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Bible Encyclopedias
Casluhim
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (Hebrews Kasluchim´, כִּסְלֻחִים, of uncertain, but prob. foreign etymology; Sept. in Genesis Χασμωνιείμ,Vulg. Chasluin; in Chronicles Χασλωνιείμ v. r. Χασλωείμ, Caslu'm), a people whose progenitor was a son of Mizraim (Genesis 10:14; 1 Chronicles 1:12). In both passages it would appear, as the text now stands, that the Philistines came forth from the Casluhim, and not from the Caphtorim, as is elsewhere expressly stated: here, therefore, there may be a transposition. SEE CAPHTOR. The only clue we have as yet to the position of the Casluhim is their place in the list of the sons of Mizraim between the Pathrusim and the Caphtorim, whence it is probable that they were seated in Upper Egypt. (See PATHROS). The Sept. seems to identify them with the Chashmannim, חִשְׁמִנִּים, of Psalms 68:31 (A. V. "princes"), which some (Michaelis, Suppl. p. 973), though not the Sept. in that place, take to be a proper name, and compare with the native civil name of Hermopolis Magna. This would place the Casluhim in the Heptanomis. (See HASHMANNIM).
Bochart (Phalyg, 4:31) suggests the identity of the Casluhim with the Colchians (comp. Michaelis, Spicilyg. 1:275 sq.), who are said to have been an Egyptian colony (Herod. 2:104; Diod. Sic. 1:28; Dionys. Perieg. p. 689; Ammian. Marc. 22:22; comp. Agath. Hist. 2:18); but this story and the similarity of name do not seem sufficient to render the supposition a probable one, although Gesenius (see Hitzig, Philist. p. 86 sq.) gives it his support (Thes. p. 702; comp. Ritter, Vorhalle, p. 35 sq.; Brehmer, Entdeck. 1:354 sq.). Forster (Ep. ad Michael. p. 16 sq.) conjectures the Casluhim to be the inhabitants of Cassiotis, the tract in which is the slight elevation called Mount Casius (Pliny, 5:12 and 14; Strabo, 17:759; Steph. Byz. p. 455). Bunsen assumes this to be proved (Bibelwerk, p. 26). There is, however, a serious difficulty in the way of this supposition — the nature of the ground, a low littoral tract of rock, covered with shifting and even quick sand. But Ptolemy (Geogr. 4:5, 12; comp. Joseph. War, 4:5, 11) gives us the names of several towns lying in this district, so that it must have been capable of supporting a population, and may, in an earlier period, have been quite adequate to the support of a tribe. The position of the Casluhim in the list beside the Pathrusim and the Caphtorim renders it probable that the original seat of the tribe was somewhere in Lower Egypt, and not far from the vicinity of that "Serbonian Bog betwixt Damiata and Mount Casius old" (Par. Lost, 2:592). Hiller (Syntag. Herm. p. 178 sq.) refers the name to the Solymi of the Greeks (Strabo, 1:34; 14:667), in the neighborhood of the Lycians (comp. Schulthess, Parad. p. 166 sq.). The supposition of Hitzig (Philist. p. 90 sq.) that the Casluhim were a Cretan colony in Libya, whence again a colony was sent to Philistia, is merely based upon a vague allusion in Tacitus (Hist. 5:2). (See ETHNOLOGY).
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Casluhim'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/c/casluhim.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
