JAPHETH (rm., ; Vulg. japhetlz), one of the three sons of Noah, of whom the whole earth was overspread' (Gen. ix. 19). It is uncer tain whether he was the eldest or the second son. When the three are mentioned together, the order invariably is Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and it would be most natural to suppose that they are mentioned in the order of primogeniture. It is clear that Ham was younger than Shem, but it is not absolutely necessary to suppose front Gen. ix. 24 that he was the youngest of the three. Such, however, has been the general supposition, and Josephus writes them in the order Shem, Japheth, Harn (Antig. i. 4. t). Nothing can be said in favour of Japheth being the ela'est son; for the ex pression in Gen. x. 21, unto Shem, the brother of Japheth the elder,' may, and probably does mean, the elder brother of Japheth' (taking .1`g with ,m), and not as the LXX., Symmachus, and • 7: Eng. Ver. take it, C/3EXcbCP 'Ickbe0 Acti-ovos.
There are, indeed, two arguments against this— that Japheth is placed first in the genealogy ; and 2. that in Gen. v. 32 Noah is said to have be gotten sons in his sooth year, one hundred years before the deluge (vi. r), whereas in xi. ro, Shem becomes father of Arphaxad, tzvo years after the deluge, when he is loo years old ; whence it is in ferred that Shem must have been born in the so2d year of Noah, and that Japheth must have been the eldest son. But these arguments are not con clusive. Japheth is placed first in the genealogy (Gen. x.) in order that the thread of the narrative, which continues in the line of Shenz, may not be broken ; and in Gen. v. 32, since Noah could not have had three sons born in one year, so° is obviously a round number for so2 ; so that we conclude unhesitatingly that Yapheth was Noah's youngest son (Rosenmtiller, &hal. ad Gen. x. 21). This conclusion is important, inasmuch as it best agrees with the ethnological and historical signifi cance of the name Japheth.
2. The name appears to be derived from rinn, to extend,' in Gen. ix. 27. But as rm+9 is one of those very numerous instances of masia which so strongly characterises the Hebrew writings (cf. Gen. xlviii. 22 ; Mic. vii. 12 ; Jer.
i. ; Is. xxi. t, etc.), we may perhaps consider that no derivation is there intended (das Wortsfiid; Ewald, Gesell. d. Volk. Isr. i. 373) ; and in that case, although no obvious derivation suggests itself, the name may be referred to riz+, pulcher fuit,'* and tnay contain an allusion to"the beauty of the Japhetic race (Ewald, 1.c.; Gesenius, s. v., Thes.
p. in). This is the less unlikely since Ham means hot,' and Phut and Lubin' are names which contain a reference to the darkness of those races. It is clear that throughout the famous ethnographi cal chart of Gen. x., and perhaps elsewhere in the Bible, the names are rather ethnic and allusive than individual. Unless—of which we have no hint— names were bestowed by a spirit of prophecy in the earliest infancy, it is obvious that in many in stances the name by which the founders of families were afterwards known, were names suggested by the subsequent fortunes of themselves or their de scendants. The name Japheth does not occur again
in the Bible, but is found as the designation of a province, in Judith ii. 2s.
3. Of the personal history of Japheth we know nothing beyond the single incident narrated in Gen. ix. 23, in which Japheth seems to. have acted upon the suggestion of his elder brother Shem, and therefore only receives the blessing of temporal prosperity, not the loftier privilege of religious truth. If, broadly and generally, we regard Shem as the direct ancestor of the Shemites, and Japheth as the intended representative of the chief Arian nations, this passage shews a marvellous insight into the destinies of those great races, as well as into the fact that reverence, filial piety, and the purity of heart and eye are the main foundations on which the greatness of those mighty civilized races has been built up. The blessing itself re ceived ample historical fulfilment in the extension of Japheth's dominions into the territories of the Sheinites, and the participation of the Japhetidx in the teligious privileges of their kinsmen of the elder branch.
4. In Gen. x. seven sons are ascribed to Japheth —Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tuba], Meshech, Tiras. For the significance of these names, as well as of those attributed to their sons, see the separate articles upon them. All that we need here observe is that they are intended to include all the non-Semitic and non - Hamitic nations knawn to the yews, and that generally Japheth stands for the nations north of Palestine,. as Ham for those to the south, Palestine itself being re garded as a navel of the earth' (Ezek. v. 5 ; Ewald, Gesch. i. 373). Among the most import ant Japhetic nations are the Bactrians (Gomer), the Scythians (Magog), the Medes (Madai), the Thmcians (Tiras), and the Greek (Javan).
5. There are numerous Oriental legends about Japheth. According to Mohammedan writers he was the eldest son of Noah, who gave him a stone (called Giude Tasch and Seuk Jede, long pre served in the country of the Mogul), upon which was inscribed the name of God, and which enabled him to cause rain at pleasure. They call him Aboultierk, and ascribe to him eleven sons, among whom are Sin, father of the Chinese, Turk of the Turks, and Ros of the Russians—nations wholly unknown to the ancient Hebrews. They ascribe to his sons great wisdom, but say that no prophet was ever born among them (Weil, Biblische Legen a'en, viii. 46). The resemblance of Japheth with the Greek 'Icireros, whether fortuitous or not, is highly remarkable ; but the attempts of Bochart, Huet, and others, to identify Japheth with Nep tune (Calmet's Dict. Fragnz.xix.,xx.), have little to rest upon (Bochart, Phaleg. ; D'Herbelot, Bib/. Orient. 1 281 ; Hottinger, Hist. Orient., p, 37 ; Duttmann Nythol. i. 222, etc.)—F. W. F.