Genesis 10:23

And the children of Aram,.... The four following persons are called the sons of Shem, 1 Chronicles 1:17 being his grandsons, which is not unusual in Scripture, Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash: the

And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash. The children of Aram; Uz - Septuagint renders it Ausitis (Job 1:15; Job 1:17): a district at the northern extremity of the Arabian desert,

Genesis 10:23 And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.Ver. 23. Uz.] Haply Job’ s country: for we can here but hariolari in re dubia , go by conjecture only.

(21-23) shem . . . the brother of Japheth the elder.—Really, the elder brother of Japheth. Though the rules of Hebrew grammar will admit of no other rendering, it is remarkable that both the Syriac and the Vulg. make the same mistake as our own version. In designating Shem as “the father of all the children of Eber,” attention is called to the fact that the descendants of Peleg, his elder son, are omitted from this table, and reserved for the Tôldôth Shem. (See Genesis 11:10.) The nations descended from Shem were:— 1. Elam.—According to Mr. Sayce (Chald. Gen., p. 196), “the primitive inhabitants of Elam were a race closely allied to the Accadians, and spread over the whole range of country which stretched from the southern shores of the Caspian to the Persian Gulf.” But just as the Semitic Asshur expelled a Hamite race from Assyria, so another branch of this conquering family occupied Elymais. It is now called Chuzistan, and was the most easternly of the countries occupied by the Semites. But see Excursus to Genesis 14 on the conquests of the Elamite Chedorlaomer. 2. Asshur.—This Semitic stock seems to have been the first to settle on the Tigris, as the Hamites were the first to settle on the Euphrates. Finally, as we have seen (Genesis 10:11), they conquered the whole country. 3. Arphaxad.—Heb., Arpachshad. We may dismiss the idea that he was connected with the region called Arrapachitis, for this correctly is Aryapakshata, “the land next the Aryans.” Really he appears as the ancestor of Eber and the Joktanite Arabs. 4. Lud.—Probably the Lydians, who, after various wanderings, settled in Asia Minor. 5. Aram.—As Asshur means plain, so Aram means highland. It was originally the name of the Lebanon ranges, and thus Damascus is called Aram in 2 Samuel 8:5. Subsequently the race so extended itself as to possess Mesopotamia, a lowland country, but called, as early as Genesis 24:10, “Aram of the two rivers.” The greatness of Aram will be best seen by examining those places in our version where Syria and Syrian are spoken of, and which, in the Hebrew, are really Aram. To the Aramæan stock belonged also four outlying dependencies—(1) Uz, the land of Job, a district in the northern part of Arabia Deserta; (2) Hul and (3) Gether, regions of which nothing is known; and (4) Mash, a desert region on the western side of the Euphrates (Chald. Gen., p. 276).

Verse 23. Uz] Who peopled Caelosyria, and is supposed to have been the founder of Damascus. Hul] Who peopled a part of Armenia. Gether] Supposed by Calmet to have been the founder of the Itureans, who dwelt beyond the Jordan, having Arabia Deserta on the east, and the Jordan on the west. Mash.] Who inhabited mount Masius in Mesopotamia, and from whom the river Mazeca, which has its source in that mountain, takes its name.

23. the sons of Aram] These names convey nothing to us, though presumably they possessed importance in the geography of the Hebrews. Uz] The country of Job: see Job 1:1. Generally considered to have been in the south of Palestine. The name occurs again in another genealogy, Genesis 22:21, Genesis 36:28; cf. Jeremiah 25:20. In Lamentations 4:21, Uz is associated with Edom. These references however do not suit “a son of Aram.” Mash] In the parallel passage (1 Chronicles 1:17) = Meshech.

23. Uz — Who gave name to the country of Job, in the north of Arabia Deserta. The manners and habits of this people may, to a considerable extent, be learned from this ancient poem.