The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.
The sons of Japheth. For the meaning of this name, see the note at Genesis 6:10; Genesis 9:27. Japheth is thought to be the Japetus of the classics. Japheth designates in general the nations situated north of Palestine.
Magog - ancestor of the people known generally as the Scythian tribes which occupied the regions extending from the Caucasus to the Caspian Sea. Cf. Ezekiel 38:2; Ezekiel 39:1: Josephus, 1: 6, section 1.
Madai (cf. 1 Chronicles 1:5) - progenitor of the Medes, who occupied the country of Media, and established the Medo-Persian kingdom. This name is used elsewhere as a national, not a personal appellation (2 Kings 17:6; Esther 1:3; Daniel 11:1).
Javan - the representative of Greece and the Greeks, including Asia Minor (Isaiah 66:19; Ezekiel 27:13; Daniel 8:21; Daniel 10:20; Joel 3:6). The name occurs not only in the Semitic dialects, but in the Sanskrit; and it is found also in the Assyrian relics as Yavnan or Yunan, and on Egyptian monuments as Uoinim, Ionians; thus showing that the designation was anciently in common use throughout the East.
Tubal - [Septuagint, Thobel] Josephus says the Chalybes and Iberi were originally Thebeli; from Tubal, their founder. Bochart supposes the Tibareni, a people mentioned by ancient writers, to have derived their name from the same source. The settlements of this branch of the Japhetic family lay in the north, between the Caspian and the Euxine, in the country corresponding to the modern Georgia. The Spanish nation claims descent from Tubal; and if it be considered that their country was known to the ancient Greeks by the name of Iberia, and to distinguish it from Asiatic Iberia, by the special designation of Celtiberia, and that some remains of this ancient name are still preserved in the classic Iberus (the Ebro), their claim seems to be well founded.
Mesech, [Septuagint, Mosoch] - the classical Moschi. They spread along the borders of Colchis and Armenia, in what was called Sarmatia (Moscovia Proper). These two Colchian tribes, which, according to Josephus, followed by Knobel, were the rude originals of the Iberians and Ligurians, are generally associated, not only here, and in various other passages of Scripture (Isaiah 66:19; Ezekiel 27:13; Ezekiel 32:26; Ezekiel 38:2-3; Ezekiel 38:15; Ezekiel 39:1), but in Herodotus (book 3: 4), and in the Assyrian inscriptions, where their names appear as Muskai and Tuplai.
Tiras - Thracia, the original seat of the Getae, Goths, and Scandinavians.