Jetur

Jetur (meaning order, succession, or mountainous) was the ninth son of Ishmael (Genesis 25:15; 1 Chronicles 1:31), and the eponymous ancestor of the Iturians — a people who occupied the region northeast of the Sea of Galilee known as Ituraea. This territory, mountainous and somewhat isolated, is mentioned in Luke 3:1 as part of the tetrarchy of Philip the tetrarch, brother of Herod Antipas.

The Itureans were renowned in antiquity as archers and skilled light cavalry, and their mercenary service was valued by various Hellenistic and Roman rulers. The Israelite tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh warred against the Hagrites and Iturians (1 Chronicles 5:19) and settled in their territory. The line from Ishmael's son Jetur to the Itureaean region mentioned in the Roman administrative geography of Luke 3 is one of the more traceable genealogical continuities between the patriarchal and New Testament periods.