Genesis 5:32; 9:18-10
Japheth (Heb. Yefet, “beauty”, “may he widen”, “expansion” or “beautiful”). Eldest son of Noah (Gen 10:21; see CBA 1: 259, 260), born in the year 500 of his father (5:32; 6:10). He was married when the flood occurred (7:7), but apparently had no children at the time (see 1Pe 3:20). The only recorded incident about Japheth is that he and his brother Shem tried to save the honor of his father, whom Ham had disrespected. For this, the 2 received special blessings. Japheth and his descendants were foretold to occupy vast territories, dwelling “in the tents of Shem” (Gen 9:20-27). Japheth was the progenitor of the Japhetic races, including the Medes, Ionians, and various nations that in OT times lived in what is now Asia Minor and southern Russia (10:2-5).
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
the third of the sons of Noah, Gn 5, 32; 6, 10. J. entered the ark with Noah, when the flood, Gn 7, 13; 9, 18. Sons of J. are Gomer, Magog, Yaván, Túbal, Mésec and Tiras, Gn 10, 1. Noah, after the flood, planted a vineyard, drank from the wine, got drunk and was left naked in the middle of the tent of the. Ham told his brothers J. and his brother Shem took a cloak, covered it and threw it on their shoulders, 9, 21-23. Upon awakening, Noah blessed J: “May God make Japheth dilated; dwell in the tents of Shem and let Canaan be his slave!† , Gn 9, 27. From J. come the Indo-European peoples who inhabit Asia Minor and the islands of the nations, or the Mediterranean, Gn 10, 2-5 .
Digital Bible Dictionary, Grupo C Service & Design Ltda., Colombia, 2003
Source: Digital Bible Dictionary
(Heb., yepheth, God will increase; Gen 9:27). One of Noah’s sons. He was older than Shem (Gen 10:21), although in some passages where the three sons of Noah are mentioned (Gen 6:10; Gen 9:18) Shem appears first (Gen 5:32; Gen 11:10 ). Japheth and his wife were saved in the ark (Gen 7:7). He also helped Shem cover the naked body of his drunken father (Gen 9:20-27). He is the progenitor of the most remote northern villages in southeastern Europe. The statement is believed to:
Dwell in the tents of Shem (Gen 9:27) may refer to the conquests of the Greeks, who were descendants of Japheth. This happened at the time of Assyrian power. He had seven sons whose descendants occupied the islands of the Gentiles, Hellenists, or Greeks (Gen 10:5), an area that includes Asia Minor and upper Greece.
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
Son of †¢Noah. He is almost always mentioned third, after † ¢ Shem and † ¢ Ham, which gives the appearance that he was the third (Gen 5:32; Gen 6:10). But in Gen 9:24 it is said that Ham was the “youngest”. J. entered the ark with his wife (Gen 7:13). he and his brother Shem “covered their father’s nakedness” when he got drunk and stripped naked (Gen 9:23), for which he received a blessing from Noah (Gen 9:27), which some interpret as indicating a certain alliance or understanding between the nations descended from Shem and those of J. Seven sons and seven grandsons of J are mentioned. “The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras† (Gen 10:2). And the grandchildren: Ashkenaz, Rifat, Togarmah, Elisa, Tarshish, Kittim, Dodanim. “Of these the coastlands were peopled, each according to his language, according to their families in their nations” (Gen 10:3-5). They are generally identified with the nations that developed to the N and W of Asia Minor, including the Greeks, the Gauls, the Romans, the Russians, and so on. Some point out the apparent coincidence between the name of J. with a character from Greek mythology called “Iapetos”, who was the son of Uranus and the Earth, father of Prometheus and the Hellenic race.
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
tip, BIOG HOMB HOAT
vet, = “aggrandizement”. Name of the youngest of Noah’s sons (Gen. 9:24; 10:21) who, together with his father, his wife and the rest of Noah’s relatives, was saved from the Flood (Gen. 7:7; 1 Pet. 3: twenty). The book of Genesis says that Japheth was the father of the nations of Europe (Gen. 10:5). Japheth was, perhaps, the “Iapetos” whom the Greek legends represent as the progenitor of the Greek race. His seven sons (Gen. 10:2-5; 1 Chron. 1:5) occupied northern Asia and most of Europe with their posterity. In later times the Greeks and Romans subjugated considerable parts of southern Asia (Gen. 9:27). Among the peoples identified as their descendants we can list: the Cimmerans (Gomer), the Scythians (Ashkenaz), the Medes (Madai), the Slavs (Meshech), the Ionians (Javan), the Cypriots (Kittim) and the inhabitants of Rhodes (Dodanim). Bibliography: Custance, AC: “Noah’s Three Sons” (Zondervan, Grand Rapids 1975).
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
The son of Noah, from whom according to the biblical interpretation the inhabitants of the East and the Sea would come, that is, Europe (Gn.10.5) (See Patriarchs 3)
Pedro Chico González, Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy, Editorial Bruño, Lima, Peru 2006
Source: Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy
(May He Grant Ample Space).
Son of Noah and brother of Shem and Ham. Although he is usually mentioned last, it seems that he was the eldest of the three sons, since the Hebrew text of Genesis 10:21 refers to †˜Japheth the elder†™ (BAS, note; MK; NM; Scio, note; Val, 1868). However, many translators understand the Hebrew text here to refer rather to Shem as “Japheth’s elder brother” (CI, NC, VP and others). If Japheth was Noah’s eldest son, it is likely that he was born around 2470 BC. CE (Ge 5:32.)
Japheth and his wife were among the eight who entered the ark, thus surviving the Flood. (Ge 7:13; 1Pe 3:20) Although they had no children before the Flood, they later had seven: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras. (Ge 10:1, 2; 1Ch 1:5) These sons, as well as some of their grandsons, are those of whom “the population of the islands of the nations was scattered throughout their lands, each one according to his language, according to their families, for their nations† . (Ge 10:3-5; 1Ch 1:6, 7) From a historical perspective, Japheth was the progenitor of the Aryan or Indo-European (Indo-Germanic) branch of the human family. The names of his children and his grandchildren appear in ancient historical texts relating to peoples and tribes residing primarily to the N. and W. of the Fertile Crescent. They appear to have spread from the Caucasus E. to Central Asia, and W. through Asia Minor to the islands and littorals of Europe, and perhaps to Spain. Arab traditions state that one of Japheth’s sons was also the progenitor of the Chinese peoples. (See TABLE and MAP, vol. 1, p. 329.)
As a result of Japheth, like his brother Shem, treating their father with respect when he got drunk, he received Noah’s blessing. (Ge 9:20-27) In this blessing, Noah asked God to †˜give ample space †™ to Japheth. This Hebrew expression is derived from the same root as the name Japheth (Heb. Yé feth or Yá feth), which seems to indicate that the meaning of Japheth’s name would be fulfilled in a literal sense and that his descendants would spread over a wide area. Some believe that the words “let him reside in the tents of Shem” indicated that there would be a peaceful relationship between the Japhethites and the Semites. However, since history does not specifically mention such a relationship, that expression may be prophetically connected with God’s later promise to the descendants of Shem, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that through their “seed” all the families of Earth (including those descended from Japheth) would be blessed. (Ge 22:15-18; 26:3, 4; 28:10, 13, 14; compare Ac 10:34-36; Ga 3:28, 29.) He who, as Noah next said, Canaan † ˜become a slave†™ to the Japhetites, was fulfilled when the Medo-Persian Empire, a Japhetic power, dominated the Land of Canaan, and in subsequent conquests by the Greeks and Romans, conquests that included the Canaanite strongholds of Tire and Sidon .
Source: Dictionary of the Bible
(heb. yefṯ). One of the sons of Noah, generally mentioned as the last of the three (Gn. 5.32; 6.10; 7.13; 9.18, 23, 27; 1 Chr. 1.4), but in Gn. 10 (and Chr. 1.5–7) his descendants appear before those of the two brothers. He was the progenitor of a number of tribes and peoples, most of whom had names already associated in historical times with the N and W regions of the Near East, especially Anatolia and the Aegean (* Nations, Table of). Japheth and his wife were among the eight humans saved from the flood, and in a later incident he and Shem covered up his father Noah’s nakedness. In his prophetic declaration after the episode, Noah prayed that God would magnify Japheth, and that he might dwell in the tents of Shem and have Canaan as his servant (Gen. 9.27). Many commentators consider that he refers to God and not to Japheth, although both interpretations are possible.
If we follow the last alternative, it may be a reference to the benefits of the gospel, which, having first reached the descendants of Shem, were later extended to the peoples of the N. In the previous verse the term used for “magnify” is yaftbut it is likely that this is a play on words and that it has nothing else to do with the name Japheth (yefṯ), which does not appear again in the Bible or in ancient inscriptions. Some, however, have linked Japheth to the Greek mythological figure Iapetos, son of earth and sky, who had many descendants. It is not a Greek name, so it must be a biblical form of it.
Bibliography. B. Ubach, “Jafet”, °EBDM, t
P. Dhorme, “Les Peuples issus de Japhet, d’apres le Chapître X de la Genese”, Syria 13, 1932, pp. 28–49; DJ Wiseman, “Genesis 10: Some Archaeological Considerations,” JTVI 87, 1955, pp. 14ff; D. Neisman, “The Two Genealogies of Japheth,” in HA Hoffner (eds.), Orient & Occident, 1973, pp. 119ff.
TCM
Douglas, J. (2000). New Biblical Dictionary: First Edition. Miami: United Bible Societies.
Source: New Bible Dictionary