Joktan

Biblical Record

Joktan appears in the Table of Nations in Genesis 10. This list is a genealogy tracing how the descendants of Noah's three sons spread out into various nations, and Joktan belongs to the line of Shem. According to Genesis 10:25, Eber had two sons. Of the elder, Peleg, the text adds, "for in his days was the earth divided"; his younger brother was Joktan.

Genesis 10:26-29 lists the names of Joktan's thirteen sons: Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, Obal, Abimael, Sheba, Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. Genesis 10:30 describes their dwelling as extending "from Mesha, as thou goest unto Sephar a mount of the east." The same genealogy reappears in 1 Chronicles 1:19-23, where Obal is spelled "Ebal." Scripture records no deeds or events from Joktan's life; he appears only as a name in the genealogies.

Significance within Scripture

In chapter 10, Genesis introduces the two branches of Peleg and Joktan together. The genealogy in chapter 11, however, follows only Peleg's line down to Abraham, leaving Joktan's line as a side branch diverging from the main line. Scholars explain that this arrangement narrows the main line of redemptive history toward Abraham while also showing that the other nations remain within a world that God remembers.

Joktan is not mentioned in the New Testament. The genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3 follows the line through Eber (Heber) and Peleg, so Joktan is not included.

Interpretation and Debates

Some of the names of Joktan's sons are associated with place names in southern Arabia. Hazarmaveth is commonly identified with Hadramaut in present-day Yemen, and Sheba with the ancient kingdom of Saba. Ophir bears the same name as the place from which Solomon obtained gold according to 1 Kings. However, because the names Sheba and Havilah also appear in the genealogy of Ham's descendants in Genesis 10, scholars differ on their precise locations and genealogical relationships. The locations of "Mesha" and "Sephar" have likewise not been determined.

Arab tradition sometimes identifies Joktan with Qahtan, the ancestor of the South Arabian tribes. This is a later tradition rather than something the biblical text itself states. The statement that "the earth was divided" in Peleg's days is likewise read by some as referring to the dispersion of the nations after the events at the Tower of Babel, while others interpret it differently.

In the Korean Church

Joktan is rarely treated as a separate topic in sermons or Sunday school. Readers mainly encounter him in the genealogies of Genesis and 1 Chronicles when reading through the Bible.

Some writings and sermons, however, have appealed to the "mount of the east" in Genesis 10:30 to argue that the Korean people are descendants of Joktan, and this claim is known among some church members. Proponents cite a supposed eastward migration of Joktan's descendants and similarities in language and customs. Critics counter that the biblical text says nothing of such a migration and that the claim is a nationalistic interpretation lacking sound support from either the meaning of the names or historical evidence. It is not a view widely accepted in academic or theological circles.