Genesis 10:13 Komentář

This chapter shows more particularly what was said in general (Gen 9:19), concerning the three sons of Noah, that "of them was the whole earth overspread;" and the fruit of that blessing (Gen 9:1, Gen 9:7), "replenish the earth." Is is the only certain account extant of the origin of nations; and yet perhaps there is no nation but that of the Jews that can be confident from which of these seventy fountains (for so many there are here) it derives its streams. Through the want of early records, the mixtures of people, the revolutions of nations, and distance of time, the knowledge of the lineal descent of the present inhabitants of the earth is lost; nor were any genealogies preserved but those of the Jews, for the sake of the Messiah, only in this chapter we have a brief account, I. Of the posterity of Japheth (Gen 10:2-5). II. The posterity of Ham (Gen 10:6-20), and in this particular notice is taken of Nimrod (Gen 10:8-10). III. The posterity of Shem (Gen 10:21, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 10 This chapter gives an account of the posterity of the three sons of Noah, by whom the world was peopled after the flood, Gen 10:1 of the posterity of Japheth, Gen 10:2 of the posterity of Ham, Gen 10:6 and of the posterity of Shem, Gen 10:21.

And Mizraim begat Ludim,.... Mizraim was the second son of Ham, of whom See Gill on Gen 10:6. Ludim he is said to beget, the word being plural, is not the name of a man, but of his posterity; and the sense is, that Mizraim begat the father of the Ludim, whose name very probably was Lud, which name is preserved in Isa 66:19. These Ludim are the same with the Lydians, Jer 46:9 and whose country is called Lydia, Eze 30:5 but to be distinguished from Lydia in Asia Minor, and the Lydians there who sprung from Lud, a son of Shem, Gen 10:22 for, as these sprung from Mizraim, the founder of Egypt, they must be somewhere thereabout; and Bochart (f) has proved, by various arguments, that they are the Ethiopians in Africa, now called Abyssines, whose country lies to the south of Egypt, a people formerly famous for archery, as Lud and the Lydians are said to be, Isa 66:19 and whoever reads the accounts Diodorus Siculus (g) gives of the Egyptians and Ethiopians, will easily discern a likeness between them, and that the one sprung from the other; both deifying their kings; showing a like carefulness about their funerals; both using hieroglyphics; having the like order of priests, who used shaving; and circumcision was common to them both, as Herodotus observes (h): and Ananzim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim: the name of the father of the Anamim very probably was Anam, though we have no account of him elsewhere: according to Hillerus (i), the Anamim were called so from the pastoral life they led; and, by a transposition of letters, were the same with the Maeonians, who inhabited that tract of land in Asia which was washed by the river Maeonia, or Maeander, and bordered on Lydia; but, as these were the descendants of Mizraim, they must be sought for somewhere about Egypt: much better therefore does Mr. Broughton (k) take them to be the Nubians and Numidians, which were near both Egypt and Ethiopia; though Bochart (l) seems to be most correct, in making them to be the Ammonians, who, Herodotus says, were a colony of the Egyptians and Ethiopians; these lived about Ammon and Nasamonitis, and in that part of Lybia in which the temple of Jupiter Ammon stood, and are the Nomades, that lived a pastoral life; and Bochart (m) thinks they are called Anamim, from Anam, which, in the Arabic language, signifies a "sheep", because they fed sheep, and lived upon them, and clothed themselves with their skins. The word Lehabim, the name of another people from Mizraim, signifies "flames"; and were so called, as Jarchi observes, because their faces were like flames, see Isa 13:8 burnt with the heat of the sun, living near the torrid zone; and therefore could not be the Lycians, as Hillerus (n) thinks, the inhabitants of a country in Asia, between Caria and Pamphylia, formerly called Lycia, now Aidimelli, which he observes abounds with places that have their names from fire and flames, as Mount Chimaera, the cities Hephaestium, Myra, Lemyra, Habessus, Telmessus, Balbura, and Sirbis; but these were too far from Egypt, near which it is more probable the Lehabim were, and seem to be the same with the Lubim, which came with Shishak out of Egypt to invade Judea, Ch2 12:3 and who were called Lybians, Jer 46:9 and their country Lybia, Eze 30:5 of which Leo Africanus (a) says, that it is a desert, dry and sandy, having neither fountains nor springs; which was near Egypt as well as Ethiopia, with which it is joined in the above place, see Act 2:10. The word Naphtuhim, the name of another people that sprung from Mizraim, according to Hillerus (o), signifies "open"; and he thinks they are the Pamphylians, who used to admit promiscuously all into their ports and towns, which were open to all strangers, and even robbers, for the sake of commerce; but, as these were a people in lesser Asia, they cannot be the people here meant. Bochart (p) observes, from Plutarch, that the Egyptians used to call the extreme parts of a country, and abrupt places and mountains adjoining to the sea, Nepthys, the same with Nephthuah; and therefore he is of opinion, that these Naphtuhim dwelt on the shores of the Mediterranean sea, near Egypt, in Marmorica; not far from whence was the temple of Aptuchus, mentioned by Ptolemy (q), and placed by him in Cyrene, which carries in it some trace of the name of Naphtuhim; and he suspects that Neptune had his name from hence; he being a Lybian god, as Herodotus (r) says; for none ever used his name before the Lybians, who always honoured him as a god: and it may be observed, from Strabo (s), that many of the temples of Neptune were on the sea shore. Some place these people about Memphis, the name of which was Noph, Isa 19:13 but perhaps it may be much better to place them in the country of Nepate, between Syene and Meroc, where Candace, queen of Ethiopia, had her royal palace in the times of Strabo (t). (f) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 26. (g) Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 143, &c. (h) Euterpe sive, l. 2. c. 104. (i) Onomastic. Sacr. p. 283. (k) See his Works, p. 4, 60. (l) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 30. col. 284. (m) Ib. c. 42. (n) Onomastic. Sacr. p. 281, 583. (a) Descriptio Africae, l. 1. p. 74. (o) Onomastic Sacr. p. 161, 178, 283, 421. (p) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 26. (q) Geograph. l. 4. c. 4. (r) Herodot. Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 21. Euterpe sive, l. 2. c. 50. (s) Geograph, l. 8. p. 237. (t) Geograph. l. 17. p. 564.

(Verse 13) And Mesraim fathered Ludim, and Anamim, and Laabim, and Nephtuim, and Phetrosim, and Chasloim, from whom came the Philistines and the Caphtorim. Except for the Laabim, who were later called Libyans, and the Chasloim, who were later called Philistines, whom we incorrectly call Palestinians, the other six nations are unknown to us, for they were destroyed in the Ethiopian war and their names have been forgotten. But they possessed the land from Gaza to the furthest boundaries of Egypt.

But indeed Mizraim begot Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, and Pathrusim, and Casluhim, from whom came the Philistines and Caphtorim. These seem to be the names of peoples rather than of individual men, since it was stated clearly even Casluhim from whom came the Philistines. For all of them end in -im, which is the proper ending of the plural number in Hebrew in the masculine gender, but also interpreted they signify a plural number rather than a singular. Now indeed Lehabim are Libyans, Philistines are Palestinians, Caphtorim are Cappadocians, as we find set according to the opinion of the Seventy interpreters in the book of the names of the Hebrews. The names of the other peoples which are now known to us, however, are unknown. But they possessed the land from Gaza up to the boundaries and limits of Egypt.

The generations of the sons of Noah, Gen 10:1. Japheth and his descendants, Gen 10:2-4. The isles of the Gentiles, or Europe, peopled by the Japhethites, Gen 10:5. Ham and his posterity, Gen 10:6-20. Nimrod, one of his descendants, a mighty hunter, Gen 10:8, Gen 10:9, founds the first kingdom, Gen 10:10. Nineveh and other cities founded, Gen 10:11, Gen 10:12. The Canaanites in their nine grand branches or families, Gen 10:15-18. Their territories, Gen 10:19. Shem and his posterity, Gen 10:21-31. The earth divided in the days of Peleg, Gen 10:25. The territories of the Shemites, Gen 10:30. The whole earth peopled by the descendants of Noah's three sons, Gen 10:32.

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 - According to Bochart, the people who inhabited the district about the temple of Jupiter Ammon. Lehabim - The Libyans, or a people who dwelt on the west of the Thebaid, and were called Libyo-Egyptians. Naphtuhim - Even the conjectures can scarcely fix a place for these people. Bochart seems inclined to place them in Marmarica, or among the Troglodytae.

GENEALOGIES. (Gen. 10:1-32) sons of Noah--The historian has not arranged this catalogue according to seniority of birth; for the account begins with the descendants of Japheth, and the line of Ham is given before that of Shem though he is expressly said to be the youngest or younger son of Noah; and Shem was the elder brother of Japheth (Gen 10:21), the true rendering of that passage. generations, &c.--the narrative of the settlement of nations existing in the time of Moses, perhaps only the principal ones; for though the list comprises the sons of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, all their descendants are not enumerated. Those descendants, with one or two exceptions, are described by names indicative of tribes and nations and ending in the Hebrew im, or the English "-ite."