ception. But the circumstance is an interpolation by a Hebrew hand into the Noachian myth, designed, as we have stated, to give to the Canaanites an unworthy

ancestor.

In the commencement of this ninth chapter, God had blessed Noah and his sons. There is no exception made as to any one of them. Ham, in common with Shem and Japheth, is blessed, and receives the divine command" to be fruitful and multiply, and to replenish the earth;" but the frequent occasions in which the blessing of God is found to be inoperative, can only be attributed to the freedom with which the people of the East accustomed themselves to make common use of the holy name of God, a freedom for which there was an absence of all authority.

The sin of drunkenness ascribed to Noah is at variance with the character given of him in the fifth and sixth chapters, wherein his virtues entitled him to be made a solitary exception to the universal destruction. On the occasion of his birth, God says: "This same shall comfort me as concerning our work and toil of our hands," and afterwards; "Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." "And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation."

Noah, when he awoke from his wine, cursed one son and blessed the other two, but the entire of the Book of Genesis renders us so familiar with the inoperative ceremony of blessing and cursing, we are not prepared to expect result from the one or the other, especially when they proceed from an old man, given to bestial drunkenness. In this particular, Noah bears an analogy to the

heathen God Bacchus, who may be considered the archetype, for we have shown that many of these Hebrew legends are borrowed from, and compounded of, Egyptianism and Chaldeanism.

Noah died after acquiring the fabulous age of nine hundred and fifty years, of which three hundred and fifty were perpetuated after the flood. The author of the legend had forgotten that in the sixth chapter God had limited the future days of man's life to an hundred and twenty years, and yet Noah is made to survive thereafter for three hundred and fifty years; but the discrepancies which abound in these stories, render it a vain labour to connect them as we proceed with the history.

THE SCRIPTURAL LEGEND OF THE GENERATIONS OF

The Scrip

THE SONS OF NOAH.

Gen. x. 1-32.

"Now these are the generations of the tural Legend sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; rations of the and unto them were sons born after the Sons of Noah. flood.

of the Gene

"The sons of Japheth; Gomer and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meschech, and Tiras. And the sons of Gomer; Askenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

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By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.

"The sons of Ham; Cush and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. And the sons of Cush; Seba and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah. And the sons of Raamah, Sheba and Dedan. And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Wherefore it is said, even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh and the city Rehoboth, and Calah.

And Resen, between Nineveh and Calah;

And Mizraim begat Ludim

the same is a great city. and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim. And Pathrusim, and Casluhim (out of whom came Philistim) and Caphtorim. And Canaan begat Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite; and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as thou comest to Gerar unto Gaza; as thou goest unto Sodom and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even unto Lasha.

These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.

“Unto Shem also, the father of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth, the elder, even to him were children born.

"The children of Shem; Elam and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram. And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash. And

Arphaxad begat Salah; and Salah begat Eber. And unto Eber were born two sons; the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan. And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, and Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah, and Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba, and Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar, a mount of the East.

“These are the sons of Shem, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations. "These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations; and by these were the nations divided in the earth, after the flood."

of the Gene

The catalogue of names which occupies Commentary on the Scrip- the tenth chapter of Genesis is that of tural Legend cities, districts, and territories, whose founrations of the dation is ascribed to persons contemporary Sons of Noah. with the presumed descendants of Noah's sons. They are figurative or allegorical persons, but, in accordance with received opinion, it is necessary that we treat them as literal genealogies, subject to the confusion and discrepancies which appertain to the Hebrew writings.

The catalogue is inverted, and commences with that of the youngest son. Thus the sons of Japheth were seven, and his grandsons also were seven. The text informs us, "By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations." But who were the Gentiles inhabiting these islands, who spoke divers

tongues, and who were divided in their lands, after their families, in their nations? If this catalogue be received as a literal genealogy, we ask whether Noah's grandsons took up their residence in islands, amongst various nations, speaking divers tongues, who had escaped from the penalty of the flood; for it is difficult to conceive that his descendants could have acquired divers tongues in two generations!

The sons of Ham were four; his grandsons twentyfour; and his great grandsons fifteen; and the text informs us, "These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations." A difficulty respecting their divers tongues, similar to that which occurred in the legend of Japheth, is exactly conspicuous in that of Ham, and baffles comprehension.

The sons of Shem were five; his grandsons five; and his great grandson one. This great grandson was Eber, the reformer, whose celebrity was such as to reflect fame upon his ancestor Shem, who was designated "the father of all the children of Eber." This important person is supposed to have separated himself from polytheism, and to have established an Unitarian sect, who in his honour assumed the name of Ebrews, or Hebrews. The children of the fourth generation of Shem were two; and of the fifth generation thirteen. The text asserts: "These are the sons of Shem, after their families; after their tongues, in their lands; after their nations."

The children of Shem present a philological difficulty similar to that which affected his brethren; for they appear also to have spoken various languages. The last verse asserts, "These are the families of the

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