Verse 13. I do set my bow in the cloud] On the origin and nature of the rainbow there had been a great variety of conjectures, till Anthony de Dominis, bishop of Spalatro, in a treatise of his published by Bartholus in 1611, partly suggested the true cause of this phenomenon, which was afterwards fully explained and demonstrated by Sir Isaac Newton. To enter into this subject here in detail would be improper; and therefore the less informed reader must have recourse to treatises on Optics for its full explanation. To readers in general it may be sufficient to say that the rainbow is a mere natural effect of a natural cause: 1. It is never seen but in showery weather. 2. Nor then unless the sun shines. 3. It never appears in any part of the heavens but in that opposite to the sun. 4. It never appears greater than a semicircle, but often 5. It is always double, there being what is called the superior and inferior, or primary and secondary rainbow. 6. These bows exhibit the seven prismatic colours, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. 7. The whole of this phenomenon depends on the rays of the sun falling on spherical drops of water, and being in their passage through them, refracted and reflected. The formation of the primary and secondary rainbow depends on the two following propositions; 1. When the sun shines on the drops of rain as they are falling, the rays that come from those drops to the eye of the spectator, after ONE reflection and Two refractions, produce the primary rainbow. 2. When the sun shines on the drops of rain as they are falling, the rays that come from those drops to the eye of the spectator, after Two reflections and Two refractions, produce the secondary rainbow. The illustration of these propositions must be sought in treatises on Optics, assisted by plates. From the well-known cause of this phenomenon it cannot be rationally supposed that there was no rainbow in the heavens before the time mentioned in the text, for as the rainbow is the natural effect of the sun's rays falling on drops of water, and of their being refracted and reflected by them, it must have appeared at different times from the creation of the sun and the atmosphere. Nor does the text intimate that the bow was now created for a sign to Noah and his posterity; of God's covenant with Noah. B. C. 2347 ture of all flesh; and the waters A. M. 1657 16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. 17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. u Exod. xxviii. 12; Lev. xxvi. 42, 45; Ezek. xvi. 60.- Chap. xvii. 13, 19. but that what was formerly created, or rather that which was the necessary effect, in certain cases, of the creation of the sun and atmosphere, should now be considered by them as an unfailing token of their continual preservation from the waters of a deluge; therefore the text speaks of what had already been done, and not of what was now done, 'nn 'nop kashti nathatli, "My bow I have given, or put in the cloud;" as if he said: As surely as the rainbow is a necessary effect of sunshine in rain, and must continue such as long as the sun and atmosphere endure, so surely shall this earth be preserved from destruction by water; and its preservation shall be as necessary an effect of my promise as the rainbow is of the shining of the sun during a shower of rain. For Verse 17. This is the token] N oth, The Divine sign or portent: The bow shall be in the cloud. the reasons above specified it must be there, when the circumstances already mentioned occur; if therefore it cannot fail because of the reasons before assigned, no more shall my promise; and the bow shall be the proof of its perpetuity. Both the Greeks and Latins, as well as the Hebrews, have ever considered the rainbow as a Divine token or portent; and both of these nations have even deified it, and made it a messenger of the gods. Homer, Il. xi., ver. 27, speaking of the figures on Agamemnon's breastplate, says there were three dragons, whose colours were -ιρισσιν εοικότες, άς τε Κρονων. Εν νεφεϊ στηριξε, τερας μερόπων ανθρώπων. "like to the rainbow which the son of Saturn has placed in the cloud as a SIGN to mankind," or to men of various languages, for so the μерожwv av@рwπwv of the poet has been understood. Some have thought that the ancient Greek writers give this epithet to man from some tradition of the confusion and multiplication of tongues at Babel; hence in this place the words may be understood as implying mankind at large, the whole human race; God having given the rainbow for a sign to all the descendants of Noah, by whom the whole earth was peopled after the flood. Thus the celestial bow speaks a universal language, understood by all the sons and daughters of Adam. Virgil, from 79 19 These are the three sons of Noah: nakedness of his father, and told his two * and of them was the whole earth overspread. brethren without. "Juno, the daughter of Saturn, sent down the rain- 23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went v. 29; Prov. x. 11; xii. 11; Ecclus. v. 9.- b Prov. xx. 1; Verse 21. He drank of the wine, &c.] It is very probable that this was the first time the vine was cultivated; and it is as probable that the strength or intoxicating power of the expressed juice was never before known. Noah, therefore, might have drunk it at this time without the least blame, as he knew not till this trial the effects it would produce. I once knew a case which I believe to be perfectly parallel. A person who had scarcely ever heard of cider, and whose "For Jupiter sent down the ethereal rainbow from beverage through his whole life had been only milk or heaven." It is worthy of remark that both these poets understood the rainbow to be a sign, warning, or portent from heaven. As I believe the rainbow to have been intended solely for the purpose mentioned in the text, I forbear to make spiritual uses and illustrations of it. Many have done this, and their observations may be very edifying, but they certainly have no foundation in the water, coming wet and very much fatigued to a farmer's house in Somersetshire, begged for a little water or milk. The good woman of the house, seeing him very much exhausted, kindly said, "I will give you a little cider, which will do you more good." The honest man, understanding no more of cider than merely that it was the simple juice of apples, after some heșitation drank about a half a pint of it; the consequence was, that in less than half an hour he was perfectly intoxicated, and could neither speak plain nor walk! This case I myself witnessed. A stranger to the cirVerse 20. Noah began to be a husbandman] 'cumstances, seeing this person, would pronounce him ish haadamah, A man of the ground, a farmer; drunk; and perhaps at a third hand he might be reby his beginning to be a husbandman we are to under-presented as a drunkard, and thus his character be stand his recommencing his agricultural operations, which undoubtedly he had carried on for six hundred years before, but this had been interrupted by the flood. And the transaction here mentioned might have occurred many years posterior to the deluge, even after Canaan was born and grown up, for the date of it is not fixed in the text. text. The word husband first occurs here, and scarcely appears proper, because it is always applied to man in his married state, as wife is to the woman. The etymology of the term will at once show its propriety when applied to the head of a family. Husband, hurband, is Anglo-Saxon, and simply signifies the bond of the house or family; as by him the family is formed, united, and bound together, which, on his death, is disunited and scattered. It is on this etymology of the word that we can account for the farmers and petty landholders being called so early as the twelfth century, husbandi, as appears in a statute of David II., king of Scotland: we may therefore safely derive the word from hur, a house, and bond, from binden, to bind or tie; and this etymology appears plainer in the orthography which prevailed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, in which I have often found the word written house-bond; so it is in a MS. Bible before me, written in the fourteenth century. Junius disputes this etymology, but I think on no just ground. blasted; while of the crime of drunkenness he was as innocent as an infant. This I presume to have been precisely the case with Noah; and no person without an absolute breach of every rule of charity and candour, can attach any blame to the character of Noah on this ground, unless from a subsequent account they were well assured that, knowing the power and effects of the liquor, he had repeated the act. Some expositors seem to be glad to fix on a fact like this, which by their distortion becomes a crime; and then, in a strain of sympathetic tenderness, affect to deplore "the failings and imperfections of the best of men," when, from the interpretation that should be given of the place, neither failing nor imperfection can possibly appear. Verse 22-24. And Ham, the father of Canaan, &c.] There is no occasion to enter into any detail here; the sacred text is circumstantial enough. Ham, and very probably his son Canaan, had treated their father on this occasion with contempt or reprehensible levity. Had Noah not been innocent, as my exposi tion supposes him, God would not have endued him with the spirit of prophecy on this occasion, and testified such marked disapprobation of their conduct. The conduct of Shem and Japheth was such as became pious and affectionate children, who appear to have been in the habit of treating their father with decency, reve The Canaanites are cursed. CHAP. IX. his servant. Noah's age and death. B. C. cir. 2347. A. M. cir. 1657. backward, and covered the naked- of Shem; and Canaan shall be A. M. cir. 1657. ness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. 24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 25 And he said, & Cursed be Canaan ; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. 26 And he said, f Blessed be the LORD God h i 27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and naan shall be his servant. Ca 28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and fifty years. B. C. 1998. 29 And all the days of Noah A. M. 2006. were nine hundred and fifty years: and he died. d Deut. xxvii. 16.. Le Josh. ix. 23; 1 Kings ix. 20, 21. Or, servant to themt Psa. cxliv. 15; Heb. xi. 16. rence, and obedient respect. On the one the spirit of prophecy (not the incensed father) pronounces a curse: on the others the same spirit (not parental tenderness) pronounces a blessing. These things had been just as they afterwards occurred had Noah never spoken. God had wise and powerful reasons to induce him to sentence the one to perpetual servitude, and to allot to the others prosperity and dominion. Besides, the curse pronounced on Canaan neither fell immediately upon himself nor on his worthless father, but upon the Canaanites; and from the history we have of this people, in Lev. xviii., xx. ; and Deut. ix. 4; xii. 31, we may ask, Could the curse of God fall more deservedly on any people than on these? Their profligacy was great, but it was not the effect of the curse; but, being foreseen by the Lord, the curse was the effect of their conduct. But even this curse does not exclude them from the possibility of obtaining salvation; it extends not to the soul and to eternity, but merely to their bodies and to time; though, if they continued to abuse their liberty, resist the Holy Ghost, and refuse to be saved on God's terms, then the wrath of Divine justice must come upon them to the uttermost. How many, even of these, repented, we cannot tell. Verse 25. Cursed be Canaan] See on the preceding verses. In the 25th, 26th, and 27th verses, instead of Canaan simply, the Arabic version has Ham the father of Canaan; but this is acknowledged by none of the other versions, and seems to be merely a gloss. Verse 29. The days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years] The oldest patriarch on record, Methuselah only excepted. This, according to the common reckoning, was A. M. 2006, but according to Dr. Hales, 3505. "HAM," says Dr. Hales, "signifies burnt or black, and this name was peculiarly significant of the regions allotted to his family. To the Cushites, or children of his eldest son Cush, were allotted the hot southern regions of Asia, along the coasts of the Persian Gulf, Susiana or Chusistan, Arabia, &c.; to the sons of Canaan, Palestine and Syria; to the sons of Misraim, Egypt and Libya, in Africa. "The Hamites in general, like the Canaanites of old, were a seafaring race, and sooner arrived at civilization and the luxuries of life than their simpler pastoral and agricultural brethren of the other two families. The first great empires of Assyria and Egypt were founded by them, and the republics of Sidon, Tyre, and VOL. I. (7) a hOr, persuade.- i Eph. ii. 13, 14; iii. 6. k Ver. 25, 26. Carthage were early distinguished for their commerce, but they sooner also fell to decay; and Egypt, which was one of the first, became the last and basest of the kingdoms, Ezek. xxix. 15, and has been successively in subjection to the Shemiles and Japhethites, as have also the settlements of the other branches of the Hamiles. "SHEM signifies name or renown; and his indeed was great in a temporal and spiritual sense. The finest regions of Upper and Middle Asia were allotted to his family, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Media, Persia, &c., to the Indus and Ganges, and perhaps to China eastward. "The chief renown of Shem was of a spiritual nature: he was destined to be the lineal ancestor of the blessed seed of the woman; and to this glorious privilege Noah, to whom it was probably revealed, might have alluded in that devout ejaculation, Blessed be the LORD, the GOD of Shem! The pastoral life of the Shemites is strongly marked in the prophecy by the tents of Shem; and such it remains to the present day, throughout their midland settlements in Asia. "JAPHETH signifies enlargement; and how wonderfully did Providence enlarge the boundaries of Japheth! His posterity diverged eastward and westward throughout the whole extent of Asia, north of the great range of Taurus, as far as the Eastern Ocean, whence they probably crossed over to America by Behring's Straits from Kamtschatka, and in the opposite direction throughout Europe to the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; from whence also they might have crossed over to America by Newfoundland, where traces of early settlements remain in parts now desert. Thus did they gradually enlarge themselves till they literally encompassed the earth, within the precincts of the northern temperate zone, to which their roving hunter's life contributed not a little. Their progress northwards was checked by the much greater extent of the Black Sea in ancient times, and the increasing rigour of the climates: but their hardy race, and enterprising, warlike genius, made them frequently encroach southwards on the settlements of Shem, whose pastoral and agricultural occupations rendered them more inactive, peaceable, and unwarlike; and so they dwelt in the tents of Shem when the Scythians invaded Media, and subdued western Asia southwards as far as Egypt, in the days of Cyaxares; when the Greeks, and after 81 The generations of GENESIS. the sons of Noah. wards the Romans, overran and subdued the Assyrians, | Gentiles, GREAT BRITAIN and IRELAND, have spread Medes, and Persians in the east, and the Syrians and their colonies, their arms, their language, their arts, Jews in the south; as foretold by the Syrian prophet and in some measure their religion, from the rising to Balaam, Num. xxiv. 24:the setting sun. See Dr. Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. i., p. 352, &c. Ships shall come from Chittim, And shall afflict the Assyrians, and afflict the Hebrews; Though what is left undone should not cause us to lose sight of what is done, yet we have reason to lament that the inhabitants of the British isles, who of all nations under heaven have the purest light of Divine revelation, and the best means of diffusing it, have been much more intent on spreading their conquests and extending their commerce, than in propagating the Gospel of the Son of God. But the nation, by getting the Bible translated into every living language, and sending it to all parts of the habitable globe, and, by its various missionary societies, sending men of God to explain and enforce the doctrines and precepts of this sacred book, is rapidly redeeming its character, and becoming great in goodness and benevolence over the whole earth! CHAPTER X. The The generations of the sons of Noah, 1. JAPHETH and his descendants, 2-4. The isles of the Gentiles, or Europe, peopled by the Japhethites, 5. HAM and his posterity, 6–20. Nimrod, one of his descendants, a mighty hunter, 8, 9, founds the first kingdom, 10. Nineveh and other cities founded, 11, 12. Canaanites in their nine grand branches or families, 15–18. Their territories, 19. SHEM and his posterity 21-31. The earth divided in the days of Peleg, 25. The territories of the Shemites, 30. earth peopled by the descendants of Noah's three sons, 32. A. M. 1556. NOW these are the generations Ham, and Japheth: B. C. 2448. The whole B. C. 2448. | a and unto A. M 1556. of the sons of Noah; Shem, them were sons born after the flood. a Genesis, chap. ix. 1, 7, 19. NOTES ON CHAP. X. Verse 1. Now these are the generations] It is extremely difficult to say what particular nations and people sprang from the three grand divisions of the family of Noah, because the names of many of those ancient people have become changed in the vast lapse of time from the deluge to the Christian era; yet some are so very distinctly marked that they can be easily ascertained, while a few still retain their original names. Moses does not always give the name of the first settler in a country, but rather that of the people from whom the country afterwards derived its name. Thus Mizraim is the dual of Mezer, and could never be the name of an individual. The like may be said of Kiltim, Dodanim, Ludim, Ananim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, Casluhim, Philistim, and Caphtorim, which are all plurals, and evidently not the names of individuals, but of families or tribes. See verses 4, 6, 13, 14. nations or tribes which inhabited the promised land, and were called Canaanites from Canaan, the son of Ham, who settled there. Moses also, in this genealogy, seems to have introduced even the name of some places that were remarkable in the sacred history, instead of the original settlers. Such as Hazarmaveth, ver. 26; and probably Ophir and Havilah, ver. 29. But this is not infrequent in the sacred writings, as may be seen 1 Chron. ii. 51, where Salma is called the father of Bethlehem, which certainly never was the name of a man, but of a place sufficiently celebrated in the sacred history; and in chap. iv. 14, where Joab is called the father of the valley of Charashim, which no person could ever suppose was intended to designate an individual, but the society of craftsmen or artificers who lived there. Eusebius and others state (from what authority we know not) that Noah was commanded of God to make a will and bequeath the whole of the carth to his three sons and their descendants in the following manner :— To Shem, all the East; to Ham, all Africa; to Japheth, the Continent of Europe with its isles, and the northern parts of Asia. See the notes at the end of In the posterity of Canaan we find whole nations reckoned in the genealogy, instead of the individuals from whom they sprang; thus the Jebusite, Amorite, Girgasite, Hivite, Arkite, Sinite, Arvadite, Zemarite, and Hamathite, ver. 16-18, were evidently whole the preceding chapter. An account of the A. M. 1556. B. C. 2448. B. C. 2247. 2 The sons of Japheth; Go- 5 By these were the isles of A. M. 1757. mer, and Magog, and Madai, and the Gentiles divided in their lands; Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations. B. C. cir. 2338. e A. M. cir. 1666. 3 And the sons of Gomer; Togarmah. 4 And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and and Canaan. Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. A. M. cir. 1676. B. C. cir. 2328. 7 And the Sons of Cush; Seba, and Ha 1 Chron. i. 5, &c.- Or, as some read it, Rodanim. d Psa. lxxii. 10; Jer. ii. 10; xxv. 22; Zeph. ii. 11.- - 1 Chron. i. 8, &c. Verse 2. The sons of Japheth] Japheth is supposed to be the same with the Japetus of the Greeks, from whom, in an extremely remote antiquity, that people were supposed to have derived their origin. Gomer] Supposed by some to have peopled Galatia; so Josephus, who says that the Galatians were anciently named Gomerites. From him the Cimmerians or Cimbrians are supposed to have derived their origin. Bochart has no doubt that the Phrygians sprang from this person, and some of our principal commentators are of the same opinion. Magog] Supposed by many to be the father of the Scythians and Tartars, or Tatars, as the word should be written; and in great Tartary many names are still found which bear such a striking resemblance to the Gog and Magog of the Scriptures, as to leave little doubt of their identity. Madai] Generally supposed to be the progenitor of the Medes; but Joseph Mede makes it probable that he was rather the founder of a people in Macedonia called Medi, and that Macedonia was formerly called Emathia, a name formed from Ei, an island, and Madai, because he and his descendants inhabited the maritime coast on the borders of the Ionian Sea. On this subject nothing certain can be advanced. Javan] It is almost universally agreed that from him sprang the Ionians, of Asia Minor; but this name seems to have been anciently given to the Macedonians, Achaians, and Baotians. Tubal] Some think he was the father of the Iberians, and that a part at least of Spain was peopled by him and his descendants; and that Meshech, who is generally in Scripture joined with him, was the founder of the Cappadocians, from whom proceeded the Muscovites. Tiras.] From this person, according to general consent, the Thracians derived their origin. Verse 3. Ashkenaz] Probably gave his name to Sacagena, a very excellent province of Armenia. Pliny mentions a people called Ascanitici, who dwelt about the Tanaïs and the Palus Maotis; and some suppose that from Ashkenaz the Euxine Sea derived its name, but others suppose that from him the Germans derived their origin. Riphath] Or Diphath, the founder of the Paphlagonians, which were anciently called Riphatai. Togarmah.] The Sauromates, or inhabitants of Turcomania. See the reasons in Calmet. probably was the first who settled at Elis, in Peloponnesus. Tarshish] He first inhabited Cilicia, whose capital anciently was the city of Tarsus, where the Apostle Paul was born. Kiltim] We have already seen that this name was rather the name of a people than of an individual: some think by Kittim Cyprus is meant others, the isle of Chios; and others, the Romans; and others, the Macedonians. Dodanim.] Or Rodanim, for the and may be easily mistaken for each other, because of their great similarity. Some suppose that this family settled at Dodona in Epirus; others at the isle of Rhodes; others, at the Rhone in France, the ancient name of which was Rhodanus, from the Scripture Rodanim. Verse 5. Isles of the Gentiles] EUROPE, of which this is allowed to be a general epithet.. Calmet supposes that it comprehends all those countries to which the Hebrews were obliged to go by sea, such as Spain, Gaul, Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor. Every one after his tongue] This refers to the time posterior to the confusion of tongues and dispersion from Babel. Verse 6. Cush] Who peopled the Arabic nome near the Red Sea in Lower Egypt. Some think the Ethiopians descended from him. Mizraim] This family certainly peopled Egypt; and both in the East and in the West, Egypt is called Mezr and Mezraim. Phut] Who first peopled an Egyptian nome or district, bordering on Libya. Canaan.] He who first peopled the land so called, known also by the name of the Promised Land. Verse 7. Seba] The founder of the Sabæans. There seem to be three different people of this name mentioned in this chapter, and a fourth in chap. xxv. 3. Havilah] Supposed by some to mean the inhabitants of the country included within that branch of the river Pison which ran out of the Euphrates into the bay of Persia, and bounded Arabia Felix on the east. Sablah] Supposed by some to have first peopled an isle or peninsula called Saphta, in the Persian Gulf. Raamah] Or Ragmah, for the word is pronounced both ways, because of the y ain, which some make a vowel, and some a consonant. Ptolemy mentions a city called Regma near the Persian Gulf; it probably received its name from the person in the text. Verse 4. Elishah] As Javan peopled a consider- Sabtechah] From the river called Samidochus, in able part of Greece, it is in that region that we must Caramania; Bochart conjectures that the person in seek for the settlements of his descendants; Elishah the text fixed his residence it that part. |