Page:A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (1910).djvu/312



10. The nucleus of his empire was Babylon in the land of Shin'ar] It is not said that Nimrod founded these four cities (ct. v.$11$). The rise of the great cities of Babylonia was not only much older than the Kaššite dynasty, but probably preceded the establishment of any central government; and the peculiar form of the expression here may be due to a recollection of that fact. Of the four cities, two can be absolutely identified; the third is known by name, but cannot be located; and the last is altogether uncertain.

] the Heb. form of the native Bāb-ili = 'gate of God' or 'the gods' (though this may be only a popular etymology). The political supremacy of the city, whose origin is unknown, dates from the expulsion of the Elamites by Ḥammurabi, the sixth king of its first dynasty (c. 2100 B.C.); and for 2000 years it remained the chief centre of ancient Oriental civilisation. Its ruins lie on the left bank of the Euphrates, about fifty miles due S. of Baghdad.

] the Bab. Uruk or Arku, now Warka, also on the Euphrates, about 100 miles SE of Babylon. It was the city of Gilgameš (v.s.).

(: cf. and )] The name (Akkad) frequently occurs in the inscriptions, especially in the phrase 'Šumer and Akkad,' = South and North Babylonia. But a city of Akkad is also mentioned by Nebuchadnezzar I. (KIB, iii. 170 ff.), though its site is uncertain. Its identity with the Agadé of Sargon I. (c. 3800 B.C.), which was formerly suspected, is said to be confirmed by a recent decipherment. Del. and Zim. suppose that it was close to Sippar on the Euphrates, in the latitude of Baghdad (see Par. 209 ff.; KAT$3$, 422$2$, 423$8$; ATLO$2$, 270).

] Not to be confused with the of Am. 6$2$ (=, Is. 10$9$), which was in N Syria. The Bab. Kalne has not yet been discovered. Del. (Par. 225) takes it to be the ideogram Kul-unu (pronounced Zirlahu), of a city in the vicinity of Babylon. But Jen. (ThLz. 1895, 510) asserts that the real pronunciation was Kullab(a), and proposes to read so here.

([])] apparently the old Heb. name for Babylonia proper (11$2$ 14$1. 9$, Jos. 7$21$, Is. 11$11$, Zec. 5$11$, Dn. 1$2$), afterwards or simply []. That it is the same as Šumer (south Babylonia: v.s.) is improbable. More plausible is the identification with the Šanḫar of TA Tab. (KIB, v. 83) = Eg. Sangara (Müller, AE, 279); though Wi. (AOF, i. 240, 399; KAT$3$, 31) puts it N of the Taurus. Ǧebel Sinǧar (: Ptol. v. 18. 2), W of Nineveh, is much too far north for the biblical Shin'ar, unless the name had wandered.

11, 12. The colonisation of Assyria from Babylonia.—

11. ] 'he went out to Asshur' (so T$J$, Cal. and all moderns). The rendering 'Asshur went out' (GVST$O$, Jer. al.) is grammatically