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Meaning, origin and etymology of the name Obal


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Obal Obal

Obal is one of many sons of Joktan, the brother of Peleg. Peleg becomes the ancestor of Abraham. The Joktanites are the last mentioned Shemite generation before the tower of Babel is built.

The etymology and original meaning of the name Obal are unclear. BDB lists an unused root that TWOTOT skips all together: obl, a verb that in Arabic means to be bulky or stout. Fuerst on abhal: to strip off (leaves), to make naked (trees), or to be bare (of a mountain, rock). NOBSE agrees with Fuerst and reads To Be Bare.

Then there is the possibility that the name may appear a compound of ub ('ub 1574), becloud, and bal (bal 246d), hardly, scarcely or not, or bal (bel 262), Bel, the name of an early Babylonian god of heaven.

The name Obal may originally have meant To Be Bare, but for a Hebrew audience it may have sounded like No Cloud / Clear Skies.



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