Japheth

2 definitions found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  Japheth
       n : (Old Testament) son of Noah

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Japheth


     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).