Genesis 10:6

And the sons of Ham,.... Next to the sons of Japheth, the sons of Ham are reckoned; these, Josephus (z) says, possessed the land from Syria, and the mountains of Amanus and Lebanon; laying hold on

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

The posterity of Ham were disposed into the parts south from Babel, both in Asia and Africa. See . Cush was father both of the Ethiopians and the Arabians; who, as it seems, sent forth a colony from themselves more eastward, even near to India. See , . Mizraim was father of the Egyptians, who are generally known in Scripture by that name. Of Phut sprung the Libyans, among whom is the river Put, and the Moors. See , , . Canaan was the cursed parent of that accursed race of the Canaanites, well known in Scripture, .

Genesis 10:6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.Ver. 6. Cush.] Ethiopians came of him. Wicked Saul, for his black deeds, is called Cush. Mizraim.] From whom came the Egyptians. Turks and Arabians call Egypt Mesra, or Masra, at this day. Chald. parap.

(6) Ham.—Many derive this word from a Hebrew root, and explain it as signifying hot, sunburnt, and so swarthy. Japheth they connect with a word signifying to be fair; and so Ham is the progenitor of dark races, Japheth of those of a fair complexion, while the olive- coloured spring from Shem. More probably it is Chemi, the old name of Egypt, “the land of Ham” (Psalms 78:51), called by Plutarch Chemia, and was taken from the black colour of the soil. The Hamites are grouped in four principal divisions:— 1. Cush. Aethiopia, but not that of Africa, but of Asia. The home of the Cushites was on the Tigris and Euphrates, where Nimrod raised them to great power. Thence they spread into the southern peninsula of Arabia, and crossing the Red Sea at a later date, colonised Nubia and Abyssinia. In the Bible Cush is watered by the Gihon (Genesis 2:13); and Zipporah, the wife of Moses, and daughter of a priest of Midian, is in Numbers 12:1 called a Cushite. Their high rank in old time is marked by the place held by them in the Iliad of Homer.2. Mizraim. Egypt. In form the word is a dual, and may point to the division of the country into Upper and Lower Egypt. If we choose to interpret a Hamite word by a Hebrew root, it may signify the narrowed land, but it is safer to leave these words till increased knowledge shall enable us to decide with some security upon their meaning. For the ancient name of Mizraim see Genesis 10:6, and for its extent see Genesis 10:14. From the study of the skulls and bodies of a large number of mummies Brugsch-Bey in his recent history has come to the conclusion that the ancient Egyptians did not belong to any African race, but to the great Caucasian family, “but not of the Pelasgic or Semitic branches, but of a third, Cushite.” He adds that the cradle of the Egyptian nation must be sought in Central Asia. 3. Phut. The Lybians of North Africa. 4. Canaan. See Note on Genesis 10:15-19.

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.

6–20. The Sons of Ham 6. The races described as “the sons of Ham” are first traced in the most southerly regions. If the name has any connexion with Kamt, the native name of Egypt, it is noticeable that it is here applied to the parent stock of peoples, not only in Egypt, but also in South Arabia, Phoenicia, and Syria. “Ham” is used as a synonym for Egypt in Psalms 78:51; Psalms 105:23; Psalms 105:27; Psalms 106:22. Cush] A name of frequent occurrence in the O.T. for Ethiopia and the Ethiopians, i.e. the country and the people between Egypt and Abyssinia; the “Kas,” or “Kes,” of the Egyptian inscriptions. Cf. on Genesis 2:13. Mizraim] The regular Hebrew name for Egypt. Cf. the Assyrian Muṣ ?ur. The termination “-aim” denotes the dual number; and hence it has been supposed that “Mizraim” means the two “Mizrs,” i.e. Upper and Lower Egypt. But we cannot rely on this for certain. “Mizraim” is the Hebrew name for Egypt without necessarily containing an allusion to this geographical division. It is best not to press the grammatical meaning that may be claimed to underlie the popular pronunciation of a geographical name; cf. Ephraim, Naharaim, Jerusalaim (= Jerusalem). Put] Mentioned also in Ezekiel 27:10; Ezekiel 38:5; Jeremiah 46:9; Nahum 3:9. In these passages “Put” is mentioned together with the composite materials of an Egyptian mercenary army. It is generally identified with the Libyans. Pliny mentions a river “Fut” in Libya. In Nahum 3:9 Put is associated with the “Lubim,” and with Ethiopia and Egypt. Punt occurs in Egyptian inscriptions for the African “littoral” of the Red Sea. Canaan] This is the land of Phoenicia, probably in its widest sense, like Kinaḥ ?i in the Tel-el-Amarna tablets (1400 b.c.). The Canaanites were Semites, and spoke a language which closely resembled Hebrew, and was more akin to Aramaean and Assyrian than Egyptian. Canaan was possibly associated by Israelite tradition with Egypt on account of the general similarity of its culture. Perhaps the Israelites, who regarded the Egyptians and the Canaanites as their two racial foes, and as the two corrupters of their faith, classed them together for that reason among “the sons of Ham.”

- XXXII. Ham 6. מצרים mı̂tsrayı̂m, “Mitsraim.” מצר mētser, “straitness, limit, pressure.” מצור mātsôr, “distress, siege, mound, bulwark; Egypt.” מצרים mı̂tsrayı̂m, “perhaps double Egypt, lower and

6. Ham — Or rather Cham, is from a root signifying to be hot, and hence burnt, black. The Hamites are dark-skinned peoples, dwelling mainly in the torrid zone.