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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadInternational Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Tubal-Cain
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tū´bal-kaÌ„n (קין תּוּבל, tuÌ„bhal kÌ£ayin): One of the sons of Lamech (). He is a brother of Jabal and Jubal, who appear to have been the founders of several industries and articles The text (וברזל × ×—×©×ª כל־חרש לטש, loÌ„tÌ£eÌ„sh kol hÌ£oÌ„reÌ„sh nehÌ£oÌ„sheth uÌ„-bharzel) has been the cause of endless dispute. Holzinger and Gunkel hold that לטש, loÌ„tÌ£eÌ„sh was a marginal gloss to חרש, hÌ£oÌ„reÌ„sh, and that, as in and , there stood before כל־, kol originally ×בי ×”×™×” הו×, huÌ„ haÌ„yaÌ„h '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, kÌ£ayin. This omission leads Dillmann, Wellhausen, and others to the position that “Tubal†originally stood alone, and קיז, kÌ£ayin, 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†(). Tubal may be the eponymous ancestor of these people, whose principal industry seems to have been the manufacture of vessels of bronze and iron.