Gomer

Gomer, in the Bible. 1 Wife of the prophet Hosea. 2 Son of Japheth and eponym of a people, probably the Cimmerians.

Gomer (גֹּמֶר, Standard Hebrew Gómer, Tiberian Hebrew Gōmer, ) is the eldest son of Japheth, and father of Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah mentioned in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible. (Genesis x. 2, 3; I Chronicles i. 5, 6).

The eponymous Gomer, "standing for the whole family," as the compilers of the Jewish Encyclopedia expressed it, is also mentioned in Book of Ezekiel xxxviii. 6 as the ally of Gog, the chief of the land of Magog.

The Persian historian Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari (c. 915) recounts a Persian tradition that Gomer, lived to the age of 1000, noting that this record equalled that of Nimrod, but was unsurpassed by anyone else mentioned in the Torah.

Traditional identifications

He is traditionally identified with the Cimmerians (Akkadian Gimirru, "complete"), who dwelt on the Eurasian steppes. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, some Welsh antiquarians posited that the Welsh people were descended from the Cimmerians and from Gomer. The argument was based on false etymology based on the fact that the Welsh people are called Cymry in the Welsh language (Cymraeg). The name Gomer (Joseph Harris (Gomer), for instance) and the Gomerian theory became fashionable for a time but the latter has long since been discredited. Josephus placed this legendary Gomer and the "Gomerites" in Anatolian Galatia (Antiquities of the Jews, I:6): "For Gomer founded those whom the Greeks now call Galatians, but were then called Gomerites)." "Galatia" takes its name from the ancient Gauls (Celts).

Gomer's descendants

Three sons of Gomer are mentioned in Genesis 10, namely Ashkenaz, Riphath (spelled Diphath in I Chronicles) and Togarmah.

Ashkenaz

The children of Ashkenaz have been identified with the Scythians (Assyrian Ishkuza). It has been conjectured that the term in the original Hebrew was Ashkuz, but that it became Ashkenaz when the Hebrew letter waw was accidentally miscopied as the similar-looking letter nun at some early stage of the transmission.

Riphath

Riphath most likely settled somewhere in what is now Turkey, but not much is known. Irish Genealogy traces itself to Ibath, son of Gomer (Most likely a form of Riphath).

Togarmah

Ancient Armenian and Georgian legend lists Togarmah as the ancestor of the people originally inhabiting that region. According to Khazar records, Togarmah is regarded as the ancestor of the Turkic-speaking peoples.

In Hosea

Gomer is also the name of the adulterous wife of the prophet Hosea, mentioned in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Hosea. Some analysts have suggested that this marriage is really a figurative or prophetic reference to a union between the "lost tribes of Israel" with the above-mentioned people of Gomer, following the Assyrian deportation.

The relationship between Hosea and Gomer has been posited to be a parallel to the relationship between God and Israel. Even though Gomer runs away from Hosea and sleeps with another man, he loves her anyway and forgives her. Even though the people of Israel worshipped other gods, God loved them anyway and took them back. In the Bible she says that she became a prostitute because she had to pay for the food for their children for Hosea didn't receive any money from being a prophet.

See also

• Japhetic
• Hunor and Magor