to bear young · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Almodad
אַלְמוֹדָ֖ד'al.mo.Dad
H486
Almodad · proper noun, a man's name
Sheleph
שָׁ֑לֶףSha.lef
H8026
Sheleph · proper noun, a man's name
Hazarmaveth
חֲצַרְמָ֖וֶתcha.tzar.Ma.vet
H2700
Chatsarmaveth · proper noun, a man's name
Jerah
יָֽרַחYa.rach
H3392
Jerach · proper noun, a man's name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Chronicles 1:20-28 And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 10:21–end
Two things especially are observable in this account of the posterity of Shem: -
I. The description of Shem, Gen 10:21. We have not only his name, Shem, which signifies a name, but two titles to distinguish him by: -
1. He was the father of all the children of Eber. Eber was his great grandson; but why should he be called the father of all his children, rather than of all Arphaxad's, or Salah's, etc.? Probably because Abraham and his seed, God's covenant-people, not only descended from Heber, but from him were called Hebrews; Gen 14:13, Abram the Hebrew. Paul looked upon it as his privilege that he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, Phi 3:5. Eber himself, we may suppose, was a man eminent for re…
Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided--After the flood (Gen 11:10-16) the descendants of Noah settled at pleasure and enjoyed the produce of the undivided soil. But according to divine instruction, made probably through Eber, who seems to have been distinguished for piety or a prophetic character, the earth was divided and his son's name, "Peleg," was given in memory of that event (see Deu 32:8; Act 17:26).
Adam Clarke on Genesis 10:26
Joktan - He had thirteen sons who had their dwelling from Mesha unto Sephar, a mount of the east, which places Calmet supposes to be mount Masius, on the west in Mesopotamia, and the mountains of the Saphirs on the east in Armenia, or of the Tapyrs farther on in Media. In confirmation that all men have been derived from one family, let it be observed that there are many customs and usages, both sacred and civil, which have prevailed in all parts of the world; and that these could owe their origin to nothing but a general institution, which could never have existed, had not mankind been originally of the same blood, and instructed in the same common notions before they were dispersed. Among t…
(Verse 26.) Jectan begat Helmodad, and Saleph, and Asermoth, and Jare, and Aduram, and Uzal, and Decla, Ebal, Abimael, Seba, Ophir, Evila, and Jobab. I could not find the names of the twelve other nations; but up to the present time, because they are far from us, or because they are called by different names, or because they have been changed, they are unknown. However, they possessed the whole region of India, which is called Hieria, from the river Cophene.
Joktan begot Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, Jerah, and Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah, and Obal, and Abimael, Sheba, and Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab. All these are the sons of Joktan. Jerome testifies that he could not find the later names of these nations. "But until the present," he says, "because they are far from us, either they are called the same as at first, or those that have been changed are unknown." We read above that Pishon, one of the four rivers of paradise, which our people call the Ganges, and it is not doubted to be in India, surrounds all the land of Havilah; this land seems to have taken its name from this Havilah. Josephus narrates that he, with his brothers, possessed the whole region of India called Hiera, but the Chronicles also tell that Solomon's servants went to Ophir by the Red Sea, and brought from there gold, and almug wood, and precious stones, which are believed to be from the region of India, and to have taken their name from Ophir, the son of Joktan.
All these are the sons of Joktan. And their dwelling was from Mesha as you go toward Sephar, the mountain of the east. We previously said that Shem, the first-born of Noah, signifies those believing from the ancient people of God, Japheth signifies those believing from the gentiles; Ham, mocking the nakedness of his father and for this cursed, insinuates that part of the same people which, as remaining in the middle, neither firstly with their fellow tribesmen, nor afterwards wanted to be associated with the gentiles in faith. Therefore, the figures and places of habitation of these are most fittingly congruent; surely the sons of Eber, who is shown to be predominant among the descendants of Shem, are said to have extended their habitation from Mesha to the eastern mountain called Sephar. Now Mesha is a region of India which, when interpreted, is called Elevation, which signifies not a reprehensible pride, but rather that elevating of the mind to which the Apostle exhorts us saying: If you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God; set your mind on things that are above, not on things on the earth (Colossians 3:1). But what is the eastern mountain, if not that of which Isaiah says: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob (Isaiah 2:3)? which is rightly called a mountain because it raises all those climbing up it from the desire for lowly things to the longing for heavenly things. It is rightly called the Eastern Mountain, because it reveals the rising of the true light to all those flocking to it. It is also rightly named Sephar, that is, Book. For it is the book of life, in which all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden, in which the names of all the elect are written. Therefore, the dwelling of the sons of Joktan, who is interpreted as Little One, was from Mesha, that is, Elevation, going towards the eastern mountain which is called Book, because all the saints following the humility of the earlier just ones, of whom it is said: The Lord preserves the simple (Psalm 114:6), at the beginning of a religious conversation uplift their minds from earthly contagions, so that they may be deemed worthy to ascend to see the brightness of the eternal Sun, and to be instructed from the very book of life, which is the Lord Christ, with the pages of…
Dictionary and topics
Almodad — Immeasurable, the first named of the sons of Joktan (Gen. 10:26), the founder of an Arabian tribe.
Arabia — Arid, an extensive region in the south-west of Asia. It is bounded on the west by the Isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea, on the south by the Indian Ocean, and on the east by the Persian Gulf and the…
Canaanites — The descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham. Migrating from their original home, they seem to have reached the Persian Gulf, and to have there sojourned for some time. They thence “spread to the west,…
Dodanim — Leaders, a race descended from Javan (Gen. 10:4). They are known in profane history as the Dardani, originally inhabiting Illyricum. They were a semi-Pelasgic race, and in the ethnographical table…
Ham — Warm, hot, and hence the south; also an Egyptian word meaning “black”, the youngest son of Noah (Gen. 5:32; comp. 9:22, 24). The curse pronounced by Noah against Ham, properly against Canaan his…
Hazar-maveth — Court of death, the third son of Joktan, and a region in Arabia-Felix settled by him (Gen. 10:26; 1 Chr. 1:20). It is probably the modern province of Hadramaut, situated on the Indian Ocean east of…
Hazarmaveth — (court of death), the third in order of the sons of Joktan (Genesis 10:26) The name is preserved in the Arabic Hadramawt and Hadrumawl, the appellation of a province and an ancient people of southern…
Japheth — Wide spreading: “God shall enlarge Japheth” (Heb. Yaphat Elohim le-Yephet, Gen. 9:27. Some, however, derive the name from yaphah, “to be beautiful;” hence white), one of the sons of Noah, mentioned…
Jerah — (the moon), the fourth in order of the sons of Joktan, (Genesis 10:26; 1 Chronicles 1:20) and the progenitor of a tribe of southern Arabia.
Sheleph — (a drawing forth), the second in order of the sons of Joktan. (Genesis 10:26; 1 Chronicles 1:20)
Almodad
And Joktan begat Almodad,.... And twelve more mentioned later: the Arabic writers (o) say be had thirty one sons by one woman, but all, excepting two, left Arabia, and settled in India; the Targum of Jonathan adds,"who measured the earth with ropes,''as if he was the first inventor and practiser of geometry: from him are thought to spring the Allumaeotae, a people whom Ptolemy (p) places in Arabia Felix, called so by the Greeks, instead of Almodaei: Mr. Broughton (q) sets Eldimaei over against this man's name, as if they were a people that sprung from him; whereas this word is wrongly put in Ptolemy (r) for Elymaeans, as it is in the Greek text, a people joining to the Persians:
and Sheleph…
Unto Shem also , the father of all the children of Eber. Moses, being about to speak of the sons of Shem, makes a brief introduction, which he had not done in reference to the others. Nor was it without reason; for since this was the race chosen by God, he wished to sever it from other nations by some special mark. This also is the reason why he expressly styles him the father of the sons of Eber,' and the elder brother of Japheth. [320] For the benediction of Shem does not descend to all his grandchildren indiscriminately, but remains in one family. And although the grandchildren themselves of Eber declined from the true worship of God, so that the Lord might justly have disinherited them;…
Among the descendants of Arphaxad, Eber's eldest son received the name of Peleg, because in his days the earth, i.e., the population of the earth, was divided, in consequence of the building of the tower of Babel (Gen 11:8). His brother Joktan is called Kachtan by the Arabians, and is regarded as the father of all the primitive tribes of Arabia. The names of his sons are given in Gen 10:26-29. There are thirteen of them, some of which are still retained in places and districts of Arabia, whilst others are not yet discovered, or are entirely extinct. Nothing certain has been ascertained about Almodad, Jerah, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, and Jobab. Of the rest, Sheleph is identical with Salif or Sul…
There were fourteen sons of Shem by Eber through Joktan. The placement of the Babel story between the lines of Joktan and Peleg ties Joktan to the judgment of the Babel story (11:1-9) and ties Peleg to Abram (11:27–12:1).
10:26-29 Almodad was an ancestor, region, or tribe in modern Yemen. • Sheleph was a tribe of Yemen. • Hazarmaveth was related to Hadramaut in southern Arabia. • Jerah is unknown, but was possibly associated with Mount Barach. • Hadoram was an Arabian tribe. • Uzal was Sana’a, an old capital of Yemen in pre-Islamic times. • Diklah was a southern Arabian oasis in Mina. • Obal was between Hodeida and Sana’a in southwest Arabia. • Abimael was a Sabaean. • Sheba was in southern…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
· General references
— General references
Hazarmaveth · General references — General references
Jerah · General references — General references
Joktan · General references — General references
Sciences · Geography — Geography
Sheleph · General references — General references
Shem · General references — General references
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
