III. CHAP. that Deva or Dava in the Chaldee tongue fignifies a wolf; and Adiava may be derived from another oriental word denot ing fwift. Whence he supposes these two may be the rivers, called by the Greeks Ainos, lycus, wolf, and rógros, gorgus, fwift, or Kampos, aper, boar, a fierce animal. IO. Syrians, who. It is also obfervable, that Affyria was, by a little and usual Belus of the change of s into t, formerly called alfo Attyria; which is therefore erroneously taken by some to be a distinct country from Adiabene, or Affyria properly and primarily so named. And in like manner that most ancient king of the Affyrians, which is faid to have been the son of Zames, and to have fucceeded Ninus, and to have waged war frequently with Caucafus, the fon of Japhet, and to have been worshipped by the Affyrians as their Mars, or God of war, and to have been called Bel, or Baal; this King, I say, is styled, in Suidas and some others, Thuras, corruptly for Atthuras; that is, Asfhur, for Asfhur in the Chaldee tongue is Atthur, or Atthura. This perfon is faid to be the fon of Zames, as being the fon or defcendant of Sem, and to have fucceeded Ninus, i. c. Nimrod, and to have overcome Caucafus, i. e. Gog or Magog, the fon of Japhet; as Bochartus probably enough conjectures. And hence it follows, as the fame learned perfon obferves, that if any regard is to be had to the writers who mention this story, then the Belus or Bel of the Affyrians was not Nimrod, but Asfhur. And indeed it is not likely, that the Affyrians should have such a reverence for an invader of their nation as Nimrod was; but rather should pay fuch a religious respect to the founder of their own nation, or to fome confiderable perfon defcended from him. The nation where feat of Elam, ed. That Elam feated himself in the fouthern tract beyond the Tigris or Euphrates, is beyond difpute, not only from the authority of Scripture, wherein the inhabitants of the faid tract are plainly and frequently denoted by the name of Elam; but alfo from Heathen writers, wherein we read of a country here called Elymais, and a city of the fame name. It is not to be - omitted that the name Elam, as many other names of places, is taken fometimes in a stricter sense, wherein it is diftinguished from Sufiana and the adjoining provinces; fometimes III. in a larger sense, so as to include Sufiana and other adjacent s E c T. provinces. Hence Pliny and Ptolemy mention the Elymai as a people inhabiting on the Perfian Gulf; and hence Daniel the Prophet speaks of Shufhan, the chief city of Sufiana, as lying in the province of Elam. Dan. viii. 2. ed. 12. To the lot of Arphaxad is affigned by learned men the Arphaxad, more fouthern part of Mefopotamia (where the plain or vale fon of Shein, of Shinar lay on the river Tigris) together with the country of where featEden, and the tract on the east fide of the fame river, called Arrapachitis, a name plainly derived from Arpachfhad, which is the name of Arphaxad in the Hebrew text. That the vale of Shinar, with the country of Eden, was part of the first plantation of Arphaxad, is fuppofed on these probabilities: I. That after the Flood Noah returned and fettled himself again in these parts, as well knowing the goodness of the foil and pleasantness of the country: which is confirmed by a town here named Zama, from Zam or Shem. 2. That, upon the difperfion of mankind and confufion of tongues, as the primitive or Hebrew tongue was preserved in the family of Arphaxad, fo agreeably hereunto this family ftill continued in the fame parts where they then were, together with their grandfires, Noah and Shem. 3. This opinion may be confirmed from Gen. x. 30. And their dwelling was from Mefha, as you go unto Sephar, a mount of the Eaft. For the Mesha here mentioned is probably efteemed to be the fame mountain as is before mentioned under the name of Mash or Mafius, in the Western parts of Mefopotamia. So that if the forecited text is to be understood of the defcendants of Arphaxad, as is thought by several learned men, and alfo by the hiftorian Jofephus, it will import thus much, that the fouthern part of Mefopotamia lying on the east of the Mount Mesha, or Mafius, was firft inhabited by the defcendants of Arphaxad; (and accordingly we here find Phalga, a town probably named from Peleg, or Phaleg, fettling there) and so on eastward, as far as to Sephar, a mount in the Eaft. Now this Mount Sephar is probably thought to be the mountain adjoining to Siphare, a city in Aria, and which lies directly east from Mesha. And though this be a long tract of ground, yet it III. CHAP. will be but proportional to the numerous defcendants of Arphaxad, especially by Joktan; of which more by and by. 4. It is the tradition of the ancients, Euftathius Antiochenus and Eufebius, that Sela the fon of Arphaxad feated himself in Sufiana and agreeably hereto we read in old writers of a town called Sela. But now Sufiana, as has been observed Chap. I. did contain part of the country of Eden which adjoined to, or in probability was a part of, the vale of Shinar largely taken; of which more in the following chapter. 5. It is further confirmed, that Arphaxad feated himself in the vale of Shinar; because we find that Terah and Abraham his fon, defcendants of Arphaxad, came out of those parts, Gen. xi. 31. And Terah took Abraham his fon—and went forth with them-from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. Now it is confeffed, I think, by all, that Chaldea comprehended at least a great part of the vale of Shinar; and it is certain it comprehended as much of the country of Eden as lay west of the common channel of the Euphrates and Tigris. And on this paffage of Scripture seems to be grounded what Jofephus faith of the Chaldeans being called Arphaxadeans, from Arphaxad: whereby he does not mean that the name Chaldeans was derived from the name Arphaxad, as fome erroneously underftand him; but that thofe who were now, i. e. in his days, called Chaldeans, were originally called Arphaxadeans. I think all these confiderations put together, will make it highly probable, if not more, that the firft fettlement of the nation of Arphaxad was in the parts we affigned them, particularly in the vale of Shinar, as including under it the country of Eden; and not only in the province Arrapachitis, as fome seem to imagine. 13. Having thus feen the firft fettlement of the defcendants of Of the fons Arphaxad, let us turn our eyes a little upon their afterof Joktan. colonies, particularly those that sprang from Joktan; of whom Mofes reckons up no fewer than thirteen fons. And as Mofes affigns their habitation to have been from Mefha to Mount Sephar; fo in this tract learned men have observed the names of feveral places, which, by their likeness to the names of Joktan's fons, feem to tell their refpective fituations. Thefe countries |