ASHKENAZ (ăsh'kĕ-năz)
Great-grandson of Noah through Japheth and Gomer (Gen.10.3; cf. 1Chr.1.6).A tribe or nation mentioned once (Jer.51.27) and associated with Ararat and Minni as an instrument of wrath in the hands of God against Babylon.
ASHCHENAZ. KJV form of
Ashkenaz in
1 Chronicles 1:6;
Jeremiah 51:27.
ASHKENAZ, ASHKENAS ăsh’ kə năz (
אַשְׁכֲּנַ֥ז), KJV ASHCHENAZ (
1 Chron 1:6). A son of Gomer and great grandson of Noah (
Gen 10:3). He was the eponymous ancestor of a people mentioned by Jeremiah in association with Ararat and Minni (
Jer. 51:27). Probably Ashkenaz is to be identified with the Scythians, a people who, in the time of Jeremiah, had settled near Lake Urmia in the region of Ararat (Urartu). The Assyrian texts mention a tribe called the Ashkuza, who, allied with the Manneans (the Minni of
Jer 51:27), fought against the Assyrians. The Scythians were a crude and warlike people who contributed to the unrest of the Assyrian empire. Their conquest of the Cimmerians (Gomer) is cited by Herodotus (IV, 11, 12). Their name became a synonym for Barbarian.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)
The name occurs in Ge 10:3; 1Ch 16, in the list of the sons of Japheth as a son of Gomer. See Table of Nations. It occurs also in Jer 51:27 (the King James Version "Ashchenaz") in connection with the kingdoms of Ararat and Minni, which suggests a location about Armenia.
