SECT. IV.

him, where

raim, namely Casluhim and Caphtorim. And for the CHAP. III. former, they are not improbably thought to have first settled in the country on the other side of Egypt, called Ca- 23. siotis; where also is a mount called Casius; both which The Casluretain somewhat of the name Casluhim. And this situa- seated. tion of them is confirmed by what Moses adds concerning them, namely, that from them sprang the Philistines; who in process of time made themselves masters of the adjoining tract of the land of Canaan, as we read in Scripture, and shall take further notice of where we treat distinctly of the land of Canaan.

24.

The Caph

seated.

25.

That the Caphtorim were situated near to the Casluhim, is inferred not only from Moses putting them next one to torim, another in the forecited place of Gen. x. but also from where this, that the Philistines, who are in Gen. x. 14. said to be descended of the Casluhim, are elsewhere denoted by the name of Caphtorim, as Deut. ii. 23. Jer. xlvii. 4. and Amos ix. 7. Which perhaps cannot be better accounted for, than by supposing the Casluhim and Caphtorim to be neighbours, and so in time to have been mutually intermixed, as to be looked upon as one and the same people. Now the name of Caphtor seems to be preserved in an old city of Egypt, called Coptus; from which as the Egypt, name of Cophtes is still given to the Christians of Egypt, named. (whence the translation of the Bible used by them is called also the Coptic translation,) so it is not unlikely that the common name of Egypt was derived from it; it being called Ægyptus for Egophtus, as if one would say in Greek Ala KoTTou, the land of Coptus. And it is a good remark of the learned Mede, that the Greek Ala, Aia, or Ea, is likely derived from the Hebrew Ai or Ei: to which may be very pertinently subjoined this remark; that in the forecited Jer. xlvii. 4. what we render the country of Caphtor, is in the Hebrew text termed

Ai Captor; which are the very two words, from which we suppose the Greeks to have moulded the name Αἴγυπτος, Ægyptus. And this is taken notice of by our Translators, who in the margin of our Bible observe, that the Hebrew

whence so

PART I. word translated the country in the text, denotes also an isle. And it is further observable, that this name is very properly given to the city Coptus, forasmuch as it stood in a small island. So that, upon the whole, we need not doubt thereabout to fix the first settlement of the Caphtorim.

26.

of Phut,

where seated.

Of the four original nations descended from Ham, there The nation remains now only that of Phut to be spoken of. And the first settlement of this is with good reason supposed to be in the parts of the Libyan or African continent, which join on next to those possessed by the descendants of the Mizraim; that is, in the parts adjoining westward to Cyrenaica, and so to have spread more westward into Mauritania. For in Africa properly so called, below Adrumetum was a city, named Putea, mentioned by Pliny; and in Mauritania there is a river mentioned by Ptolemy, called Phut. St. Jerom is very full to the point, telling us, that there is a river in Mauritania, which was till his own time called Phut, and from which the adjacent country was called Regio Phytensis, the country of Phut.

And thus we have at length shewed the reader the several places where the more immediate descendants of Noah are either certainly known, or else probably thought to have at first seated themselves. I may end this Chapter much after the same manner as Moses does the tenth chapter of Genesis: These are the plantations of the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations and after this manner by these were the nations divided in the earth after the Flood.

CHAP. IV.

Of the Land of Shinar, and the City and Tower of Babel.

1.

Languages,

Babel, why

MOSES having informed us, that the first plantations after the Flood were made, not confusedly or by chance, why multibut regularly and orderly, namely, after their families, plied, and after their tongues, &c. he then proceeds to inform us, so named. (Gen. xi. 1-9.) upon what occasion divine Providence multiplied the languages of mankind, whereas afore the whole earth was of one language. And this was, as the sacred historian tells us, to make those, that had undertaken to build a city and tower, whose top might reach unto heaven, to desist from that enterprise : in order whereunto God confounded their language, that they might not understand one another's speech. Hereupon they left off to build the city; and therefore the name of it was called Babel, (which word in the Hebrew language denotes confusion,) because the Lord did there confound the language of all the then inhabitants of the earth. We are then to shew, what tract is denoted by the land of Shinar, wherein Moses tells us mankind dwelt, when they undertook the building of Babel; and in what part of the said tract this city and tower was begun.

2.

Shinar,

And as to the land of Shinar, it is not to be doubted, but thereby is meant the valley, along which runs the The land of river Tigris, and that, probably, till it falls into the sea. what. In the northern part of this valley, that is, in the parts of Mesopotamia ing next to the Tigris, we find in old writers, both a city called Singara, and also a mountain called Singaras; from which it is most highly probable, that the adjoining valley took the name of the land of Shinar, or, as it may be otherwise spelled agreeably to the Hebrew word, Singar. It is plain from Scripture, that Babel was the same with the city Babylon; and it is not to be doubted, but that Erech was the same with the city