lonia, and it is extremely improbable that it represents a Heb. tradition.
The assumption of a S Arabian Kûsh would relieve the difficulty; for
it is generally agreed that the Semitic population of Babylonia—which
goes back as far as monumental evidence carries us—actually came
from Arabia; but it is entirely opposed to the ethnography of J, who
peoples S Arabia with descendants of Shem (21. 25ff.). It is therefore
not unlikely that, as many Assyriologists think,[1] J's (
Hebrew characters) is quite independent
of the Hamitic Kûsh of P, and denotes the Kaš or Kaššu, a
people who conquered Babylonia in the 18th cent., and set up a dynasty
(the 3rd) which reigned there for 600 years[2] (KAT3, 21). It is conceivable
that in consequence of so prolonged a supremacy, Kaš might have
become a name for Babylonia, and that J's knowledge of its history
did not extend farther back than the Kaššite dynasty. Since there is no
reason to suppose that J regarded Kaš as Hamitic, it is quite possible
that the name belonged to his list of Japhetic peoples.
9. Nimrod was not only a great tyrant and ruler of men, but
a hero of the chase ((Hebrew characters)). The v. breaks the connexion
between 8 and 10, and is probably an interpolation (Di. al.);
although, as De. remarks, the union of a passion for the
chase with warlike prowess makes Nimrod a true prototype
of the Assyrian monarchs,—an observation amply illustrated
by the many hunting scenes sculptured on the monuments.—Therefore it is said] introducing a current proverb;
cf. 1 Sa. 1924 with 1012; Gn. 2214 etc. "When the Hebrews
first to become'; see on 426 920.—9. While Di. regards the v. as an
interpolation from oral tradition, Bu. (Urg. 390 ff.) assigns it to his J1,
and finds a place for it between 64 and 111,—a precarious suggestion.—(Hebrew characters)1]
G + (Greek characters).—(Hebrew characters)] 'before Yahwe.' The phrase is
variously explained: (1) 'unique,' like (Hebrew characters) in Jn 33 (Di. al.); (2) 'in
the estimation of Y.' (cf. 2 Ki. 51 etc.); (3) 'in despite of Y.' (Bu.);
(4) 'with the assistance of Y.'—the name of some god of the chase
having stood in the original myth (Gu.); (5) 'in the constant presence
of Y.'—an allusion to the constellation Orion (Ho.). The last view is
possible in 9b, but hardly in a, because of the (Hebrew characters). A sober exegesis
will prefer (1) or (2).
- ↑ See Del. Par. 51-55; Schr. KAT2, 87 f.; Wi. ATU, 146 ff.; Jen. ZA, vi. 340-2; Sayce, HCM2, 148 ff., etc.
- ↑ Remnants of this conquering race are mentioned by Sennacherib
(KIB, ii. 87). They are thought to be identical with the (
Greek characters) of the
Greeks (Strabo, xi. xiii. 6, xvi. i. 17 f.; Arrian, Anab. vii. 15; Diodorus,
xvii. 111, xix. 19, etc.); and probably also with the (Greek characters) of Her.
vii. 62, 86, etc. (cf. v. 49, 52, vi. 119). Cf. Del. Par. 31, 124, 127 ff.;
Mey. GA1, § 129; Wi. GBA, 78 ff.; Schr. KGF, 176 f.; Oppert, ZA,
iii. 421 ff.; Jen, ZDMG, l. 244 f., etc.]
