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(8) ] Six miles S of Ruād, the modern village of Ṣumra preserves the name of this city: Eg. Ṣamar; TA, Ṣumur; Ass. Ṣimirra; Gr. . See Strabo, ii. 12; AE, 187; KAT$2$, 105; Del. Par. 281 f.

(9) ] from the well-known Ḥamath on the Orontes; now Ḥamā.

The delimitation of the Canaanite boundary in v.$19$ is very obscure. It describes two sides of a triangle, from Ẓidon on the N to Gaza or Gerar in the SW; and from thence to a point near the S end of the Dead Sea. The terminus (G ) is, however, unknown. The traditional identification (T$J$, Jer.) with, near the N end of the Dead Sea, is obviously unsuitable. Kittel, BH (very improbably), suggests (14$2$)). We. (Comp.$2$ 15) reads  or  (Jos. 19$47$ ) = 'to Dan', the conventional northern limit of Canaan,—thus completing the E side of the triangle.—Gerar were certainly further S. than Gaza (see on 20$1$); hence we cannot read as far as (v.i.) Gerar, up to Gaza,' while the rendering in the direction of Gerar, as far as Gaza,' would only be intelligible if Gerar were a better known locality than Gaza. Most probably is a gloss (Gu. al.).—On the situation of Sodom, etc., see on ch. 19.—On any construction of the v. the northern cities of $17. 18a$ are excluded.—[E] has an entirely different text: ,—an amalgam of 15$18$ and Dt. 11$24$.

21, 24, 25-30. The Shemites.—The genealogy of Shem in J resolves itself entirely into a classification of the peoples whose origin was traced to 'Eber. These fall into two main branches: the descendants of Peleg (who are not here enumerated), and the Yoḳṭanites or S Arabian tribes. Shem is thus nothing more than the representative of the unity of the widely scattered Hebraic stock: Shemite and 'Hebrew' are convertible terms. This recognition of the ethnological affinity of the northern and southern Semites is a remarkable contrast to P, who assigns the S Arabians to Ḥam,—the family with which Israel had least desire to be associated.

is the eponym of (Hebrews), the name by which the Israelites are often designated in distinction from other peoples, down to the time of Saul (see G-K. § 2 b: the pass. are cited in BDB, s.v.). It is strange at first sight that while the of v.$12$ include all Shemites known to J, the gentilic word is historically restricted to Israelites. The difficulty is perhaps removed by the still disputed, but now widely