Genesis 10:12

And Resen, between Nineveh and Calah,.... This was another city built by Ashur, situated between those two cities mentioned: the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it Talsar, or Thalassar, see

And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city. And Resen , [Septuagint, Dasee] - supposed to be represented by Kileh-Shergat, or by Selamiyeh, both of which ruins belong to the proto-Assyrian period.

Either, 1. Nineveh, which is called a great city, , ; and indeed was so, being sixty miles in compass. Thus it is a trajection, and the relative is referred to the remoter noun, as sometimes is done, though this seems to be a little forced. Or, 2. Resen; so the meaning is, though this city be much inferior to Nineveh, yet this also, if compared with most others, is a great city.

Genesis 10:12 And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same [is] a great city.Ver. 12. The same is a great city.] As consisting of three cities, and having more people within the walls than are now in some one kingdom. See the greatness of this city set forth in the Preacher’ s Travels, p. 89. The greatest city in the world at this day is said to be Quinsai, in Tartary, which is a hundred miles about, as M. Paulus Venetus writeth, who himself dwelt therein, about the year 1260. Cambula, the imperial city, and seat of the great Cham of Tartary, is in circuit twenty-eight miles about. Nineveh was three days’ journey in Jonah’ s days: now it is destroyed (as was long since prophesied by Nahum), being nothing else than a sepulchre of herself, a little town of small trade, where the Patriarch of the Nestorians keeps his seat at the devotion of the Turk. As Susa, in Persia, once a lily (as the name signifies), for the sweet sight, and so rich, as afterwards is reported, is now called Valdac, of the poverty of the place. Turk. Hist., fol. 75. Preacher’ s Travels, 88.

(11, 12) Out of that land went forth Asshur.—So the LXX., Syriac, and Vulg.; but the Targum and most modern authorities rightly translate, “Out of that land he went forth into Assyria.” We have here nothing to do with Asshur the son of Shem (see Genesis 10:22), but are occupied with Nimrod and the Hamites, who, after firmly establishing themselves in Babylonia, subsequently extended their influence northward. This is confirmed by the cuneiform inscriptions, which prove that the southern portion of Mesopotamia was the chief seat of the Accadians, while in Assyria they came at an early date into collision with the Shemites, who drove them back, and ultimately subjugated them everywhere. It is not necessary to suppose that this spread of Hamite civilisation northward was the work of Nimrod personally; if done by his successors, it would, in Biblical language, be ascribed to its prime mover. The Assyrian cities were:— 1. Nineveh.—So happily situated on the Tigris that it outstripped the more ancient Babylon, and for centuries even held it in subjection.2. The City Rehoboth.—Translated by some Rehoboth-Ir, but with more probability by others, “the suburbs of the city:” that is, of Nineveh, thus denoting already the greatness of that town. 3. Calah.—A city rebuilt by Assur-natzir-pal, the father of Shalmaneser, and interesting as one of the places where the Assyrian kings established libraries (Chald. Gen., p. 26). The ruins are still called Nimroud. 4. Resen.—The “spring-head.” Of this town nothing certain is known. Canon Rawlinson places it at Selamiyah (Anc. Mon., 1:204), a large village half-way between Nineveh and Calah. As the vast ruins scattered throughout Mesopotamia are those of Assyrian buildings, Resen, though “a great city” in Hamite times, might easily pass into oblivion, if never rebuilt by the conquerors.

12. Resen] Not yet identified; but conjectured to lie among the mounds which conceal ruins between Nineveh and Nimrud. (the same is the great city)] This is a note added by the compiler; or, possibly, as Skinner suggests, a gloss, referring to Nineveh, which is misplaced. 13–19 (J). The descendants of Mizraim (Egypt), Genesis 10:13-14; and of Canaan (Phoenicia), Genesis 10:15-19. The names of tribes (the plural termination -im) in Genesis 10:13-14, and of peoples (Genesis 10:16-19), seem to imply a different source of tradition from that in Genesis 10:2-7.

11, 12. Went forth Asshur — Rather, [Nimrod] went forth to Asshur [Assyria.] So reads the margin, after the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; (so Baumgarten, De Wette, A.