Genesis 10:23

And the children of Aram
The four following persons are called the sons of Shem, ( 1 Chronicles 1:17 ) being his grandsons, which is not unusual in Scripture,

Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash:
the first of these sons of Aram, Uz, is generally thought to be the founder of Damascus; so Josephus ^F20 says. Usus founded Trachonitis and Damascus, which lies between Palestine and Coelesyria: there was a place called Uz in Idumea, ( Lamentations 4:21 ) and another in Arabia, where Job dwelt, ( Job 1:1 ) but neither of them seems to be the seat of this man and his posterity, who, in all probability, settled in Syria: his second son Hul, whom Josephus ^F21 calls Ulus, according to him, founded Armenia; which notion may be strengthened by observing that Cholobotene is reckoned a part of Armenia by Stephanus ^F23; which is no other than Cholbeth, that is, the house or seat of Chol, the same with Hul; and there are several places in Armenia, as appears from Ptolemy ^F24, which begin with Chol or Col, as Cholus, Cholua, Choluata, Cholima, Colsa, Colana, Colchis: but perhaps it may be better to place him in Syria, in the deserts of Palmyrene, as Junius and Grotius; since among the cities of Palmyrene, there is one called Cholle, according to Ptolemy ^F25. Gether, the third son, is made by Josephus ^F26 to be the father of the Bactrians; but these were too far off to come from this man, and were not in the lot of Shem: Bochart ^F1 finds the river Getri, which the Greeks call Centrites, between Armenia and the Carduchi, whereabout, he conjectures, might be the seat of this man; but perhaps it may be more probable, with Grotius and Junius, to place him in Coelesyria, where are the city Gindarus of Ptolemy ^F2, and a people called Gindareni, by Pliny ^F3; though Bishop Patrick thinks it probable that Gadara, the chief city of Peraea, placed by Ptolemy ^F4 in the Decapolis of Coelesyria, had its name from this man: Mr. Broughton derives Atergate and Derceto, names of a Syrian goddess, from him, which was worshipped at Hierapolis in Coelesyria, as Pliny says ^F5. The last of the sons of Aram, Mash, is called Meshech, in ( 1 Chronicles 1:17 ) and here the Septuagint version calls him Masoch; his posterity are supposed to settle in Armenia, about the mountain Masius, thought to be the same with Ararat, and which the Armenians call Masis; perhaps the people named Moscheni, mentioned by Pliny ^F6, as dwelling near Armenia and Adiabene, might spring from this man.