Genesis 10:2

The sons of Japheth,.... Who though mentioned last, the genealogy begins with him, by a figure which rhetoricians call a "chiasm".

The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. The sons of Japheth. For the meaning of this name, see the note at Genesis 6:10; Genesis 9:27.

Japheth’ s portion was at first Asia the Less, and afterwards by degrees all Europe, and the northern parts of Asia. This is he so much celebrated among the Greeks by the name of Japetus. Gomer’ s posterity are reckoned among the northern people, , and were seated in the northern parts of the Lesser Asia, and afterwards about Thracia; and from him were called Gomari, and by an easy change Cimbri, or Cimmerii. Magog was the father of the Scythians, as may be gathered from , , , . The posterity of Madai, wheresoever they were first placed, in Macedonia or elsewhere, afterward were fixed in Media, and were called Medes, and in the Hebrew by the name of their father Madai, as appears from , , , . From Javan came the Grecians, who are called by themselves Iaones, or Iones, and in the Hebrew Jevanim, and their country Greece, Javan. See , , , . Of Tubal came the Iberi, anciently called Thobeli, a people of Asia, near the Euxine Sea. See , , . Meshech was father of the Moschi, i.e. the Muscovites, or rather, as others think, the Cappadocians, who were anciently called Meschini, and Moschi, and their chief city Maraca. And Tiras was father of the Thracians; amongst whom is a river and haven called Athyras, and who worshipped their god Mars under the name of Thuras.

Genesis 10:2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.Ver. 2. The sons of Japheth.] Not all, but the chief men of renown, Ethnarchs: think the same of the other two sons of Noah: seventy-one of their posterity are here registered (fourteen of Japheth, thirty-one of Ham, and twenty-six of Shem); hence it went for current among the ancients (grounding upon Genesis 10:31-32 of this chapter) that the nations were afterwards distinguished by so many tongues and countries.

(2) The sons of Japheth.—Of these, seven main divisions are enumerated, some of which are subsequently sub-divided; they are— 1. Gomer, whose name reappears in the Cimmerians. Their original settlement was between Magog and Madai, that is, between the Scythians and the Medes. After remaining some time on the Caspian and Black Seas, on which latter they have left their name in the Crimea, a powerful branch of them struck across the centre of Russia, and, skirting the Baltic, became the Cimbri of Denmark (whence the name of the Chersonesus Cimbrica, given to Jutland), the Cymry of Wales, &c. Generally they are the race to which the | name is given of Celts. 2. Magog. The Scythians, who once possessed the country north and south of the Caucasus. The Russians are their modern representatives, being descended from the Sarmatians, a Scythic race, with a small admixture of Median blood. 3. Madai. The Medes, who dwelt to the south and south-west of the Caspian. Mada, in the Accadian language, means land, and it was in the Median territory that Kharsak-Kurra, “the mountain of the East,” was situated, on which the Accadians believed the ark to have rested, whence possibly Media took its name, being “the land” above all others (Chald. Gen., p. 196). 4. Javan, that is, Ionia, the land of the Greeks. 5. Tubal. The Tibareni, on the south-east of the Black Sea. 6. Meshech. The Moschi, a people of Colchis and Armenia. 7. Tiras. According to Josephus and the Targum, the Thracians. Other races have been suggested, but this is probably right; and as the Getae, the ancestors of the Goths, were Thracians, this would make the Scandinavian race the modern representatives of Tiras. In this enumeration the race of Japheth is described as occupying Asia Minor, Armenia, the countries to the west as far as the Caspian Sea, and thence northward to the shores of the Black Sea. Subsequently it spread along the northern shores of the Mediterranean and. over all Europe. But though unnoticed by the writer its extension was equally remarkable towards the east. Parthia, Bactria, the Punjab, India, are equally Japhethite with Germany, Greece, and Rome; and in Sanscrit literature the Aryan first showed that genius, which, omitting the greatest of all books, the Semitic Bible, has made this race the foremost writers in the world.

Verse 2. The sons of Japheth] Japheth is supposed to be the same with the Japetus of the Greeks, from whom, in an extremely remote antiquity, that people were supposed to have derived their origin. Gomer] Supposed by some to have peopled Galatia; so Josephus, who says that the Galatians were anciently named Gomerites. From him the Cimmerians or Cimbrians are supposed to have derived their origin. Bochart has no doubt that the Phrygians sprang from this person, and some of our principal commentators are of the same opinion. Magog] Supposed by many to be the father of the Scythians and Tartars, or Tatars, as the word should be written; and in great Tartary many names are still found which bear such a striking resemblance to the Gog and Magog of the Scriptures, as to leave little doubt of their identity. Madai] Generally supposed to be the progenitor of the Medes; but Joseph Mede makes it probable that he was rather the founder of a people in Macedonia called Maedi, and that Macedonia was formerly called Emathia, a name formed from Ei, an island, and Madai, because he and his descendants inhabited the maritime coast on the borders of the Ionian Sea. On this subject nothing certain can be advanced. Javan] It is almost universally agreed that from him sprang the Ionians, of Asia Minor; but this name seems to have been anciently given to the Macedonians, Achaians, and Baeotians. Tubal] Some think be was the father of the Iberians, and that a part at least of Spain was peopled by him and his descendants; and that Meshech, who is generally in Scripture joined with him, was the founder of the Cappadocians, from whom proceeded the Muscovites. Tiras.] From this person, according to general consent, the Thracians derived their origin.

2. The sons of Japheth] These are names of peoples who for the most part seem to have dwelt in remote northern and western regions in Asia Minor. Gomer] Mentioned also in Ezekiel 38:6. Probably the people dwelling in the region of Pontus in Asia Minor, and called by the Greeks Cimmerians (Κιμμέριοι). Cf. 1 Chronicles 1:5-6. Magog] appears as the name of a country in Ezekiel 38:2, and of a northern people in Ezekiel 39:6, generally identified with the Scythians. Sayce conjectures that Magog is for “Mat-Gog” = “land of Gog.” The allusions to Gog and Magog in Revelation 20:8 are based upon the prophetic passages in Ezekiel 38, 39. Madai] Almost certainly “the land of the Medes.” The people of Media are referred to in the Assyrian inscriptions as “Madai” in the 9th century b.c. In the history of Israel they are first mentioned in 2 Kings 17:6. Cf. Isaiah 13:17; Isaiah 21:2; 1 Chronicles 1:5. Javan] This is the Hebrew name for “the Greeks.” The Ionians were the Greeks of Asia Minor and of the islands of the Ζgean Sea, who were first known to the peoples of Western Asia. They were called in Assyrian Javanu. For other passages in which the Greeks are mentioned in the O.T., cf. Isaiah 66:19; Ezekiel 27:13; Ezekiel 27:19; Daniel 8:21; Daniel 10:20; Joe 3:6; Zechariah 9:13. Tubal … Meshech] These two names are mentioned, along with Javan, in Ezekiel 27:13; Ezekiel 39:1. They have been identified with peoples in N.E. Asia Minor, Tibarenians and Moschians. In Isaiah 66:19 Tubal is classed with Javan and “the isles afar off.” In Psalms 120:5, “Meshech” is used as the name of a barbarous and remote people, “Woe is me that I sojourn in Meshech.” Tiras] Identified by Josephus (Ant. i. 6) with the Thracians, but now more frequently with a race of sea pirates of the Ζgean Sea called Τυρσηνοί. Another conjecture is Tarsus; another, Tarshish; cf. 1 Chronicles 1:6.

2. Gomer — The word occurs elsewhere in the Scriptures only in Ezekiel 38:6, where it is, as here, associated with Togarmah.