Girgashites Hebrew: גִּרְגָּשִׁי are one of the tribes who had invaded the land of Canaan as mentioned in Gen. 15:21; Deut. 7:1; Josh. 3:10; Neh.[1] 9:8. The Girgashites are also known as the fifth ethnic group that descended from Canaan (Gen. 10:16; i Chron. 1:14).[2] Although the Girgashites are not referred to in the narrative of the wars of conquests,[3] and their locality is not stated, they are named by Joshua among the peoples the Israelites dispossessed (24:11).[4]
This apparent inconsistency may be due to their emigrating to North Africa prior to the Israelites entering the land.[5] That contention is further supported by Procopius (Wars 4.10.13-22), stating that the Phoenician diaspora settled in the western end of the Mediterranean, in the vicinity of later day Carthage. [6]
They have been uncertainly identified with the Qaraqisha, allies of the Hittites in their wars with Rameses II.[7] If that identification is correct the Girgashites would have been part of the southward migrations from Anatolia of peoples displaced by the fall of the Hittite empire ca. 1200 b.c.e. A personal name grgš appears in Ugaritic, but its connection with this people is unknown.[8]
The sibilant termination of the biblical name suggests a Hurrian origin.[9]
References
edit- ^ Hastings, James; Selbie, John Alexander; Davidson, Andrew Bruce; Driver, Samuel Rolles; Swete, Henry Barclay (1899). A Dictionary of the Bible: Dealing with Its Language, Literature, and Contents, Including the Biblical Theology. T. & T. Clark.
- ^ Kitto, John (1864). A Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature. A. & C. Black.
- ^ For a survey of various traditions about the Girgashites that are used to explain their ommission in the conquest narratives and in several other Biblical lists of Canaanite tribes, seesee Klein, Reuven Chaim (Rudolph) (April 2018). "Nations and Super-Nations of Canaan" (PDF). Jewish Bible Quarterly. 46 (2): 73–85. ISSN 0792-3910. and Klein, Reuven Chaim (Rudolph) (July 2018). "More on the Seven Nations: Girgashite Flight and the Canaanite Nation" (PDF). Jewish Bible Quarterly. 46 (3): 158–168. ISSN 0792-3910.
- ^ Groot, N. G. De (1879). The History of the Israelites and Judæans: Philosophical and Critical. Trübner & Company.
- ^ "Jerusalem Talmud Sheviit 6:1:13". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 2022-09-05.
- ^ "The Project Gutenberg eBook of History of the Wars, Books III and IV (of 8), by Procopius". www.gutenberg.org. Retrieved 2022-09-05.
- ^ Allen, Clifton J. (1970). The Broadman Bible Commentary: Acts. Romans. 1 Corinthians. Broadman Press. ISBN 978-0-8054-1125-6.
- ^ Allen, Clifton J. (1970). The Broadman Bible Commentary: Acts. Romans. 1 Corinthians. Broadman Press. ISBN 978-0-8054-1125-6.
- ^ Hastings, James; Selbie, John Alexander; Davidson, Andrew Bruce; Driver, Samuel Rolles; Swete, Henry Barclay (1899). A Dictionary of the Bible: Dealing with Its Language, Literature, and Contents, Including the Biblical Theology. T. & T. Clark.