Encyclopedia entry · Person
Abimael
Curator's research file
Subject · person
Abimael
Identity
- Name meaning
- father from God · my father is God (Heb. av-mi-el)
Family
- Parent(s)
- —
- Spouse
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- Children
- —
- Tribe / people
- —
Era & origin
- Era
- Post-Flood patriarchal period — son of Joktan in the Table of Nations
- Region
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- Contemporary of
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Role
- Role
- One of the thirteen sons of Joktan · Eponymous ancestor of an Arabian tribe
- Notable for
- Abimael appears twice in scripture, both times in the Table of Nations–style genealogies of Genesis 10:28 and 1 Chronicles 1:22, listed as one of the thirteen sons of Joktan.
Scripture
- First mention
- Genesis 10
- Most cited
- Genesis 10
- Key passages
Network
- Referenced by
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- Voices
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Read the full account →↑
Abimael appears twice in scripture, both times in the Table of Nations–style genealogies of Genesis 10:28 and 1 Chronicles 1:22, listed as one of the thirteen sons of Joktan. Joktan was a son of Eber and a great-great-great-grandson of Shem; the sons of Joktan are generally understood as the ancestral heads of the various peoples who settled Arabia in the wake of the Flood.
The Hebrew name Abimael is a tripartite construction — father from God or my father is God (av-mi-el). Classical scholars have proposed various Arabian identifications for the tribe that traces back to him, including the Mali of southern Arabia, though the identification remains uncertain. Nothing further is recorded of Abimael himself; he is one of those names whose function in the biblical narrative is to anchor a people to the post-Flood family of man.
Key passages
Source · AI-drafted from biblical text and standard reference works (Smith's, Easton's, ISBE) — verify and refine against authoritative sources before publication.