Bible Encyclopedias
Tubal-Cain

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

tū´bal - kān ( קין תּוּבל , tūbhal ḳayin ): One of the sons of Lamech ( Genesis 4:22 ). He is a brother of Jabal and Jubal, who appear to have been the founders of several industries and articles The text (וברזל נחשת כל־חרש לטש , lōṭēsh kol ḥōrēsh neḥōsheth ū -bharzel ) has been the cause of endless dispute. Holzinger and Gunkel hold that לטש , lōṭēsh was a marginal gloss to חרש , ḥōrēsh , and that, as in Genesis 4:20 and Genesis 4:21 , there stood before כל־ , kol originally אבי היה הוא , hū hāyāh 'ăbhı̄ . This would make Tubal-cain the founder of the metal industry, and place him in a class similar to that of his brothers. The Septuagint, however, has no equivalent of קיז , ḳayin . This omission leads Dillmann, Wellhausen, and others to the position that "Tubal" originally stood alone, and קיז , ḳayin , being a later addition, was translated "smith." Many commentators identify Tubal with the Assyrian Tubal, a people living Southwest of the Black Sea; in later times they were called "Tibareni" (Ezekiel 27:13 ). Tubal may be the eponymous ancestor of these people, whose principal industry seems to have been the manufacture of vessels of bronze and iron.