Genesis 10:17

10:15-32 The posterity of Canaan were numerous, rich, and pleasantly seated; yet Canaan was under a Divine curse, and not a curse causeless. Those that are under the curse of God, may, perhaps, thrive and prosper in this world; for we cannot know love or hatred, the blessing or the curse, by what is before us, but by what is within us. The curse of God always works really, and always terribly. Perhaps it is a secret curse, a curse to the soul, and does not work so that others can see it; or a slow curse, and does not work soon; but sinners are reserved by it for a day of wrath Canaan here has a better land than either Shem or Japheth, and yet they have a better lot, for they inherit the blessing. Abram and his seed, God's covenant people, descended from Eber, and from him were called Hebrews. How much better it is to be like Eber, the father of a family of saints and honest men, than the father of a family of hunters after power, worldly wealth, or vanities. Goodness is true greatness.

And the Hivite,.... These dwelt in Hermon, a part of Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal Hermon unto the entering in of Hamath, Joshua 11:3 to the east of the land of Canaan; hence they were sometimes called Kadmonites, or Easterlings, Genesis 15:19 and are thought to have their name from dwelling in holes and caves like serpents; hence Cadmus the Phoenician, and his wife Hermonia, who seem to have their names from hence, are reported to be turned into serpents, they being Hivites, which this word signifies, as Bochart (i) observes. And the Arkite; the same with the Aruceans, or Arcaeans, Josephus (k) speaks of in Phoenicia about Sidon, and from whom the city Arce had its name, which he places in Lebanon; and is mentioned by Menander (l) as revolting to the king of Assyria, with Sidon and old Tyre; and which is reckoned by Ptolemy (m) a city of Phoenicia, and placed by him near old Byblus; and hence Bothart (n) thinks Venus had the name of Venus Architis, said by Macrobius (o) to be worshipped by the Assyrians and Phoenicians.

And the Sinite: either the inhabitants of the wilderness of Sin, who dwelt in the northern part of the desert of Arabia, or the Pelusiotae, as Bochart (p) thinks, the inhabitants of Pelusium, which was called Sin, Ezekiel 30:15 the former being its Greek name, the latter its Chaldee or Syriac name, and both signify "clay", it being a clayey place; but Canaan or Phoenicia seems not to have reached so far; Jerom speaks of a city not far from Arca called Sin, where rather these people may be thought to dwell. (i) Ut supra. (Phaleg. l. 4. c. 36. fol. 304.) (k) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 2. & l. 5. c. 1. sect. 23. (l) Apud Joseph. Antiqu. l. 9. c. 14. sect. 2.((m) Geograph. l. 5. c. 15. (n) Ut supra. (Phaleg. l. 4. c. 36. fol. 304.) (o) Saturnal. l. 1. c. 21. (p) Ut supra. (Phaleg. l. 4. c. 36. fol. 304.)

17 . the Hivite ] The Hivites, dwellers in the country about Gibeon ( Joshua 9:7 ) and Sichem ( Genesis 34:2 ); while Joshua 11:3 and Jdg 3:3 speak of the Hivites as dwelling near Mount Hermon and Mount Lebanon, though in neither passage is the reading (? Hittites) certain. the Arkite ] A Phoenician tribe represented by the modern Tell Arḳa , some 80 miles north of Zidon, and not far from Tripolis. the Sinite ] Jerome mentions a town Sini near Arka.

11. Out of that land went forth Asshur—or, as the Margin has it, "He [Nimrod] at the head of his army went forth into Assyria," that is, he pushed his conquests into that country. and builded Nineveh—opposite the town of Mosul, on the Tigris, and the other towns near it. This raid into Assyria was an invasion of the territories of Shem, and hence the name "Nimrod," signifying "rebel," is supposed to have been conferred on him from his daring revolt against the divine distribution.

Verse 17. - And the Hivite . "Villagers" (Gesenius); "settlers in cities" (Ewald); their localities are mentioned in Genesis 34:2 ; Joshua 9:1, 7 ; Joshua 11:3 ; Judges 6:3 . And the Arkite . Inhabitants of Arka, a city of Phoenicia (Josephus): afterwards called Caesarea Libani; its ruins still exist at Tel Arka, at the foot of Lebanon. And the Sinite . The inhabitants of Sin. Near Arkf are a fortress named Senna, ruins called Sin, and a village designated Syn. Genesis 10:17

From Kenaan are descended eleven nations: (34) Zidon is styled his first-born. The name is retained in the well-known town on the coast of Phoenicia, which is accordingly of the highest antiquity among the cities of that region. The Sidonians were reckoned co-extensive with the Phoenicians, and are mentioned by Homer (Iliad 23:743; Odyssey 4:618). (35) Heth. This tribe dwelt about Hebron and in the mountains around, and perhaps still further north in the districts extending toward the Euphrates Genesis 23:3; Numbers 13:29; Joshua 1:4. Esau took wives from the Hittites Genesis 26:34-35, and some part of the nation existed even after the captivity Ezra 9:1. (36) the Jebusite has his chief seat in and around Jerusalem, which was called Jebus, from his chief; and the citadel of which was wrested from him only in the time of David 2 Samuel 5:7. (37) the Amorite was one of the most important and extensive tribes of Kenaan. Five kings of this nation dwelt in the mountains afterward occupied by Judah Genesis 14:7, Genesis 14:13; Numbers 13:29; Joshua 10:5, and two on the east of the Jordon, in Heshbon and Bashan, north of Moab Numbers 21:13; Deuteronomy 4:47. The eastern Amorites were conquered under Moses, the western under Joshua. A remnant of them were made bondsmen by Solomon 1 Kings 9:20. They survived the captivity Ezra 9:1. (38) the Girgashite seems to have lain on the west of the Jordan, and the name may be preserved in the reading Γεργεσηνῶν Gergesēnōn, of Matthew 8:28.

The town of the Gergesenes is supposed to have been at the southeast of the lake of Gennesaret Genesis 15:21; Deuteronomy 7:1; Joshua 24:11. (39) the Hivite was found at Shalem, Gibeon, and also at the foot of Hermon and Antilibanus Genesis 34:2; Joshua 9:7; Joshua 11:3; Judges 3:3. The former were also classed under the Amorites Genesis 48:22; 2 Samuel 21:2. With the exception of four cities of the Gibeonites, they were conquered by Joshua Jos 9:17; Joshua 11:3, Joshua 11:19. (40) the Arkite probably dwelt near a town called Arke or Caesarea Libani, lying some miles north of Tripolis, at the foot of Lebanon. Its ruins are still extant at Tel Arka. (41) the Sinite is supposed to have dwelt in Sinna, a town mentioned by Strabo, called Sine by Jerome, and Syn in the fifteenth century (Strab. xvi. 2, 18; Hieron. Quaest. in Gen., Breitenbach, Travels, p. 47), not far from Arke. (42) the Arvadite dwelt in Arvad, Aradus, now Ruad, a Phoenician town on an island of the same name. (43) the Zemarite has been traced in the town Σίμυρα Simura, the ruins of which were found by Shaw at the western foot of Lebanon, under the name of Sumra. (44) the Hamathite was the inhabitant of Hamath, called Hamath Rabbah (the great), by the Greeks Epiphaneia, and at present Hamah. It is situated on the Orontes, and held an important place in the history of Israel. The land of Hamath was of great extent, including the town of Riblab 2 Kings 25:21 and reaching even to Antioch.

From Canaan descended "Zidon his first-born, and Heth." Although Zidon occurs in Genesis 10:19 and throughout the Old Testament as the name of the oldest capital of the Phoenicians, here it must be regarded as the name of a person, not only because of the apposition "his first-born," and the verb ילד, "begat," but also because the name of a city does not harmonize with the names of the other descendants of Canaan, the analogy of which would lead us to expect the nomen gentile "Sidonian" ( Judges 3:3 , etc.); and lastly, because the word Zidon, from צוּד to hunt, to catch, is not directly applicable to a sea-port and commercial town, and there are serious objections upon philological grounds to Justin's derivation, "quam a piscium ubertate Sidona appellaverunt, nam piscem Phoenices Sidon vocant" (var. hist. 18, 3).