XXXII. Ham
6. מצרים mı̂tsrayı̂m, "Mitsraim." מצר mētser, "straitness, limit, pressure." מצור mātsôr, "distress, siege, mound, bulwark; Egypt." מצרים mı̂tsrayı̂m, "perhaps double Egypt, lower and upper." פוּט pûṭ, "Put, troubled."
7. סבא sebā', "Seba, drinking (man, Ethiopian)." סבתה sabtâh, "Sabtah." רעמה ra‛mâh, "Ra'mah, shaking, trembling." סבתכא sabtekā', "Sabtekha." שׁבא shēbā', "Sheba, captive?" דדן dedān, "Dedan, going slowly?"
8. נמרד nı̂mrod, "Nimrod, strong, rebel."
10. בבל bābel, "Babel; related: pour, mingle, confound." ארך 'erek, "Erek, length." אכד 'akad, "Akkad, fortress." כלנה kalneh, "Kalneh." שׁנער shı̂n‛ār, "Shin'ar."
11. נינוה nı̂ynevēh, "Nineveh, dwelling?" עיר רחבח rechobot 'ı̂yr, "Rechoboth 'ir, streets of a city." כלח kelach, "Kelach, completion, end, age."
12. רסן resen, "Resen, bridle, bit."
13. לוּדים lûdı̂ym, "Ludim, born?" ענמים ‛ǎnāmı̂ym, "'Anamim, possession, sheep. להבים lı̂hābı̂ym, "Lehabim, fiery, flaming?" נפתהים naptuchı̂ym, "Naphtuchim, opening."
14. פתרסים patrusı̂ym, "Pathrusim." כסלחים kasluchı̂ym, "Kasluchim." פלשׁתים pelı̂shtı̂ym, "Pelishtim", Αλλόφυλοι Allophuloi, "related: break, scatter; Aethiopic "migrate." כפתרים kaptorı̂ym, "Kaphtorim; related: crown, capital."
15. צידון tsı̂ydon, "Tsidon, hunting." צת chēt, "Cheth, breaking, affrighting."
16. יבוּסי yebûsı̂y, "Jebusi; related: tread." אמרי 'emorı̂y, "Emori; related: Say, be high." גגשׁי gı̂rgāshı̂y, "Girgashi; related: clay, clod."
17. צוּי chı̂vı̂y, "Chivvi; related: live." ערקי ‛arqı̂y, "'Arqi; related: gnaw, sting." סיני sı̂ynı̂y, "Sini; related: mud, clay."
18. ארודי 'arvādı̂y, "Arvadi; related: roam, ramble." צמרי; tsemārı̂y, "Tsemari; noun: wool; verb: cover." חמתי chāmātı̂y, "Chamathi; noun: fastness; verb: guard."
19. גרר gerār, "Gerar; related: draw, saw, abide." עזה 'azâh, 'Azzah, strong." סדם sedom, "Sodom; related: shut, stop." עמרה 'amorâh, "'Amorah; noun: sheaf; verb: bind." אדמה 'admâh, "Admah; adjective: red; noun: soil." צבים tseboyı̂m, "Tseboim, gazelles; verb: go forth, shine." לשׁע lesha‛, "Lesha; verb: pierce, cleave."

And the sons of Ham. - Ham the youngest of the three brothers Genesis 9:24, is placed here because he agrees with Japheth in becoming estranged from the true God, and because the last place as the more important is reserved for Shem. As the name of Japheth is preserved in the Ιαπετος Iapetos of the Greeks, so Chain is supposed to appear in Chemi of the Coptic, χημία cheemia of Plutarch, Chine of the Rosetta Stone, an old name of Egypt. This country is also called the land of Ham in Scripture Psalm 78:51; Psalm 105:23, Psalm 105:27; Psalm 106:22. But this term was of more comprehensive import, as we find some ancient inhabitants of a region in the south of Judah, said to have come from Ham 1-Chronicles 4:40. Thirty primitive nations sprang from Ham. Of these, only four were immediate descendants.
(15) Kush has left traces of his name perhaps in the Caucasus, the Caspian, and the Cossaei of Khusistan. There is an allusion in Amos (Amos 9:7) to his migration to the land south of Egypt which bears his name. This name is preserved in Gheez, the name of the ancient language of the people, and some say even in Habesh. It is possible, that some of the Kushites went toward India. To Ethiopia, however, the name generally refers in Scripture. The Ethiopians were called by Homer (Odyssey I. 23), ἔσχατοι ἀνδρῶν eschatoi andrōn, "remotest of men."
(16) Mizraim is the ordinary name for Egypt in the Hebrew scriptures. The singular form, Mazor, is found in later books 2-Kings 19:24; Isaiah 19:6; Isaiah 37:25.
(17) Put has with one consent been placed beyond Egypt, in the north of the continent of Africa. He is mentioned along with Lubim as the helper of Nineveh (Nab. Isaiah 3:9), and with Kush, as forming part of the army of Neko Jeremiah 46:9. His descendants penetrated far westward. A river bearing the name of Phutes has been mentioned in Mauretania, and an inland country is designated by the name of Futa. The name may be preserved also in Buto, the capital of lower Egypt, on the Sebennytic mouth of the Nile.
(18) Kenaan settled in the country called after his name. There are some grounds for believing that this land was previously inhabited by Shemites, as the land was Shemitic. If so, the Kenaanites came in as intruders, and followed the language of their predecessors. But of this hereafter.

Cush - Who peopled the Arabic nome near the Red Sea in Lower Egypt. Some think the Ethiopians descended from him.
Mizraim - This family certainly peopled Egypt; and both in the East and in the West, Egypt is called Mezr and Mezraim.
Phut - Who first peopled an Egyptian nome or district, bordering on Libya.
Canaan - He who first peopled the land so called, known also by the name of the Promised Land.

And the sons of Ham; (d) Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.
(d) Of Cush and Mizraim came the Ethiopians and Egyptians.

And the sons of Ham,.... Next to the sons of Japheth, the sons of Ham are reckoned; these, Josephus (z) says, possessed the land from Syria, and the mountains of Amanus and Lebanon; laying hold on whatever was towards the sea, claiming to themselves the countries unto the ocean, whose names, some of them, are entirely lost, and others so greatly changed and deflected into other tongues, that they can scarcely be known, and few whose names are preserved entire; and the same observation will hold good of others. Four of the sons of Ham are mentioned:
Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan; the first of these, Cush, Josephus (a) says, has suffered no loss by time; for the Ethiopians, whose prince he was, are to this day by themselves, and all in Asia, called Chusaeans: but though this word Cush, as used in Scripture, is generally rendered by us Ethiopia, this must not be understood of Ethiopia in Africa, but in Arabia; and indeed is always to be understood of one part of Arabia, and which was near to the land of Judea; so Moses's wife is called an Ethiopian, when she was an Arabian, or of Midian, Numbers 12:1 and Chusan and Midian are mentioned together, Habakkuk 3:7 see 2-Kings 19:9, 2-Chronicles 14:9 and Bochart (b) has shown, by various arguments, that the land of Cush was Arabia; and so the Targum of Jonathan interprets it here Arabia. There was a city called Cutha in Erac, a province in the country of Babylon (c), where Nimrod the son of Cush settled, which probably was called so from his father's name. Here the eastern writers say (d) Abraham was born, and is the same place mentioned in 2-Kings 17:24. The second son of Ham was Mizraim, the same with the Misor of Sanchoniatho (e), and the Menes of Herodotus (f), the first king of Egypt, and the builder of the city of Memphis in Egypt, called by the Turks to this day Mitzir (g). Mitzraim is a name by which Egypt is frequently called in Scripture, and this man was the father of the Egyptians; and because Egypt was inhabited by a son of Ham, it is sometimes called the land of Ham, Psalm 105:23. The word is of the dual number, and serves to express Egypt by, which was divided into two parts, lower and upper Egypt. Josephus says (h), we call Egypt, Mestres, and all the Egyptians that inhabit it, Mestraeans; so the country is called by Cedrenus (i), Mestre; and Kairo, a principal city in it, is to this day by the Arabians called Al-messer, as Dr. Shaw (k) relates. The third son of Ham is Phut; of whom Josephus (l) says, that he founded Libya, calling the inhabitants of it after his name, Phuteans; and observes, that there is a river in the country of the Moors of his name; and that many of the Greek historians, who make mention of this river, also make mention of a country adjacent to it, called Phute: mention is made of this river as in Mauritania, both by Pliny (m) and Ptolemy (n) and by the latter of a city called Putea: this Phut is the Apollo Pythius of the Heathens, as some think. The last son of Ham is Canaan, the father of the Canaanites, a people well known in Scripture. Concerning these sons of Ham, there is a famous fragment of Eupolemus preserved in Eusebius (o); and is this;"the Babylonians say, that the first was Belus, called Cronus or Saturn (that is, Noah), and of him was begotten another Belus and Chanaan (it should be read Cham), and he (i.e. Ham) begat Chanaan, the father of the Phoenicians; and of him another son, Chus, was begotten, whom the Greeks call Asbolos, the father of the Ethiopians, and the brother of Mestraim, the father of the Egyptians.''
(z) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect 1.) (a) Ibid. (b) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 2. (c) Vid. Hyde Hist. Relig. Pers. c. 2. p. 39, 40. (d) Vid. Hyde Hist. Relig. Pers. c. 2. p. 72. (e) Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 1. p. 36. (f) Enterpe sive, l. 2. c. 4. 99. (g) See Cumberland's Sanchoniatho, p. 59. (h) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect 1.) (i) Apud Grotium de vera Christ. Relig. l. 1. p. 8. & Ainsworth in loc. (k) Travels, ch. 3. p. 294. Ed. 2. (l) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect 1.) (m) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 1. (n) Geograph. l. 4. c. 1, 3. (o) Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 17. p. 419.

sons of Ham--emigrated southward, and their settlements were: Cush in Arabia, Canaan in the country known by his name, and Mizraim in Egypt, Upper and Lower. It is generally thought that his father accompanied him and personally superintended the formation of the settlement, whence Egypt was called "the land of Ham" [Psalm 105:23, Psalm 105:27; Psalm 106:22].

Descendants of Ham. - Cush: the Ethiopians of the ancients, who not only dwelt in Africa, but were scattered over the whole of Southern Asia, and originally, in all probability, settled in Arabia, where the tribes that still remained, mingled with Shemites, and adopted a Shemitic language. Mizraim is Egypt: the dual form was probably transferred from the land to the people, referring, however, not to the double strip, i.e., the two strips of land into which the country is divided by the Nile, but to the two Egypts, Upper and Lower, two portions of the country which differ considerably in their climate and general condition. The name is obscure, and not traceable to any Semitic derivation; for the term מצור in Isaiah 19:6, etc., is not to be regarded as an etymological interpretation, but as a significant play upon the word. The old Egyptian name is Kemi (Copt. Chmi, Kme), which, Plutarch says, is derived from the dark ash-grey colour of the soil covered by the slime of the Nile, but which it is much more correct to trace to Ham, and to regard as indicative of the Hamitic descent of its first inhabitants. Put denotes the Libyans in the wider sense of the term (old Egypt. Phet; Copt. Phaiat), who were spread over Northern Africa as far as Mauritania, where even in the time of Jerome a river with the neighbouring district still bore the name of Phut; cf. Bochart, Phal. iv. 33. On Canaan, see Genesis 9:25.