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Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume II

Book Fifteen — the multiplication of mankind after the flood

{But Mesraim begot Ludim, and Anamim, and Laabim, Nephtuim, and Phetrusim, and Chasluim: of whom came forth the Philistines and the Caphtorim.}

LatineEnglish

{But Mesraim begot Ludim, and Anamim, and Laabim, Nephtuim, and Phetrusim, and Chasluim: of whom came forth the Philistines and the Caphtorim.}1

At vero Mesraim genuit Ludim, Anamim, Laabim, Nephtuim, Phetrusim, Chasluim: de quibus egressi sunt Philisthiim et Caphtorim.

TRANSITUR ad alium filium Cham qui vocatur Mesraim (ait Augustinus libro decimo sexto de Civitate Dei capite tertio), et commemorantur quos genuit, non tanquam singuli homines, sed nationes septem. Et de sexta, velut de sexto filio, gens commemoratur exisse quae appellatur Philisthiim, unde fiunt octo. Sic Augustinus.
There is a passing over to another son of Cham, who is called Mesraim (says Augustine in book sixteen of the City of God, chapter three), and there are mentioned those whom he begot, not as individual men but as seven nations. And of the sixth, as of a sixth son, a nation is mentioned to have come forth which is called Philisthiim, whence they become eight. So far Augustine.2
Hieronymus autem in Traditionibus Hebraicis in Genesim super hunc ipsum locum ita scribit: „Exceptis Laabim, unde Libyes postea nominati sunt, quique prius Phutei vocabantur, et Chasluim, qui deinceps Philisthiim appellati sunt, quos nos corrupte Palestinos dicimus; cetera sex gentes ignotae sunt nobis: quia bello Aethiopico subversae, usque ad oblivionem praeteritorum nominum pervenere. Possederunt autem terram a Gaza usque ad extremos fines Aegypti.“ Haec Hieronymus, mutuatus ea ex Iosepho.
But Jerome, in the Hebrew Questions on Genesis upon this very place, writes thus: „Except Laabim, whence the Libyans were afterward named, and who were formerly called Phuteans, and Chasluim, who thereafter were called Philisthiim, whom we corruptly call Palestines; the other six nations are unknown to us: because, overthrown in the Ethiopic war, they have come to the oblivion of their former names. But they possessed the land from Gaza down to the farthest bounds of Egypt.“ So far Jerome, having borrowed it from Josephus.3
DE supradictis octo posteris Mesraim, trium tantum mentio fit alibi in scriptura: Ludim, Philisthiim et Caphtorim. Ludim (quos Latine appellare licet Ludaeos, sicut etiam Caphtorim Caphtoreos) meminit Ieremias 46 capite, et Ezechiel cap. 30, et utroque loco Latinus interpres Hebraeam vocem Ludim Latine reddit Lydos, non sane intelligens Lydos qui populi sunt Asiae minoris, quos crediderim progeneratos ex altero Lud qui paulo infra hoc ipso capite inter filios Sem commemoratur. Ludim autem seu Ludaei de quibus nunc agimus videntur populi fuisse Africani, scilicet finitimi et socii Aegyptiorum, ac regi eorum auxiliares in bellum copias ferentes, ut ex utroque propheta quos proxime nominavi licet intelligere. Ieremias quidem eo loco vaticinans adversus exercitum Nechao regis Aegypti: „Ascendite,“ inquit, „equos et exultate in curribus, et procedant fortes Aethiopia et Libya tenentes scutum, et Lydi arripientes et iacientes sagittas“: Hebraice est Chusaei et Phutaei et Ludim: quos esse gentes Aegyptiis vicinas et cum ipsis confoederatas supra ostensum est. Pro illo igitur „Lydi“ (ut dixi) Hebraice est „Ludim,“ quos hic appellamus Ludaeos. Apparet igitur hos populos et situ animoque ac foedere coniunctos fuisse cum Aegyptiis, tanquam cum principe generis sui sobole. Namque ipse Mesraim, unde proseminati sunt Ludaei, primus terrae Aegypti habitator et cultor fuit satorque Aegyptiorum. Idem etiam liquet ex verbis Ezechielis quae sic habent: „Aethiopia et Libya et Lydi (Hebraice Ludim) et omne reliquum vulgus, et Chub et filii terrae foederis, cum eis gladio cadent.“
Of the aforesaid eight descendants of Mesraim, mention is made elsewhere in Scripture of only three: Ludim, Philisthiim, and Caphtorim. Ludim (whom it is allowed to call in Latin Ludaeans, as also the Caphtorim Caphtoreans) Jeremiah mentions in chapter 46, and Ezekiel in chapter 30; and in both places the Latin translator renders the Hebrew word Ludim into Latin as ‘Lydians,’ not, indeed, understanding the Lydians who are peoples of Asia Minor, whom I should believe to have been begotten from another Lud, who is mentioned a little below in this very chapter among the sons of Shem. But the Ludim or Ludaeans of whom we now treat seem to have been African peoples, namely neighbors and allies of the Egyptians, and auxiliaries bringing forces to their king in war, as may be understood from both prophets whom I have just named. Jeremiah indeed in that place prophesying against the army of Nechao king of Egypt: „Mount the horses,“ he says, „and exult in the chariots, and let the brave come forth, Ethiopia and Libya holding the shield, and the Lydians snatching up and shooting arrows“: in Hebrew it is Chusaei and Phutaei and Ludim, whom we have shown above to be nations neighboring the Egyptians and confederate with them. For that ‘Lydians’ (as I said), in Hebrew it is ‘Ludim,’ whom we here call Ludaeans. It appears, therefore, that these peoples were joined with the Egyptians in situation, in spirit, and in covenant, as with the offspring chief of their stock. For Mesraim himself, from whom the Ludaeans were sown, was the first inhabitant and cultivator of the land of Egypt and the sower of the Egyptians. The same is also clear from the words of Ezekiel, which run thus: „Ethiopia and Libya and the Lydians (in Hebrew Ludim) and all the remaining common people, and Chub and the sons of the land of the covenant, shall fall with them by the sword.“4
PHILISTHIIM Hebraice nominantur Pelisthiim, et regio ipsa Peleseth: eos Septuaginta Interpretes saepe nominant Allophylos, id est alienigenas et externi generis: Graeci autem et Latini appellant Palaestinos: hi autem maritimam Chananaeae oram tenuerunt quae vergit in Aegyptum: quocirca Exodi capite vigesimo tertio mare Mediterraneum alluens Palaestinam appellatur mare Philisthinorum; quorum regio sic determinatur Iosue decimo tertio: „A fluvio turbido qui irrigat Aegyptum, usque ad terminos Accaron contra Aquilonem, terra Chanaan est, quae in quinque regulos Philisthiim dividitur, Gazaeos, Azotios, Ascalonitas, Gethaeos et Accaronitas.“ Quinque enim urbes illae Gaza, Ascalon, Geth, Accaron et…
The Philisthiim are in Hebrew named Pelisthiim, and the region itself Peleseth: the Septuagint translators often name them Allophyloi, that is, foreigners and of an external race: but the Greeks and Latins call them Palestines. These held the maritime coast of Chanaan which inclines toward Egypt: wherefore in Exodus, chapter twenty-three, the Mediterranean Sea washing Palestine is called ‘the sea of the Philistines’; whose region is thus bounded in Joshua thirteen: „From the turbid river which waters Egypt, as far as the bounds of Accaron toward the north, is the land of Chanaan, which is divided into the five lordships of the Philistines, the Gazites, the Azotites, the Ascalonites, the Gethites, and the Accaronites.“ For those five cities, Gaza, Ascalon, Geth, Accaron, and…5
…Azotus erant metropoles quinque provinciarum sua ex illis nomina habentium, et erant quinque parva regna seu Satrapiae. Terra porro haec Philisthinorum possessa deinde est a tribu Iuda et Simeonis.
…Azotus were the metropolises of five provinces having their names from them, and were five small kingdoms or satrapies. This land of the Philistines, moreover, was afterward possessed by the tribe of Judah and of Simeon.6
VERUM dicet aliquis: si Philisthaei fuerunt posteri Mesraim, ut hic dicitur, non autem ex posteris Chanaan, quorum terram et regionem exterminatis illis Deus Hebraeis habitandam possidendamque assignavit; cur, inquam, Satrapiae Philisthinorum a Iosue annumerentur terrae Hebraeis promissae? Verum in promptu est responsio: nam quamvis terram illam tempore Iosue tenerent Palaestini, ipsa tamen regio eorum pro terra Chananaeorum habenda erat. Videlicet loca illa Chananaei olim habuerant; quemadmodum in Deuteronomii libro capite secundo proditum est Heuaeos, qui sine dubio posteri fuerunt Chanaan, olim habitasse in villis usque ad Gazam, sed a Caphtorim (Latinus vertit Cappadoces) eliminatos esse, easque sedes ab illis esse occupatas. Iam vero Caphtorim Philisthinorum fuisse gentiles ex hoc loco manifestum est; quin etiam quodam loco scriptura Philisthiim appellat reliquias Caphtorim, et alibi ait Philisthiim ascendisse de Caphtor. Ergo Philisthaei etiam Chananaeorum nomine censentur. Unde Sophonias capite secundo: „Vae,“ inquit, „qui habitatis funiculum maris, gens perditorum, verbum Domini super vos, Chanaan terra Palaestinorum, et disperdam te, ita ut non sit in ea inhabitator.“
But someone will say: if the Philistines were descendants of Mesraim, as is here said, and not of the descendants of Chanaan — whose land and region, when they were exterminated, God assigned to the Hebrews to inhabit and possess — why, I say, are the satrapies of the Philistines counted by Joshua among the land promised to the Hebrews? But the answer is at hand: for although the Palestines held that land in the time of Joshua, yet their region itself was to be reckoned as the land of the Canaanites. That is, the Canaanites had once held those places; as it is handed down in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter two, that the Heuaeans, who were without doubt descendants of Chanaan, once dwelt in villages as far as Gaza, but were driven out by the Caphtorim (the Latin renders Cappadoces), and those seats were occupied by them. Now, that the Caphtorim were of the same race as the Philistines is manifest from this place; moreover in a certain place Scripture calls the Philistines the remnant of the Caphtorim, and elsewhere says that the Philistines came up from Caphtor. Therefore the Philistines too are reckoned under the name of the Canaanites. Whence Sophonias, chapter two: „Woe,“ he says, „to you who inhabit the cord of the sea, a nation of the lost: the word of the Lord upon you, Chanaan the land of the Palestines; and I will destroy you, so that there is no inhabitant in it.“7
QUOS autem Moses hoc loco appellavit Caphtorim, eos Graecus et Latinus interpres alibi semper appellat Cappadoces, et Caphtor Cappadociam. Nam Deuteronomii capite secundo ita scriptum est: „Henaeos quoque qui habitabant in Haserim usque Gazan, Cappadoces expulerunt; qui egressi de Cappadocia deleverunt eos et habitarunt pro illis.“ Ubi Hebraice pro „Cappadoces“ est „Caphtorim,“ et pro „Cappadocia“ est „Caphtor.“ Apud Hieremiam cap. 47 Palaestini appellantur reliquiae Cappadociae: „Depopulatus est,“ inquit, „Dominus reliquias insulae Cappadociae.“ Amos autem propheta capite nono significat Palaesthinos oriundos esse et venisse ex Caphtor: „Nunquid non ego,“ inquit, „Dominus ascendere feci Israel de terra Aegypti, et Palaesthinos de Cappadocia (Hebraice Caphtor) et Syros de Cyrene?“
But those whom Moses in this place called Caphtorim, the Greek and Latin translator elsewhere always calls Cappadoces, and Caphtor Cappadocia. For in Deuteronomy, chapter two, it is thus written: „The Henaeans also, who dwelt in Haserim as far as Gaza, the Cappadoces expelled; who, having come out of Cappadocia, destroyed them and dwelt in their place.“ Where in Hebrew, for ‘Cappadoces’ is ‘Caphtorim,’ and for ‘Cappadocia’ is ‘Caphtor.’ In Jeremiah, chapter 47, the Palestines are called the remnant of Cappadocia: „The Lord,“ he says, „has laid waste the remnant of the island of Cappadocia.“ And the prophet Amos, in chapter nine, signifies that the Palestines are sprung and came from Caphtor: „Have not I,“ he says, „the Lord, made Israel to come up from the land of Egypt, and the Palestines from Cappadocia (in Hebrew Caphtor), and the Syrians from Cyrene?“8
AN vero vocabulo „Cappadocia“ et „Cappadocum“ intelligere oporteat veros Cappadoces qui regionem latissimam incolunt proximam Ponto et Tauro monti, an vero aliam quampiam gentem eiusdem nominis vel Africanam vel certe Aegypto et Palaestinae vicinam, obscurum est. Non enim credibile sit Caphtoreos ex tam longinqua et remota regione, ut est Cappadocia, venisse in Palaestinam, eliminatisque inde Heuaeis terram eorum insedisse. Quemadmodum etiam Syri dicuntur translati in Cyrenaicam regionem vel urbem, et inde ascendisse, ut testificatur Amos capite 1 et 9, cum tamen in scriptura id non debeat intelligi de Cyrenaica provincia vulgo nota et a scriptoribus celebrata, quae quidem prima ipsius Africae, qua mari Liby[co]…
But whether by the word ‘Cappadocia’ and ‘Cappadocians’ one ought to understand the true Cappadocians who inhabit a very broad region next to Pontus and the mountain Taurus, or rather some other nation of the same name, either African or at least neighboring Egypt and Palestine, is obscure. For it would not be credible that the Caphtoreans came into Palestine from so far-off and remote a region as Cappadocia is, and, the Heuaeans being driven out thence, settled in their land. Just as the Syrians too are said to have been transferred into the Cyrenaic region or city, and to have come up thence, as Amos testifies in chapters 1 and 9 — although in Scripture this ought not to be understood of the Cyrenaic province commonly known and celebrated by the writers, which indeed is the first part of Africa itself, where by the Liby[an] sea…9
…Libyco cingitur, proxima Nilo est provincia: verum de alia quapiam eiusdem nominis provincia vel civitate quae esset in regione Medorum: nam illuc translatos esse Syros Damascenos proditum est in libro 4 Regum cap. 16: „Ascendit,“ inquit, „Rex Assyriorum Damascum, vastavit eam et transtulit habitatores eius in Cyrenen, Rasin autem regem Syriae interfecit.“ Tam autem hic quam apud prophetam Amos pro vocabulo Cyrene est Hebraice Kir. Certe Iosephus libro nono Antiquitatum perspicue tradit Syros fuisse abductos in loca superioris Mediae. Sicut igitur vocabulo Cyrenae, quo Latinus interpres expressit Hebraeam vocem Kir, non intelligimus Cyrenen proprie dictam: ita licet Cappadociae et Cappadocum nomen, quo reddita sunt vocabula Hebraea Caphtor et Caphtorim, accipere non pro vera Cappadocia sed pro alia quapiam regione et gente simili nomine appellata.
…is girt by the Libyan sea, the province nearest the Nile; but [it may be understood] of some other province or city of the same name which was in the region of the Medes: for that the Syrians of Damascus were transferred thither is set forth in the fourth book of Kings, chapter 16: „The king of the Assyrians,“ it says, „went up to Damascus, laid it waste, and transferred its inhabitants to Cyrene, but killed Rasin the king of Syria.“ Here, however, as also in the prophet Amos, for the word ‘Cyrene’ the Hebrew has ‘Kir.’ Certainly Josephus in the ninth book of the Antiquities plainly hands down that the Syrians were carried off into the places of upper Media. Just as, therefore, by the word ‘Cyrene,’ with which the Latin translator rendered the Hebrew word ‘Kir,’ we do not understand Cyrene properly so called: so it is allowable to take the name ‘Cappadocia’ and ‘the Cappadocians,’ by which the Hebrew words ‘Caphtor’ and ‘Caphtorim’ are rendered, not for the true Cappadocia but for some other region and nation called by a like name.10

Translator’s notes

  1. Gen 10:13–14 (verse lemma). ↩
  2. §106. Gen 10:13–14. Augustine (City of God 16.3): Mesraim's offspring are seven nations, not individuals; and from the sixth comes the nation Philisthiim, making eight (continues p. 443). Margin: Augustine. ↩
  3. §106 (concl.). Jerome (Hebrew Questions, from Josephus): except Laabim (whence the Libyans, formerly Phuteans) and Chasluim (whence the Philisthiim, our ‘Palestines’), the other six nations are unknown — destroyed in the Ethiopic war; they held the land from Gaza to the bounds of Egypt. Margins: Jerome; Josephus. ↩
  4. §107. Of Mesraim's eight, only three recur elsewhere: Ludim, Philisthiim, Caphtorim. Ludim (Heb.) is rendered ‘Lydians’ in Jer 46 and Ezek 30 — but these are African Ludaeans, Egypt's neighbors and military allies, distinct from the Asian Lydians (from a different Lud, a son of Shem below). Mesraim, founder of Egypt, was their ancestor — hence their close bond with Egypt. Margins: Ludim or Ludaeans; the passage of Jeremiah ch. 46. ↩
  5. §108. The Philistines (Heb. Pelisthiim; region Peleseth; LXX ‘Allophyloi’ = foreigners; Greek/Latin ‘Palestines’) held the Canaanite coast toward Egypt — hence the Mediterranean = ‘the sea of the Philistines’ (Exod 23). Bounded (Josh 13) from the Egyptian river to Accaron, divided into five lordships: Gaza, Azotus, Ascalon, Geth, Accaron (continues p. 444). Margin: the origin and territory of the Philistines. ↩
  6. §108 (concl.). The five Philistine cities were metropolises of five provinces (five small kingdoms/satrapies); their land was later possessed by the tribes of Judah and Simeon. ↩
  7. §109. Objection: if the Philistines descend from Mesraim, not Chanaan, why does Joshua count their satrapies in the Promised Land? Answer: their region still counts as Canaanite — the Heuaei (descendants of Chanaan) once dwelt there to Gaza but were driven out by the Caphtorim (Vulg. ‘Cappadoces,’ Deut 2), kin of the Philistines (Scripture calls the Philistines ‘the remnant of Caphtorim,’ and says they ‘came up from Caphtor’). So the Philistines too fall under the name ‘Canaanites’ (Zeph 2: ‘Chanaan, land of the Palestines’). Margins: a doubt — since the Philistines were not of Chanaan's stock, how their territory pertained to the Hebrews' possession; Jer 7; Amos 9. ↩
  8. §110. ‘Caphtorim’ (Heb.) is always rendered ‘Cappadoces,’ and ‘Caphtor’ as ‘Cappadocia,’ by the Greek/Latin: Deut 2 (the Cappadoces from Cappadocia expelled the Henaei to Gaza); Jer 47 (‘the remnant of the island of Cappadocia’); Amos 9 (‘the Palestines from Cappadocia [Caphtor], the Syrians from Cyrene’). Margin: what nation Caphtorim was. ↩
  9. §111. Whether ‘Cappadocia/Cappadocians’ means the true Cappadocia (near Pontus and Taurus) or another like-named nation, African or near Egypt/Palestine, is obscure: it is incredible that the Caphtoreans came from distant Cappadocia to settle in Palestine. Likewise the Syrians ‘from Cyrene’ (Amos 1 & 9) need not mean the famous Cyrenaica of Africa (continues to next batch). Margin: the word ‘Cyrene’ or ‘Cyrenaica’ to be understood in two ways in Scripture. ↩
  10. §111 (concl.). The ‘Cyrene’ to which the Syrians were deported (2 Kgs 16) = Hebrew ‘Kir’ (also in Amos), not the African Cyrene but a place in upper Media (Josephus, Antiquities bk. 9). So likewise ‘Cappadocia/Cappadocians’ (rendering Heb. Caphtor/Caphtorim) need not mean true Cappadocia but a like-named region/people. Margin: Josephus. ↩