Asshur; a man so called: either,
1. Asshur the son of Shem, who forsook the land, either being forced by or weary of Nimrod's tyranny and impiety, and erected another kingdom. But it is not probable either that Moses would here relate an exploit of a man whose birth is not mentioned till Genesis 10:22, or that one single son of Shem would be here disorderly placed among the sons of Ham. Or,
2. Another Asshur of Ham's race. But it seems most likely that Asshur is the name of a place or country, even of Assyria, which in the Hebrew is called Asshur; and that the words should be thus rendered, he, i.e. Nimrod, went forth out of his own land to Asshur, to war against it, and add it to his empire; for to go forth is commonly ascribed to those that go to war or to battle, as Judges 2:15, Judges 11:3, 2 Samuel 11:1 Psalms 60:10; and the particle to is here understood as it is 2 Samuel 6:10, 2 Samuel 10:2, compared with 1 Chronicles 13:13, 1 Chronicles 19:2. Nineveh, a famous and vast city near the river Tigris, but so ruined by time, that the learned are not agreed about the place where it was situate. Of Rehoboth, see Genesis 36:37 1 Chronicles 1:48.