Family
- Father: Eber (Heber)
- Sibling: Joktan
- Children: Reu
A son of Eber, and brother of Joktan. The derivation of the name is given: "for in his days was the earth divided" (niphleghah) (Genesis 10:25; compare Luke 3:35, the King James Version "Phalec"). This probably refers to the scattering of the world's population and the confounding of its language recorded in Genesis 11:1-9. In Aramaic pelagh and Arabic phalaj mean "division"; in Hebrew pelegh means "watercourse." The name may really be due to the occupation by this people of some well-watered (furrowed), district (e.g. in Babylonia), for these patronymics represent races, and the derivation in Genesis 10:25 is a later editor's remark.
S. F. Hunter
Appears in
- Genesis 10 (MENTIONS)
- Genesis 11 (MENTIONS)
- 1 Chronicles 1 (MENTIONS)
- Luke 3 (MENTIONS)