names

SECT. I.

19.

Several names in

Gen. x.

There is another particular to be taken notice of, CHAP.III. concerning the account in general given us by Moses, of the first plantations after the Flood; which is this: that some learned men are of opinion, that among the names of the sons of Noah, mentioned Gen. x. there are several which are to be looked upon, not as the names of single per- not the sons, but of so many people; besides the descen- names of dants of Canaan, mentioned there under the single perof the Jebusite, Emorite, Girgashite, Hivite, Arkite, sons, but of people. Sinite, Arvadite, Zemarite, and Hamathite; which are generally acknowledged to be the names of so many several people, descended from Canaan. However, it seems probable, that the respective sires of these people, that is, the several sons of Canaan, from whom they were descended, were called by the names of Jebus, Emor, Girgash, Hivah, Arak, Sin, Arvad, Zamar, and Hamath. Now, as not these single persons themselves, but their respective descendants, are denoted by the names of the Jebusite, Emorite, Girgashite, Iivite, &c. so it is thought by some learned men, that Kittim, Dodanim, Mizraim, and (all those whom Mizraim begat, viz.) Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim, and Caphtorim, are names also not of single persons, but of people. One reason for the said opinion is this; that the Hebrew words are of a plural termination, according to the analogy of that tongue. Whence by Kittim are supposed to be meant the descendants of Keth; by Dodanim, the descendants of Dodan, and so of the rest. And this seems to be put beyond dispute, by what we read expressly (Deut. ii. 23.) of the Caphtorim; namely, that they came forth out of Caphtor. And therefore it is very probable, that when the text says, Mizraim begat Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim, and Caphtorim, the plain meaning thereof is, that Mizraim begat Lud, Aram, Lehab, Naphtuah, Pathrus, Casluah, and Caphtor; whose descendants are respectively denominated from their several sires or fathers, Ludim, Aṇa

PART I. mim, Lehabim, &c. and this is further confirmed, in that we have mention made (as of Caphtor in the singular, from whom the Caphtorians are in the same place expressly said to be descended, Deut. ii. 23, so likewise) of Lud in the singular, Ezek. xxvii. 10, who, being joined to Phut the son of Ham, was in all probability the father of the Ludim; the whole nation or people being (as is usual in sacred Scripture) denoted by the name of their sire, from whom they descended. It is evident that the Seventy Interpreters were of this opinion for they render Kittim and Dodanim, or, as they read it, Rodanim, by Khrio Ketii, and 'Pódio Rodii; as also to Ludim, Anamim, &c. they prefixed the plural article rous.

20. Mizraim

the name of a single person.

As for Mizraim, some will have this name likewise to be a plural, or (to speak more properly and according to the analogy of the Hebrew tongue) a dual; and will have thereby denoted the two more general divisions of Egypt, namely, into Upper Egypt, sometimes distinguished by the proper name of Thebais, from Thebes, a principal city thereof; and Lower Egypt, or Egypt more properly so called. Agreeably to this hypothesis, it is thought that Egypt is sometimes denoted in Scripture by the singular Mazor, as in 2 Kings xix. 24. Isaiah xix. 6. and Mic. vii. 12. but in these places, the word is in all the old translations, (Septuagint, Chaldee, Syriack, Arabick,) as well as ours, taken for an appellative. In short, it seems to be a consideration of some weight against Mizraim being any other than a singular, that in the text where Mizraim is said to beget Ludim, the verb beget is joined to Mizraim in the singular: whereas, had Mizraim been a dual or plural, the rules of syntax would require that the verb should be so likewise.

And it is observable, that though the Seventy Interpreters rendered the other Hebrew words, of a plural termination, as words of the plural number; yet they looked on Mizraim as a singular, and accordingly join to it a verb of the singular num

SECT. II.

ber. And thus much for the first plantations after CHAP. III. the Flood in general. I proceed now to speak distinctly of the plantations of the three distinct branches of Noah's posterity, by his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet; which accordingly are distinguished into three distinct Sections.

SECTION II.

Of the first Plantations of the Descendants of Japhet, eldest Son of Noah; and also of some of the Colonies thereof in after-ages, particularly of the Ancient Britains.

1.

three sons

of Noah,

Japhet was

er.

THOUGH it be said, Gen. v. 32. Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japhet; and the same order is else. Of the where used in reckoning up the three sons of Noah; yet it is plain from Gen. ix. 22. 24. that Ham was the younger son of Noah. As to the the elder, Hebrew text, Gen. x. 21. the words are differently and Ham understood by interpreters and commentators; the young some rendering the text after this sense, that Shem was the elder brother of Japhet; others rendering it in this sense, that Shem was the brother of Japhet the elder. This last interpretation is followed in the Septuagint and our English version; and seems to be put out of dispute by an argument drawn from Ĝen. v. 32. and xi. 10. compared together. In the former text it is said, Noah was five hundred years old, and begat Shem, Ham, and Japhet: whereby must be reasonably understood, that he began then to beget children, and in that year of his age begat his eldest son. But in the latter text it is said, that Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the Flood. Now, had Shem been his eldest son of all, he must have been a hundred and two years old,