Japheth

From CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science

Noah's sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth, by James Tissot.

Japheth (Hebrew: יפת; Latin: Iafeth; Arabic: يافث; Jah-feth or Yeh-feth), was the youngest of Noah's sons. He was born after Noah was 500 years old[1]. He was married at the time of the Flood but had no children when it started. He had two brothers named Shem and Ham. Japheth and his wife were two of the eight saved in the ark. However the Bible states no record of his wife's name. He was the progenitor of many tribes inhabiting the north of Asia and the east of Europe. Japheth was known to be full of knowledge and brought great intellectual thoughts to the world. During and after the flood he had children; 7 sons are named: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. They were located in what is now the Mediterranean, Russia, Asia, and the Americas.

Repopulation of the Earth

The earth was repopulated from the families of the three sons of Noah after the flood. The descendants became the maritime nations in various lands, each with a separate language A total of 14 Nations came out of Japheth. In the Bible Japheth is only mentioned a few times: mainly in Genesis, chapters 5-10. Japheth is the father of the Japhetic race. The Japhetic race consists of the descendents of Japheth and parallels the Semitic (descendants of Shem) and Hamitic (descendants of Ham) races. It is generally thought that Japheth was the progenitor of the peoples of Europe. Thus "Japhetic" came to be used as a synonym for Europeans. Although others have proposed that Japheth was the father of the Asian or Mongoloid peoples. [2]

Japheth and the Europeans are connected by Genesis 10:5, which states that the sons of Japheth moved to the "isles of the Gentiles", commonly believed to be the Greek isles, though some believe it is a reference to islands of Asia and the Pacific Islands in addition to the original inhabitants of the Greek isles. The descendants of Japtheth's seven sons spread out beginning at the mountains Taurus and Amanus; they then went to Asia as far as the river Tanais, and through Europe to Cadiz. All the nations they formed were named after them. The seven nations have been attempted to be assigned and are:

Gomer: Turks, Finns, Hungarians, Estonians, Vietnamese, Laotians, Cambodians, Malaysians, and Indonesians.
- Ashkenaz: Thais, Vietnamese, Laotians, Cambodians, Malaysians, Indonesians, and Filipinos.
- Riphath: Finns, Lapps, Hungarians, and Estonians.
- Togarmah: Turks, Bulgars, Alans, Khazars, Azerbaijanis, Kazakhs, Turkmen, Uzbeks, and Kyrgyz.
Magog: Chinese, Mongols, Japanese, Koreans and Taiwanese.
Madai: Medes, Iranians, Caspians, Indians, and Ukrainians.
Javan: Tyrrhenians, Anatolians, Ionians, Cypriots, Polynesians, Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.
- Elishah: Ionians, Polynesians, Hawaiians, Tahitians, Samoans, Fijians, Maoris, and Pacific Islanders.
- Tarshish: Tartessians, Cilicians, Anatolians, Carthaginians, Indians, and Japanese.
- Kittim: Cypriots, Macedonians, and Manchurians.
- Dodanim: Rhodians, Cretans, Karpathians, and Santorinians.
Tubal: Russians, Siberians, Bulgarians, Georgians, Albanians, and Basques.
Meshech: Russians, Muscovites, Georgians, Phrygians, and Cappadocians.
Tiras: Thracians, Pelasgians, Leleges, Picts, and American Indians.

Japheth was known as a Philosopher. At one point when his father was very drunk in Genesis 9:18-29, Japheth and his brother treated his father with great respect and covered his nakedness. Because of this Noah blessed Japheth and said, "Blessed by the LORD my God be Shem; and let Canaan be his slave. God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his slave."