Free Bible Commentary
“Genesis 10:15-20”
Categories: Genesis“Canaan became the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth and the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite and the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite and the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite; and afterward the families of the Canaanite were spread abroad. The territory of the Canaanite extended from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; as you go toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their languages, by their lands, by their nations..”
---End of Scripture verses---
“This section is a composite. Only the first two of the eleven names listed are without the –i ending that indicates a gentilic form, and they are to be understood as the names of individuals who are the eponymous, or name-giving, ancestors of the Sidonians and Hittites. The next four names appear in the numerous biblical registers of the original, pre-Israelite inhabitants of Canaan. It is not clear why specifically these were selected here. Further, the order of presentation is unique and appears to be independent of the other similar registers. The Jebusites, named first here, otherwise almost invariably close the lists. Also, the list includes the rarely mentioned Girgashites. The last five names are those of cities in Phoenicia.” (Nahum Sarna).
Quoting Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on verses 15-18: “Zidon his firstborn—‘Firstborn’; i.e. the capital, and most ancient city, of the Phoenicians. The Phoenicians called themselves Zidonians, and were so called by the Israelites. Cf. 1 Kings 16:31. Zidon probably means “fish-town.” Heth—i.e. the Hittites called by the Egyptians ‘Khêta,’ and by the Assyrians ‘Khatti’… The mention of Heth as the ‘son of Canaan’ is probably to be understood as indicating the presence of a large number of Hittite dwellers in Phoenicia and Palestine… The Jebusite—The Canaanite tribe dwelling in Jerusalem and its neighbourhood: cf. Joshua 15:63; Jdg 1:21; 2 Samuel 5:6. The Amorite—The name Amorite seems to have been used by the Assyrians to designate Palestine. In the O.T. the original inhabitants of Canaan are sometimes called by this name; e.g. Jdg 1:34-36; Amos 2:9… The Girgashite—Mentioned e.g. Genesis 15:21, Deuteronomy 7:1, with the other dwellers in Canaan, but their locality is not indicated. The Hivite—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… 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.”
“The territory of the Canaanite extended from Sidon as you go toward Gerar, as far as Gaza; as you go toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.” (verse 19) “Here, ‘Canaan’ is not a person but a people. The Table of Nations displays this exceptional interest in the territorial boundaries because it is leading up to the progenitors of Abraham, whose descendants are to inherit the land. Significantly, the city-states north of Sidon, detailed in verses 17-18, are excluded, and only the region west of the Jordan is included. Sidon constitutes the extreme northern limit; Gaza represents the southwestern extremity, and then the border extends westward across the low hill country to the Dead Sea region… The patriarchal narratives in chapters 20 and 26 show Gerar to have been an important royal city in the western Negeb and to have been situated west or northwest of Beer-sheba in a region sufficiently well watered to provide pasturing facilities for shepherds… ” (Nahum Sarna) “Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha.” These were the four cities the Lord destroyed in His righteous wrath because of their brazen, perverted sinfulness. “All its land is brimstone and salt, a burning waste, unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.” (Deuteronomy 29:23)
Please read Genesis 10:21-32 for tomorrow.
- Louie Taylor
