or CHAM, חם, son of Noah, and brother to Shem and Japheth, is
believed to have been Noah’s youngest son. Ham, says Dr. Hales,
signifies _burnt_ or _black_, and this name was peculiarly significant
of the regions allotted to his family. To the Cushites, or children of
his eldest son, Cush, were allotted the hot southern regions of Asia,
along the coasts of the Persian Gulf, Susiana or Chusistan, Arabia, &c;
to the sons of Canaan, Palestine and Syria; to the sons of Misraim,
Egypt and Libya, in Africa. The Hamites, in general, like the Canaanites
of old, were a sea-faring race, and sooner arrived at civilization and
the luxuries of life than their simpler pastoral and agricultural
brethren of the other two families. The first great empires of Assyria
and Egypt were founded by them; and the republics of Tyre, Sidon, and
Carthage, were early distinguished for their commerce: but they sooner
also fell to decay; and Egypt, which was one of the first, became the
last and “basest of the kingdoms,” Ezek. xxix, 15; and has been
successively in subjection to the Shemites, and Japhethites; as have
also the settlements of the other branches of the Hamites. See CANAAN.
believed to have been Noah’s youngest son. Ham, says Dr. Hales,
signifies _burnt_ or _black_, and this name was peculiarly significant
of the regions allotted to his family. To the Cushites, or children of
his eldest son, Cush, were allotted the hot southern regions of Asia,
along the coasts of the Persian Gulf, Susiana or Chusistan, Arabia, &c;
to the sons of Canaan, Palestine and Syria; to the sons of Misraim,
Egypt and Libya, in Africa. The Hamites, in general, like the Canaanites
of old, were a sea-faring race, and sooner arrived at civilization and
the luxuries of life than their simpler pastoral and agricultural
brethren of the other two families. The first great empires of Assyria
and Egypt were founded by them; and the republics of Tyre, Sidon, and
Carthage, were early distinguished for their commerce: but they sooner
also fell to decay; and Egypt, which was one of the first, became the
last and “basest of the kingdoms,” Ezek. xxix, 15; and has been
successively in subjection to the Shemites, and Japhethites; as have
also the settlements of the other branches of the Hamites. See CANAAN.