(Meshech 1Ch 1:17), one of the four sons of Aram, and the name of a tribe descended from him (Ge 10:23) inhabiting some part probably of Mesopotamia. Some have supposed that they were the inhabitants of Mount Masius, the present Karja Baghlar, which forms part of the chain of Taurus.

Son of Aram, Shem's son (Ge 10:28). Josephus (Ant. 1:6) says, "Mash founded the Mesanaeans," i.e. the inhabitants of Mesene near Bassera where the Tigris and Euphrates fall into the Persian gulf; this however seems too far from the other Aramaic settlements. Gesenius identifies the descendants of Mash with the inhabitants of Mount Masius, a range N. of Mesopotamia, above Nisibis. Knobel reconciles this with Josephus by supposing a migration from northern to southern Babylonia, which however is the reverse of the direction which the population usually took, namely from S. to N. In 1Ch 1:17 the reading is Meshech, which the Septuagint reads perhaps correctly; also in Ge 10:23. Meshech occurred in Ge 10:2, among the sons of Japheth; but here (Ge 10:23) among Shem's descendants. Cappadocia was the original home of the Moschi (Meshech); its population was a mixed one, and a portion connected with Aram (Syria). Thus the name occurring in Japheth's line and also in Shem's line points to the mixture of Aramaic Moschi with Japhetic Moschi in Cappadocia (G. Rawlinson).

One of the sons of Aram, Ge 10:23. The parallel passage, 1Ch 1:17, gives Meshech (wh. see), as also does Septuagint in both passages. But this is wrong, as Meshech was Japhetic. Either Mons Massius is meant, or a region and people in the Syro-Arabian desert corresponding to the 'desert of Mash' of the Assyrian inscriptions.

J. F. M'Curdy.

Son of Aram, and grandson of Shem. Ge 10:23: called MESHECH, 1Ch 1:17.

(drawn out), one of the sons of Aram.

Ge 10:23

In

1Ch 1:17

the name appears as Meshech. The name Mash is probably represented by the Mons Masius of classical writers, a range which forms the northern boundary of Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates.