"Meshech" and "Tubal" are no hindrance to this view, if the names of the so-called "sons of Japheth" are critically examined.
JAPHETH (n;), in the Bible, the youngest son of Noah 1 according to the Priestly Code (c. 450 B.C.); but in the earlier tradition 2 the second son, also the "father" of one of the three groups into which the nations of the world are divided.
27, Noah pronounces the following blessing on Japheth "God enlarge (Heb.
yapht) Japheth (Heb.
Shem is probably Israel; Canaan, of course, the Canaanites; by analogy, Japheth should be some third element of the population of Palestine - the Philistines or 'the Phoenicians have been suggested.