Genesis 10:2

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; Isa 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 Ægean 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; Joel 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 Ægean Sea called Τυρσηνοί. Another conjecture is Tarsus; another, Tarshish; cf. 1 Chronicles 1:6.