Genesis 10:18

Gen 10:18 And the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.

Ver. 18. {See Trapp on "Gen 10:16"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18. the Arvadite] Arvad, a famous maritime town, the modern Ruwâd on an island 100 miles north of Zidon; cf. Eze_27:8; Eze_27:11.

the Zemarite] The dwellers in Simyra, modern Sumra, a few miles south of Ruwâd. It appears in the Tel-el-Amarna Letters as Zumur.

the Hamathite] The dwellers in Hamath, modern Ḥama, the famous ancient town to the extreme north of Canaan, on the Orontes, and the capital of a small kingdom overthrown by Sargon. Cf. Num_34:8; 2Ki_18:34; Amo_6:14.

and afterward] It has been conjectured that this clause followed originally upon the mention of “Zidon his firstborn and Heth,” Gen_10:15, and that the intervening passage (Gen_10:16-18 a) is a later addition. The clause leads up to the description, in Gen_10:19, of the subsequent boundaries of Canaan. The writer implies that the “families of the Canaanite,” who were driven out by the Israelites, were themselves not the original inhabitants.

In favour of 16–18a being a gloss, note (1) the change from the proper names, “Zidon” and “Heth,” to the appellatives, “the Jebusite,” “the Amorite,” &c.: (2) the delimitation of “the Canaanite” in Gen_10:19 excluding the Arkite, Sinite, Arvadite, Zemarite, and Hamathite, who in Gen_10:16-17 are included in the “sons of Canaan.”

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the Arvadite,.... The inhabitants of Arvad, or Aradus, an island in the Phoenician sea; it is mentioned with Sidon, Eze 27:8 so Josephus says (q), the Arudaeans possessed the island Aradus: it is about a league distant from the shore; Strabo (r) says it is twenty furlongs from land, and about seven in circumference, and is said to be built by the Sidonians; it is now, as Mr. Maundrel (s) says, by the Turks called Ru-ad, or, as Dr. Shaw says (t), Rou-wadde; See Gill on Eze 27:8.

And the Zemarite; who perhaps built and inhabited Simyra, a place mentioned by Pliny (u), not far from Lebanon, and along with Marathos, and Antarados, which lay on the continent, right against the island Aradus, or Arvad, and near the country of the Aradians. Strabo (w) makes mention of a place called Taxymira, which Casaubon observes should be Ximyra, or Simyra; and Mela (x) speaks of the castle of Simyra as in Phoenicia. There was a city called Zemaraim in the tribe of Benjamin, Jos 18:22 which Bishop Patrick suggests, and Ainsworth before him, that Zemarus, the son of Canaan, might be the founder of; and there is also a mountain of the same name in Mount Ephraim, Ch2 13:4.

And the Hamathite: who dwelt in Amathine, as Josephus (y), and was in his time called by the inhabitants Amathe; but the Macedonians called it, from one of their race, Epiphania, which seems to have been the country called Amathite,He removed from Jerusalem, and met them in the land of Amathis: for he gave them no respite to enter his country. (1 Maccabees 12:25)there was another Hamath, called Antiochia, but cannot be meant, since Hamath was the northern border of the land of Israel, then called the entrance of Hamath, which border was pretty near to Epiphania, but not so far as Antioch; this is the Amathus of Syria, twice mentioned by Herodotus, as Hillerus (z) observes: but both Reland (a) and Vitringa (b) are of opinion, that the Hamath so often mentioned in Scripture, which doubtless had its name from the Hamathite, is neither Antiochia nor Epiphania, but the city Emesa, or Emissa, which lay below Epiphania, upon the Orontes, nearer Damascus and the land of Canaan; and Hamath is mentioned with Damascus and Arpad, or Arvad, Isa 10:9 and, according to Eze 47:16. Hamath must lie between Damascus and the Mediterranean sea.

And afterwards were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad; not only these eleven, but two more which are not mentioned, the Canaanites properly so called, and the Perizzites; these families at first dwelt in one place, or within narrow limits; but, as they increased, they spread themselves further every way, and in process of time possessed all the country from Idumea and Palestine to the mouth of the Orontes, and which they held about seven hundred years, when five of these families, with the two other above mentioned, were cast out of the land for their sins, and to make way for the people of Israel.

(q) Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 2. (r) Geograph. l. 16. p. 518. (s) Journey from Aleppo, &c. p. 19. Ed. 7. (t) Travels, p. 267. Ed. 2. (u) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 20. (w) Geograph. l. 16. p. 518. (x) De situ orbis, l. 1. c. 12. (y) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 2.) (z) Onomastic. Sacr. p. 780. (a) Palestina Illustrata, tom. 1. l. 1. p. 121, 123, 317. (b) Comment. in Jesaiam, c. 10, 9.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Dispersed in the several quarters of the land, who, before they grew so numerous, dwelt together in the same place.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And the Arvadite, dwelt in Arvad, Aradus, now Ruad (Josephus)and the Zemarite, Simyra, a city of Phoenicia (Bochart, Michaelis, Gesenius, Kalisch) whose ruins are still called Sumrahand the Hamathite. The inhabitants of Hamath, called Hammath Rabbah; (Amo_6:2) Epiphaneia by the Greeks; now Hamah. And afterwards i.e. subsequent to the formation of these distinct tribes by the confusion of tongueswere the families of the Canaanites spread abroad.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ואחר נפוצו AND AFTERWARDS WERE SPREAD ABROAD — From these many families were spread abroad (besides those already mentioned. 5:15—18).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

ואחר נפוצו, after the languages were confused.

משפחות הכנעני, the ones who had been mentioned previously, i.e. the Canaanites, were scattered to a different region, to the land called afterwards ”the land of Canaan.”

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.