Commentari biblici

Now these [are] the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.

And unto them were sons born after the flood. — Great store of sons: else how could they so soon have peopled the whole earth? See here the virtue of that divine benediction, Genesis 9:1 ; Genesis 9:7 .

return to '

The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.

The sons of Japheth. — Not all, but the chief men of renown, Ethnarchs: think the same of the other two sons of Noah: seventy-one of their posterity are here registered (fourteen of Japheth, thirty-one of Ham, and twenty-six of Shem); hence it went for current among the ancients (grounding upon Genesis 10:31-32 of this chapter) that the nations were afterwards distinguished by so many tongues and countries.

return to '

And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.

Ashkenaz. — Hinc Tuiscones , or Duitschmen, say the Jews; making Ashkenaz the father of the Germans, as Gomer of the Cimbrians or Danes, and Meshec of the Muscovites. But of these things there is little certainty. See Breerwood’s Inquiries.

return to '

And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

Elishah. — Whence the Eolians.

Tarshish. — Whence the Cilicians, where Tarsus (Paul’s country) was.

Kittim. — Whence the Macedonians. Numbers 24:24 Daniel 11:30

Dodanim. — Whence the Epirotes (Scanderberg’s country), where stands the city Dodaena.

return to '

By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.

By these were the isles of the Gentiles. — That is, the countries of Europe and Asia the Less, inhabited by Japheth’s posterity. Europe hath its name, in Greek, Eυρωπη , ex ευρεια et ωψ quasi dilatatio . from the latitude and large surface of it, which answers well to the name of Japheth (signifying enlargement), who, together with his offspring, was, by God’s appointment, to rule there far and wide toward the west and north. Asia hath its name from two Hebrew words that signify the fire of the Lord, àשׁéä Ignis Domini Q. Curtius saith of Darius, that he called upon the sacred and eternal fire. which, in Persia and other parts thereof, they superstitiously deified. Asia the Less, was so called first by Attalus, king of Pergamus, who, being the last of that name and race, made the Romans his heirs by will. They turned his country into a province, and called it Asia, by the name of the continent - as devouring, doubtless in hope, that whole part of the world by this small beginning. Hence, likely, came that first distinction of the Lesser Asia.

return to '

And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.

Cush. — Ethiopians came of him. Psalms 7:1 . title Wicked Saul, for his black deeds, is called Cush. confer Jeremiah 13:23 Amos 9:7

Mizraim. — From whom came the Egyptians. Turks and Arabians call Egypt Mesra, or Masra, at this day. Chald. parap.

return to '

And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.

Seba. — Of whom seem to have come the Abassines in Africa, the only region there entirely possessed by Christians. Hence came the Queen of Sheba, …

return to '

And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.

Nimrod, he began to be a mighty one. — His name signifies a rebel: he was the chief Babel builder, and there began to be a mighty one. A giant, saith the Greek, - such another as Goliath was in his generation, 1 Samuel 17:51 where the same word is used, - a magnifico, a grandio; such a one as sought to make himself great, even to a proverb. Genesis 10:9 But there is a double greatness; first, genuine; secondly, brutal. This latter is no such commendation; a beast in this may, and doth exceed us; as in the former, we exceed ourselves and others.

return to '