Japheth

For other uses, see Japheth (disambiguation). R. Haynes writes that “Biblical commentators have sug-
gested many solutions to the enigma of birth order—for
instance, that Shem and Ham are listed in succession be-
Japheth /ˈdʒeɪfɛθ/ (Hebrew: ‫ֶיֶפת‬/‫ ָיֶפת‬Yapheth , Modern
Hebrew: Yefet ; Greek: Ἰάφεθ Iapheth ; Latin: Iafe-
cause their descendants live in proximity, or that the ar-
rangement Shem, Ham, and Japheth is 'euphonic rather
th, Iapheth, Iaphethus, Iapetus ; Arabic: ߬ࡦ߈ࠆ), meaning [5]
“enlarge”, is one of the sons of Noah in the Abrahamic than chronological'.”.
tradition. In Arabic citations, his name is normally given Another explanation based on a Jehovah’s Witness un-
as Yafeth bin Nuh (“Japheth, son of Noah”). derstanding of the Bible gives the likelihood to Japheth
[7]
In Biblical tradition, Japheth is considered to be the pro- as being the eldest. To start with, Genesis 5:32 (KJV)
genitor of European, and some Asian, peoples.[2][3][4] states, “And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah
In medieval Europe various nations and ethnicities were begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” The Bible also mentions
given genealogies tracing back to Japheth and his descen- that the Flood came when Noah was 600 years old—a [8]
dants. Religious syncretists later adopted the euhermistic hundred years after he became a father. (Genesis 7:6 )
argument that Japheth’s memory was distorted into myth- Thus, Noah’s eldest son should be 100 [9]
years of age at
ical figures such as Iapetus and Neptune. the time of the Flood. Genesis 11:10 notes that Shem
had only been 100 years of age two years after the Flood.
From this, Jehovah’s Witnesses consider it would be log-
ical to conclude that Japheth would be the eldest, who
1 Order of birth should be two years older than Shem, while Ham would
be the youngest. (Genesis 9:24[10] )

Genesis 10:21 refers to relative ages of Japheth and his

brother Shem, but with sufficient ambiguity to have given
rise to different translations. The verse is translated in the
King James Version as follows, “Unto Shem also, the fa-
ther of all the children of Eber, the brother of Japheth
the elder, even to him were children born”. However,
the Revised Standard Version reads, “To Shem also, the
father of all the children of Eber, the elder brother of
Japheth, children were born.” The differing interpreta-
tions depend on whether the Hebrew word ha-gadol (“the
elder”) is taken as grammatically referring to Japheth, or
Shem. Further uncertainty about the birth-order is sug-
gested by a passage in Genesis 9:24, which says Noah
realized what his “younger” (or “youngest”) son had done
to him, referring to Ham.[5]
They are listed in the order “Shem, Ham, and Japheth”
in Genesis 5:32, 9:18 and 10:1. It is disputed whether
or not this is a birth-order. Frederick E. Greenspahn
says that “Most moderns accept the common sequence
of names as reflecting birth order and understand 10:21
as describing Shem as Japheth’s older brother. Although
Ham is commonly listed in the middle position, Gen 9:24
identifies him as the youngest.” However, he notes that
Biblical lists of family names are not always in birth or-
der: “Moses and Rachel also appear at the head of such
lists despite explicit descriptions of them as younger sib-
lings. Shem, too, is always named first among Noah’s
sons, although his brother Japheth may have been consid-
ered older in at least one passage.”[6] Historian Stephen
2 Place in Noah’s family
Main article: Sons of Noah
For those who take the genealogies of Genesis to be
historically accurate, Japheth is commonly believed to be
the father of Europeans. The link between Japheth and
the Europeans stems from Genesis 10:5, which states:
“By these were the isles of the Gentiles di-
vided in their lands.”
According to that book, Japheth and his two brothers
formed the three major races:
• Japheth is the father of the Japhetic race
• Shem is the father of the Semitic race
• Ham is the father of the Hamitic race
William Shakespeare's play Henry IV, Part II contains a
wry comment about people who claim to be related to
royal families. Prince Hal notes of such people,
...they will be kin to us, or they will fetch it
from Japhet. (II.ii 117-18)

1
2 6 IN ISLAMIC TRADITION

Japhet, the son of Noah, had seven sons:

they inhabited so, that, beginning at the moun-
tains Taurus and Amanus, they proceeded
along Asia, as far as the river Tanais (Don), and
along Europe to Cadiz; and settling themselves
on the lands which they light upon, which none
had inhabited before, they called the nations by
their own names.

Josephus subsequently detailed the nations supposed to

have descended from the seven sons of Japheth.
The "Book of Jasher", published by Talmudic rabbis in
the 17th century, provides some new names for Japheth’s
grandchildren not found in the Bible, and provided a
much more detailed genealogy (see Japhetic).

4.1 Europeans
In the seventh century, Isidore of Seville published his
noted history, in which he traces the origins of most of the
nations of Europe back to Japheth.[2] Scholars in almost
every European nation continued to repeat and develop
Saint Isidore’s assertion of descent from Noah through
Japheth into the nineteenth century.[4]
Ivane Javakhishvili associated Japheth’s sons with certain
The world as known to the Hebrews (based on 1854 map). ancient tribes, called Tubals (Tabals, Greek: Tibarenoi)
and Meshechs (Meshekhs/Mosokhs, Greek: Moschoi),
who they claim represent non-Indo-European and non-
3 Family tree Semitic, possibly “Proto-Iberian” tribes of Asia Minor of
the 3rd-1st millennia BC.[3]
Genesis 10:5 was often interpreted to mean that the peo- In the Polish tradition of Sarmatism, the Sarmatians were
ples of Europe were descended from Japheth. said to be descended from Japheth, son of Noah, enabling
the Polish nobility to imagine themselves able to trace
their ancestry directly to Noah.[4]
4 Descendants In Scotland, histories tracing the Scottish people to
Japheth were published as late as George Chalmers' well-
Main article: Japhetic received Caledonia, published in 3 volumes from 1807 to
[11]
In the Bible, Japheth is ascribed seven sons: Gomer, 1824.

Magog 5 Language
Thobel
Thiras Riphath
GomerTogarmah UL
Javah Meshech
LAUD
Tharsus
Cethimus
Madai
ASHUR
GATHER
The term “Japhetic” was also applied by William Jones
ARAM
PHILISTIM UZ
CANAAN
MESA
ELAM
JOCTAH
and other early linguists to what became known as the
EVILAS
PHUT MESRAIM ARPHAXAD Indo-European language group. In a different sense, it
was also used by the Soviet linguist Nikolai Marr in his
Japhetic theory.
JUDADAS CHUS SABAS

6 In Islamic tradition
Geographic identifications for the Sons of Noah (Flavius Jose-
phus, c. 100 AD); Japheth’s sons shown in red Japheth is not mentioned by name in the Qur'an but
is referred to indirectly in the narrative of Noah (VII:
Magog, Tiras, Javan, Meshech, Tubal, and Madai. Ac- 64, X: 73, XI: 40, XXIII: 27, XXVI: 119). Muslim
cording to Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews I.6): exegesis, however, names all of Noah’s sons, and these

include Japheth.[12] In identifying Japheth’s descendants,
Muslim exegesis more-or-less agrees with the Biblical
traditions.[13] He is usually regarded as the ancestor of
the Gog and Magog tribes, and, at times, of the Turks,
Khazars, and Slavs. Some traditions narrated that 36 lan-
guages of the world could be traced back to Japheth.[14]
7 Proposed correlations with
deities
Japheth has been identified by medieval and later
scholars with figures from other religious systems and
mythologies, including Iapetus (Japetus), the Greek
Titan.[15][16][17] Scholars Jed Z. Buchwald & Mordechai
Feingold write that there was a long tradition of
“scripture-based Euhemerism" (interpreting mythical fig-
ures as distorted memories of real individuals) which “be-
came part of time-honored Christian apologetics... Most
commentators, for example, agreed that Saturn had been
modeled on Noah, as both were considered to be the com-
mon parents of mankind who divided the world among
their three sons—Shem (Pluto), Japheth (Neptune), and
Ham (Jupiter).”[18]
8 Arts and literature
Japheth is a major character in the Madeleine L'Engle [6]
novel Many Waters (1986, ISBN 0 374 34796 4). He is
characterized as thoughtful and intelligent, a kind-hearted
young man who is on good terms with feuding family [7]
members Noah and Lamech, with the seraphim, and with
visiting time travelers Sandy and Dennys Murry. De-
picted in the book as Noah’s younger son, Japheth is
barely into adulthood, but at Noah’s instigation is al-
ready married. His equally kind wife is an unusually fair-
skinned woman with black hair, who may have been sired [9]
by one of the nephilim.
Japheth is a major character in Stephen Schwartz's mu- [11]
sical Children of Eden. In this adaptation, Japheth has
fallen in love with the family servant girl, Yonah, and
wants to bring her onto the Ark to survive the flood, but
is forbidden because Yonah is descended from Cain. He [12]
manages to sneak her onto the Ark, and stands by her [13]
when she is discovered by the family. However, Noah
goes against God and marries them. Upon the flood end-
ing, Japheth and Yonah decide that the land they want to [15]
settle in will be Eden, even if they have to search their [16]
whole lives for it. Noah gives Japheth his blessing by
giving him the staff of Adam (which Adam carved from [17]
the destroyed Tree of Knowledge and was passed down
through his generations) to plant in Eden when they find [18]
it. Smaller productions of the American version have the
actor cast as Cain doubling as Japheth.
3
9 See also
• Caucasian race
• Japhetic
• Mongoloid race
• Proto-Indo-Europeans
• Whites
• Wives aboard the Ark
10 Notes
[1] The 1557 Anno Mundi birthdate for Japheth is based on
the standard Massoretic text as represented in the Autho-
rized Version. Septuagint and Samaritan texts have dif-
ferent values. See Chronology of the Bible.
[2] Susan Reynolds, “Medieval origines gentium and the com-
munity of the realm,” History, 68, 1983, pp. 375-90
[3] Ivane Javakhishvili. “Historical-Ethnological problems of
Georgia, the Caucasus and the Near East” (a monograph),
Tbilisi, 1950, pp. 130–135 (in Georgian)
[4] Colin Kidd, British Identities before Nationalism; Eth-
nicity and Nationhood in the Atlantic World, 1600-1800,
Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 29
[5] Stephen R. Haynes, Noah’s Curse: The Biblical Justifica-
tion of American Slavery, Oxford University Press, New
York, 2002, pp.204; 296.
Frederick E. Greenspahn, When Brothers Dwell Together:
The Preeminence of Younger Siblings in the Hebrew Bible,
Oxford University Press, New York, 1994, p.65
Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, In-
sight on the Scriptures—Volume 2, Watch Tower Bible and
Tract Society of New York, Inc., Brooklyn, New York,
1988, p. 919-20.
[8] Online verse of Ge 7:6
Online verse of Ge 11:10
[10] Online verse of Ge 9:24
Colin Kidd, British Identities before Nationalism; Eth-
nicity and Nationhood in the Atlantic World, 1600-1800,
Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 52
Tabari, Volume I: Prophets and Patriarchs, 222
Tabari, Volume I: Prophets and Patriarchs, 217
[14] Encyclopedia of Islam, Yafith, 236
Robert Graves, The Greek Myths, vol. 1, 146
John Pairman Brown, Israel and Hellas (1995), 82
Matthew Poole, Commentary on the Holy Bible (1685),
vol.1, 26
Jed Z. Buchwald & Mordechai Feingold, Newton and the
Origin of Civilization, Princeton University Press, Prince-
ton, NJ., 2013, p.156.
4 11 EXTERNAL LINKS

11 External links
• "Japheth". Encyclopædia Britannica. 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
 5

12 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

12.1 Text
• Japheth Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japheth?oldid=732948126 Contributors: Peter Winnberg, H.J., The Anome, Slrubenstein,
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Wereon, Dmn, Zigger, Gilgamesh~enwiki, Per Honor et Gloria, Telsa, Utcursch, Jokestress, Eisnel, Perey, CALR, Pasquale, Vsmith, Mani1,
SamEV, S.K., CanisRufus, Kwamikagami, .:Ajvol:., Cohesion, Nicke Lilltroll~enwiki, Acjelen, Ungtss, Fivetrees, Garzo, Ghirlandajo,
Angr, Woohookitty, FeanorStar7, Etacar11, BD2412, Dpv, Angusmclellan, Koavf, The wub, FlaBot, Str1977, Codex Sinaiticus, Roee-
yaron, YurikBot, RobotE, UsaSatsui, RussBot, DanMS, Rsrikanth05, Megistias, KissL, Jedi Striker, Hakeem.gadi, Nlu, Smaines, White-
jay251, Deville, Marquez~enwiki, Neier, SmackBot, PiCo, Mitchan, Stephensuleeman, Adammathias, Commander Keane bot, TimBentley,
Mdwh, JonHarder, Khoikhoi, Drmaik, Andrew Dalby, JLogan, Eliyak, ArglebargleIV, Ergative rlt, Reveilled, Gil Gamesh, Maleabroad,
IP Address, Neelix, Mavarin, Cydebot, Lord Loxley, Crossmr, Spylab, Tkynerd, Doug Weller, Thijs!bot, TonyTheTiger, Bobblehead, Es-
carbot, AntiVandalBot, WinBot, GomerianGod, Konii, Deflective, Txomin, Magioladitis, Waacstats, Sasha l~enwiki, KConWiki, Glen,
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noktaBOT, Arnie Gov, WOSlinker, JhsBot, Synthebot, Dark Tea, Deconstructhis, Til Eulenspiegel, Hxhbot, Denisarona, ClueBot, Gold-
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Damirgraffiti, Thewolfchild, ClueBot NG, Yaphehm'odh, Dream of Nyx, Telpardec, Sceptic1954, Selaab, BG19bot, Rusty Tonic, Waffle-
man.fuzz, Inops, ChrisGualtieri, Inkbug, Abrahamic Faiths, Akmal94, Mumtaz muhammed, Library Guy, Jim Carter, Sileebo, Mr. Lunt,
Sigehelmus, David Saroyan, ‫גור אריה יהודה‬, EchadEmeth, Richards74, Robert the Broof, ‫ احمد الليبي‬and Anonymous: 134

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License: Public domain Contributors:
• Μap from “Historical Textbook and Atlas of Biblical Geography (1854)" by Lyman Coleman
• Historical Origins by Robert Shaw,2003,ISBN-0766149781
• The western paradise: Greek and Hebrew traditions by James E. Miller,1996,
• The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Q-Z, by Geoffrey W. Bromiley
• The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament by John F. Walvoord,Roy B. Zuck,1985,ISBN-0882078135
• The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Q-Z, by Geoffrey W. Bromiley,1995
ISBN-0802837840 Original artist: Megistias

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