Genesis 10:25

25 To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother's name was Joktan.

Genesis 10:25 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 10:25

And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was
Peleg
Bochart F11 thinks, that either Peleg, or one of his posterity, in memory of him, gave the name of Phalga to a town situated on the Euphrates; though the reason of the name, as given by Arrianus, as he himself observes, was because it divided between the two Seleucias, as the reason of Peleg's name was;

for in his days was the earth divided;
among the three sons of Noah, and their respective posterities; their language was divided, and that obliged them to divide and separate in bodies which understood one another; hence that age, in which was this event, was usually called by the Jews the age of division; whether this was done about the time of his birth, and so this name was given him to perpetuate the memory of it, or in some after part of his life, and so was given by a spirit of prophecy, is a question: Josephus, Jarchi, and the Jewish writers, generally go the latter way; if it was at the time of his birth, which is the sense of many, then this affair happened in the one hundred and first year after the flood, for in that year Peleg was born, as appears from ( Genesis 11:11-16 )

and his brother's name was Joktan,
whom the Arabs call Cahtan, and claim him as their parent, at least, of their principal tribes; and say he was the first that reigned in Yaman, and put a diadem on his head {l}; and there is a city in the territory of Mecca, about seven furlongs or a mile to the south of it, and one station from the Red sea, called Baisath Jektan, the seat of Jektan F13, which manifestly retains his name; and there are a people called Catanitae, placed by Ptolemy F14 in Arabia Felix.


FOOTNOTES:

F11 Phaleg. l. 2. c. 14. col. 93.
F12 Vid. Pocock. Specimen. Arab. Hist. p. 39. 55.
F13 Arab. Geograph. apud Bochart. Phaleg: l. 2. c. 15. col. 98.
F14 Geograph, l. 6. c. 7.

Genesis 10:25 In-Context

23 The descendants of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.
24 Arpachshad became the father of Shelah; and Shelah became the father of Eber.
25 To Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided, and his brother's name was Joktan.
26 Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,
27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,

Footnotes 1

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.