Ezekiel 30:14

30:14 I will desolate Pathros,

I will ignite a fire in Zoan,

and I will execute judgments on Thebes.

Genesis 10:14

10:14 Pathrusites, ¹  Casluhites ²  (from whom the Philistines came), ³  and Caphtorites. ⁴ 

Genesis 10:1

The Table of Nations

10:1 This is the account ⁵  of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons ⁶  were born ⁷  to them after the flood.

Genesis 1:12

1:12 The land produced vegetation – plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.

¹ sn The Pathrusites are known in Egyptian as P-to-reshi; they resided in Upper Egypt.

² sn The Casluhites lived in Crete and eventually settled east of the Egyptian Delta, between Egypt and Canaan.

³ tn Several commentators prefer to reverse the order of the words to put this clause after the next word, since the Philistines came from Crete (where the Caphtorites lived). But the table may suggest migration rather than lineage, and the Philistines, like the Israelites, came through the Nile Delta region of Egypt. For further discussion of the origin and migration of the Philistines, see D. M. Howard, “Philistines,” Peoples of the Old Testament World, 232.

⁴ sn The Caphtorites resided in Crete, but in Egyptian literature Caphtor refers to “the region beyond” the Mediterranean.

⁵ tn The title אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת (’elle tolÿdot, here translated as “This is the account”) here covers 10:1–11:9, which contains the so-called Table of Nations and the account of how the nations came to be dispersed.

⁶ sn Sons were born to them. A vertical genealogy such as this encompasses more than the names of sons. The list includes cities, tribes, and even nations. In a loose way, the names in the list have some derivation or connection to the three ancestors.

⁷ tn It appears that the Table of Nations is a composite of at least two ancient sources: Some sections begin with the phrase “the sons of” (בְּנֵי, bÿne) while other sections use “begot” (יָלָד, yalad). It may very well be that the “sons of” list was an old, “bare bones” list that was retained in the family records, while the “begot” sections were editorial inserts by the writer of Genesis, reflecting his special interests. See A. P. Ross, “The Table of Nations in Genesis 10 – Its Structure,” BSac 137 (1980): 340-53; idem, “The Table of Nations in Genesis 10 – Its Content,” BSac 138 (1981): 22-34.