Girgashites (Heb. גִּרְגָּשִׁי) are one of the tribes who had invaded the land of

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

as mentioned in Gen. 15:21; Deut. 7:1; Josh. 3:10; Neh. 9:8. The Girgashites are also known as the fifth ethnic group that 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). This apparent inconsistency may be due to their emigrating to North Africa prior to the Israelites entering the land. This is further supported by Procopius (Wars 4.10.13-22), stating that the Phoenician diaspora settled in the western end of the Mediterranean, in the vicinity of later day

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...

. They have been uncertainly identified with the Qaraqisha, allies of the

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-cent ...

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 The Hurrians (; cuneiform: ; transliteration: ''Ḫu-ur-ri''; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri or Hurriter) were a people of the Bronze Age Near East. They spoke a Hurrian language and lived in Anatolia, Syria and Norther ...

origin.{{Cite book, last1=Hastings, first1=James, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J1rQAAAAMAAJ, title=A Dictionary of the Bible: Dealing with Its Language, Literature, and Contents, Including the Biblical Theology, last2=Selbie, first2=John Alexander, last3=Davidson, first3=Andrew Bruce, last4=Driver, first4=Samuel Rolles, last5=Swete, first5=Henry Barclay, date=1899, publisher=T. & T. Clark, language=en

References

Canaan Ancient peoples of the Near East