11; xii. 11; Ecclus. v. 9.- some disguised traditionary figure of the truth, considers the rainbow as a messenger of the gods. Æn. v., ver. 606 : IRIM de cælo misit Saturnia Juno. "Juno, the daughter of Saturn, sent down the rainbow from heaven;" and again, Æn. ix., ver. 803 :-aeriam cœlo nam Jupiter IRIM Demisit. b Prov. xx. 1; Verse 21. He drank of the wine, &c.] It is very probable that this was the first time the vine was cultivated; and it is as probable that the strength or intoxicating power of the expressed juice was never before known. Noah, therefore, might have drunk it at this time without the least blame, as he knew not till this trial the effects it would produce. I once knew a case which I believe to be perfectly parallel. A person who had scarcely ever heard of cider, and whose beverage through his whole life had been only milk or "For Jupiter sent down the ethereal rainbow from water, coming wet and very much fatigued to a far heaven." It is worthy of remark that both these poets understood the rainbow to be a sign, warning, or portent from heaven. As I believe the rainbow to have been intended solely for the purpose mentioned in the text, I forbear to make spiritual uses and illustrations of it. Many have done this, and their observations may be very edifying, but they certainly have no foundation in the text. mer's house in Somersetshire, begged for a little water or milk. The good woman of the house, seeing him very much exhausted, kindly said, "I will give you a little cider, which will do you more good." The honest man, understanding no more of cider than merely that it was the simple juice of apples, after some hesitation drank about a half a pint of it; the consequence was, that in less than half an hour he was perfectly intoxicated, and could neither speak plain nor walk! This case I myself witnessed. A stranger to the circumstances, seeing this person, would pronounce him drunk; and perhaps at a third hand he might be re Verse 20. Noah began to be a husbandman] 7787 ish haadamah, A man of the ground, a farmer; by his beginning to be a husbandman we are to under-presented as a drunkard, and thus his character be stand his recommencing his agricultural operations, which undoubtedly he had carried on for six hundred years before, but this had been interrupted by the flood. And the transaction here mentioned might have occurred many years posterior to the deluge, even after Canaan was born and grown up, for the date of it is not fixed in the text. blasted; while of the crime of drunkenness he was as innocent as an infant. This I presume to have been precisely the case with Noah; and no person without an absolute breach of every rule of charity and candour, can attach any blame to the character of Noah on this ground, unless from a subsequent account they were well assured that, knowing the power and effects of the liquor, he had repeated the act. Some expositors seem to be glad to fix on a fact like this, which by their distortion becomes a crime; and then, in a strain of sympathetic tenderness, affect to deplore "the failings and imperfections of the best of men ;" when, from the interpretation that should be given of the place, neither failing nor imperfection can possibly appear. The word husband first occurs here, and scarcely appears proper, because it is always applied to man in his married state, as wife is to the woman. The etymology of the term will at once show its propriety when applied to the head of a family. Husband, hurband, is Anglo-Saxon, and simply signifies the bond of the house or family; as by him the family is formed, united, and bound together, which, on his death, is disunited and scattered. It is on this etymology of the Verse 22-24. And Ham, the father of Canaan, word that we can account for the farmers and petty &c.] There is no occasion to enter into any detail landholders being called so early as the twelfth cen- here; the sacred text is circumstantial enough. Ham, tury, husbandi, as appears in a statute of David II., and very probably his son Canaan, had treated their king of Scotland: we may therefore safely derive the father on this occasion with contempt or reprehensible word from hur, a house, and bond, from binden, to bind levity. Had Noah not been innocent, as my exposior tie; and this etymology appears plainer in the or- tion supposes him, God would not have endued him thography which prevailed in the thirteenth and four-with the spirit of prophecy on this occasion, and testiteenth centuries, in which I have often found the word fied such marked disapprobation of their conduct. The written house-bond; so it is in a MS. Bible before me, conduct of Shem and Japheth was such as became pious written in the fourteenth century. Junius disputes and affectionate children, who appear to have been in this etymology, but I think on no just ground. the habit of treating their father with decency, reve The Canaanites are cursed. B. C. cir. 2347. CHAP. IX. his servant. Noal's age and death. B. C. cir. 2347. A. M. cir. 1657. backward, and covered the naked- of Shem; and Canaan shall be A. M. cir. 1657. ness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. i 27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and k Canaan shall be his servant. 28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. B. C. 1998. 29 And all the days of Noah A. M. 2006. were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died. Deut. xxvii. 16. Josh. ix. 23; 1 Kings ix. 20, 21. Or, servant to them. rence, and obedient respect. On the one the spirit of prophecy (not the incensed father) pronounces a curse: on the others the same spirit (not parental tenderness) pronounces a blessing. These things had been just as they afterwards occurred had Noah never spoken. God had wise and powerful reasons to induce him to sentence the one to perpetual servitude, and to allot to the others prosperity and dominion. Besides, the curse pronounced on Canaan neither fell immediately upon himself nor on his worthless father, but upon the Canaanites; and from the history we have of this people, in Lev. xviii., xx. ; and Deut. ix. 4; xii. 31, we may ask, Could the curse of God fall more deservedly on any people than on these? Their profligacy was great, but it was not the effect of the curse; but, being foreseen by the Lord, the curse was the effect of their conduct. But even this curse does not exclude them from the possibility of obtaining salvation; it extends not to the soul and to eternity, but merely to their bodies and to time; though, if they continued to abuse their liberty, resist the Holy Ghost, and refuse to be saved on God's terms, then the wrath of Divine justice must come upon them to the uttermost. How many, even of these, repented, we cannot tell. Verse 25. Cursed be Canaan] See on the preceding verses. In the 25th, 26th, and 27th verses, instead of Canaan simply, the Arabic version has Ham the father of Canaan; but this is acknowledged by none of the other versions, and seems to be merely a gloss. Verse 29. The days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years] The oldest patriarch on record, Methuselah only excepted. This, according to the common reckoning, was A. M. 2006, but according to Dr. Hales, 3505. "HAM," says Dr. Hales, "signifies burnt or black, and this name was peculiarly significant of the regions allotted to his family. To the Cushites, or children of his eldest son Cush, were allotted the hot southern regions of Asia, along the coasts of the Persian Gulf, Susiana or Chusistan, Arabia, &c.; to the sons of Canaan, Palestine and Syria; to the sons of Misraim, Egypt and Libya, in Africa. "The Hamites in general, like the Canaanites of old, were a seafaring race, and sooner arrived at civilization and the luxuries of life than their simpler pastoral and agricultural brethren of the other two families. The first great empires of Assyria and Egypt were founded by them, and the republics of Sidon, Tyre, and VOL. I. ( 7 ) a Or, persuade.- i Eph. ii. 13, 14; iii. 6. Ver. 25, 26. Carthage were early distinguished for their commerce, but they sooner also fell to decay; and Egypt, which was one of the first, became the last and basest of the kingdoms, Ezek. xxix. 15, and has been successively in subjection to the Shemiles and Japhethites, as have also the settlements of the other branches of the Hamites. "SHEM signifies name or renown; and his indeed was great in a temporal and spiritual sense. The finest regions of Upper and Middle Asia were allotted to his family, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Media, Persia, &c., to the Indus and Ganges, and perhaps to China eastward. "The chief renown of Shem was of a spiritual nature: he was destined to be the lineal ancestor of the blessed seed of the woman; and to this glorious privilege Noah, to whom it was probably revealed, might have alluded in that devout ejaculation, Blessed be the LORD, the GOD of Shem! The pastoral life of the Shemites is strongly marked in the prophecy by the tents of Shem; and such it remains to the present day, throughout their midland settlements in Asia. "JAPHETH signifies enlargement; and how wonderfully did Providence enlarge the boundaries of Japheth! His posterity diverged eastward and westward throughout the whole extent of Asia, north of the great range of Taurus, as far as the Eastern Ocean, whence they probably crossed over to America by Behring's Straits from Kamtschatka, and in the opposite direction throughout Europe to the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; from whence also they might have crossed over to America by Newfoundland, where traces of early settlements remain in parts now desert. Thus did they gradually enlarge themselves till they literally encompassed the earth, within the precincts of the northern temperate zone, to which their roving hunter's life contributed not a little. Their progress northwards was checked by the much greater extent of the Black Sea in ancient times, and the increasing rigour of the climates: but their hardy race, and enterprising, warlike genius, made them frequently encroach southwards on the settlements of Shem, whose pastoral and agricultural occupations rendered them more inactive, peaceable, and unwarlike; and so they dwelt in the tents of Shem when the Scythians invaded Media, and subdued western Asia southwards as far as Egypt, in the days of Cyaxares; when the Greeks, and after81 The generations of GENESIS. the sons of Noah. wards the Romans, overran and subdued the Assyrians, Gentiles, GREAT BRITAIN and IRELAND, have spread Medes, and Persians in the east, and the Syrians and their colonies, their arms, their language, their arts, Jews in the south; as foretold by the Syrian prophet and in some measure their religion, from the rising to Balaam, Num. xxiv. 24:the setting sun." See Dr. Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. i., p. 352, &c. Ships shall come from Chittim, And shall afflict the Assyrians, and afflict the Hebrews; But he (the invader) shall perish himself at last. "And by Moses: And the Lord shall bring thee (the Jews) into Egypt (or bondage) again with ships, &c., Deut. xxviii. 68. And by Daniel: For the ships of Chittim shall come against him, viz., Antiochus, king of Syria, Dan. xi. 30. In these passages Chittim denotes the southern coasts of Europe, bounding the Mediterranean, called the isles of the Gentiles or Nations; see Gen. x. 5. And the isles of Chittim are mentioned Jer. ii. 10. And in after times the Tartars in the east have repeatedly invaded and subdued the Hindoos and the Chinese; while the warlike and enterprising genius of the greatest of the isles of the Though what is left undone should not cause us to lose sight of what is done, yet we have reason to la ment that the inhabitants of the British isles, who of all nations under heaven have the purest light of Divine revelation, and the best means of diffusing it, have been much more intent on spreading their conquests and extending their commerce, than in propagating the Gospel of the Son of God. But the nation, by getting the Bible translated into every living language, and sending it to all parts of the habitable globe, and, by its various missionary societies, sending men of God to explain and enforce the doctrines and precepts of this sacred book, is rapidly redeeming its character, and becoming great in goodness and benevolence over the whole earth! - CHAPTER X. The generations of the sons of Noah, 1. JAPHETH and his descendants, 2-4. The isles of the Gentiles, or Europe, peopled by the Japhethites, 5. HAM and his posterity, 6-20. Nimrod, one of his descendants, a mighty hunter, 8, 9, founds the first kingdom, 10. Nineveh and other cities founded, 11, 12. The Canaanites in their nine grand branches or families, 15–18. Their territories, 19. SHEM and his posterity 21-31. The earth divided in the days of Peleg, 25. The territories of the Shemites, 30. earth peopled by the descendants of Noah's three sons, 32. The whole A. M. 1556. B. C. 2448. NOW these are the generations | Ham, and Japheth: a and unto A. M 1556. B. C. 2448. NOTES ON CHAP. X. a Genesis, chap. ix. 1, 7, 19. Verse 1. Now these are the generations] It is extremely difficult to say what particular nations and people sprang from the three grand divisions of the family of Noah, because the names of many of those ancient people have become changed in the vast lapse of time from the deluge to the Christian era; yet some are so very distinctly marked that they can be easily ascertained, while a few still retain their original names. Moses does not always give the name of the first settler in a country, but rather that of the people from whom the country afterwards derived its name. Thus Mizraim is the dual of Mezer, and could never be the name of an individual. The like may be said of Kittim, Dodanim, Ludim, Ananim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim, Philistim, and Caphtorim, which are all plurals, and evidently not the names of individuals, but of families or tribes. See verses 4, 6, 13, 14. In the posterity of Canaan we find whole nations reckoned in the genealogy, instead of the individuals from whom they sprang; thus the Jebusite, Amorite, Girgasite, Hivite, Arkite, Sinite, Arvadite, Zemarite, and Hamathite, ver. 16-18, were evidently whole nations or tribes which inhabited the promised land, and were called Canaanites from Canaan, the son of Ham, who settled there. Moses also, in this genealogy, seems to have introduced even the name of some places that were remarkable in the sacred history, instead of the original settlers. Such as Hazarmaveth, ver. 26; and probably Ophir and Havilah, ver. 29. But this is not infrequent in the sacred writings, as may be seen 1 Chron. ii. 51, where Salma is called the father of Bethlehem, which certainly never was the name of a man, but of a place sufficiently celebrated in the sacred history; and in chap. iv. 14, where Joab is called the father of the valley of Charashim, which no person could ever suppose was intended to designate an individual, but the society of craftsmen or artificers who lived there. Eusebius and others state (from what authority we know not) that Noah was commanded of God to make a will and bequeath the whole of the earth to his three sons and their descendants in the following manner :To Shem, all the East; to Ham, all Africa; to Japheth, the Continent of Europe with its isles, and the northern parts of Asia. See the notes at the end of the preceding chapter. ( 7* ) с 7 And the Sons of Cush; Seba, and Ha Or, as some read it, Rodanim.- d Psa. Ixxii. 10; Jer. ii. 10; xxv. 22; Zeph. ii. 11.- Le 1 Chron. i. 8, &a. Verse 2. The sons of Japheth] Japheth is supposed to be the same with the Japetus of the Greeks, from whom, in an extremely remote antiquity, that people were supposed to have derived their origin. Gomer] Supposed by some to have peopled Galatia; so Josephus, who says that the Galatians were anciently named Gomerites. From him the Cimmerians or Cimbrians are supposed to have derived their origin. Bochart has no doubt that the Phrygians sprang from this person, and some of our principal commentators are of the same opinion. Magog] Supposed by many to be the father of the Scythians and Tartars, or Tatars, as the word should be written; and in great Tartary many names are still found which bear such a striking resemblance to the Gog and Magog of the Scriptures, as to leave little doubt of their identity. Madai] Generally supposed to be the progenitor of the Medes; but Joseph Mede makes it probable that he was rather the founder of a people in Macedonia called Madi, and that Macedonia was formerly called Emathia, a name formed from Ei, an island, and Madai, because he and his descendants inhabited the maritime coast on the borders of the Ionian Sea. On this subject nothing certain can be advanced. Javan] It is almost universally agreed that from him sprang the Ionians, of Asia Minor; but this name seems to have been anciently given to the Macedonians, Achaians, and Baotians. Tubal] Some think he was the father of the Iberians, and that a part at least of Spain was peopled by him and his descendants; and that Meshech, who is generally in Scripture joined with him, was the founder of the Cappadocians, from whom proceeded the Muscovites. probably was the first who settled at Elis, in Peloponnesus. Tarshish] He first inhabited Cilicia, whose capital anciently was the city of Tarsus, where the Apostle Paul was born. Kiltim] We have already seen that this name was rather the name of a people than of an individual: some think by Kittim Cyprus is meant others, the isle of Chios; and others, the Romans; and others, the Macedonians. Dodanim.] Or Rodanim, for the and may be easily mistaken for each other, because of their great similarity. Some suppose that this family settled at Dodona in Epirus; others at the isle of Rhodes; others, at the Rhone in France, the ancient name of which was Rhodanus, from the Scripture Rodanim. Verse 5. Isles of the Gentiles] EUROPE, of which this is allowed to be a general epithet. Calmet supposes that it comprehends all those countries to which the Hebrews were obliged to go by sea, such as Spain, Gaul, Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor. Every one after his tongue] This refers to the time posterior to the confusion of tongues and dispersion from Babel. Verse 6. Cush] Who peopled the Arabic nome near the Red Sea in Lower Egypt. Some think the Ethiopians descended from him. Mizraim] This family certainly peopled Egypt; and both in the East and in the West, Egypt is called Mezr and Mezraim. Phut] Who first peopled an Egyptian nome or district, bordering on Libya. Canaan.] He who first peopled the land so called, known also by the name of the Promised Land. Verse 7. Seba] The founder of the Sabæans. There Tiras.] From this person, according to general seem to be three different people of this name menconsent, the Thracians derived their origin. Verse 3. Ashkenaz] Probably gave his name to Sacagena, a very excellent province of Armenia. Pliny mentions a people called Ascanitici, who dwelt about the Tanaïs and the Palus Mæotis; 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 Riphatai. Togarmah.] The Sauromates, or inhabitants of Turcomania. See the reasons in Calmet. Verse 4. Elishah] As Javan peopled a considerable part of Greece, it is in that region that we must seek for the settlements of his descendants; Elishah tioned in this chapter, and a fourth in chap. xxv. 3. Havilah] Supposed by some to mean the inhabitants of the country included within that branch of the river Pison which ran out of the Euphrates into the bay of Persia, and bounded Arabia Felix on the east. Sabtah] Supposed by some to have first peopled an isle or peninsula called Saphta, in the Persian Gulf. Raamah] Or Ragmah, for the word is pronounced both ways, because of the y ain, which some make a vowel, and some a consonant. Ptolemy mentions a city called Regma near the Persian Gulf; it probably received its name from the person in the text. Sabtechah] From the river called Samidochus, in Caramania; Bochart conjectures that the person in the text fixed his residence in that part. Nimrod, a mighty hunter, B. C. cir. 2328. GENESIS. i founds several cities. A. M. cir. 1676. vilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, | Babel, and Erech, and Accad, A. M. cir. 1745. B. C. cir. 2259. and Sabtechah: and the sons and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan. 11 Out of that land went A. M. cir. 1700. B. C. cir. 2304 forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and 'the city Rehoboth, and Calah, A. M. cir. 1715. the earth. 8 And Cush begat Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one in 12 And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city. 13 And Mizraim begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, 14 And Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (m out of Or, the streets of the city Chap. vi. 11.- —h Mic. v. 6. Or, he went out into Assyria.iGr. Babylon. Sheba] Supposed to have had his residence beyond the Euphrates, in the environs of Charran, Eden, &c. m 1 Chron. i. 12. Verse 10. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel] babel signifies confusion; and it seems to have been a very proper name for the commencement Dedan.] Supposed to have peopled a part of Arabia, of a kingdom that appears to have been founded in on the confines of Idumea. Verse 8. Nimrod] Of this person little is known, as he is not mentioned except here and in 1 Chron. i. 10, which is evidently a copy of the text in Genesis. He is called a mighty hunter before the Lord; and from ver. 10, we learn that he founded a kingdom which included the cities Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Though the words are not definite, it is very likely he was a very bad man. His name Nimrod comes from 17 marad, he rebelled; and the Targum, on 1 Chron. i. 10, says: Nimrod began to be a mighty man in sin, a murderer of inno- | cent men, and a rebel before the Lord. The Jerusalem Targum says: "He was mighty in hunting (or in prey) and in sin before God, for he was a hunter of the children of men in their languages; and he said unto them, Depart from the religion of Shem, and cleave to the institutes of Nimrod." The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel says: "From the foundation of the world none was ever found like Nimrod, powerful in hunting, and in rebellions against the Lord." The Syriac calls him a warlike giant. The word y tsayid, which we render hunter, signifies prey; and is applied in the Scriptures to the hunting of men by persecution, oppression, and tyranny. Hence it is likely that Nimrod, having acquired power, used it in tyranny and oppression; and by rapine and violence founded that domination which was the first distinguished by the name of a kingdom on the face of the earth. How many kingdoms have been founded in the same way, in various ages and nations from that time to the present! From the Nimrods of the earth, God deliver the world! Mr. Bryant, in his Mythology, considers Nimrod as the principal instrument of the idolatry that afterwards prevailed in the family of Cush, and treats him as an arch rebel and apostate. Mr. Richardson, who was the determined foe of Mr. Bryant's whole system, asks, Dissertation, p. 405, "Where is the authority for these aspersions? They are nowhere to be discovered in the originals, in the versions, nor in the paraphrases of the sacred writings." If they are not to be found either in versions or paraphrases of the sacred writings, the above quotations are all false. apostasy from God, and to have been supported by tyranny, rapine, and oppression. In the land of Shinar.] The same as mentioned chap. xi. 2. It appears that, as Babylon was built on the river Euphrates, and the tower of Babel was in the land of Shinar, consequently Shinar itself must have been in the southern part of Mesopotamia. Verse 11. Out of that land went forth Asshur] The marginal reading is to be preferred here. He-Nimrod, went out into Assyria and built Nineveh; and hence Assyria is called the land of Nimrod, Mic. v. 6. Thus did this mighty hunter extend his dominions in every possible way. The city of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, is supposed to have had its name from Ninus, the son of Nimrod; but probably Ninus and Nimrod are the same person. This city, which made so conspicuous a figure in the history of the world, is now called Mossul; it is an inconsiderable place, built out of the ruins of the ancient Nineveh. Rehoboth, and Calah, &c.]. Nothing certain is known concerning the situation of these places; conjecture is endless, and it has been amply indulged by learned men in seeking for Rehoboth in the Birtha of Ptolemy, Calah in Calachine, Resen in Larissa, &c., &c. Verse 13. Mizraim begat Ludim] Supposed to mean the inhabitants of the Mareotis, a canton in Egypt, for the name Ludim is evidently the name of a people. Anamim] inhabited the Ammon. According to Bochart, the people who district about the temple of Jupiter Lehabim] The Libyans, or a people who dwelt on the west of the Thebaïd, and were called LibyoEgyptians.. Naphtuhim] Even the conjecturers can scarcely fix a place for these people. Bochart seems inclined to place them in Marmarica, or among the Troglodytæ. Verse 14. Pathrusim] The inhabitants of the Delta, in Egypt, according to the Chaldee paraphrase; but, according to Bochart, the people who inhabited the Thebaïd, called Pathros in Scripture. Casluhim] The inhabitants of Colchis; for almost all authors allow that Colchis was peopled from Egypt. Philistim] The people called Philistines, the con |