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CHAP. IV.

OF THE DISPERSION OF MANKIND.

The Dispersion conducted in a regular manner.-Regulated by natural relation and the affinity of languages. Japhet the eldest of Noah's sons :his descendants settled in Europe and the Lesser Asia.-Gomer, in Phrygia, Pontus, Bithynia, and Galatia.-Ashkenaz, his first-born, obtained the Lesser Phrygia.-Passed into Germany, Gaul, and Britain.—Javan settled in the south of the Lesser Asia :—Tarshis, his eldest son, in Cilicia.-Shittim, to the west of him.-Pussed into Greece, Crete, Cyprus, and Italy.-Elisha settled on the western coast of Asia Minor :passed over into Greece. His sons occupied the Grecian Archipelago.— South of his family, on the same coast, Dodanim.-His sons settled in Epire and the Peloponnese.-Tubal and Meshech occupied adjoining territories.-Meshech in Cappadocia and Armenia.-Tubal on his northern boundary.-North of him, Magog, father of the Scythians.-Madai, third son of Japhet, the father of the Medes.-Tiras, the progenitor of the Thracians-His original settlement, the kingdom of Troy.-The sons of Shem on the south and cast of Gomer.—Aram in Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Syria.—Ashur in Assyria.—Elam in Persia.-Arphaxad on the Tigris.-Ham, the youngest of Noah's sons, in Babylonia.-Canaan in the country of that name.—Cush in Arabia.—Mizraim in Egypt.

THE Confusion of tongues was followed by the dispersion of mankind over the face of all the earth. This great and interesting work, however, was conducted by the Sovereign Disposer of all things, in a regular and orderly manner. Under his watchful and secret direction, the men of Babel, baffled in their presumptuous designs, and disappointed in their sanguine expectations of immortal fame, together with numerous bands from the other families of Noah, who had learned from the lips of their common father the express command of

God, to multiply and replenish the earth, migrated to those quarters of the globe, and those countries which had been allotted in the Divine counsels for their respective settlements. To this orderly distribution, the inspired historian seems to allude in his concluding remark on the settlement of the sons of Javan: "By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations, a And for the same reason, he concludes the account he gives us of the other branches of Noah's family in similar terms. The words families and nations, are often used promiscuously in other parts of Scripture; but here they must have a distinct signification, The difference of construction plainly intimates, that families are in this connection subordinate to nations, as the parts of which nations are composed. The meaning of the sacred writer then, plainly is, that the sons of Noah were ranged according to their nations, and every nation was ranked by its families; so that every nation dwelt by itself, and in every nation the tribes, and in every tribe the families of which it consisted, received their separate lots and lived by themselves." Thus the settlement of the Noachidæ after their dispersion at Babel, seems to have been conducted on the same principles, and in the same orderly manner, though not perhaps with all the formality, as that of the people of Israel long afterwards, in the land of Canaan.

The rule which the Divine Wisdom was pleased to follow in confounding their language, gives additional strength to this argument. The languages of the same branches had a nearer affinity to one another, than to b Well's Hist. Geog. vol. i, p. 60.

a Deut. xxxii, 8.

those of any other branch of Noah's family. Those who spake the same language naturally associated together; and those who received a kindred tongue, and by consequence, understood a little of the former, preferred their neighbourhood to that of a people with whose language they were totally unacquainted. Hence, the first planters settled as well after their tongues, as after their families, and after their nations. The nations of the dispersion, on leaving the plain of Shinar, turned, by the immediate suggestion of heaven, to that quarter of the globe which had been allotted in the Divine purpose for their future residence; but the affinity of the languages, was perhaps the means which Jehovah employed to indicate the regions that were to be occupied by the subordinate branches of the general division. The unity of speech at Babel, which bound its inhabitants into one compact society, was extinguished, or more properly, suspended for a time; but the affinities observable among the numerous dialects, which the confusion of languages produced, still operated as a general principle of connection, in determining the relative situation of the different settle

ments.

Dr. Wells has drawn another argument from the wisdom of the patriarchs, who were all alive at this division, and acted as kings in their generations. Considering the great difference of soil and temperature, in various regions of the earth, it was their part, he thinks, to prevent the contention among their sons, which such a difference might be naturally supposed to produce. This could be done only by instituting an orderly division; and that either by casting lots, or choosing according to the order of their birth-right, after taking some general sur

vey of a sufficient portion of the earth, and laying down distinct portions according to the number of the nations, then of families, &c. But it is much to be questioned, whether the patriarchs, in such circumstances, were able to make themselves understood to numerous bodies of their descendants, who no longer spake the same language, or possessed sufficient authority over so daring and stubborn a race, to give effect to their decisions. The arrangement of the different settlements is rather to be ascribed to the immediate interposition of Heaven, who miraculously confounded the language of Ham‍and his sons, and expelled them for their presumption from the land of Shinar, where they had determined to take up their final abode; while he divided the families of Shem and Japhet into separate communities, and conducted them by immediate suggestions from above, towards the countries where he had appointed them to establish their permanent residence.

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Of the three sons of Noah, Japhet was the first-born, though mentioned last in the sacred text. Moses says expressly, that Noah was five hundred years old, and begat Shem, Ham, and Japhet. And since Ham is declared in Scripture, to be Noah's younger son, the three brothers must have been at different births; therefore the historian must be understood to mean, that he began, in the five hundredth year of his age, to beget children, and in that year begat his eldest son. But in Gen. xi. 10, it is said, that Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad, two years after the flood. Now had Shem been Noah's eldest son, he must have been an hundred and two years old at least, the second © Gen. ix, 24.

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year after the flood; for Noah begat his eldest son in his five hundredth and from thence to the flood were year, an hundred years; for according to Moses, in the six hundredth year of Noah's life the flood began. Therefore, if Shem was only an hundred years old, two years after the flood, it evidently follows, that Japhet must be the son which Noah begat in his five hundredth year, and consequently must be elder than Shem. gument seems completely to determine the controversy, which has been long maintained among interpreters, concerning the sense of the Hebrew text, Gen. x. 21, which considered by itself, may signify either that Shem was the elder brother of Japhet, or that Shem was the "brother of Japhet the elder." The last now appears to be the true meaning, and is therefore justly preferred by the Septuagint, and our English translators.

The sacred historian begins his account of the descendants of Noah, with the sons of Japhet; but for what reason he does so, is uncertain. It is evident he had no regard in his statement to seniority of birth; for he gives us the line of Ham before that of Shem, who, by his express declaration, was the eldest of the two brothers.

In the following sketch, I shall strictly adhere to the order of seniority, which requires us to begin with the descendants of Japhet. The region in which the sons of Japhet formed their first settlements, the sacred historian distinguishes by a general name: "the Isles of the Gentiles. The term which we render isles origi nally signified the sea coast. In this sense it occurs in the prophecies of Isaiah respecting the captivity of d Well's Hist. Geog. vol. i, p. 57.

e Gen. x, 5.

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