Gomer

Two very different people carry the name Gomer. The first appears in the family list of Genesis 10, where he is a son of Japheth and father of Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah. The second is a woman in Hosea, the daughter of Diblaim, whom the prophet takes as his wife. The two have no stated link, and the verses say little more about either. Hosea’s marriage opens the book and becomes the picture the prophet uses for God’s patient love toward an unfaithful Israel, so the second Gomer is the one most readers meet first.

3 verses

Genesis

Genesis 10:2

The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.

Genesis 10:3

And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.

Hosea

Hosea 1:3

So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

Complete; vanishing. (1.) The daughter of Diblaim, who (probably in vision only) became the wife of Hosea (1:3).

(2.) The eldest son of Japheth, and father of Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah (Gen. 10:2, 3), whose descendants formed the principal branch of the population of South-eastern Europe. He is generally regarded as the ancestor of the Celtae and the Cimmerii, who in early times settled to the north of the Black Sea, and gave their name to the Crimea, the ancient Chersonesus Taurica. Traces of their presence are found in the names Cimmerian Bosphorus, Cimmerian Isthmus, etc. In the seventh century B.C. they were driven out of their original seat by the Scythians, and overran western Asia Minor, whence they were afterwards expelled. They subsequently reappear in the times of the Romans as the Cimbri of the north and west of Europe, whence they crossed to the British Isles, where their descendants are still found in the Gaels and Cymry. Thus the whole Celtic race may be regarded as descended from Gomer.

Read the full entry

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

(perfect).

(1.) The eldest son of Japheth, (Genesis 10:2,3) the progenitor of the early Cimmerians, of the later Cimbri and the other branches of the Celtic family, and of the modern Gael and Cymri.

(2.) The wife of Hosea. (Hosea 1:3)

Based on Nave's Topical Bible by Orville J. Nave (1896). Dictionary entries from Easton's Bible Dictionary and Smith's Bible Dictionary. Public domain. KJV scripture text, public domain.