Girgashites

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GIRGASHITES

GIRGASHITES (Heb. גִּרְגָּשִׁי), one of the nations inhabiting the land of Canaan (Gen. 15:21; Deut. 7:1; Josh. 3:10; Neh. 9:8). The name also appears as that of the fifth ethnic group descended from Canaan (Gen. 10:16; i Chron. 1:14). Although the Girgashites are not referred to in the narrative of the wars of conquests, and their locality is not stated, they are named by Joshua among the peoples the Israelites dispossessed (24:11).

They have been uncertainly identified with the Qaraqisha, allies of the Hittites in their wars with Ramses ii. 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. The sibilant termination of the biblical name suggests a Hurrian origin.

bibliography:

B. Maisler (Mazar), in: zaw, 50 (1932), 86–87; E.A. Speiser (ed.), Genesis (Eng., 1964), 69. add. bibliography: S. Ahituv, Joshua (1995), 93.

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