Perizzites

PERIZZITES, or Pheresæi, the antient Inhabitants of Palestine, mingled with the Canaanites. There is also great Probability, that they themselves were Canaanites, but having no fix’d Habitations, and living after the Manner of the Scythians and the Nomades, sometimes dispersed in one Country, and sometimes in another, they were for that Reason called Perizzites, which signifies scattered or dispersed. Pherazoth stands for Hamlets or Villages. The Perizzites did not inhabit any certain Portion of the Land of Canaan; there were some of them on both Sides of the River Jordan, in the Mountains, and in the Plains. In several Places of Scripture the Canaanites and Perizzites are mentioned as the two chief People of the Country. It is said, for Example, Gen. xiii. 7.that in the Time of Abraham and Lot, the Canaanite and Perizzite were in the Land. The Israelites of the Tribe of Josh. xvii. 15.Ephraim complained to Joshua, that they were too much pent up in their Possession: he bid them go, if they pleased, into the Mountains of the Perizzites and Rephaims, or Giants, and there clearing the Land, to cultivate and inhabit it. Solomon subdued the Remains of the Canaanites and Perizzites, which the Children of Israel had not rooted out, and made them Tributary to him. There is still mention made of the Perizzites in the Time of Ezra, after the Return from the Captivity of Babylon; and several Israelites had married Wives from that Nation.

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