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Ezekiel 38:6

Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.

Gomer, and all his bands,.... Or all his army, as the Targum. Gomer was the eldest son of Japheth, Genesis 10:2, from whom descended the people called by the Greeks Galatians, or Galio-Grecians, as Josephus {i} says, who before were from him called Gomarians: others think that Phrygia, and the inhabitants of it, are meant; but, whether one or the other, they were both people of the lesser Asia, which is now in the hands of the Turks:

the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands; Togarmah was one of the sons of Gomer, Genesis 10:3 whose posterity, according to the Greeks, as Josephus {k} says, were the Phrygians; but others rather think the Cappadocians descended from him; and that Togarmah designs their country, which also is a part of the Turkish dominions; See Gill on "Ezekiel 27:14". Several moderns, as Calmet {l} observes, believe that the children of Togarmah peopled Turcomania in Tartary, and Scythia, and which he approves of; and the Turks are mentioned by Ben Gorion {m} as one of the ten families of Togarmah. The Targum renders it here the province of Germany; as it is also interpreted in the Talmud {n}, but wrongly:

and many people with thee; from other places and nations, besides those named; especially out of the lesser Asia, as Pamphylia, Cilicia, and other places; and perhaps from Tartary, and elsewhere,


{i} Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.
{k} lbid.
{l} Dictionary in the word "Togarmah".
{m} Heb. Hist. l. 1. c. 1. p. 3.
{n} T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 10. 1.

 

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