mash Summary and Overview

(= Meshech 1 Chr. 1:17), one of the four sons of Aram, and the name of a tribe descended from him (Gen. 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.

(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.

MASH ,Gen 10:23, or ME'SHECH, 1 Chr 1:17, a son of Aram, and the ancestor of one branch of the Aramaic race, settled probably at the Mons Masius of classical writers, the present Karja Baghlar, situated on the northern frontier of Mesopotamia.

Son of Aram, Shem's son (Genesis 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 1 Chronicles 1:17 the reading is Meshech, which the Septuagint reads perhaps correctly; also in Genesis 10:23. Meshech occurred in Genesis 10:2, among the sons of Japheth; but here (Genesis 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).