(13, 14) "With Mizraim are connected seven inferior African races, the names of which are given in the plural, namely:--

1. The Ludim.--There were two races of this name: one Semitic, descended from Lud, the son of Shem (Genesis 10:22), and mentioned in Isaiah 66:19; the other Hamite, and subject to the Pharaohs ( Jeremiah 46:9; Ezekiel 30:5). They seem to have inhabited the Nile valley, but their exact position is unknown.

2. The Anamim.--Knobel gives some reasons for supposing this race to have inhabited the Delta.

3. The Lehabim.--Probably the same as the Lubim of 2Chronicles 12:3; 2Chronicles 16:8; Daniel 11:43; Nahum 3:9. Their home was on the western side of the Delta.

4. The Naphtuhim.--Knobel explains these as "the people of Phthah, the deity worshipped at Memphis." If so, they were the true Egyptians, as Egypt is Kah-Phthah, "the land of Phthah,' or more correctly, according to Canon Cook, Ai-Capth. (See Note on Capthorim.)

5. The Pathrusim.--People of Pathros, or Upper Egypt. According to Canon Cook, Pa-t-res means "the land of the south."

6. The Casluhim.--Probably the people of Cassiotis, a mountainous district to the east of Pelusium.

7. The Philistim.--The word Philistine means emigrant, and is translated alien, foreigner, by the LXX�We are here told that they came into Palestine as colonists from the Casluhim; but in Jeremiah 47:4, Amos 9:7, they are described as a colony from Caphtor. Probably the first Philistine settlers in Gerar (Genesis 26:1), and in the towns conquered by Judah (Judges 1:18), were Casluchians; but afterwards, at the time when they struggled with Israel for empire, in the days of Samson, Eli, and Saul, there had been a second and larger immigration from Crete. As they seem to have spoken a Semitic tongue, they had apparently adopted the language of the Canaanites among whom they had settled, and especially of the Avim (Deuteronomy 2:23). The objection to their being of Egyptian origin, brought from their neglect of the rite of circumcision, has but little weight. The Israelites all but discontinued it (Joshua 5:5), and colonists escaped from the dominion of the priests might gladly dispense with such a custom. There is also much reason for believing that the institution of circumcision in Egypt was of a date subsequent to this emigration.

8. The Caphtorim are generally connected with Crete, but Egyptologers derive the name from Kah-Phthah, "the land of Phthah." According to this, the Caphtorim, like the Naphtuhim, would have been true Egyptians, and the Delta, with Memphis, for their capital, would have been their original home. The need of expansion, joined to the seafaring habits learnt on the shores of the Delta, may easily have led them to colonise Crete, while others of the race were going as settlers into Palestine. It is worth notice that while Cyprus and Rhodes are given to the sons of Javan (Genesis 10:4), no mention is there made of Crete.

It is plain from this survey that Mizraim at this time was not of very great extent, these seven tribes being confined to the lands closely bordering on the Delta and the upper part of the Nile valley. There is nothing to indicate that the great city of Thebes had as yet come into existence.

Verse 13. - And Mizraim begat Ludim. An African tribe, a colony of the Egyptians, like the next seven, which are "nomina non singulorum hominum sed populorum" (Aben Ezra, Michaelis, Rosenmüller, Kalisch, Murphy); probably referred to in connection with Tarshish and Put (Isaiah 66:19), with Kush and Put (Jeremiah 46:9), and in connection with Put (Ezekiel 27:10; Ezekiel 30:5). Lud (ver. 22) was Shemitic. And Anamim. Not elsewhere mentioned; the inhabitants of the Delta (Knobel). And Lehabim. Lubim (2 Chronicles 12:3; Daniel 2:43; Nahum 3:9); Libyans (Daniel 11:43); probably the Libyaus west of Egypt (Michaelis, Kalisch, Murphy). And Naphtuhim. Nephthys, near Pelusium; on the Lake Sirbenis (Bochart); the Libyan town Napata (Kalisch); the people of Middle Egypt (Knobel).

10:8-14 Nimrod was a great man in his day; he began to be mighty in the earth, Those before him were content to be upon the same level with their neighbours, and though every man bare rule in his own house, yet no man pretended any further. Nimrod was resolved to lord it over his neighbours. The spirit of the giants before the flood, who became mighty men, and men of renown, Ge 6:4, revived in him. Nimrod was a great hunter. Hunting then was the method of preventing the hurtful increase of wild beasts. This required great courage and address, and thus gave an opportunity for Nimrod to command others, and gradually attached a number of men to one leader. From such a beginning, it is likely, that Nimrod began to rule, and to force others to submit. He invaded his neighbours' rights and properties, and persecuted innocent men; endeavouring to make all his own by force and violence. He carried on his oppressions and violence in defiance of God himself. Nimrod was a great ruler. Some way or other, by arts or arms, he got into power, and so founded a monarchy, which was the terror of the mighty, and bid fair to rule all the world. Nimrod was a great builder. Observe in Nimrod the nature of ambition. It is boundless; much would have more, and still cries, Give, give. It is restless; Nimrod, when he had four cities under his command, could not be content till he had four more. It is expensive; Nimrod will rather be at the charge of rearing cities, than not have the honour of ruling them. It is daring, and will stick at nothing. Nimrod's name signifies rebellion; tyrants to men are rebels to God. The days are coming, when conquerors will no longer be spoken of with praise, as in man's partial histories, but be branded with infamy, as in the impartial records of the Bible.And Mizraim begat Ludim,.... Mizraim was the second son of Ham, of whom See Gill on Genesis 10:6. Ludim he is said to beget, the word being plural, is not the name of a man, but of his posterity; and the sense is, that Mizraim begat the father of the Ludim, whose name very probably was Lud, which name is preserved in Isaiah 66:19. These Ludim are the same with the Lydians, Jeremiah 46:9 and whose country is called Lydia, Ezekiel 30:5 but to be distinguished from Lydia in Asia Minor, and the Lydians there who sprung from Lud, a son of Shem, Genesis 10:22 for, as these sprung from Mizraim, the founder of Egypt, they must be somewhere thereabout; and Bochart (f) has proved, by various arguments, that they are the Ethiopians in Africa, now called Abyssines, whose country lies to the south of Egypt, a people formerly famous for archery, as Lud and the Lydians are said to be, Isaiah 66:19 and whoever reads the accounts Diodorus Siculus (g) gives of the Egyptians and Ethiopians, will easily discern a likeness between them, and that the one sprung from the other; both deifying their kings; showing a like carefulness about their funerals; both using hieroglyphics; having the like order of priests, who used shaving; and circumcision was common to them both, as Herodotus observes (h):

and Ananzim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim: the name of the father of the Anamim very probably was Anam, though we have no account of him elsewhere: according to Hillerus (i), the Anamim were called so from the pastoral life they led; and, by a transposition of letters, were the same with the Maeonians, who inhabited that tract of land in Asia which was washed by the river Maeonia, or Maeander, and bordered on Lydia; but, as these were the descendants of Mizraim, they must be sought for somewhere about Egypt: much better therefore does Mr. Broughton (k) take them to be the Nubians and Numidians, which were near both Egypt and Ethiopia; though Bochart (l) seems to be most correct, in making them to be the Ammonians, who, Herodotus says, were a colony of the Egyptians and Ethiopians; these lived about Ammon and Nasamonitis, and in that part of Lybia in which the temple of Jupiter Ammon stood, and are the Nomades, that lived a pastoral life; and Bochart (m) thinks they are called Anamim, from Anam, which, in the Arabic language, signifies a "sheep", because they fed sheep, and lived upon them, and clothed themselves with their skins. The word Lehabim, the name of another people from Mizraim, signifies "flames"; and were so called, as Jarchi observes, because their faces were like flames, see Isaiah 13:8 burnt with the heat of the sun, living near the torrid zone; and therefore could not be the Lycians, as Hillerus (n) thinks, the inhabitants of a country in Asia, between Caria and Pamphylia, formerly called Lycia, now Aidimelli, which he observes abounds with places that have their names from fire and flames, as Mount Chimaera, the cities Hephaestium, Myra, Lemyra, Habessus, Telmessus, Balbura, and Sirbis; but these were too far from Egypt, near which it is more probable the Lehabim were, and seem to be the same with the Lubim, which came with Shishak out of Egypt to invade Judea, 2 Chronicles 12:3 and who were called Lybians, Jeremiah 46:9 and their country Lybia, Ezekiel 30:5 of which Leo Africanus (a) says, that it is a desert, dry and sandy, having neither fountains nor springs; which was near Egypt as well as Ethiopia, with which it is joined in the above place, see Acts 2:10. The word Naphtuhim, the name of another people that sprung from Mizraim, according to Hillerus (o), signifies "open"; and he thinks they are the Pamphylians, who used to admit promiscuously all into their ports and towns, which were open to all strangers, and even robbers, for the sake of commerce; but, as these were a people in lesser Asia, they cannot be the people here meant. Bochart (p) observes, from Plutarch, that the Egyptians used to call the extreme parts of a country, and abrupt places and mountains adjoining to the sea, Nepthys, the same with Nephthuah; and therefore he is of opinion, that these Naphtuhim dwelt on the shores of the Mediterranean sea, near Egypt, in Marmorica; not far from whence was the temple of Aptuchus, mentioned by Ptolemy (q), and placed by him in Cyrene, which carries in it some trace of the name of Naphtuhim; and he suspects that Neptune had his name from hence; he being a Lybian god, as Herodotus (r) says; for none ever used his name before the Lybians, who always honoured him as a god: and it may be observed, from Strabo (s), that many of the temples of Neptune were on the sea shore. Some place these people about Memphis, the name of which was Noph, Isaiah 19:13 but perhaps it may be much better to place them in the country of Nepate, between Syene and Meroc, where Candace, queen of Ethiopia, had her royal palace in the times of Strabo (t).

(f) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 26. (g) Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 143, &c. (h) Euterpe sive, l. 2. c. 104. (i) Onomastic. Sacr. p. 283. (k) See his Works, p. 4, 60. (l) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 30. col. 284. (m) Ib. c. 42. (n) Onomastic. Sacr. p. 281, 583. (a) Descriptio Africae, l. 1. p. 74. (o) Onomastic Sacr. p. 161, 178, 283, 421. (p) Phaleg. l. 4. c. 26. (q) Geograph. l. 4. c. 4. (r) Herodot. Thalia, sive, l. 3. c. 21. Euterpe sive, l. 2. c. 50. (s) Geograph, l. 8. p. 237. (t) Geograph. l. 17. p. 564.