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{{Short description|Son of Eber in the bible}}
{{Redirect|Obal|the urban-type settlement in Belarus|Obal (urban-type settlement)}}
'''Joktan''' (also written as '''Yoktan'''; {{Hebrew Name|יָקְטָן|Yŏqṭan|Yāqṭān}}; {{langx|ar|يقطان|translit=Yaqṭān}}) was the second of the two sons of [[Eber]] ([[Book of Genesis]] 10:25; [[1 Chronicles]] 1:19) mentioned in the [[Hebrew Bible]]. He descends from [[Shem]], son of [[Noah]].

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 {{bibleref|Genesis|10:26-29}}, were [[Almodad]], [[Sheleph]], [[Hazarmaveth]], [[Jerah]], [[Hadoram]], [[Uzal]], [[Diklah]], Obal, [[Abimael]], [[Sheba (king)|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 (king)|Nimrod]] and Phenech were princes over the children of [[Ham, son of Noah|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.<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/bap/bap21.htm Pseudo-Philo]</ref>

== South Arabian narrative ==
[[File:Pre_Islamic_Arabian_Tribes_(Harold_Dixon).svg|thumb|268x268px|A map published by the British academic Harold Dixon during [[World War I]], showing the presence of the Arab tribes in [[West Asia]], 1914]]
[[File:Dhamar Ali Yahbur (bust).jpg|alt=|thumb|Statue of a South Arabian king. According to Arab genealogy, South Arabians descend from Qahtan who is identified with Joktan.]]There is an Arab tradition that Joktan was the progenitor of all the purest tribes of Southern Arabia.<ref>{{Citation |last=Easton |first=Matthew George |title=Joktan |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Easton's_Bible_Dictionary_(1897)/Joktan |work=Easton's Bible Dictionary |access-date=2022-03-11}}</ref> Joktan has been identified with Qahtān (Arabic: قحطان), the ancestral figure of [[Qahtanite|Qahtanites]], in traditional Arab genealogy.<ref>{{Cite web |title=JOKTAN - JewishEncyclopedia.com |url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8746-joktan |access-date=2022-03-11 |website=www.jewishencyclopedia.com}}</ref> Three of Joktan's sons have connections to South Arabia. [[Sheba]] is identified as the ancient South Arabian kingdom of Saba.<ref>Finkelstein, Israel; Silberman, Neil Asher (2007). David and Solomon: In Search of the Bible's Sacred Kings and the Roots of the Western Tradition. Simon & Schuster. p. 171.</ref> [[Hazarmaveth]] ([[Biblical Hebrew language|Biblical Hebrew]]: חֲצַרְמָוֶת, [[Romanization of Hebrew|tr.]] Ḥăṣarmāweṯ; [[Arabic language|Arabic]]: حضرموت) has been identified with the South Arabian region of [[Hadhramaut]] and according to various Bible dictionaries, the name "Hazarmaveth" means "court of death" which reflects a meaning similar to the Arabic folk etymologies of the region.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hazarmaveth - Smith's Bible Dictionary - Bible Dictionary |url=https://www.christianity.com/bible/dictionary/smiths-bible-dictionary/hazarmaveth.html |access-date=2022-03-11 |website=www.christianity.com}}</ref> [[Hadoram]] according to Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan is interpreted as denoting "the south" and it was a fortress to the south of Yemen's [[Sanaa|Sana'a]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Some interpret this as denoting 'the south.' This was a fortress to the south of San'a (Kesseth HaSofer). See 1 Chronicles 18:10; Zechariah 12:11. |url=http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=1&CHAPTER=10#C186 |access-date=2022-03-11 |archive-date=2005-11-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051130022520/http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=1&CHAPTER=10#C186 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== East Asians theory ==
[[File:The World as Peopled by the Descendants of Noah Shewing the Countries Possessed by Shem, Ham & Japhet and their posterity after the confusion of tongues..jpg|thumb|[[Robert Wilkinson (cartographer)|Robert Wilkinson]]'s 1823 map of the descendants of Noah's sons, showing Joktan and his sons as having populated eastern Asia: [[Havilah]] is [[Tibet]], [[Sheba]] is [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan]], [[List of minor Old Testament figures, A–K|Jobab]] is [[Mongolia]], Obal is [[China]], [[List of minor Old Testament figures, A–K|Abimael]] is [[Mainland Southeast Asia|Indochina]], [[List of minor Old Testament figures, A–K|Diklah]] is [[Japan]], and [[Ophir]] is [[Indonesia]], particularly the [[Maluku Islands]].|left|227x227px]]Theories (based on a literal reading of {{bibleref|Genesis|10:30}}, which states that Joktan's descendants migrated eastward)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ridpath |first=John Clark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZwA2AQAAMAAJ |title=Universal History: Great Races of Mankind |date=1896 |publisher=Jones |pages=466 |language=en}}</ref> suggested that Joktan is the progenitor of the [[east Asians]] and the [[indigenous peoples of the Americas]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=ORIENTAL ORIGINS IN THE BIBLE |url=http://www.eifiles.cn/oo-en.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707031041/http://www.eifiles.cn/oo-en.htm |archive-date=2011-07-07 |access-date=2025-06-05 |website=www.eifiles.cn}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/History/History-idx?type=turn&entity=History.McIntosh.p0040&id=History.McIntosh&isize=text|title=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}}</ref><ref name="montano">{{cite journal|last1=Shalev|first1=Zur|title=Sacred Geography, Antiquarianism and Visual Erudition: Benito Arias Montano and the Maps in the Antwerp Polyglot Bible|journal=Imago Mundi|date=2003|volume=55|page=71|doi=10.1080/0308569032000097495|s2cid=51804916|url=http://research.haifa.ac.il/~zshalev/Articles/IMundi-2003-Montano.pdf|access-date=2017-01-17|archive-date=2021-02-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225102322/http://research.haifa.ac.il/~zshalev/Articles/IMundi-2003-Montano.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> One early proponent of this theory was the theologian [[Benito Arias Montano]], who proposed a link between the names of the [[Yucatán Peninsula]] and Joktan, and also between [[Ophir]], Joktan's son, and [[Peru]].<ref>''[https://www.google.co.nz/books/edition/An_Universal_History/fNg-AAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Andes&pg=PA146&printsec=frontcover An Universal History: From the Earliest Accounts to the Present Time]''. (1779). United Kingdom: C. Bathurst.</ref><ref name="montano"/> Modern proponents of this idea include the [[young Earth creationist]] geneticist Nathaniel Jeanson, who identifies him as the progenitor of numerous Central and East Asian [[Y-chromosomal haplogroup|Y-chromosomal haplogroups]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jeanson |first=Nathaniel |title=Traced: Human DNA's Big Surprise |date=2022 |publisher=New Leaf Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-68344-291-2 |edition=1st |location=Erscheinungsort nicht ermittelbar}}</ref>
==See also==
* Not to be confused with [[Jokshan]]
* [[Qahtanite]] Tribe.

==References==
{{EBD poster|Joktan}}
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Book of Genesis people]]
[[Category:Books of Chronicles people]]
[[Category:Tower of Babel]]