Mizraim

or MESRAIM, son of Ham, and father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim, and Casluhim, Gen 10:6. Meser or Misor was father of the Mizraim, the Egyptians; and he himself is commonly called Mizraim, although there is very strong probability that Mizraim, being of the plural number, signifies rather the Egyptians themselves, than the father of that people. Mizraim is also put for the country of Egypt: thus it has three significations, which are perpetually confounded and used promiscuously, sometimes denoting the land of Egypt, sometimes him who first peopled Egypt, and sometimes the inhabitants themselves. Cairo, the capital of Egypt, and even Egypt itself, are to this day called Mezer by the Arabians. But the natives call Egypt Chemi, that is, the land of Cham, or Ham, as it is also sometimes called in Scripture, Psa 78:12; Psa 105:23; Psa 106:22. The prophet Micah, Mic 7:15, gives to Egypt the name of Mezor, or Matzor; and rabbi Kimchi, followed in this by several learned commentators, explains by Egypt what is said of the rivers of Mezor, 2Ki 19:24; Isa 19:6; Isa 37:25.

Miz´raim, or land of Mizraim, the name by which, in Scripture, Egypt is generally designated, apparently from its having been peopled by Mizraim, the son of Ham (Genesis 10). This ancient title is still preserved in Misr, the existing Arabic name of the country [EGYPT].

A son of Ham, and father of various African races, Gen 10:6, but particularly of the Egyptians, to whom his name was given. Mizraim is also the Hebrew word for Egypt in the Bible, and this country is still called Misr in Arabic.\par

Miz’ra-im or Mizra’im. (the two Egypts; red soil). The usual name of Egypt, in the Old Testament, the dual of Mazor, which is less frequently employed. Mizraim first occurs in the account of the Hamites in Gen 10:1. In the use of the name, Mizraim for Egypt, there can be no doubt that the dual indicates the two regions, upper and lower Egypt, into which the country has always been divided by nature, as well as by its inhabitants.

Dual of mazor, Hebrew a "fortified place"; Gesenius, from Arabic meser, a "boundary". Rather the Egyptian Mes-ra-n, "children of Ra" the Sun. Son of Ham, ancestor of the Mizraim; the dual indicating the people of Upper and of Lower Egypt (Gen 10:6). The descent of the Egyptians from Ham is recognized in Psa 104:23; Psa 104:27; Psa 78:51, where Egypt is called "the land of Ham." They called themselves Khemi, either "Hamites" or from Khem "black," namely, the alluvial soil of the Nile. Mizraim geographically was the center from whence colonies went forth in the age just after the flood, the Philistines, the Lehabim (Libyans), etc. (See HAM; EGYPT.)

Mizraim (mĭz’ră-ĭm or miz-râ’im), limits, borders. The name by which the Hebrews generally designated Egypt, apparently from Mizraim, the son or Ham. Gen 10:6; Gen 10:13. Called in English versions Egypt. Gen 45:20; Gen 46:34; Gen 47:6; Gen 47:13. Sometimes it seems to be employed to designate lower Egypt, to the exclusion of Pathros or upper Egypt. Isa 11:11; Jer 44:15. See Egypt.

[Miz’raim]

Son of Ham, and the name of his descendants and also of the country possessed by them. Its signification is much disputed. The Hebrew word is really Mitzraim and is given in the A.V. untranslated only in Gen 10:6; Gen 10:13; 1Ch 1:8; 1Ch 1:11. Elsewhere it is translated EGYPT. The word is in a dual form, occasioned, it has been thought, by the division of that land into Upper and Lower Egypt. The word Matzor, of which Mitzraim is the dual, occurs many times and is variously translated in the A.V. In 2Ki 19:24; Isa 37:25 it is ’besieged places;’ in Isa 19:6, ’defence;’ and in Jer 10:17, ’fortress.’ But it is a proper name and refers to Egypt. The Revisers and others translate it Egypt in all passages.

See EGYPT.

MIZRAIM.—The name of v (wh. see), and especially of Lower Egypt. Mizraim was son of Ham and father of Ludim, Anamim, Lebabim, Naphtuhim, Pathrusim (i.e. the inhabitants of Upper Egypt), Casluhim, and Caphtorim (Gen 10:6; Gen 10:13-14). Of. also art. Pathros.

F. Ll. Griffith.

miz´rā́-im (מצרים, micrayı̄m):

(1) A son of Ham, and ancestor of various peoples, Ludim, Anamim, etc. (Gen 10:6, Gen 10:13; 1Ch 1:8, 1Ch 1:11). See TABLE OF NATIONS.

(2) The name of Egypt. See EGYPT.

The land of Ham. - הם, ḥām, was another name for the land of Egypt. It occurs only in Psa 105:23, Psa 105:17; Psa 106:22; Psa 78:51 probably refers to the land of Ham, though it may refer to the children of Ham. The origin and significance of this name are involved in much obscurity. Two improbable etymologies and one probable etymology for Ham as a name of Egypt have been proposed, and the improbable ones very much urged: (1) Ham is often thought to be a Hebrew appropriation of the Egyptian name “Kemt,” a name for the “black land” as distinguished from “desherr,” the red land of the desert which surrounded it. This etymology is very attractive, but phonetically very improbable to say the least. (2) Ham has sometimes been connected directly with הם, ḥām, the second son of Noah whose descendants under the name Mitsraim occupied a part of Northeastern Africa. But as there is no trace of this name among the Egyptians and no use of it in the historical books of the Old Testament, this can hardly be said to be a probable derivation of the word. (3) There is a third proposed etymology for Ham which connects it ultimately but indirectly with Ham, the second son of Noah. Some of the earliest sculptures yet found in Egypt represent the god Min (Mĕnū; compare Koptos by Professor Petrie). This god seems also to have been called Khem, a very exact Egyptian equivalent for הם, ḥām, the second son of Noah and the ancestor of the Hamitic people of Egypt. That Ham the son of Noah should be deified in the Egyptian pantheon is not surprising. The sensuality of this god Min or Khem also accords well with the reputation for licentiousness borne by Ham the son of Noah. These facts suggest very strongly a trace in Egyptian mythology of the actual history of the movements of Hamitic people. (4) While the preceding division (3) probably states the real explanation of the early name of Egypt, it still remains to be noted that the use of the name Ham by the Psalmist may be entirely poetic. Until it be found that the name Ham was applied to Egypt by other writers of that period it will ever be in some measure unlikely that the Psalmist was acquainted with the mythological use of the name Ham in Egypt, and so, in equal measure, probable that he meant nothing more than to speak of the land of the descendants of Ham the son of Noah. See also HAM, LAND OF.