The Descendants of Japheth
(Genesis 10:2-5)
Japheth
was the youngest of Noah's three sons. His two brothers were Ham and Shem. Japheth, along with his parents, his
brothers and their wives, were on the Ark during the Great Flood. Japheth's sons were named Gomer, Magog,
Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras.
Their descendants became the maritime nations in various lands, each
with a separate language (Gen 10:5). It
is believed most of Japheth's descendants settled in Europe.
The
descendants of Japheth, after the Tower of Babel, when God made man go out and
populate the world migrated west and north. The sons of Japheth's sons are
listed giving more detail than is found in the list of Ham's or Shem's sons. A
study of names Japheth's sons and grandsons sheds some light on who are his
descendants today.
|
Name of
the Son |
People
Associated With the Name |
Japheth
|
Greeks, Aryans of India
|
|
Gomer |
People
living in area of the Black Sea, Germany and Wales. |
|
Magog |
Reference
to "Gog" referring to Georgia, a region near the Black Sea and
Scythians. |
|
Madai |
Medes
(Persia), Japheth through Madai father of peoples of India. |
|
Javan |
People
of Greece and Cyprus. |
|
Tubal |
Russian,
city of Tobolsk. |
|
Meshech |
Russian,
(Name Muskovi) city of Moscow. |
|
Tiras |
Thracians,
possibly the Etruscans of Italy. |
|
Ashkenaz
|
Germany,
Armenia, Scandinavia, Denmark, northern islands of Europe and European west
coast. |
|
Ripath |
Generally
Europe, Carpathians and Paphlagonians |
|
Togarmah
|
Armenians,
Germany and Turkey |
|
Elishah |
Greeks
("Hellas" is a form of word Elishah) |
|
Tarshish
|
Spain,
Carthage in North Africa |
|
Kittim |
Greeks,
Cyprus, Macedonia |
|
Dodanium
|
Greeks,
Rhodes, Dardanelles |
(The above
information came from Henry M. Morris's book The Genesis Record, pages
247-249)
As
you can see from the list above Japheth descendent are the Indo-European
peoples. The Indo-European peoples are identified as the "white" or
Caucasian race.
After the
confusion of languages at the Tower of Babel, God orderly divided up the
different peoples of the world. When God changed the language of the people of
the world He did so by family (tribe or clan) and nations. These families who
were related found they spoke the same language and gathered together in
migrating generally west and north out of Babylonia. This was probably not a
migration of all these families in one group. It would seem all these families
separately migrated in the same general direction because they all had a common
language. This migration of people lasted over many centuries. In seeking new
lands as the population grew they spread northward and to the west.
It should
be noted that some teach that the people of the British Isles were the
descendants of the Ten (supposed) Lost Tribes of Israel. They also teach that America, where the
English Pilgrims first arrived in 1620 A.D., is the “New Israel”. This is only a conjecture and hypothesis
without any anthropological evidence.
The English people are Caucasians, the descendants of Japheth, not Shem,
who is the ancestor of the Jews through Abraham. Of course many Jews have dispersed throughout Europe, but they
remained as homogeneous ethnic groups of people wherever they lived because of
their distinctive religious practices.
“May
God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem; and may Canaan be
his servant.” (Gen. 9:27)
This is a
statement made by Noah. Some use this
prophecy to teach that Japheth is the ancestor of the Chinese people because of
the word “enlarge”. They base their teaching on the fact that the Chinese are the most
populous race in the world. The word “enlarge”
in the Hebrew language “Pathah” Strong’s Hebew Dictionary
does not mean having many people.
|
Htp
pathah |
a primitive root; to open, i.e. be (causatively,
make) roomy; usually figuratively (in a mental or moral sense) to be
(causatively, make) simple or (in a sinister way) delude:--allure, deceive,
enlarge, entice, flatter, persuade, silly (one). |
The
English word “enlarge” used in
the King James Bible usually means to extend, expand, broaden or widen borders,
lands or territories. God promised
Israel: “For I will cast out the nations before you and
enlarge your borders; . . .” (Ex. 34:24; ref. Deut. 12:20; 19:8) The
prophecy “May God enlarge
Japheth” was accurately fulfilled in the history of the
European nations that are descendants of Japheth. In 331 BCE the Greek Alexander the Great, conquered
Persia and extended his empire to India in the east and Egypt in the
southwest. Alexander also spread the ideas of Aristotle and other
classical Greeks throughout conquered lands, creating the Hellenistic Age. In 260 BCE Rome fought Punic Wars against
Carthage – rise of Roman Empire and fall of Greece. In 100 CE Roman Empire peaked – trade flourished with India and
China. In 65 BCE Julius Caesar
conquered Gaul (modern-day France) and other parts of Europe. In 1 CE - Rise of Christianity. In 100
CE - Roman Empire peaked – trade flourished with India and China. In 325 CE Constantine converted to
Christianity, established city of Byzantium (later known as Constantinople,
then Istanbul), and ruled the Roman Empire. Rome’s influence in the
British Isle can be proven by archaeology.
The Age of
Exploration by the European nations is from 1450 A.D. to 1700 A.D. There are two main motives behind the
exploration. First is the desire for
power and wealth. Second is for the
expansion of the Church. The Christian
missions often follow after the territorial conquests. The Portuguese Prince Henry (1394 A.D. –
1460 A.D.) sent ships to explore West Africa to find a sea route to the
East. In 1444 A.D. Gil Eannes, a squire
of Prince Henry, captured 200 natives in Cape Blanco and started the European
slave trade. In 1497 A.D. the king of
Portugal sent Vasco de Gama on a diplomatic mission to India. His four ships were loaded with cannons and
goods to trade. Some Portuguese traders
threatened the Indian rulers to grant them favorable trading rights. Christopher Columbus (1451 A.D. – 1506 A.D.)
an Italian who explored for Spain, is well known for his discovery of America,
but we seldom read about his other discoveries in the West Indies and Central
America that led to territorial conquests.
Today many of these countries such as Cuba, Nicaragua, etc. still have
vestiges of colonialist Spain. How do
you think most of the countries in South America still have Spanish as their
national language and Brazilians got to speak Portuguese? It came from the expansionist legacy of
European nations who are descendants of Japheth. What about the British Empire that once embodied
Africa, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Burma (now Myanmar), the West Indies, Iraq,
Turkey, Transjordan (now Jordan), Palestine (now Israel), Canada, Australia,
New Zealand, and South Africa? If
America did not win the War of Independence (1765-1777) it would
have also become a part of the British Empire.
We should also not forget France that colonized Vietnam (originally
called French Indo-China) and the Dutch that once ruled Indonesia (formerly
called Dutch East Indies). Philippines
was, at one time, a colony of Spain.
This is one of the reasons why many Filipinos still retain their
Hispanic surnames. Lest we forget, the
former British Crown colony Hong Kong was only given back to China in 1997, and
Macau was returned by Portugal to China in 1999. Those that teach the Chinese are descendants of Japheth do not
have any historical evidence of China’s colonization of other countries. It does not fit Noah’s prophecy. The Chinese people are descendants of Shem,
not Japheth who is, without a doubt, the progenitor of the European people.
If we
believe in the fulfillment of Bible prophecy then what Noah proclaimed had
already been fulfilled.
“May
God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem; and may Canaan be
his servant.” (Gen. 9:27)
How did
the descendants of Japheth “dwell
in the tents of Shem”? From
history we observe the European nations first explore the foreign lands to
expand their territories. This “enlarges
Japheth.” Their next
step was to establish Christian missions.
We all acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ is the “God
of Shem”. The “tents
of Shem” signify the Christian churches and missions. How did Canaan become
the servant of Japheth? It is a sad page in world history that the
African people who are the descendants of Canaan were once
brought to America as slaves. We thank
our Lord Jesus Christ for many righteous Americans who fought and won the Civil
War (1861-1865) and abolished slavery in
America.
“Glory,
glory HalleluYah! His truth is marching
on.” – Battle Hymn of the Republic
This Article is the response of Paul Wong
to a discussion in the ARK Forum on February 10, 2003
For comments please write first to: ark@pdq.net
May God bless you.
Paul Wong is a Christian minister and the
President of ARK International.
His ministry also serves as an architectural service company in Houston.
The ARK Forum on the Internet is international and non-denominational.
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