Genesis 10:3

Gen 10:3 And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.

Ver. 3. Ashkenaz.] Hinc Tuiscones , or Duitschmen, say the Jews; making Ashkenaz the father of the Germans, as Gomer of the Cimbrians or Danes, and Meshec of the Muscovites. But of these things there is little certainty. See Breerwood’s Inquiries.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10:3 The descendants of Gomer came from near the Upper Euphrates region north of the Black Sea (cp. Ezek 38:1-9). • The descendants of Ashkenaz were the later Scythians who inhabited the region between the Black and Caspian Seas. • Riphath is near Carchemish. • The descendants of Togarmah are associated with Til-garimmu, the capital of Kammanu in modern Armenia (see Ezek 38:6).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 3. Ashkenaz] Probably gave his name to Sacagena, a very excellent province of Armenia. Pliny mentions a people called Ascanitici, who dwelt about the Tanais and the Palus Maeotis; and some suppose that from Ashkenaz the Euxine Sea derived its name, but others suppose that from him the Germans derived their origin.

Riphath] Or Diphath, the founder of the Paphlagonians, which were anciently called Riphataei.

Togarmah.] The Sauromates, or inhabitants of Turcomania. See the reasons in Calmet.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(3) Gomer has three main divisions:—

1. Ashkenaz, a region in the neighbourhood of Armenia (Jer_51:27), whence, following the course of Japhethite migration, the race seems to have wandered into Germany. The derivations are all most uncertain; but the Jews call the Germans Ashkenazites, and are probably right.

2. Riphath, in 1Ch_1:6, is called Diphath (see Dodanim, below). Riphath is probably right, and the, inhabitants of the Riphæan Mountains (the Carpathians?) are the people meant. They were Celts.

3. Togarmah. Certainly Armenia.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. Ashkenaz] Mentioned in Jer_51:27 along with Ararat; and now generally identified with the region of Armenia. It is worth noticing that the mediaeval Jews explained this name as denoting Germany. Thus the Ashkenazim are the German Jews.

Riphath] In 1Ch_1:6 the name appears as “Diphath.” The letters, R (ר) and D (ד), are very similar in Hebrew. Cf. “Dodanim” for “Rodanim,” Gen_10:4. Josephus identified “Riphath” with the Paphlagonians. The name is now unknown.

Togarmah] Mentioned also in Eze_27:14, with Javan, Tubal and Meshech; and in Eze_38:6, with Gomer, and generally identified with the western part of Armenia. Cf. 1Ch_1:6.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the sons of Gomer,.... Who was the first of the sons of Japheth, three of whose sons are mentioned, and they are as follow:

Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah; the first of these seated himself in the lesser Asia, in Pontus and Bithynia, where were some traces of his name in the river Ascanius, and in the Ascanian lake or bay; and also in the lesser Phrygia or Troas, where was a city called Ascania, and where were the Ascanian isles (x), and the Euxine Pontus, or Axeine (y), as it was first called, which is the sea that separates Asia and Europe, and is no other than a corruption of the sea of Ashkenaz. It seems to have been near Armenia, by its being mentioned along with Minni or Armenia, in Jer 51:27. Germany is by the Jews commonly called Ashkenaz; perhaps some of the posterity of Ashkenaz in Asia might pass into Europe, and Germany might be a colony of them; so Mr. Broughton (z) observes of the sons of Gomer, that they first took their seat in Asia, and then came north and west into Muscovy and Germany. The next son of Gomer was Riphath. Josephus (a) says, that the Riphathaeans which came from him are the Paphlagonians, a people of Asia Minor, near Pontus, so that he settled near his brother Ashkenaz; perhaps his posterity are the Arimphaei of Pliny (b), and the Riphaeans of Mela (c), who inhabited near the Riphaean mountains, which might have their name from this son of Gomer, who in Ch1 1:6 is called Diphath, the letters and being very similar. His third son is called Togarmah, who had his seat in the north of Judea, see Eze 38:6 his posterity are the Phrygians, according to Josephus (d); but some place them in Galatia and Cappadocia; and Strabo (e) makes mention of a people called Trocmi, on the borders of Pontus and Cappadocia; and Cicero (f) of the Trogmi or Trogini, who may have their name from hence; for the Greek interpreters always call him Torgama or Thorgana. The Jews make the Turks to be the posterity of Togarmah. Elias Levita says (g), there are some that say that Togarmah is the land of Turkey; and Benjamin of Tudela (h) calls a Turkish sultan king of the Togarmans, that is, the Turks; and among the ten families of Togarmah, which Josephus ben Gorion (i) speaks of, the Turks are one; and perhaps this notion may not be amiss, since the company of Togarmah is mentioned with Gog, or the Turk; see Gill on Eze 38:6. The Armenians pretend to be the descendants of Togarmah, who, with them, is the son of Tiras, the son of Gomer, by his son Haik, from whom they and their country, from all antiquity, have bore the name of Haik (k).

(x) Strabo Geograph. l. 12. p. 387, 388. & l. 14. p. 468. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 4. 12. & 5. 30, 31, 32. (y) Vid. Orphei Argonautic, ver. 84. (z) See his Works, p. 2, 58. (a) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.) (b) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 2. (c) De Situ Orbis, l. 1. c. 2. (d) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.) (e) Geograph. l. 4. p. 130. & l. 12. p. 390. (f) De Divinatione, l. 2. (g) In Tishbi, p. 259. (h) ltinerarium, p. 27, 54. (i) Hist. Heb. l. 1. c. 1. p. 3. (k) See the Universal History, vol. 1. p. 377.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Ascenez father of the Germans, Thogorma father of the Turks. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Ashkenaz, whose seed possessed Pontus and Bithynia, and the neighbouring parts, from whom they took the names of the lake and haven called Ascanius, and the sea called Axenus, or Euxinus.

Riphath is called Diphath, 1Ch 1:6; the letters Daleth and Resh being oft interchanged, as we shall see in other instances. His posterity dwelled in or near Pontus and Bithynia, where Mela and Pliny and Solinus place the Riphaei, or Riphaces, and the Paphlagonians, who were anciently called Piphataei.

Togarmah, whose posterity are joined with Gomer’s; see Eze 27:14; 38:6; and were, as some think, the Phrygians and Galatians, and of them the Gauls and Germans; or, as others, the Armenians, and of them the Turks.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

3. Sons of Gomer — Sub-families of the Gomeridae, or Cimmerians, Kimbri.

Ashkenaz — Or Askenaz. Kenaz means family, family of the Asi, who lived in the north-west of Asia Minor, and from whom Asia derives its name. (Knobel.) By metathesis the name becomes Aksenaz, possibly the old name of the Black Sea, which the Greeks called αξενος, Euxine. (Lewis.) The Greek name is usually understood, however, to mean inhospitable.

Riphath — The portion of the Kelts who, according to Plutarch, crossed the Rhipoen (Carpathian) mountains, and poured over northern Europe, seem to have preserved this name.

Togarmah — The Armenians, who, according to their own historians, had Thorgon for their founder, and call themselves the house (family) of Thorgon. (Furst, Knobel.) They originally dwelt in Armenia and Asia Minor, but poured across the Hellespont into Europe before the dawn of history, and, according to Sallust, (Jugurtha, 18,) spread over the Mediterranean peninsulas even to Spain. They are mentioned by Ezekiel (chap. 27:14) as trading at the Tyrian markets in horses, horsemen, and mules, which they brought down from the Armenian highlands to the sea.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the sons of Gomer; Ash-kenaz. Axenus, the ancient name of the Euxine, is supposed to favor Phrygia and Bithynia as the locality possessed by Aske-naz (Bochart); Iskus; equivalent to Ask, Ascanios, the oldest son of the Germanic Mannus, to point out Germany as his abode (Jewish commentators); but Jer_51:27 seems to indicate the region between the Euxine and the Caspian. Kalisch, following Josephus, identifies the name with the ancient town Rhagae, one day"s journey to the south of the Caspian. Murphy and Peele, on the authority of Diodorus Siculus, believe the Germans may have been a colony of the Ashkenians. And Riphath. Diphath (1Ch_1:6) the Paphlagonians (Josephus); more generally the tribes about the Riphaean mountains, on the north of the Caspian (Knobel, Kalisch, Clericus, Rosenm Murphy, "Speaker"s Commentary"); but both are uncertain (Keil). And Togarmah. Mentioned again in Eze_27:14 Eze_38:6; the Phrygians (Josephus) the Cappadocians (Bochart), the Armenians (Michaelis, Gesenius, Rosenm the Taurians, inhabiting the Crimea (Kalisch). The tradition preserved by Moses Chorensis, that the ancestor of the Armenians was the son of Thorgom, the son of Comer, is commonly regarded as deciding the question.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ובני גמר אשכנז, people say that this refers to the people living in Germany.

וריפה according to Rabbeinu Saadyah gaon these are the Gauls living in France; in Chronicles I 1,6 they are called דיפת.

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.