Genesis 10:23
And the children of Aram; Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.
And the children of Aram,.... The four following persons are called the sons of Shem, 1 Chronicles 1:17 being his grandsons, which is not unusual in Scripture,
Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash: the first of these sons of Aram, Uz, is generally thought to be the founder of Damascus; so Josephus {t} says. Usus founded Trachonitis and Damascus, which lies between Palestine and Coelesyria: there was a place called Uz in Idumea, Lamentations 4:21 and another in Arabia, where Job dwelt, Job 1:1 but neither of them seems to be the seat of this man and his posterity, who, in all probability, settled in Syria: his second son Hul, whom Josephus {u} calls Ulus, according to him, founded Armenia; which notion may be strengthened by observing that Cholobotene is reckoned a part of Armenia by Stephanus {w}; which is no other than Cholbeth, that is, the house or seat of Chol, the same with Hul; and there are several places in Armenia, as appears from Ptolemy {x}, which begin with Chol or Col, as Cholus, Cholua, Choluata, Cholima, Colsa, Colana, Colchis: but perhaps it may be better to place him in Syria, in the deserts of Palmyrene, as Junius and Grotius; since among the cities of Palmyrene, there is one called Cholle, according to Ptolemy {y}. Gether, the third son, is made by Josephus {z} to be the father of the Bactrians; but these were too far off to come from this man, and were not in the lot of Shem: Bochart {a} finds the river Getri, which the Greeks call Centrites, between Armenia and the Carduchi, whereabout, he conjectures, might be the seat of this man; but perhaps it may be more probable, with Grotius and Junius, to place him in Coelesyria, where are the city Gindarus of Ptolemy {b}, and a people called Gindareni, by Pliny {c}; though Bishop Patrick thinks it probable that Gadara, the chief city of Peraea, placed by Ptolemy {d} in the Decapolis of Coelesyria, had its name from this man: Mr. Broughton derives Atergate and Derceto, names of a Syrian goddess, from him, which was worshipped at Hierapolis in Coelesyria, as Pliny says {e}. The last of the sons of Aram, Mash, is called Meshech, in 1 Chronicles 1:17 and here the Septuagint version calls him Masoch; his posterity are supposed to settle in Armenia, about the mountain Masius, thought to be the same with Ararat, and which the Armenians call Masis; perhaps the people named Moscheni, mentioned by Pliny {f}, as dwelling near Armenia and Adiabene, might spring from this man.
{t} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4.)
{u} Ibid.
{w} Apud Bochart. Phaleg. l. 2. c. 9. col. 81.
{x} Geograph. l. 5. c. 13.
{y} Geograph. l. 5. c. 15.
{z} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 4.)
{a} Phaleg. l. 2. c. 10.
{b} Geograph. l. 5. c. 15.
{c} Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 23.
{d} Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 5. c. 15.)
{e} Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 23.
{f} Ib. l. 6. c. 9.