nations and not with individual genealogies (note also (
Hebrew characters)
instead of (Hebrew characters)).
25. The two sons of Eber represent the Northern and
Southern Semites respectively, corresponding roughly to
Aramæans and Arabs: we may compare with Jast. (DB, v.
82 a) the customary division of Arabia into Šām (Syria) and
Yemen. The older branch, to which the Israelites belonged,
is not traced in detail: we may assume that a Yahwistic
genealogy ( to 1116ff. [P]) existed, showing the descent of
Abraham from Peleg; and from scattered notices (1930ff.
2220ff. 251ff. etc.) we can form an idea of the way in which
the northern and central districts were peopled by that
family of 'Hebrews.'—On (Hebrew characters), see below.—For in his days the earth was divided ((Hebrew characters))] a popular etymology naturally
suggested by the root, which in Heb. (as in Aram. Arab.
etc.) expresses the idea of 'division' (cf. the vb. in Ps. 5510, Jb.
3825). There is no very strong reason to suppose that the
dispersion ((Hebrew characters), TJ etc.) of the Tower of Babel is referred
to; it is possible that some other tradition regarding the
distribution of nations is followed (e.g. Jub. viii. 8 ff.), or
that the allusion is merely to the separation of the Yoḳṭanites
from their northern kinsmen.
(Hebrew characters) (Φαλεκ, Φαλεγ, Φαλεχ)] as a common noun means 'watercourse'
or artificial canal (Ass. palgu): Is. 3025, Ps. 13 6510, Jb. 296 etc. Hence
it has been thought that the name originally denoted some region
intersected by irrigating channels or canals, such as Babylonia itself.
Of geographical identifications there are several which are sufficiently
plausible: Phalga in Mesopotamia, at the junction of the Chaboras and
the Euphrates (Knob.); 'el-Falǧ, a district in NE Arabia near the head
of the Persian Gulf (Lag. Or. ii. 50); 'el-Aflāǧ of Ǧebel Tuwaiḳ in
central Arabia (Homm. AA, 2222).
(Hebrew characters) (Ίεκταν)] otherwise unknown, is derived by Fleischer (Goldz.
Mythos, p. 67) from [root] ḳaṭana = 'be settled.' The Arab genealogists
identified him with Ḳaḥtān, the legendary ancestor of a real tribe, who
was (or came to be) regarded as the founder of the Yemenite Arabs
(Margoliouth, DB, ii. 743). On the modern stock of 'el-Ḳaḥṭan, and its
sinister reputation in the more northerly parts of the Peninsula, see
Doughty, Arab. Des. i. 129, 229, 282, 343, 389, 418, ii. 39 ff., 437.
26-30. The sons of Yoḳṭan number 13, but in G (see on
25. (Hebrew characters)] [E]G (Hebrew characters); but (Hebrew characters) is possibly acc. after pass, as 418
etc. (G-K. § 121 a, b)—(Hebrew characters)—(Hebrew characters)] similarly 2221 (J).—26. Some MSS
have (Hebrew characters), as if = 'court of death.'
