Page:The negro's origin.djvu/31

Rh text, an open conflict is the result. According to the ranking of the sons as given in Gen. v.32; vi.10; x.1; 1 Chron. 1-4, Japheth is the youngest son; but that Japheth was not the transgressor is too apparent to need argument. How then can this plain contradiction be harmonized—how translate this Hebrew so as to meet the demands of truth, and yet harmonize the text? Can it be done? It most certainly can. The Hebrew words, denoting relationship, have a very wide latitude. The word אָב translated "father" in Gen. xix. 31, as well as in innumerable other places, is translated, "a grand-father," in Gen. xxviii. 13-31: and "great grand-father," in Num. xviii. 1-2. The word אֵם whose usual signification is "mother," is translated "grandmother," 2 Kings xv 10. אָת "brother," signifies also, "a relative, kinsman, members of the same tribe, even a fellow-countryman." It is thus with the noun בֵּן "son." Standard authority says, "The word, son, like those of father and brother, is employed by the He- brews in various other and wide senses." In Gen. xxix. 5, Laban is called the son of Nahor, when he really was grandson to the Patriarch. In Gen. xxxi. 28, grand-children are denoted by the same term, as also in verse 3*