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 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, J's 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 (KAT$2$, 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. The v. breaks the connexion between $2$ and $1$, 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. 19$3$ with 10$8$; Gn. 22$10$ etc. "When the Hebrews

first to become'; see on 4$24$ 9$12$.—9. While Di. regards the v. as an interpolation from oral tradition, Bu. (Urg. 390 ff.) assigns it to his J$14$, and finds a place for it between 6$26$ and 11$20$,—a precarious suggestion.—$1$] G + .—] 'before Yahwe.' The phrase is variously explained: (1) 'unique,' like in Jn 3$4$ (Di. al.); (2) 'in the estimation of Y.' (cf. 2 Ki. 5$1$ 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 $1$, but hardly in $3$, because of the. A sober exegesis will prefer (1) or (2).