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 Idumoa, 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. nay [Nahal Harabah] the river of the wil derness, as we translate it, or the western torrent, χειμαρρος των δυσμών, 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 δυσμας, &c. In 2 Chron. xxxiii. 14. απο λίβος, κατα νoτoν ; and in 2 Chron. xxxii. 20. #gas da. 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 272, (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. + 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 выдреси crescit, id quod Esaias, 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.

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 diwon; and in Jer. ii. 6. yn artigos; 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, añagos, 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

further illustrate the matter in dispute. Now it is called in Scripture, the river of Egypt, in contradistinction to the Euphrates, which being constantly, as it may be presumed, a larger stream, though both of them are considerably augmented at their respective rainy seasons, is called, by way of eminence, Nahal only, or the river. Yet,, notwithstanding the sacred historian might distinguish the former, by the country to which it belonged, (as the Arabian writers still do the same, by calling it Neel Messir), the Egyptians themselves had no occasion to use the appellative; but as it was their only river, so they might call it simply Nahal, which, with little variation, will be easily formed into Nes, or Nilus, as Grecian and Roman strangers might pronounce it. Sihor, as has been already occasionally proved from St Jerome, was another name given to this river in Scripture; being taken from the black tawny complexion of its water, occasioned by the great quantity of mud that is brought down with it from Ethiopia. For, Sihor, is the same as black. Neither is this name peculiar to the Scriptures. For Pliny*, Sólinus†, and Dionysius, call it Siris; Plutarch's Osiris ||, no less than Melas

or

* Sic quoque Nilus etiamnum Siris, ut ante nominatus per aliquot millia. Lib. v. c. 9.

+ A Cataracte ultimo tutus est Nilus. Relicto tamen hoc pone se nomine, quod' Siris vocatur, mox inoffensus meat. C. xlv. † Σιρὶς ὑπ' Αιθιοπων κεκληται. Περιηγ. ver. 223.

|| Σοφώτεροι των Ιερέων τον Νειλον Οσιριν καλύσιν. Plut. de Isid et Osiride, § 33.

or Melo, as likewise Ægyptus*, other names by which it was known †, have the like interpreta

tion.

And therefore, besides this particular quality or complexion of the waters of Sihor, which is highly applicable to the Nile; it will still appear more evident from Scripture, that the river of Egypt, the Nile, and Sihor, were one and the same. For Sihor, as it is mentioned, Jer. ii. 18. could be no other. What hast thou, says the prophet, to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? which is further explained by way of antithesis, in the latter part of the verse; or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? i. e. of the EuphraFor Sihor, or the Nile, was as properly the river of Egypt, as the Euphrates was of Assyria. In like manner, the prophet Isaiah (xxiii. 3.) uses the same word Sihor, which can only be understood of the Nile. The seed of Sihor, says he, the harvest of the river is her revenue; i. e. flax, wheat, rice, and other commodities, produced by the overflowing and fertilizing quality of the Nile, are transported from Egypt, to the great

benefit

* Εν Νειλω ποταμω της Αιγύπτε, προτερον δε έτω καλεμενω Μελας" άλλα δε ότι Μελας προτερον καλεμενος, μετεκληθη Νείλος απο τινος, &c.—Aiyvæтnvai est sava. Vid. Plut. de Fluviis cum Not. Maussaci.

+ Viridem Ægyptum nigra fœcundat arena.

Ostia nigrantis Nili.

Virg. Georg. not. Serv.

Claud. Phoen. ver. 100.

Χευματι πιλωεντι νεην περιβάλλεται ειλυν.

Nonn. Dionys. 1. iii. ver. 100. Hered. Euterpe,

p. 105. ed. Steph.