Genesis 10:6-20

The Sons of Ham

6. The races described as "the sons of Ham" are first traced in the most southerly regions. If the name has any connexion with Kamt, the native name of Egypt, it is noticeable that it is here applied to the parent stock of peoples, not only in Egypt, but also in South Arabia, Phoenicia, and Syria. "Ham" is used as a synonym for Egypt in Psalms 78:51; Psalms 105:23; Psalms 105:27; Psalms 106:22.

Cush A name of frequent occurrence in the O.T. for Ethiopia and the Ethiopians, i.e. the country and the people between Egypt and Abyssinia; the "Kas," or "Kes," of the Egyptian inscriptions. Cf. on Genesis 2:13.

Mizraim The regular Hebrew name for Egypt. Cf. the Assyrian Muṣur. The termination "-aim" denotes the dual number; and hence it has been supposed that "Mizraim" means the two "Mizrs," i.e. Upper and Lower Egypt. But we cannot rely on this for certain. "Mizraim" is the Hebrew name for Egypt without necessarily containing an allusion to this geographical division. It is best not to press the grammatical meaning that may be claimed to underlie the popular pronunciation of a geographical name; cf. Ephraim, Naharaim, Jerusalaim (Jerusalem).

Put Mentioned also in Ezekiel 27:10; Ezekiel 38:5; Jeremiah 46:9; Nahum 3:9. In these passages "Put" is mentioned together with the composite materials of an Egyptian mercenary army. It is generally identified with the Libyans. Pliny mentions a river "Fut" in Libya. In Nahum 3:9 Put is associated with the "Lubim," and with Ethiopia and Egypt. Puntoccurs in Egyptian inscriptions for the African "littoral" of the Red Sea.

Canaan This is the land of Phoenicia, probably in its widest sense, like Kinaḥiin the Tel-el-Amarna tablets (1400 b.c.). The Canaanites were Semites, and spoke a language which closely resembled Hebrew, and was more akin to Aramaean and Assyrian than Egyptian. Canaan was possibly associated by Israelite tradition with Egypt on account of the general similarity of its culture. Perhaps the Israelites, who regarded the Egyptians and the Canaanites as their two racial foes, and as the two corrupters of their faith, classed them together for that reason among "the sons of Ham."