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 + τοῦ θεοῦ.—(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 Κοσσαῖοι 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 Κίσσιοι 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.
