Joktan

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Joktan was the second of the two sons of Eber (Book of Genesis 10:25; 1 Chronicles 1:19) mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.

In the Book of Genesis 10:25 it reads: "And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother's name was Joktan."

Joktan's sons in the order provided in Genesis 10:26–29, were Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab.

In Pseudo-Philo's account (ca. 70), Joktan was first made prince over the children of Shem, just as Nimrod and were princes over the children of Ham and Japheth, respectively. In his version, the three princes command all persons to bake bricks for the Tower of Babel; however, twelve, including several of Joktan's own sons, as well as Abraham and Lot, refuse the orders. Joktan smuggles them out of Shinar and into the mountains, to the annoyance of the other two princes.[1]

The name is also written as Yoktan (Hebrew: יָקְטָן‎, Modern: Yoktan, Tiberian: Yoqṭān, Arabic: يقطان, romanized: Yaqṭān). He has also been identified with Qahtān, the ancestral figure of Qahtanites, in traditional Arab genealogy.

Robert Wilkinson's 1823 map of the descendants of Noah's sons, showing Joktan and his sons as having populated eastern Asia: Havilah is India, Sheba is Deccan, Jobab is Mongolia, Obal is China, Abimael is Indochina, Diklah is Japan, and Ophir is Indonesia.

Obsolete theories (based on a literal reading of Genesis 10:30, which states that Joktan's descendants migrated eastward) suggested that Joktan is the progenitor of the Mongoloid race, including east Asians and the indigenous peoples of the Americas, with the Yucatan peninsula supposedly being named after Joktan.[2][3]

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References[]

  1. ^ Pseudo-Philo
  2. ^ "History: The origin of the North American Indians with a faithful description of their manners and customs, both civil and military, their religions, languages, dress, and ornaments: To which is prefixed a brief view of the creation of the world ... Concluding with a copious selection of Indian speeches, the antiquities of America, the civilization of the Mexicans, and some final observations on the origin of the Indians: Introduction".
  3. ^ Shalev, Zur (2003). "Sacred Geography, Antiquarianism and Visual Erudition: Benito Arias Montano and the Maps in the Antwerp Polyglot Bible" (PDF). Imago Mundi. 55: 71. doi:10.1080/0308569032000097495. S2CID 51804916. Retrieved 2017-01-17.
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