Some things in general concerning the country beyond Jordan.
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Why the Samaritan copy should use here Aphinith Karnaiah, instead of "Ashtaroth-karnaim," especially when it retains the word Ashtaroth elsewhere, is not easy to say, unless it should have some relation to boughs; as a place thick and shady with boughs. But such is the confusion of the guttural letters in the Samaritan language, that we can determine nothing positively.
That the Zuzims inhabited Perea, as it is distinguished from the country of Bashan, may be evident from the progress of the conqueror; for whereas it is plain that the Rephaims dwelt in Bashan, and the Emims in the country of Moab, Deuteronomy 2:10,11, it is manifest that the Zuzims, who were conquered after the Rephaims, and before the Emims, lay in a country between both, and that was Perea.
And hence are those to be corrected that would correct the reading here, and instead of "the Zuzims in Ham," would render it, "the Zuzims with them." So the Greek, Vulgar, &c.: as if the Zuzims were amongst the Rephaims, when they were distinguished both in nation and dwelling.
When the Israelites went out of Egypt into that land, the whole Transjordanine region was divided into these two seigniories,--the kingdom of Sehon, and the kingdom of Og. That of Sehon was Perea, strictly so called now; that of Og, was all the rest under the name of Bashan. But after the return of Israel from Babylon, Bashan was so subdivided, that Batanea, or Bashan, was only a part of it, the rest going under the name of Trachonitis, Auranitis, and, if you will, Gaulonitis too; for we meet with that distinction also in Josephus. To give, therefore, all these countries at this time their proper bounds and limits, if it does not exceed all human skill and wit, I am sure it doth mine.
So that all we can do in this matter, is only to propound a few things of these places thus divided, as far as conjecture may carry us, which we submit fairly to the fair and candid judgment of the reader. Let us, therefore, begin with Trachonitis.