Mind of the Church

The mind of the Church, faithfully rendered into English

Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume II

Book Fifteen — the multiplication of mankind after the flood

{And the borders of Chanaan were, as one comes from Sidon to Gerara, even to Gaza, until you enter Sodom, Gomorrah, Adama, and Seboim, as far as Lasa.}

LatineEnglish

{And the borders of Chanaan were, as one comes from Sidon to Gerara, even to Gaza, until you enter Sodom, Gomorrah, Adama, and Seboim, as far as Lasa.}1

Factique sunt termini Chanaan venientibus a Sidone Geraram, usque ad Gazam donec ingrediaris Sodomam, Gomorrham, Adamam et Seboim usque Lasa.

QUONIAM eas regiones quas supradicti posteri Chanaan inhabitabant, ex promissione et munere Dei possessuri erant Hebraei, idcirco Moses hoc loco tam distincte ac subtiliter fines eius terrae usquequaque describit. Ait enim terminum terrae eorum a Septentrione fuisse Pentapolim; versus Meridiem, Geraram; denique versus Occidentem, Gazam quae adiacebat mari magno, id est mediterraneo, qui ab Occidente terminus statui solet in sacris literis terrae promissionis. At vero eius gentis quae proprie dicta est Chananaea, et una erat sed praecipua ex illis septem, terrae quam possidebat fines aliter designantur in libro Iosue cap. 13 illis verbis: „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,“ etc. Horum enim Chananaeorum alii erant Orientales iuxta Iordanis fluenta habitantes; alii Occidentales oram maris magni seu mediterranei incolentes, quae et Palaestina dicitur in scriptura et a Graecis Phoenicia. Eiectis autem inde Chananaeis, eorum sedes Philisthaei occuparunt. Sed exponamus breviter terminos illius terrae hic descriptos a Mose.
Since the Hebrews were, by the promise and gift of God, to possess those regions which the aforesaid descendants of Chanaan inhabited, therefore Moses in this place so distinctly and carefully describes the bounds of that land on every side. For he says that the boundary of their land on the North was Pentapolis; toward the South, Gerara; finally, toward the West, Gaza, which lay next to the great sea — that is, the Mediterranean — which is wont to be set as the western boundary of the land of promise in the sacred letters. But the bounds of the land which that nation, properly called Chananea (and which was one, but the chief, of those seven), possessed, are otherwise designated in the book of Joshua, chapter 13, in those words: „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,“ etc. For of these Chananeans some were Eastern, dwelling beside the streams of the Jordan; others Western, inhabiting the coast of the great or Mediterranean sea, which in Scripture is called Palestine and by the Greeks Phoenicia. And when the Chananeans had been cast out thence, the Philistines occupied their seats. But let us briefly set forth the boundaries of that land here described by Moses.2
SIDON, inquit Hieronymus, urbs Phoenicis insignis, olim Chananaeorum terminus ad Aquilonem respiciens, et postea regionis Iudaeae. Cecidit autem in fortem tribus Aser, sed non eam possedit, quia hostes nequaquam valuit expellere. Gerara vero, ex cuius nomine nunc Geratica vocatur regio trans Daromam procul Eleutheropoli viginti quinque millibus ad meridiem, erat olim terminus Chananaeorum ad australem plagam. Scriptura commemorat fuisse eam inter Cades et Sur, hoc est inter duas solitudines, quarum una Aegypto iungitur, ad quam populus Hebraeus trans fretum maris rubri pervenit; altera vero quae dicitur Cades, usque ad Saracenorum eremum extenditur. Gaza civitas fuit olim Heuaeorum, in qua habitaverunt Cappadoces, pristinis cultoribus interfectis: apud veteres autem erat terminus Chananaeorum iuxta Aegyptum, ceciditque in fortem tribus Iuda: sed eam tenere non potuit, quia Enacim, id est gigantes fortissimi Philisthaeorum, restiterunt, et usque hodie insignis civitas est Palaestinae. Sed quaeritur quomodo a quodam propheta dicatur Gaza futura in tumulum sempiternum? Quod ita solvitur: antiquae civitatis locum vix fundamentorum praebere vestigia: hanc autem quae nunc cernitur in alio loco pro illa quae corruit aedificatam esse. Hactenus ex S. Hieronymo.
Sidon, says Jerome, a notable city of Phoenicia, was once the boundary of the Canaanites looking toward the North, and afterward of the region of Judaea. It fell into the lot of the tribe of Aser, but it did not possess it, because it could by no means expel the enemies. Gerara, from whose name the region beyond Daroma is now called Geratica — far from Eleutheropolis, twenty-five miles to the south — was once the boundary of the Canaanites on the southern side. Scripture records that it was between Cades and Sur, that is, between two wildernesses, of which one is joined to Egypt, to which the Hebrew people came across the strait of the Red Sea; the other, which is called Cades, extends as far as the desert of the Saracens. Gaza was once a city of the Hevites, in which the Cappadocians dwelt, the former cultivators having been killed; among the ancients it was the boundary of the Canaanites next to Egypt, and it fell into the lot of the tribe of Judah; but it could not hold it, because the Anakim — that is, the strongest giants of the Philistines — resisted, and to this day it is a notable city of Palestine. But it is asked, how is it said by a certain prophet that Gaza shall be an everlasting heap? Which is thus solved: that the place of the ancient city scarcely offers traces of its foundations; but that this one which is now seen was built in another place in place of the one that fell. Thus far from Saint Jerome.3
DENIQUE ad significandum orientalem terminum eiusdem terrae, signatur Pentapolis, omissa tamen Segor propter eius parvitatem atque ignobilitatem. Lasa vero (hanc Graeci interpretes appellarunt Dasam) putat B. Hieronymus fuisse eam quae suo tempore Callirrhoe dicebatur, ubi aquae calidae prorumpentes in Mare mortuum defluunt. Cuius loci meminit etiam Plinius lib. 5 cap. 16. Nam loquens de Lacu Asphaltite, quod in sacris literis appellatur Mare salsissimum, sic ait: „Prospicit eum ab Oriente Arabia Nomadum, a Meridie Macherus, secunda quondam arx Iudeae ab Ierosolymis. Eodem latere est calidus fons medicae salubritatis Callirrhoe, aquarum gloriam ipso nomine praeferens.“ Non videtur autem cum hac descriptione et determinatione terrae Chananaeorum satis congruere quod in libro de locis Hebraicis annotatum est, Lasa fuisse terminum Chananaeorum circa Sidonem.
Finally, to signify the eastern boundary of the same land, Pentapolis is marked — Segor, however, being omitted on account of its smallness and ignobility. But Lasa (this the Greek translators called Dasa) Blessed Jerome thinks to have been the one which in his time was called Callirrhoe, where hot waters bursting forth flow down into the Dead Sea. Of which place Pliny too makes mention in book 5, chapter 16. For, speaking of the Asphaltite Lake — which in the sacred letters is called the most salt sea — he says thus: „Toward the East, the Arabia of the Nomads looks upon it; toward the South, Macherus, once the second citadel of Judaea after Jerusalem. On the same side is the hot spring of medicinal healthfulness, Callirrhoe, displaying the glory of its waters by its very name.“ But it does not seem to agree well enough with this description and determination of the land of the Canaanites, what is noted in the book On the Hebrew Places: that Lasa was the boundary of the Canaanites around Sidon.4

Translator’s notes

  1. Gen 10:19 (verse lemma). ↩
  2. §128. Gen 10:19. Since the Hebrews would possess this land, Moses carefully bounds it: north = Pentapolis, south = Gerara, west = Gaza by the Mediterranean (the usual western limit). The nation properly ‘Chananea’ (the chief of the seven) is bounded otherwise (Josh 13: from the Egyptian river to Accaron, the five Philistine lordships). These Chananeans were partly Eastern (by the Jordan), partly Western (the coast, called Palestine/Phoenicia); when cast out, the Philistines took their seats (continues p. 453). ↩
  3. §129. Jerome (On Hebrew Places) on the borders: Sidon (a Phoenician city, the northern bound, in Aser's lot but unconquered); Gerara (whence ‘Geratica,’ 25 mi S of Eleutheropolis, the southern bound, between Cades and Sur); Gaza (once a Hevite city, then held by the ‘Cappadocians’/Caphtorim, the bound by Egypt, in Judah's lot but unheld for the Anakim/Philistine giants). The prophet's ‘Gaza an everlasting heap’ is solved: the ancient site is bare, the present Gaza built elsewhere. Margins: Jerome, On the Hebrew Places; Sidon; Gerara; Gen 20; Exod; Gaza. ↩
  4. §130. The eastern boundary = Pentapolis (Segor omitted as small/obscure). Lasa (LXX ‘Dasa’): Jerome thinks it = the Callirrhoe of his day — hot springs flowing into the Dead Sea (Pliny bk. 5 ch. 16, on the Asphaltite Lake/Dead Sea, with Macherus and the spring Callirrhoe). But this conflicts with Jerome's note (On Hebrew Places) that Lasa was the Canaanite boundary near Sidon. Margins: Callirrhoe; Jerome; Pliny. ↩