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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comFausset Bible Dictionary: Joktan
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Son of Eber (; ; ). Head of the Joktanite Arabs. His settlements were in S. Arabia, "from Mesha unto Sephar a mount of the East" (Zafari, a seaport E. of Yemen; an emporium of trade with Africa and India). The Arab Kahtan whose sons peopled Yemen or Arabia Felix. Cushites from Ham () and Ludites from Shem () were already there, and intermingled with them. The seafaring element was derived from the Cushites, the Shemites not being seafaring; also the Cyclopean masonry and the rock cut Himyeritic inscriptions indicate the presence of Cushites. Arab tradition makes Joktan or Kahtan progenitor of the purest tribes of central and southern Arabia. The Scripture list of his descendants confirms this; almost all the names are certainly connected with this locality: "Almodad (El-Mudad), Sheleph (Sulaf or Silfan), Hazarmaveth" (Hadramaut), etc.