CHAPTER X. 1 This is the race of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth, and unto them were sons born after the CHAPTER X., verse 2.-Nothing positive can be ascertained respecting the meaning of the word Gomer; but its similarity in sound to the Kimmerians, Kiμμépioi, may lead us to observe the affinity between these two words; and this view is confirmed by the more ancient authorities, such as Kosmas1, who refers the name Gomer to the Scythians, and also by the Arabians, when they assign to the Crimea the locality of the K'orem, a word which was perhaps transposed from Gomer. Michaelis has decided this question; and the Kimbri are now fully recognised as the former inhabitants of the south of Russia and the Crimea. It is clear that the genealogist in the text regards the Kimmerians as an ancient people, since they here precede the others; and according to him (v. 3.) Phrygia and Armenia were also considered to have been peopled by the descendants of Gomer: the same people appear in the Odyssey, xi. 14, &c.3, and they may probably have been first known at the time of the Homeric poems, since they were driven southwards in the seventh century before Christ by the Scythians, according to Herodotus1, and their progress was in the direction of Asia Minor and Palestine. Hence they were regarded by Ezekiel, who wrote 1 Indicopl. p. 131. 3 2 Spicilegium, p. 19, &c. ̔Η δ ̓ ἐς πείραθ ̓ ἵκανε βαθυῤῥόου Ωκεανοῖο Πέρι καὶ νεφέλῃ κεκαλυμμένοι.—Odyssey xi. 13-15. 4 [Herodotus informs us (i. 103) that the Kimmerians were expelled from Europe by the Scythians, and (iv. 11–12) that the country possessed in his time (B.c. 456) by the latter nation formerly belonged to the Kimmerians, who had fled to the Asiatic Chersonesus where the Greek city of Sinope was afterwards built. The Kimmerians, he adds, in their flight (southwards) kept uniformly by the sea-coast, and the Scythians having Mount Caucasus to their right continued the pursuit, until by following in an inland direction they themselves entered Media.] 2 flood. The sons of Japheth are: Gomer, and Magog, about the same time, as a people forming a part of the army of Magog', and this latter name occurs immediately after that of Gomer in the genealogy before us, among the sons of Japheth. Magog, according to Ezekiel, is the country, while Gog on the other hand is the people, who came up against Israel. At a later period Gog and Magog were united3, and on that account were spoken of together, as Yagug wa Magug, referred to by the Arabians. The syllable Ma is unquestionably mahd, 'great,' and the word Gog seems to be synonymous with Guh, ' mountain,' so that the Caucasus in a general way is here alluded to, which range of mountains was considered in later Asiatic times to have been the brazen wall with which Alexander had kept back the Hyperboreans on the north-east. Even Jerome was acquainted with this rocky barrier placed against the incursions of the northern barbarians, and the same idea is still further developed in the Koran3 as well as by more modern Arabians; the occurrence of such legends, together with the express assurance of Josephus that the Scythians are referred to in the term Magog, leave hardly any doubt of that name belonging to the country on the north of the Caucasus between the Black Sea and the Caspian. In Ezekiel, xxxviii. 2, Gog is described as the prince of 1 The army of Magog included "Gomer and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands."-Ezek. xxxviii. 6. 2 "Set thy face against Gog [the prince of] the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, thus saith the Lord God, behold I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal."-Ezek. xxxviii. 2, 3. "When Gog shall come against the land of Israel."-Ezek. xxxviii. 18. 3 "The nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog."-Revelations, xx. 8. 4 Epith. Fabiol. “Inter Tanaim et Massagetas, ubi Caucasi rupibus feras gentes Alexandri claustra prohibent." 5 Sur. xviii. 93; xxi. 96. [Sale's Koran, p. 247; and p. 272; ed. 1844.] 6 "Magog founded those nations, who from him were named Magogites, but who are by the Greeks called Scythians.”—Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, i. 6. and Madai, and Javan, and Thubal, and Meshech Meshech (the Mosci) and Thubal (Tibareni); meaning thereby that these nations were at that time subject to the Scythians, who had made an irruption into Palestine in the time of Josiah (between B.C. 629 and 624) in order to advance against Psammetichus king of Egypt'. Nor were the Jews, as Rosenmüller remarks, silent with respect to this expedition, for both Ezekiel and Jeremiah refer to it, when they mention the northern invaders and the bands of horsemen from the north3; besides which, Ezekiel speaks of Magog by name (chap. xxxviii.). In modern times Pezronius endeavoured, as early as A.D. 1693, to prove the reference of these passages to the Scythian expedition. Madai, Media, presents no difficulty; nor is there any obscurity, such as Rosenmüller imagines, in this name; it signifies the middle,' madhya, which was the name given by the Medes to their own kingdom, because, as Polybius remarks, they considered its situation to be about the middle of Asia, περὶ μέσην τὴν ̓Ασίαν. The Medes first became independent of Assyria under Dejoces (B.c. 7105), but a long time must have elapsed before they could have acquired a sufficient degree of independence to adopt the name of being the middle or central nation of Asia, and to be recognized as such in history. Moreover the mention of the Medes in the text carries our thoughts directly to the Scythians "The Scythians having obtained the entire possession of (Western) Asia, advanced towards Egypt. Psammetichus, king of Egypt, met them in Palestine of Syria, and by presents and importunity united, prevailed on them to return."-Herodotus i. 105. Hitzig, on Isaiah, p. 296; and vol. i. p. 266 of this work. 2 Alterthumsk. 1. 1. p. 273. 3 ["Evil appeareth out of the north and great destruction." "A people cometh from the north country, and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth."-Jerem. vi. 1, 22. See also Ezek. xxxviii.] 4 Polyb. v. 44. The Assyrians had been in possession of upper Asia for a period of 520 years; the Medes first of all revolted from their authority, and contended with such obstinate bravery against their masters, that they were ultimately successful, and exchanged servitude for freedom. Dejoces was proposed as their king and elected with universal praise."-Herodotus i. 95, 98. 3 and Thiras. And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz and in the reign of Cyaxares [the grandson of Dejoces,] for the Scythian hordes had at that time invaded and taken possession of Media, and had thus compelled that monarch to raise for a time the siege of Nineveh'. Cyaxares afterwards, B.c. 597, destroyed Nineveh; but as that great city is mentioned in verse 11 of this chapter as still in existence, the date already given [for the composition of the genealogy] receives apparently an additional confirmation from this circumstance. Yavan (or Javan), Ionia, is mentioned by Zechariah, ix. 13; as well as by Ezekiel, xxvii. 13, in which latter passage, as in the text, the name Javan is connected with Thubal and Meshech; it refers especially to the Greeks in Asia Minor, who were also oppressed by the Scythians. The Septuagint has 'EXλas in this place, and the wider acceptation of the word as referring to Greece generally is found in Dan. viii. 21. The Ionians maintained a commercial intercourse with the Phoenicians, and Homer was acquainted with Arybas and Phaidimos, the kings of Tyre in his time. It may be here noticed that the old form of the name, Iawr, Iάoves, probably meaning the younger ones, was used in contrast to Ipaukot, which referred to the older people?: the same form is found in Eschylus3 as well as in Aristophanes1, and in Homer3. Respecting a town Yavan, situated in Jemen, see the note on verse 27 in this chapter. Thubal, which in 1 Chronicles i. 5. is written Thùbal (with the long u) has undoubtedly the same signification as in the proper name Tubal Cain, meaning metal, and all the commentators agree that the Tibareni are here intended, not only on account of the similarity in the sound of the name, but because they were located near the Chalybes or workers in metal, and were men. tioned in Ezekiel as having brought brass and slaves to Tyre. merchants; they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market." -Ezekiel xxvii. 3, 13. 4 Riphath, and Thogarmah. And the sons of Javan: The Moschian mountains, in the Caucasian chain, between the Caspian and the Black Sea, were rich in copper, and Rosenmüller justly remarks that even at the present day the same countries supply the Harems of the East with beautiful slaves'. Meshech generally occurs in connection with Thubal2, and both names are connected with the Scythians, which is evident from the passages in Ezekiel xxxviii. 2, and xxxix. 1, (mentioning Meschech and Thubal with Gog). Herodotus3 also connects the Mooxo (as inhabitants of the Moschian mountains in Armenia and Colchis,) with the Tibareni, so that the question about the identity of these two nations may be considered as settled. Thiras has been referred to Thrace by the Targum writers, as well as by Josephus, Jerome, Kosmas and all modern critics, although the connection is only founded upon a similarity in the names; and we must remark with respect to it, that the sudden transition to this western nation is abrupt. Verse 3.-It is very difficult to determine the nations of secondary importance here mentioned as the descendants of the Kimmerians, and we are obliged in many cases to be content merely with a similarity in the names, wherever the locality appears in some measure to be in accordance, as in Ashkenaz, which occurs again only in Jeremiah in connection with Ararat, for which reason it was thought that its locality should be sought in Armenia. But the mention of two nations together is not always a necessary proof of their being neighbours, and Bochart's' opinion that Phrygia is here indicated seems very plausible, since in ancient times the Phrygians were termed Ascanians. It is well known that the Rabbins consider Ashkenaz to have been Germany. 1 Alterth. 1. 1. 249. 3 Herod. iii. 94; vii. 78. 2 Ezek. xxvii. 13; xxxii. 26; xxxviii. 2; xxxix. 1. 4 "The kingdoms of Ararat, Minni and Ashchenaz."-Jerem. li. 27. 5 Phaleg. i. 174. Buttmann, Lexilog. i. 68. Compare note on Chapter VIII. ver. 4, supra, p. 136. |