Friday, May 15, 2015

Tubal-cain in Genesis 4:22




While I was reading through the early chapters of Genesis, I came to the name Tubal-cain in Genesis 4:22.

“As for Zillah, she also gave birth to Tubal-cain, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron.”

The Hebrew of his name is תּוּבַל  קַיִן and can be transliterated as Tuwbal Qayin and is pronounced as tü·val' kah'·yin. The “b” is pronounced as a “v”.

I read one “commentary” (before seminary) that suggested that the name Tubal-cain eventually descended down to Tuval-Cain and then to Tu Vulcan and then to Vulcan, the Roman god of of fire, volcanoes, metalworking, and the forge in Roman mythology.

The idea was that Tubal-cain (forger of all implements of bronze and iron) came down through mythology as Vulcan (the god of metalworking and the forge).

I don’t think this theory is in anyway true … but it still appears in the margins of my Bible in ink.

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