(6) Ham.--Many derive this word from a Hebrew root, and explain it as signifying hot, sunburnt, and so swarthy. Japheth they connect with a word signifying to be fair; and so Ham is the progenitor of dark races, Japheth of those of a fair complexion, while the olive- coloured spring from Shem. More probably it is Chemi, the old name of Egypt, "the land of Ham" (Psalm 78:51), called by Plutarch Chemia, and was taken from the black colour of the soil.

The Hamites are grouped in four principal divisions:--

1. Cush. Aethiopia, but not that of Africa, but of Asia. The home of the Cushites was on the Tigris and Euphrates, where Nimrod raised them to great power. Thence they spread into the southern peninsula of Arabia, and crossing the Red Sea at a later date, colonised Nubia and Abyssinia. In the Bible Cush is watered by the Gihon (Genesis 2:13); and Zipporah, the wife of Moses, and daughter of a priest of Midian, is in Numbers 12:1 called a Cushite. Their high rank in old time is marked by the place held by them in the Iliad of Homer.

2. Mizraim. Egypt. In form the word is a dual, and may point to the division of the country into Upper and Lower Egypt. If we choose to interpret a Hamite word by a Hebrew root, it may signify the narrowed land, but it is safer to leave these words till increased knowledge shall enable us to decide with some security upon their meaning. For the ancient name of Mizraim see Genesis 10:6, and for its extent see Genesis 10:14. From the study of the skulls and bodies of a large number of mummies Brugsch-Bey in his recent history has come to the conclusion that the ancient Egyptians did not belong to any African race, but to the great Caucasian family, "but not of the Pelasgic or Semitic branches, but of a third, Cushite." He adds that the cradle of the Egyptian nation must be sought in Central Asia. . . .

Verse 6. - And the sons of Ham. These, who occupy the second place, that the list might conclude with the Shemites as the line of promise, number thirty, of whom only four were immediate descendants. Their territory generally embraced the southern portions of the globe. Hence the name Ham has been connected with חָמַס, to be warm, though Kalisch declares it to be not of Hebrew, but Egyptian origin, appearing in the Chme of the Rosetta Stone. The most usual ancient name of the country was Kern, the black land. Scripture speaks of Egypt as the land of Ham (Psalm 78:51; Psalm 105:23; Psalm 106:22) Cush. Ethiopia, including Arabia "quae mater est," and Abyssinia "quae colonia" (Michaelis, Rosenmüller). The original settlement of Cush, however, is believed to have been on the Upper Nile, whence he afterwards spread to Arabia, Babylonia, India (Knobel, Kalisch, Lange, Rawlinson). Murphy thinks he may have started from the Caucasus, the Caspian, and. the Cossaei of Khusistan, and. migrated south (to Egypt) and east (to India). Josephus mentions that in his day Ethiopia was called Cush; the Syriac translates ἀνにゅーὴρろー Ἀιいおたθしーたίοおみくろんψぷさい (Acts 8:27) by Cuschaeos; the ancient Egyptian name of Ethiopia was Keesh, Kish, or Kush ('Records of the Past, 4:7). The Cushites are described as of a black color (Jeremiah 13:23) and of great stature (Isaiah 45:14). And Mizraim. A dual form probably designed to represent the two Egypts, upper and lower (Gesenius, Keil, Kalisch), though it has been discovered in ancient Egyptian as the name of a Hittite chief (circa B.C. 1300, contemporary with Rameses II.), written in hieroglyphics M'azrima, Ma being the sign for the dual. The old Egyptian name is Kemi, Chemi, with obvious reference to Ham; the name Egypt being probably derived from Kaphtah, the land of Ptah. The singular form Mazor is found in later books (2 Kings 19:24; Isaiah 19:6; 35:25), and usually denotes Lower Egypt. And Phut. Phet (Old Egyptian), Phaiat (Coptic); the Libyans in the north of Africa (Josephus, LXX., Gesenins, Bochart). Kalisch suggests Buto or Butos, the capital of the delta of the Nile. And Canaan. Hebrew, Kenaan (vide on Genesis 9:25). The extent of the territory occupied by the fourth son of Ham is defined in vers. 15-19.

Parallel Commentaries ...


The sons
וּבְנֵ֖י (ū·ḇə·nê)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 1121: A son

of Ham:
חָ֑ם (ḥām)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 2526: Ham -- a son of Noah, also his descendants, also a name for Egyptians

Cush,
כּ֥וּשׁ (kūš)
Noun - proper - feminine singular
Strong's 3568: A son of Ham, also his descendants, also a land in the southern Nile Valley

Mizraim,
וּמִצְרַ֖יִם (ū·miṣ·ra·yim)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 4714: Egypt -- a son of Ham, also his descendants and their country in Northwest Africa

Put,
וּפ֥וּט (ū·p̄ūṭ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 6316: Put -- a son of Ham, also his descendants and their land

and Canaan.
וּכְנָֽעַן׃ (ū·ḵə·nā·‘an)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3667: Canaan -- a son of Ham, also his descendants and their land West of the Jordan


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OT Law: Genesis 10:6 The sons of Ham: Cush Mizraim Put (Gen. Ge Gn)