Tubal-cain

The son of Lamech and Zillah, “an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron” (Gen. 4:22; R.V., “the forger of every cutting instrument of brass and iron”).

tu'-bal-kan (tubhal qayin): One of the sons of Lamech (Ge 4:22). He is a brother of Jabal and Jubal, who appear to have been the founders of several industries and articles The text (loTesh kol choresh nechosheth u-bharzel) has been the cause of endless dispute. Holzinger and Gunkel hold that laTash was a marginal gloss to charash, and that, as in Ge 4:20 and 21, there stood before kal originally hu hayah 'abhi. 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 qayin. This omission leads Dillmann, Wellhausen, and others to the position that "Tubal" originally stood alone, and qayin, 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" (Eze 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.

Horace J. Wolf