Nor is it an unworthy consideration in the etymology of this word, that from the idea purity, the Arabians borrowed from it their word جارjar hhar, to mean white, which was quickly introduced into Hebrew in the word הוּרhûr hur, and הוֹרhôr hor, to mean white also. Hence, Mount הָורhāwr Hor, “the white mountain;” and from which branch of the derivation the corresponding words in Numbers and Chronicles have taken their origin. Here, then, we have another word used in the same manner, to designate another class of the descendants of Benjamin, as of the pure stock, legitimate and white.
The word וָאָֽרְּדְּwāʾǒrd va ard or ared in Genesis, and אַ֣רְדְּʾard ard or ared in Numbers, is changed by dagesh and transposition into אַדָּרʾaddār addar in Chronicles. It is unnecessary to go into an explanation of Hebrew peculiarities. It is probable that we never have had the true pronunciation of any of these words. But however that may be, the analogy of language seems to show that this word is a cognate of the Arabic غَرَضgharaḍ gharadh, and the Syrian [ܕܓܳܪܳܕdharadh] dharadh, and from whence עֲרָדʿărād harad or arad; yet there is nothing more common than for aleph and ghain to interchange in one and the same word. They are ever regarded as cognates. But again, the word is not of Hebrew origin, and with the latter spelling, we find it in Num. xxi. 1, xxxiii. 40, Josh. xii. 14, and Judges i. 16, as the name of a Canaanitish city. The Arabic is more guttural than Hebrew, and it has two ghains, one more guttural than the other, distinguished by רְבִיעַrĕbîaʿ rĕviă, a resting upon; thus, in translating Arabic into Hebrew, the one will take the Hebrew ghain, but the Arabic ghain with which this word is spelled is at once converted into the Hebrew aleph; so that while we thus find the very word, we find it with the evidence of a Canaanitish admixture.
Its application in Hebrew seems to be mostly confined to the wild ass, (see Dan. v. 21;) but the Syriac gives it effrænatus, effrænis fuit, and the Arabic, durus fuit, fugit. Such, then, being its signification in these languages, we may well perceive its adaptedness to the wild ass. We all know that the wild Arabs are the descendants of Ishmael; now a true synonyme in Hebrew of this word was applied to him: “He shall be a wild man;” he was illegitimate, mixed-blooded. The term can apply to no other than such a race as that of Ishmael,—wild, illegitimate, and of impure blood.
In Numbers we find Shupham, and in Chronicles Shephuphan, substituted for the Muppim in Genesis; both being the same word in different forms. The root is שֶׁפִיshephi shephi, a high situation; hence שָפַטshaphat shaphat, a judge, and its derivatives are applied to the person or thing adjudged. Hence שִׁפְחָהšipḥâ shiphehhahh, a female slave; (See Gen. xvi. 16; i. 2, 3; also xx. 14; also xxxii. 22;) and hence, also the Syrian ܫܳܦܦܰ shafefa, a serpent, because the serpent had been adjudged, condemned. Whence the Hebrew shephiphim, poetically used to mean a serpent, as, “Dan shall judge his people; Dan shall be a serpent by the way.” Gen. xlix. 16. In this passage in Hebrew, there is a beautiful paronomasia in the word Dan, which also means a judge, judge and the serpent. But the serpent is called שְׁפִיפ֖ןֹshephiphno shephiphon, only as it had been adjudged; and it is to be noticed, as here used, it has the same points and accents as in Chronicles, and is substantially the same word,—not, as here, borrowed from the Syriac, to mean a serpent, but used to mean the adjudged, condemned to some condition or degradation. “And they removed them to Manahath.” Manahath was a district of country near the Dead Sea, near the ancient city Zoar; and it is a little remarkable that Zoar was by the Canaanites called Bela, the very name of the son of Benjamin. The whole country was called by the general term Moab. The fact that it was a custom to send persons of a certain description there, seems to be alluded to by the prophet: “Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, O Moab!” Isa. xvi. 4.
But, who were sent there? “Naaman, Ahia, and Gera, he removed them. * * * And Shaharaim begat children in the land of Moab after he had sent them away.” This explains the whole matter. Shaharaim is a plural formation of Shihor, and means black. “And these blacks begat children in the land of Moab after he had sent them away,”—that is, Naaman, Ahia, and Gera; further establishing the fact that the word Naamah is kept in remembrance only by the descendants of Ham. One class of the race of Benjamin is described in Genesis as Memphites; in fact, that whole genealogy substantially divides them into those who were white, and of pure descent, and into those who were not white, and of impure descent. Numbers and Chronicles confirm and warrant the same distinction.
The seventh Psalm commences thus:—“Shiggaion of David, which he sang unto the Lord, concerning the words of Cush, the Benjamite.” It would have been more readily understood, and more decidedly a translation thus: A song of lamentation of David, which he sang unto the Lord, concerning the words of an Ethiopian, a Benjamite.
The word “Cush,” as often elsewhere, is here used to designate a descendant of Ham by his colour. But it clearly proves an amalgamation, to some extent, of the race of Ham, in the family of Benjamin.
Indeed, the race of Benjamin had become deeply intermixed with the descendants of Ham; and this fact well accounts why they did, upon an occasion, behave like as the Sodomites to Lot; and why the other tribes of Israel so readily joined in league to utterly destroy and annihilate this tribe, and did put to death fifty thousand warriors in one day, and every man, woman, and child of the whole tribe, except a few hundred men, who hid in the rock Rimmon. See Judges xix. xx.