sion for the lazy and luxurious Egyptians. Whereas the Philistines, their neighbours, throve and grew numerous in this country; for besides the several kings upon the sea coast, we learn, Gen. xxvi. 26. and xxi. 22. that Abimelech had a settled polity and government in the inland country, with Phicol captain of his host, and Ahuzzah one of his friends; or, as he would be called according to the fashion of these times, one of his privy counsellors or favourites. The flourishing and populous condition of this country, during the time of the patriarchs, was likewise the same when the Israelites went out of Egypt. For it is said, Exod. xiii. 17. that God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near, lest they should see war in the way: from the number, no doubt, of its warlike tribes and communities, who would be ready to dispute their passage with the sword.

Yet even all this land, the land of the Philistines, to the very banks of the Nile, was included in the land of Canaan, and given by promise to the children of Israel. For the Philistines themselves were strangers in this land, and are therefore called by the LXX (Judges iii. 31. and xiv. 1. &c.) arroquo; as being originally of another qua, race or country. It appears from Gen. x. 13, 14. that they were Egyptians; and, being driven out of their own country, they seized upon that which lay the nearest to them; even that of the Avims, (Deut. ii. 23.) or Hivites, (Josh. xiii. 2.) of the sons of Canaan.

Moreover,

Moreover, that the land of the Philistines was to be a portion of the land of promise, will appear from several texts of Scripture. Thus we learn from Gen. xxvi. 1. that when Isaac went unto Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, at Gerar, God told him to sojourn in that land; for unto him, and to his seed, he would give all those countries. Which is further specified, Josh. xiii. 2, 3. &c. there remaineth yet, says the Lord to Joshua, very much land to be possessed; viz. all the borders of the Philistines, and all Geshuri, from Sihor, which is before Egypt, even unto the borders of Ekron northward. This again is more particularly illustrated from Josh. xv. 47. and Judges i. 18. where the cities of the Philistines, that were given to the tribe of Judah, are Ekron, and Ashdod, and Gaza, with their towns and their villages, unto the river of Egypt, and the Great Sea, and the borders thereof.

And that the land of promise was not only to extend and stretch itself along the lower part of the Nile, (known to us by the name of the Pelusiac branch), but even a great way higher up to the S. W. even to the parallel of the ancient Memphis and of the Red Sea, will appear from the gift that was made to the Israelites of the land of Goshen. For Goshen, as will be proved in its proper place, lay contiguous with this part of the Nile, and was watered by it. In proof of which, Joshua is said (Josh. x. 41.) to smite the countries and people from Kadesh Barnea, even unto Gaza, and all the country of Goshen ; i. e. all the

countries

countries and people that lay to the northward, as far as the Great Sea; and to the westward, as far as the Nile. And again, Josh. xi. 16. So Joshua took all the land, the hills, and all the south coast, (as it may be presumed, where Arad, the Canaanite dwelt, Numb. xxi. 1.) and all the land of Goshen. The very situation therefore and extent of the lot of the tribe of Judah, very naturally points out to us the river of Egypt, i. e. the Nile, to have been their western boundary.

And further, with regard to their south border, it was to be the wilderness of Zin, Josh. xv. 1. p. 41. which comprehended Kadesh Barnea, and Gerar, and Geshuri, or the country of the Geshurites. Now, as Gerar was situated betwixt Kadesh and Shur, (Gen. xx. 1.) and the Geshurites, together with the Gezrites and the Amalekites, (1 Sam. xxvii. 8. Josh. xiii. 2, 3.) were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt; these tribes must lie contiguous with Gerar and Kadesh, even as far as Egypt. As the tribe of Judah likewise was to possess not only Goshen, but all the country of the Philistines, (for their bounds were to be from the Red Sea, Exod. xxiii. 31. which St Jerome, as above, extends even as far as Eloth eastward) their south and south-west border, containing within it the whole, or the greatest part of what was called the way of the spies, Num. xxi. 1. and afterwards Idumæa, would extend itself, as I have already hinted, p. 42. from the Elanitic Gulf of the Red Sea along by that of Heroopolis, quite

to

to the Nile westward. The Nile consequently in this view and situation, either with regard to the barrenness of the country of the Philistines, or to the position of it with respect to the land of promise, or to the river Euphrates, may, with propriety enough, be called, as it is in Amos vi. 14. nany nɔ [Nahal Harabah] the river of the wil derness, as we translate it, or the western torrent, Xemxijos vwv dvouwv, as it is rendered by the LXX.

And here it may be likewise proper to observe, that the LXX, in their interpretation of nay, (Arbah) no less than of Sihor and Nahal Mitzraim, do not always keep the same word. In the text just now cited, and elsewhere*, Arbah is rendered επι δυσμών, προς δυσμάς, &c. In 2 Chron. xxxiii. 14. απο λίβος, κατα νατον ; and in 2 Chron. xxxii. 20. #gos λ. Where, and in 1 Chron. xxvi. 30. our translators have understood Arbah, as denoting a situation to the westward. But in others, they translate it the plain; and in Deut. xi. 30. the champain; taking it, as we may presume, for some of the more level portions of what seems to be called in general, (Midbar) the wilderness. Thus the Arbaht, or plain, which

VOL. II.

H

* Numb. xxi. 1. and xxxiii. 48, 49, 50. and xxxvi. 13. Deut. i.1. and xi. 30. Josh. v. 10, 11. 16. 2 Sam. ii. 29. and iv. 7.

ty Talem locum seu terræ partem significat, quæ neque montosa est, neque declivis, sed plana. Arbitror a mixtura dici, h. e. mixto sapore pabuli, quod in eo crescit et jumentis conveniens est et gratum, quæ acidis delectantur. Sunt enim ejusmodi campestria non melliflua, sicut sunt valles vel colles; nec plane sterilia, qualia sunt loca aspera et deserta; sed ubi μryμa crescit, id quod Esaias on bisa, migma acetosum vocat cap. xxx. 22. Vid C. Kirch. in voce.

which is mentioned, Deut. i. 1. to be over against the Red Sea, viz. at Shur, it may be supposed, and Marah; and those again, Josh. iv. 13. and v. 10. that are described to be in the neighbourhood of Jericho, at Gilgal, and along the coast of the Salt Sea, (places which I have seen), agree very well with this interpretation and description of the word Arbah.

δίψωσα;

Yet these are not all the interpretations that are given us of Arbah by the LXX. For in Job xxxix. 6. Isa. xxxiii. 9. xxxv. 1. xlv. 19. Jer. xvii. 6. and Zech. xiv. 10. it is rendered gos; in Isa. XXXV. 6. yn difwon; and in Jer. ii. 6. yn agos; all of them appellations indeed, how literally soever different, very suitable to the nature and quality of these countries, which are no where confined by mounds, hedges, or inclosures, being for the most part so very dry and sandy, as to be capable of very little, and frequently of no culture at all. As this district therefore, which lies beyond the eastern or Asiatic banks of the Nile, from the parallel of Memphis, even to Pelusium, the land of Goshen only excepted, is all of it Arbah, an difwoα, axegos, dry, barren, and inhospitable; the prophet Amos might, with propriety enough, call the river of Egypt the river of the wilderness; or, if the situation be more regarded, the western river.

From the site then and position of this river, let us now inquire into the reason and etymology of the names which are given to it, both in sacred and profane history. These will likewise

further