had not actually placed it there; now, for the greater confirmation of his promise, God appears to have caused a rainbow to appear in the heavens, and, the clouds suddenly rising, and the bow appearing in them, to have said, Behold the sign of which I spake to thee !-Rosenm.

20. "Doubtless vines grew spontaneously in the region in which Noah lived, but Noah made them richer and larger, and pressed the juice from the grape, and so is said to be the discoverer of wine."-Rosenm.

Probably Noah did not know that the juice of the grape would intoxicate, but it got the necessary fermentation, by being kept a few days, without such a design, and then Noah drank of it inadvertently; and felt its effects. Fermentation and intoxication must have been first discovered by accident.—Michaelis.

25. "The name of the son is put for the father; because curses pronounced upon a son, weigh heavily upon a father; for what father can be happy when he sees his children in affliction, or when he hears adverse and dire events predicted for them, and their offspring? Doubtless, to the ancient tradition that Canaan was thus accursed by his ancestor, may be traced back, even to the age in which these words were written, the cause of that enmity, which has ever subsisted between the Hebrews and the Canaanites. This was recorded by Moses in the history of these ancient events, that it might appear that the Hebrews, the posterity of Shem, had a right to the possession of the land of Canaan."-Rosenm.

In that age a much greater reverence was paid to elders than in our times; this indeed answered the end of public laws, since the elders of that period, whom we properly call patriarchs, were the real chiefs of all their posterity, and in the absence of positive laws, the safety of the commonwealth depended on filial reverence. Those states have endured the longest, which have maintained the primeval manners with the least corruption; and they are not extinct at this day among the Chinese, for, by a kind of legal fiction, the whole superstructure of that empire is built upon them.-Schrank.

"There is, in Michaelis, a most excellent defence of the curse of Noah. Several circumstances aggravated Canaan's conduct; but suppose Noah wrong in cursing Canaan, that has nothing to do with Moses' history. It is singular, that

Canaan's posterity were, when Moses wrote, in the plenitude of power, and a rising people; so that it can scarcely be supposed he recorded this curse of Noah, from any popular prejudice of the day; and it is still more singular, that since Moses' time, the family of Ham have been servants of servants, in an awful sense indeed."-K.

26. Blessed be the Lord God of Shem. How beautiful is this blessing! If the Lord be his God, he shall be blessed! Shem's descendants included all the posterity of Abraham, and among them, our blessed Redeemer. The devoted nations that God destroyed before Israel, were descended from Canaan.

СНАР. Х.

1. In this chapter we have a genealogical geography, not embracing all the nations which then inhabited the earth, but only those which were known to the Israelites, the Egyptians, and perhaps also to the Phoenicians. The fullest particulars are given of the Joctanite Arabians, who were the people best known to the Israelites, then of the Egyptian and Phoenician colonies, and some particulars are added of the maritime countries of Europe, with which the Phonicians traded. Those who would enter fully into this subject, are referred to Bochart's Geographia Sacra ; J. D. Michaelis's Spicilegium Geographie extera Hebræorum post Bochartum; and I. R. Forster's Epistolæ ad J. D. Michaelis; to which add Volney's Recherches nouvelles sur l'Histoire ancienne, p. 1, ch. xviii.—Rosenm.

2-5. The posterity of Japhet are here enumerated. Gomer.-Michaelis shews that the Gomerites were most likely the Cimmerians, or the most ancient of the Celts, who dwelt between the Borysthenes and the Tanais, and also in the Taurican Chersonesus, and gave their name to the Cimmerian Bosphorus. This nation, one of the bravest as well as most ancient, concerning which Strabo and Herodotus have mentioned a few things, and which was known to Homer, made many and extensive incursions into Asia Minor, and being driven from Europe by the Scythians in the time of Cyaxaris they went forth into that country. They were

finally driven out of Asia by Alyattes, in the time of Josiah, and a little after this event the nation was either dispersed or became extinct; for in the time of Strabo, the Cimmerian name survived only in a city, in a mountain, in a wall, and in the Bosphorus. Magog-is the Scythia of the Orientals, comprising the farthest and least known parts of the northern and north-eastern regions. Madai-All agree that the Medes who inhabited the regions now called Shirvan and Aderbijan (in the north of Persia) are the nation thus designated. Javan-There is no doubt but the Greeks are to be understood by this name. Tubal and MeshechThese are called by the Greeks Moschi and Tibareni, and are by all writers, sacred and profane, joined together as neighbouring nations. The Moschi extended over Cappadocia and the mountains, from the river Phasis to the Cappadocian sea, whence those mountains were called the Moschian mountains. The Tibarenians, both Josephus and Strabo testify, dwelt in part of Cilicia and Iberia. Tiras ruled over the Thirasians, called by the Greeks Thracians.Rosenm., and see on all these nations, Josephus, book 1, chap. vi, § 1.

Ashkenaz, according to Bochart, is Phrygia Minor and Bythinia, because formerly in these regions there was a bay, a lake, a city, and islands which all bore the name of Ascanius. Nothing satisfactory is known of Rippath. Michaelis supposes Togarmah to be part of Armenia. It is mentioned Ezek. xxvii, 14. Elishah-there is no doubt, according to Michaelis, is the Hellas of the Greeks. Tarshish-Both Bochart and Michaelis satisfactorily shew this to be Spain from Tartessus, formerly a noble harbour and island in the bay of Baetis. Kittrin is thought to be Macedonia. Of Dodanim nothing satisfactory is said.-Rosenm.

5. By these, i. e. the posterity of Japhet before enumerated, were the isles, or various regions, of the Gentiles divided. In the geography of the Hebrews this description embraced the regions reckoned barbarous by them and the Phoenicians, viz., the islands of the Mediterranean, Europe, Asia Minor, the countries between the Euxine, and the Caspian, Media, and the Scythia of the ancient Greeks.Rosenm.

6. The genealogy of Ham extends from this verse to ver. 20. Cush-Michaelis proves by many arguments

must include both Ethiopias; viz., Arabia, the parent state, and Africa or Abyssinia, the colony. Josephus affirms that in his time, the Ethiopians were called both by themselves and all Asia, Cushites: see Antiq. lib. 1, cap. vi, § 2. That Mizraim is Egypt no one doubts; although it be questionable whether the name be of Hebrew, Arabic, or Egyptian origin. Phut seems to be that part of Lybia comprising the region round about Carthage now called Morocco: see Josephus, Antiq. 1, cap. vi, § 2. CanaanMichaelis thinks from Gen. ix, 18, 27, we may conclude Canaan was the name of an individual who founded a nation called after his name. Those who are called Phoenicians by the Greeks and Latins, are by the Hebrews called Canaanites. But the first settlements of the Phoenicians were in Arabia by the Red Sea, whence they formed trading colonies in Palestine, and afterwards possessed the whole region. He concludes the Amalakites were the same people as the Canaanites, with this distinction, that those who inhabited Palestine and Syria, were called Canaanites; while those who dwelt in Arabia, were called Amalekites.— Rosenm.

7. Seba-Michaelis thinks this place, called also Meroe by others, lay in a district of Nubia or Sennaar about lat. 15° or 16°. Havilah-Two people seem to have been so called, one mentioned here and the other sprung from Joktan see ver. 29. The Havilah here mentioned, Michaelis thinks, the same place as that now called Chaulan on the west of Saada, in Arabia Felix or Jemen. Sabtah seems to be the same as Sabatha, a city of Arabia, famous for the worship of the Sun. Raamah-Michaelis thinks this a trading city of Arabia Felix, mentioned by Ezek. xxvii, 22. Sabtecha-Bochart conjectures this to be Samydacha, a city of Caremania near Arabia. Sheba-Michaelis takes to be the same people as are mentioned ver. 28. Bochart supposes them to have inhabited a part of Arabia Felix, on the Persian Gulph. Dedan-probably the same as Daden, a city on the Persian Gulph, placed by D'Anville beyond its mouth, not far from the Indian Sea, between Daban and Kourfekian.-Rosenm.

8, 9. Before the Lord. Some commentators think this denotes that his conduct was flagitious in the sight of God: Gen. vi, 11; xiii, 13; but Dathe says he agrees with those who explain it by the idiom of the language in which the

greatness and excellency of any thing is set forth, by the name of God annexed to it. Doubtless, his strength occasioned others more readily to yield submission to him; for it was regarded as a great blessing in those times, when men lived pastoral lives, if their tents were safely guarded from the assaults of wild beasts. Rosenmuller, however, remarks that the ancient and unanimous report amongst the Arabians and Persians, that Nimrod was a tyrant and a rebel against God, are opposed to this view. The above nations call Nimrod, "The wicked founder of Babylon."

10. The beginning, &c. i. e. the beginning of the kingdom founded by him, was Babel and the other cities here mentioned. They seem to have been already in existence, and not to have been built by him.

Moses says that these cities were situated in the land of Shinar, which appears to have been the name of a region around Babylon, but what, or how far extending, is not known.-Rosenm.

11. Out of that land went forth Asshur, or, he (that is Nimrod) went forth from the land of Assur, and founded Nineveh. Or, as Michaelis thinks, Assur, a person so named, went forth out of the land of Shinar, and founded that city. It is very likely the Nineveh here mentioned, was situated in that region where at this day there is found a village on the Tigris, in the neighbourhood of the city Mosul or Mozul, called Nunia, lat. 36° 21′ N.-Rosenm.

13. And Mizraim begat Ludim. The Ludæi are colonies of the Egyptians. The names which follow are supposed by Aben Ezra, (with whom Michaelis agrees,) to denote not individuals, but the different people who went forth out of Egypt. But the numerous people, whose origin is referred to by Moses, are utterly unknown to us, since we know little of the interior of Africa.-Rosenm.

14. Out of whom came Philistim, i. e. the Philistines, who were a colony of the Casluhites; which, however, seems opposed to what Moses himself says elsewhere, as well as the prophets Amos and Jeremiah; who say, that the Philistines came from Caphtor: see Jer. xlvii, 4; Amos ix, 7. Michaelis supposes the words transposed, and that they should be thus read: And Casluhim; and Caphthorim, out of whom (i. e. Capthorim) came Philistim. But the Philistines, (who, among strangers, gave their names to the whole of Palestine,) were clearly not aborigines but