Genesis 10:19

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.

This is to be understood, not of the Canaanites, properly so called, but of them in general; and is a description of the bounds of the land of Canaan, as possessed by the people of Israel: the northern or north west border of it was Sidon, see Genesis 10:15 and is to be understood of the country which reached from that city towards the east almost as far as Jordan: as thou comest from Gerar unto Gaza; two cities of the Philistines, well known in Scripture, the former for being the place where Abraham and Isaac sometimes sojourned, and the latter for Samson's exploits in it; these were the southern or south west border of the land of Canaan: as thou goest unto Sodom and Gomorrah, and Admah and Zeboim; four cities destroyed by fire from heaven, as is after related in this book; these lay to the south or south east part of the land: even unto Lashah; which, according to the Targum of Jonathan, is Callirrhoe, a place famous for hot waters, which run into the Dead sea, and who in this is followed by Jerom; but since it was not in the southern part of Judea, as Lashah was, Bochart proposes (a) Lusa, as being more likely to be the place, a city of the Arabs, which Ptolemy (b) puts in the midway between the Mediterranean and the Red sea; but this is objected to by Reland (c), since the southern borders of the land of Canaan were from the extremity of the Dead sea unto the Mediterranean sea, from which Lusa was at a great distance: the Samaritan version of this verse is very different

(19, 20) The border . . . — The boundaries given are Sidon in the north, Gerar and Gaza in the south and south-west, and thence to the Dead Sea. The only Lasha known is a place famous for its hot springs on the east of the Red Sea Though the Phœnicians may-have occupied this town on their way to Palestine, it could not have been one of their boundaries, so that it is probably some place destroyed in the convulsion which overthrew the cities of the plain. We must notice also that while Sidon is Aradus and Hamath were considerably above it. It is probable, therefore, that both the Arvadite and the Hamathite were still wandering tribes without settlements when this table was drawn up.

19 . And the border of the Canaanite ] This verse describes the geographical limits of the extension of the Canaanite peoples in a southerly direction, with Zidon as the starting-point in the north. As the limit on the south-west, we have “toward Gerar unto Gaza,” and on the south-east “toward Sodom and Gomorrah, &c. unto Lasha.” This would represent a triangle, having Zidon on the north, with Gaza and Lasha on the south-west and south-east. The description is not free from obscurity. “Toward Gerar unto Gaza” is hardly a natural definition; since Gaza lies to the north of Gerar. “Lasha,” or, as we should read it, “Lesha,” was identified by Jerome with “Callirrhoe” on the east side of the Dead Sea; but, as the name does not occur elsewhere, this is only a traditional conjecture. Kittel ( Biblia Hebraica ) identifies it with “Bela,” or “Zoar” ( Genesis 14:2 ) which is mentioned together with the four “cities of the plain.” For “Lasha,” Wellhausen conjectures “unto Laish” in the north-east of Palestine, which would give a fourth geographical limit of the Canaanite border, and alter the scheme of delimitation from a triangular to a four-sided area of country.

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 19. - And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon (its northern boundary), as thou comest - i.e. as thou goest, in the direction of - to Gerar , - between Kadesh and Shur ( Genesis 20:1 ) - unto Gaza (now called Guzzeh, at the south-west corner of Palestine); as thou gout, unto Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim ( vide Genesis 19:24), - Callirrhoe (Hieronymus, Jerusalem Targum, Josephus, Rosenmüller, Keil, Kalisch); possibly a variation of Laish and Leshem, a Sidonian city near the sources of the Jordan (Murphy). Genesis 10:19

The border of Kenaan, as here described, extends along the coast from Zidon in the direction of (as thou goest unto) Gerar, which lay between Kadesh and Shur Genesis 20:1 , and has its name preserved in the Wady el-Jerur, which is nearly in a line connecting Ain el-Weibeh and Suez. It turns at Azzah (Gaza), and passes to the cities of the plain, of which the later history is so memorable. Its terminating point is Lesha, which is generally supposed to be Callirrhoe, to the northeast of the Dead Sea, so called from the hot springs which form a stream flowing into the lake. It is possible, however, that Lesha is only another variation of Laish and Leshem, a city belonging to the Sidonians, and situated near the sources of the Jordan. Thus, we have the western, southern, and eastern border briefly given in this verse. It is manifest, however, that they did not confine themselves to these limits, but "afterward spread abroad" into the adjacent regions. The Hittite went to the northeast; the Amorite crossed the Jordan, and occupied a great part of Peraea; the Hivite, the Arkite, the Sinite, the Arvadite, the Zemarite, and the Hamathite stretched far north of the boundary.

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).