Notes on the text of the book of Genesis : with an appendix online

to submission, Del/; cf. ver. lo.

9. Nimrod was also distinguished as a mighty huntsman.
TV 1133 = '^ hero in (lit, of) the chase!

mrr' ''DD7 (cf. Jon. 3, 3 D\ni?Ni>; rw ee — probably identical with the n"'3li?
in Nah. 3, 9. 2 Chron. 12, 3. 16, 8. Dan. 11, 43 — are the
Libyans, old Egyptian ' Tehennu ' (' Thihenu '), also ' Lehu '
or 'â–  Rehu! Wright compares for the interchange of n and 1,
nmi?, Sam. D-'ini?; mn, Syr. l^:>; pn, Syr. ^^j. 'The
name here is to be understood of the Libyans on the borders
of Egypt,' Di.

CnriDD. LXX, Lag. reads Ne(^^aAfi/i, and Swete gives
NecfidaXuLfi, both editions place the word after Aoi/Stei/x, and
not as in Heb. text at the end of the verse. Pesh. has
yil^c^..^, with .» for j. Bochart identifies DTinaJ with
Ne-;-, although D^nn, instead
of nn ''33, is commonly found in P) points to the name of
a people of wide range,' Di. nn = the * Cheta of the Egyptian
Monuments, who in the period from the i8th to the 20th
dynasty were the ruling nation in Syria, between the
Orontes and Euphrates, up to Asia Minor. Brought under
the rule of Egypt by Thutmosis II, they soon penetrated
further south and became, as we learn from the Tel-el-
Amarna Letters, in the time of Amenophis III and IV,
dangerous foes of the Phoenician coast towns, up to that
time under the sway of Egypt. Palestine was again brought
entirely under Egyptian control by the campaigns of Seti I
and Ramses II, but in N. Syria the ' Cheta ' maintained their
supremacy. In the Assyrian inscriptions, the ' Hatti' in
this sense, are often mentioned from 11 00 onwards, but
from the end of the eighth century, when these territories



CHAP. lO, VERS. 15-17. 115

were absorbed by the Assyrian Empire, the name is applied, in
a more limited sense, to the Hittites in Palestine (of. Schrader,
K.G.F., p. 225 ff.; C.O.T., p. 91 ff.); and the author of
Gen. X seems to refer mainly, if not exclusively, to the
nn in Canaan. Their chief city was Kadesh on the Orontes.
In I Kings 10, 29. 2 Kings 7, 6 Hittite kings are mentioned
in Syria ; and the Hittites in the O. T. may very possibly
be offshoots of these Syrian Hittites, see further, Di. ; Sayce
in the Trans, of the Soc. of Bib. Arch., vii. 2. 248 ff. ;
Cheyne, Enc. Brit, s.v.; Wright, Empire of the Hittites.

16. ''Dl^'^n. ' The febiisites^ who dwelt in and around
Jebus, afterwards called Jerusalem.

"^"ItDh^n. ^ The Amorites' who dwelt in the hill country
of Ephraim and Judah, and spread out far into the south;
the most powerful and warlike of all the Canaanitish tribes.
In E and D n?^Nn is the general name for the original
inhabitants of Palestine, before the coming of the Israelites,
while J uses the title ""JV^^. Cf. Amar, the name of Palestine
in the Egyptian Monuments, and Amurra, in the Tel-el-
Amarna Letters. Deut. 3, 9 is a specimen of the Amorite
language, Di. ''irON = prob. ' those who dwell on high
grotmd' {q,{. Num. 13, 29), from "^bS = "^''P^, Is. 17, 9, ' top^
' height:

"^^^TO.. 'The Girgashites' cf. 15, 21. Deut. 7, i, their
position is uncertain : possibly they must be sought for in
the west Jordan land; cf Josh. 24, 11.

17. ^^nn. ' The Hivites! ''in possibly = 'those who live
in town-communities [Stadtgemeindeft), H^n/ Di.; cf.. 34, 2.
Josh. 9. Later they are found in the Lebanon and Hermon dis-
tricts, perhaps driven thither by the Israelites; Josh. 1 1, 3. Judg.
3, 3. 2 Sam. 24, 7. Cf Ewald, His., i. p. 237 (Eng. Trans.).

I 2



Il6 GENESIS,



The '•PQ, i. e. 'Perizzites' 'those who dwell in open villages I
niPQ, who are mentioned in 13, 7. 15, 20, are not found in
this table; see Di., p. 192.

^p'^j^n are the Phoenicians of "Ap/c?; (Aram. pj^i'T Npis),
at the foot of mount Lebanon, about five hours north of
Tripohs, the birth-place of the emperor Alexander Severus.
"kpKT] has been rediscovered in the modern Tell Arqa and
village Arqa. LXX, 'Apou^aios. In Assyrian ^ Arka;' see
Schrader, C.O.T., p. 87.

''^'^Dn. 'The Phoenicians of Sin.' Hieron., Quaest. ed.
Lag., p. 17, mendons a town Sin, not far from Arqa,
Breydenbach (see Di., p. 192) in 1483 found a village Syn,
half a mile from the river Arqa.

18. '^11â– ^^^^. LXX, Toy 'ApaStoj/. ' TJie A radians, ' men-
tioned in Ez. 27, 8. 11 as the sailors and warriors of the
Tyrians, are the inhabitants of "ApaSor, a Phoenician city
built on a rocky island north of Tripolis, according to
Strabo, by exiles from Sidon. But this does not prove that
there were no Aradians at an earlier date; see Di., p. 192.
Arvad is frequently found on the Assyrian inscriptions
' Ar-va-da, Aruada ;' see Schrader, C.O.T., p. 87 f. Cf.
Bad., Pal., p. 382.

''"IQ^jn . ' The Phoenicians of Simyra,' south of Aradus,
north of Tripolis, mentioned by Strabo. In Assyrian
' Si-??iir-ra ;' see Schrader, C.O.T., p. 89, and in the
Tel-el-Amarna Letters Sumura and Sumur. The name
is still preserved in Suinra, a small village, cf. Bad., Pal,
P- 379-

T^t^nn. ' The inhabilanls of Hamath V the modern



' Arab, jjl^, Ass. Amattu, Del., Par., p. 275 f., Proleg., p. 174.



CHAP. lO, VERS. 18-2I. 117

Hafnd, about thirty-eight hours N. of Damascus, on the
Orontes (cf. Bad., Pal., p. 396 f.), often mentioned in the
O. T., and Assyrian inscriptions up to Sargon's time, ' mat
Hamatti ;* see Schrader, C.O.T., p. 90.

y^ill is Nif. of ps ; there is no necessity to take it with
Ewald from J»VS.

^^^^^n, used here and ver. 19 in its narrower sense,
excluding the Phoenicians and Syrians.

20. TON3 scn'ptw plena, for ^^^^; ^3^?3 here, ver. 30, 13,
10. 25, 18, is to be taken as an adv. ace. for the fuller
*IN3 ly, 19, 22, lit. ^ as thou comest ;'' cf. on 13, 10.

nH^. 'â–  Gerar,' in Philistia, it was more towards the
south than Gaza. On the n of motion towards, see Ges.,
§ 90. 2; Dav., § 17. 3.

TX^V. ' Gaza' the southernmost frontier stronghold in
Philistia; see Sh., G., p. 181 f . ; Bad., Pal., p. 154 f.

□*»n!J1 rMy^^^ rW^V^ nr^lD, the four cities of the
plain, mentioned with Bela in 14, 2. They probably
occupied the ground now covered by the southern portion
of the Dead Sea; see Di., p. 237.

V^^. Hieron. and Targ. Jer. identify it with Callirrhoe,
on the east side of the Dead Sea, m the Wady Zerka Main,
celebrated afterwards for its hot springs. But Di. objects
to this identification, as Callirrhoe lies too far north ; and
points out, that according to the analogy of the preceding
verse, a town on this side of the Dead Sea or of the Ghor
is required.

21-31. The Descendants of Shem.

21. b^in DH . . . DtZJbl; see the note on 4, 26.
"yy^^ \ see the note on 14, 13.



Il8 GENESIS,



blXn nD"" "n^^. Render, ' The elder brother of Japhet!
The rendering ' Brother of Japhet, the elder' adopted by the
LXX, Symm., Massoretes, Rashi, and others, is refuted by
the fact that the limitation of i^n:! to the age would only
then be sufficiently indicated if the text ran PH^n HJ p
(9, 24. 27, I. 15. 42). pn^n without p or r\^ cannot =
' naiii major! On ^njn, as comparative (or superlative),
see on 9, 24; and cf. Dav., S., §§ 27, 34; Ges., § 133. 2. 3.

22. u7^V = ' J^lam' and 'the Elamites^ the land and
people on the east of the lower Tigris, south of Assyria and
Media, north of the Persian Gulf; nearly corresponding to
the more modern Susiana and Elymais. ' XiT""^ neither here
nor elsewhere in the O. T. included Persia or all the land
up to India,' Di. In Assyrian '''Ham' or ^'llamti;' see
Schrader, C.O.T., p. 96.

â– ^Itr^^. 'â– Assyria and the Assyrians', 'for the most part
on the eastern side of the central Tigris, between Armenia,
Susiana, and Media; its extent cannot be accurately defined;
so called after its old capital and deity Asur ;' see Schrader,
CO. 7., p. 97, also p. 35. The Assyrians (as their inscrip-
tions testify) spoke a Semitic language.

"Iir^D"^^^, since Bochart's time usually explained by
'AppaTTaxiris (Ptol. vi. I. 2), the hill country of the upper Zab
(east of Carduchia or Gordyene). The name occurs fre-
quently in the Assyrian inscriptions as Arbaha, or Arabha,
but its meaning is not clear. Ges., Kn., and others explain
it as = * boundary of the Chaldea?is ' from 5]lX = Arab. 'i.Tj\
' boundary^ and nb'^ = Chaldean ; cf. Josephus' statement that
the Chaldeans were descended from 'Ap(f)a^ii8r]s. Schrader
and others object to the identification of '^IX with Arrapa-
chitis, as the Assyrian inscriptions never mention Chaldeans



CHAP. 10, VER. 22. 119

as settled in those districts. Di. thinks, that following the
geographical notices in the inscriptions, the ' land of the
Chaldeans ' must be sought in the south, but not in Accadia
(Neuville) or Babylonia (Fried. Del. and Schr.), as this land
was well known to the Hebrews under other names. He
regards irDSlt^ as being the territory of the Chaldeans from
the Persian Gulf towards the North. He draws attention
to the fact that Kardimids, the Assyrian name at a later
date for Babylonia in general, was originally the title of
the Babylonian coast lands, and that it signifies ' land of the
Chaldeans' Cf. his Cofjwi., p. 195 f.

"117. Apparently ^ the Lydians' and ' Lydia! It is not,
however, clear why Lydians should be placed among the
Semites. Their language was not Semitic, and they do not
appear to have formed a portion of any Semitic kingdom.
See Di., p. 196, and Del.^ ad loc. There is no reason to
assume that the narrator here wishes to limit the title to
the Lydians of Asia Minor. In the other passages in the
O. T. where Tli? occurs, the African Lydians are probably
meant, though Stade and Fried. Del. question the existence
of African nnii? : cf. also Schrader, C. 0. T., p. 98 f.

Q"1N. 'Rather the name of a people than a land, and
with a wider meaning than Syria, so that when it is more
accurately spoken of, some addition is made to the name, as
DnnJ D"N, pb'roi Dns. D"it< = the peoples of Syria and
Mesopotamia, up to the upper plains of the Tigris and the
valley-land within the Taurus, which was at a later date
considered as belonging to Armenia. The explanation of
the name as ' Highland ' is very doubtful. In Assyrian
' Araniu^ ' Aruniu^ and ' Ariniu ;' see Schrader, C.O.T.,
p. 100.



I20 GENESIS,



23. The sons of Aram ^

yiy is mentioned in 22, 21 as the first son of Nahor; in
36, 28 as a son of Dishan {]^''l); in Job 1,1 as a people
north-east of Edom. In Jer. 25, 20 kings of the land of Uz
are spoken of, and in Lam. 4, 21 Edomites are mentioned
as dwelling in the land of Uz. According to Josephus,
An/., i. 6. 4, Uz founded Trachonitis and Damascus. 'All
this points to a people who were widely scattered in southern
Syria and the Wilderness, viz. in the neighbourhood of
Hauran and Damascus/ Di. Cf. also Robertson Smith,
Kinship, p. 261, and Glaser, Skizzen der Gesch. und Geograph.
A r aliens, ii. p. 4 1 1 f.

7in is uncertain. Josephus, Ant., i. 6. 4, gives h^X\ as
the founder of Armenia. Bochart refers it to XoXo^orfjur) in
Armenia. It is usually identified (see Di., p. 197) with Hule
(ajji), a name that still attaches itself to lake Merom in
Galilee and the marshy land around it, but also to a district
between Emesa and Tripolis. A district ^ffuh'(j)a' near
mount Masius is mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions ; see
Del., Par., p. 259.

"^nri is unknown. Josephus 1. c. mentions inJ as the
founder of the Bactrians. Jerome supposes ina to be /he
Carians. Clericus takes it to be ' Kar/hara ' on the Tigris ;
see Tuch, p. 204.

tlJn. Heb.-Sam. nk^D; LXX, Moo-ox, i Chron. i, 17 T^'?;
cf. Ps. 120, 5. Josephus I.e. explains by Mr^o-ai/atot, at the
mouths of the Euphrates and Tigris (Syr. ^**^). More
probable is Bochart's identification with Mons Masius, north
of Nisibis.

^ These words are wanting in i Chron. i, 17.



CHAP. lO, VERS. 23-26. 121

24. The descendants of Arpachshad.

n7ir and nny the son of rh\y, also found in 11, 12. 14.

25. "!/''. On the passive, see 4, 18.

^7D, the same individual is mentioned in 11, 18.

yit*^n nilT'D^. * T/ie earth was divided,' i.e. the popu-
lation of the earth ; possibly to be referred to 1 1, 1-9 ; cf.
Ps, 55, 10; or it may refer to some partition of the soil
amongst distinct nations, in which case we should expect
to find pi?n. ii^S may have been used here on account of
the proper name ai'D.

JiDp'^. 'Joqtan! 'Joqtan, from the notices in the Bible,
was regarded by the Arab genealogists under the name
" Qahtdn,'* as the ancestor of the genuine Arabs in Arabia
proper, from whom the old prehistoric inhabitants, as 'Ad^
Thamud, Gadis, etc. on the one hand, and the Ishmaelites of
the north (Gen. 25, 12 ff.) on the other, were distinguished,'
Di. The name ' Qahtd?t ' is still preserved as the name of
a district and a tribe in northern Yemen.

26. intDT'h^. The b^ in this word is usually explained
as the Arabic article, and this is the view evidently adopted
by the punctuators. Other alleged instances of the Arabic
article in Hebrew words, are ^'"^f^^, D^O^sijX, t^vW, and
the p.n. "i^in^^^?, cf C. P. Ges., p. 38, and H. W.B., nth
ed. sub voce. It is more probable, however, that 7K, as in
many other Sabaean names, should be read /^< ' God,' and
that 1*110 comes from the root 'n\ so that the word = -f 7N
1110 ' God (is) a loving one', or = 111 + xh^ ' H loves ' (D is
then the mimation). Cf. D. H. IMtiller, Z. D. M. G., xxxviii.
18, and Glaser, Skizzen, ii. p. 280. The identification of
this name is uncertain. Bochart connects it with the 'AXXor-



122 GENESIS,



^aiooTaL of Ptolemy in the midst of Yemen. Tuch corrects
it into "^â– )1D7^?, i.e. .iC*, grandson of Sabas, who, with his
tribe, inhabited the hill country of Yemen, near J^;.

P]7^^ is uncertain. 'Bochart compares the ^akanTjvoi of
Ptolemy, vi. 7. 23 ; Knobel, a district Sa/Jie (jU-aJl- in Niebuhr,
Arab., p. 247), south-westward of Saiid ; Osiander, Sulaf
or Sail/, the name of a tribe in Yemen,' Di., p. 198 f.

n*)^^!^n, rediscovered on the Sabaean inscriptions as
niJ^nvn , i. e. Hadramaut {^jS>yl^)^ is the name of a district
east of Yemen on the sea coast, which is probably identical
with the land of the Xarpa/xcoTlrai, one of the four chief tribes