Jerah

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

JERAH . Mentioned in the genealogies of   Genesis 10:26 and   1 Chronicles 1:20 as a son of Joktan. Probably, in analogy with other names in this connexion, Jerah is to be taken as the designation of an Arabian tribe. The Arabic geographers refer to places named Warâkh, Yurâkh , and Yarâch , with any one of which it might be identified. On the other hand, in Hebrew the word signifies ‘new moon’; it may therefore be the translation of a totemic clan-name. In fact, Bochart pointed out that ‘sons of the moon’ is a patronymic still found in Arabia.

W. M. Nesbit.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Je'rah. (The Moon). The fourth, in order, of the sons of Joktan,  Genesis 10:26;  1 Chronicles 1:20, and the progenitor of a tribe of southern Arabia.

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

The son of Joktan. ( Genesis 10:26) His name is borrowed perhaps from Jerah, the moon.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Son of Joktan, of the family of Shem.  Genesis 10:26;  1 Chronicles 1:20 .

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

("the moon".) Joktan's fourth son, forefather of a southern Arab tribe. The fortress Yerakh in the Mahra country, to the E. of Hadramaut, seems akin in name.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Genesis 10:26

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Ye'rach, יֶרִח , in pause י רִח , Ya ' Rach , the Moon , as often; Sept. Ι᾿Αράχ , but omits in  1 Chronicles 1:20, where, however, some copies have ‘ Iaeip; Vulg. Jare ), the fourth in order of the sons of Joktan, apparently the founder of an Arab tribe, who probably had their settlement near Hazarmaveth and Hadoram, between which the name occurs ( Genesis 10:26), the general location of all the Joktanidae being given in  Genesis 10:30 as extending from Mesha eastward to Mount Sephar. Bochart ( Phaleg , 2, 19) thinks the word is Hebrew, but a translation of an equivalent Arabic name, and understands the Alaloei to be meant, a tribe inhabiting the auriferous region on the Red Sea (Agatharch. 49; Strabo, 16, p. 277 Diod. Sic. 3, 44), and conjectures that their true name was Benay Haila, "Sons of the Moon," on account of their worship of that luminary under the title Alilat (Herodotus, 3, 8). He also observes that a tribe exists near Mecca with the title sons of the moon, probably the Hilalites mentioned by Niebuhr (Description of Arabia, p. 270). That the Alilaei, however, were worshippers of Alilat is an assumption unsupported by facts; but, whatever may be said in its favor, the people in question are not the Bene-Hil Á l, who take their name from a kinsman of Mohammed, in the fifth generation before him, of the well-known stock of Keys (Caussin, Essai, Tab. X A; Abu-l-Fid Á , Hist. anteisl. ed.. Fleischer, p. 194). The connection renders the opinion of J.D. Michaelis more probable, who (Spicileg. 2, 60, 161) refers the name to the Moon coast, or Mount of the Moon, in the neighborhood of Hadramaut (Hazarmaveth), not far from Shorma (Edrisi, p. 26, 27). Pococke has some remarks on the subject of El-L Á tt, which the reader may consult (Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 90); and also Sir G. Wilkinson, in his notes to Herodotus (ed. Rawlinson, 2, 402, footnote, and Essay 1 to bk. 3): he seems to be wrong, however, in saying that the Arabic " ‘ awel,'" " ‘ first'" [correctly, "awwal"], is "related to" אל , or Allah, etc. and that Alitta and Mylitta are Shemitic names derived from " Weled , Walada , ‘ to bear children'" (Essay 1, p. 537). The comparison of Alitta and Mylitta is also extremely doubtful; and probably Herodotus assimilated the former name to the latter. Indeed, Jerah has not been satisfactorily identified with the name of any Arabian place or tribe, though a fortress (and probably an old town, like the numerous fortified places in the Yemen, of the old Himyerite kingdom) named Yer Á Kh is mentioned as belonging to the district of the Nijj Á d ( Mar Á Sid , s.v. Yer Á kh), which is in Mahreh, at the extremity of the Yemen ( K '''''Á''''' M '''''Û''''' S'' ) . See Arabia

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

jē´ra ( ירח , yeraḥ ): A son of Joktan (  Genesis 10:26 parallel   1 Chronicles 1:20 ). No district Jerah has been discovered. However, Yurākh in Yemen and Yaraḥ in Hijaz are places named by the Arabic geographers. The fact that the word in Hebrew means "moon" has led to the following suggestions: the Banū Hilāl ("sons of the new moon") in the North of Yemen; Ghubb el - Ḳamar ("the bay of the moon"), Jebel el - Ḳamar ("the mountains of the moon") in Eastern Ḥadramant . But in Southern Arabia worship of the moon has caused the word to bulk largely in place-names.