The Empires of the Bible from the Confusion of Tongues to the Babylonian Captivity

TUBAL

42. Tubal, mentioned in Ezekiel 38:2, 3 and 39:1, in connection with Magog, and in Ezekiel 27:13 is associated with those who traded in the Tyrian fairs, in persons of men (slaves) and vessels of brass; and is placed in the “north parts” the same as Gomer and Magog, whom we have already identified. This would show that Tubal belongs to the same region of country as those. The people of Tubal are mentioned by the Assyrian kings, in their inscriptions, by the name Tuplai, and were found by them in Cappadocia. There was in the northwest a large number of their tribes, and they were apparently of considerable importance in the wars of the Assyrian kings. They seem to have been spread over the most of the country from Cilicia to the Black Sea. By Herodotus and other Greek writers they are called Tibareni. At the time of the Retreat of the Ten Thousand, 400 B. C., some of their tribes were an independent people, dwelling on the southern coast of the Black Sea, west of Colchis, and it required a two-days’ march to cross their country. Some of their tribes went west, and as Iberians peopled Spain and Sicily; and an important body of them went north with Meshech, who comes next in the list. EB 17.1