Japheth in Easton's Bible Dictionary
wide spreading: "God shall enlarge Japheth" (Heb. Yaphat
Elohim
le-Yephet, Gen. 9:27. Some, however, derive the name
from
_yaphah_, "to be beautiful;" hence white), one of
the sons of
Noah, mentioned last in order (Gen. 5:32; 6:10;
7:13), perhaps
first by birth (10:21; comp. 9:24). He and his wife
were two of
the eight saved in the ark (1 Pet. 3:20). He was the
progenitor
of many tribes inhabiting the east of Europe and the
north of
Asia (Gen. 10:2-5). An act of filial piety (9:20-27)
was the
occasion of Noah's prophecy of the extension of his
posterity.
After the Flood the earth was re-peopled by the
descendants of
Noah, "the sons of Japheth" (Gen. 10:2), "the sons
of Ham" (6),
and "the sons of Shem" (22). It is important to
notice that
modern ethnological science, reasoning from a
careful analysis
of facts, has arrived at the conclusion that there
is a
three-fold division of the human family,
corresponding in a
remarkable way with the great ethnological chapter
of the book
of Genesis (10). The three great races thus
distinguished are
called the Semitic, Aryan, and Turanian
(Allophylian). "Setting
aside the cases where the ethnic names employed are
of doubtful
application, it cannot reasonably be questioned that
the author
[of Gen. 10] has in his account of the sons of
Japheth classed
together the Cymry or Celts (Gomer), the Medes
(Madai), and the
Ionians or Greeks (Javan), thereby anticipating what
has become
known in modern times as the 'Indo-European Theory,'
or the
essential unity of the Aryan (Asiatic) race with the
principal
races of Europe, indicated by the Celts and the
Ionians. Nor can
it be doubted that he has thrown together under the
one head of
'children of Shem' the Assyrians (Asshur), the
Syrians (Aram),
the Hebrews (Eber), and the Joktanian Arabs
(Joktan), four of
the principal races which modern ethnology
recognizes under the
heading of 'Semitic.' Again, under the heading of
'sons of Ham,'
the author has arranged 'Cush', i.e., the
Ethiopians; 'Mizraim,'
the people of Egypt; 'Sheba and Dedan,' or certain
of the
Southern Arabs; and 'Nimrod,' or the ancient people
of Babylon,
four races between which the latest linguistic
researches have
established a close affinity" (Rawlinson's Hist.
Illustrations).
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