Japheth
Japheth | |
---|---|
Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum (c. 1553) | |
Children | Gomer Magog Madai Javan Tubal Meshech Tiras |
Parent | Noah |
Japheth
Etymology
The meaning of the name Japheth (יפת: y-p-t) is disputable. There are two possible sources to the meaning of the name:[5]
- From the Aramaic root פתה (p-t-h), meaning "to extend". In this case, the name would mean "may He extend", according to the interpretation of Rashi.[5]
- From the Hebrew root יפה (y-p-h), meaning "beauty", in which case the name would mean "beautiful".[5]
In the Book of Genesis
Japheth first appears in the Hebrew Bible as one of the three sons of Noah, saved from the Flood through the Ark.[5] In the Book of Genesis, they are always in the order "Shem, Ham, and Japheth" when all three are listed.[6][7] Genesis 9:24 calls Ham the youngest,[7] and Genesis 10:21 refers ambiguously to Shem as "brother of Japheth the elder", which could mean that either is the eldest.[8] Most modern writers accept Shem–Ham–Japheth as reflecting their birth order, but this is not always the case: Moses and Rachel also appear at the head of such lists despite explicit descriptions of them as younger siblings.[9] However, Japheth is considered to have been the eldest son of Noah in Rabbinic literature.[5]
Following the Flood, Japheth is featured in the story of
Japheth | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gomer | Magog | Madai | Javan | Tubal | Meshech | Tiras | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ashkenaz | Riphath | Togarmah | Elishah | Tarshish | Kittim | Dodanim | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ethnogenetic interpretations
Japheth (in
).From the 19th century until the late 20th century, it was usual to see Japheth as a reference to the Philistines, who shared dominion over Canaan during the pre-monarchic and early monarchic period of Israel and Judah.[14] This view accorded with the understanding of the origin of the Book of Genesis, which was seen as having been composed in stages beginning with the time of King Solomon, when the Philistines still existed (they vanished from history after the Assyrian conquest of Canaan). However, Genesis 10:14 identifies their ancestor as Ham rather than Japheth.[11]
Biblical descendants
In the
Japhet, the son of Noah, had seven sons: they inhabited so, that, beginning at the mountains
Cadiz; and settling themselves on the lands which they light upon, which none had inhabited before, they called the nations by their own names.
The Sefer haYashar ("Book of Jasher"), written by Talmudic rabbis in the 17th century, attributed some new names for Japheth's grandchildren which are not found in the Hebrew Bible, and provided a much more detailed genealogy. In the Jewish tradition, Abraham's wife Keturah is sometimes considered a descendant of Japheth.[15]
Europeans
In the 7th century AD, Hispano–Roman archbishop and scholar Isidore of Seville wrote his noted encyclopedic-historical treatise titled Etymologiae, in which he traces the origins of most of the European peoples back to Japheth.[16][17] Scholars in almost every European nation continued to repeat and develop Isidore of Seville's assertion of descent from Noah through Japheth into the 19th century.[4]
...they will be kin to us, or they will fetch it from Japhet. (II.ii 117-18)
The Georgian historian and linguist Ivane Javakhishvili associated Japheth's sons with certain ancient tribes, called Tubals (Tabals, in Greek: Tibarenoi) and Meshechs (Meshekhs/Mosokhs, in Greek: Moschoi), who claimed to represent non-Indo-European and non-Semitic, possibly "Proto-Iberian" tribes that inhabitated Anatolia during the 3rd-1st millennia BC.[3]
In the Polish tradition of Sarmatism, the Sarmatians, an Iranic people, were said to be descended from Japheth, son of Noah, enabling the Polish nobility to believe that their ancestry could be traced directly to Noah.[4] In Scotland, histories tracing the Scottish people to Japheth were published as late as George Chalmers's well-received Caledonia, published in 3 volumes from 1807 to 1824.[18]
In the Islamic tradition
Japheth (in
In the Islamic tradition, he is usually regarded as the ancestor of the
According to the 18th-century
In popular culture
Japheth is a major character in the second act of
See also
- Caucasian race
- Groups claiming affiliation with Israelites
- Japhetic theory
- Japhetites
- Proto-Indo-Europeans
- Sons of Noah
- Wives aboard the Ark
References
Citations
- ^ Hunt 1990, p. 430.
- JSTOR 24417596.
- ^ a b Javakhishvili, Ivane (1950), Historical-Ethnological problems of Georgia, the Caucasus and the Near East. Tbilisi, pp. 130–135 (in Georgian).
- ^ a b c Kidd 2004, pp. 28–31.
- ^ Kopelman Foundation. Archivedfrom the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
- ^ Genesis 5:32, 9:18, and 10:1.
- ^ a b Haynes 2002, pp. 204, 269.
- ^ Garcia Martinez 2012, p. 33 fn.7.
- ^ Greenspahn 1994, p. 65.
- ^ Genesis 9:20–27.
- ^ a b Day 2014, p. 39.
- ^ a b Glouberman 2012, p. 112.
- ^ Gmirkin 2006, p. 165 fn.192.
- ^ Day 2014, pp. 38–39.
- ^ "Keturah". Retrieved 2024-02-08.
- ISBN 9781852850135. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
Already in Isidore of Seville they were the founders of towns and regions in Europe, Asia and Africa.14 The whole human race must be descended from them and they, Shem, Ham and Japheth therefore divided the world between them. Europe was Japheth's share, and his numerous offspring and their descendants in turn were the ancestors of all the greater European peoples: Franks, Latins, Alemans and Britains, to name but some.
- ISBN 9783110346473.
- ^ Kidd 2004, p. 52.
- ^ ISBN 978-90-04-16121-4.
- ^ Tabari, Volume I: Prophets and Patriarchs, 222
- ^ Tabari, Volume I: Prophets and Patriarchs, 217
- ^ JSTOR 601652.
Bibliography
- ISBN 9004126686.
- Day, John (2014). "Noah's Drunkenness, the Curse of Canaan". In Baer, David A.; Gordon, Robert P. (eds.). Leshon Limmudim: Essays on the Language and Literature of the Hebrew Bible in Honour of A.A. Macintosh. A&C Black. ISBN 9780567308238.
- Garcia Martinez, Florentino (2012). Between Philology and Theology: Contributions to the Study of Ancient Jewish Interpretation. BRILL. ISBN 978-9004243934.
- Glouberman, Mark (2012). The Raven, the Dove, and the Owl of Minerva: The Creation of Humankind in Athens and Jerusalem. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9781442645059.
- Gmirkin, Russell (2006). Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus: Hellenistic Histories and the Date of the Pentateuch. Bloomsbury. ISBN 9780567134394.
- Greenspahn, Frederick E. (1994). When Brothers Dwell Together: The Preeminence of Younger Siblings in the Hebrew Bible. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195359558.
- Greifenhagen, Franz V. (2003). Egypt on the Pentateuch's Ideological Map. Bloomsbury. ISBN 9780567391360.
- Haynes, Stephen R. (2002). Noah's Curse: The Biblical Justification of American Slavery. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198032601.
- Hunt, Harry B. Jr. (1990). "Japheth". In Mills, Watson E.; Bullard, Roger Aubrey (eds.). Mercer Dictionary of the Bible. Mercer University Press. ISBN 9780865543737.
- ISBN 0-521-62403-7.
- Kvanvig, Helge (2011). Primeval History: Babylonian, Biblical, and Enochic: An Intertextual Reading. BRILL. ISBN 978-9004163805.
- Thompson, Thomas L.; Wajdenbaum, Philippe (2014). "Making Room for Japheth". In Thompson, Thomas L.; Wajdenbaum, Philippe (eds.). The Bible and Hellenism: Greek Influence on Jewish and Early Christian Literature. Routledge. ISBN 9781317544265.
- Wajbenbaum, Philippe (2016). "Genesis-Kings as a Platonic Epic". In Hjelm, Ingrid; Thompson, Thomas L. (eds.). Biblical Interpretation Beyond Historicity. Routledge. ISBN 9781317428121.
External links
- Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). 1911. .
- Easton Bible dictionary about Japheth
- Smith's Bible Dictionary about Japheth
- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Japheth
- Japheth in the Jewish Encyclopedia
- Japheth's family tree at complete-bible-genealogy.com