Tubal
From CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science
Tubal (Hebrew: תּוּבל, Tûbal) was the fifth son of Japheth mentioned in the Book of Genesis.
The Descendants of Tubal
In discussing Tubal, Wilhelm Gesenius noted that Tubal was founder of the Tiberani, "a nation of Asia Minor dwelling by the Euxine Sea to the west of Moschi". He concluded that there should be no doubt that Tubal and Meshech comprise the modern Russian people.[1]
The people of Tubal were variously known as Tubla, Tabal, or Tabali by the Assyrians who refer to them giving tribute of "great horses" to Ashurbanipal; Tiberani or Tibarenoi by the Greeks; and Thobelites by Josephus.[2] They were always identified with the Moschi in Asia Minor. The Septuagint version translates "Meshech and Moschi" as "Mosoch and Thobel". Where could they be today?
After the Hittite empire fell (c. 1200 BC), the Tabali moved into that territory vacated by the Hittites, establishing twenty-one city-states.[3] A region of their territory became known as Subartu. The Tabali or Toboli migrated over the Caucasus like so many others before and after them. Once in southern Russia they became identified with the Muschovites and Sarmatians[4], establishing themselves for a time along the River Volga.
Bohn, the editor of Marco Polo's Travels, has this to say:
| “ | The Bolgar, Bulgar, or Bulghar, here spoken of is the name of a town and extensive district in Tartary, lying to the eastward of the Volga, and now inhabited by the Bashkirs, sometimes distinguished from the Bulgaria on the Danube, by the appellation of the Greater Bulgaria.[5] | ” |
It appears, therefore, that "Volga" and "Bulga" are one and the same; they appear to be identical with the root form of the name Tubal! Huxley agrees that the name Volga evolved into Bulgaria.[6]
Tubal thus split into two like so many families: one branch migrated northwards, the other westwards. The group which moved into the Balkan Peninsula became known as the Bulgarians, mingling with the Sarmatians and adopting their particular Slavic language and customs.
There was a city called Bulghar on the River Volga, near the River Kiama in the land of the Bulghars[7] also known as Bulgaria.[8] Interestingly, a leader of the Khazar armies which filled the void left by the Toboli after migrating out of southern Russia, was called Balkan.[9]
On the Volga today, all that is left of the once great city of Bolgara which Marco Polo mentions in his first chapter, is a little village. For a time it became the seat of Mongol rule in the thirteenth century.
The mountain range of Hoemus was changed to the Balkans in south-eastern Europe after the Toboli settled there. The name recalls the Balkan hills and Balkan Bay alongside the Caspian Sea where Tubal once settled. Perhaps the name Toplitza in Bulgaria is a derivative of Tobol.[10]
The second syllable of the word "Bulgaria" is of central Asiatic origin being found in the name of Kash-ghar in the plateau of Pamir, where some of Tubal once lived. The Bulghars conquered the native Slavs in that land. To this day there are two types in Bulgaria: a tall, dark-haired type; and a shorter, fairer type, descendants of the other Slavs.[11]
The other branch of the Toboli migrated northwards, perhaps giving their name to Lake Bataton Balta and the Baltic Sea. Today, they are settled north-east of Moscow around Tobolsk. There is also the tribe of Tubalai who live on the banks of the Tuba River and although they speak Turkic, are perhaps Samoyed.[12] They may have acquired their name from Tubal.
A place-name alongside the Volga was known as Siberia.[13] Today, Siberia is in northern Russia where the Toboloskis migrated. The name originated in the Subartu district of ancient Tubal in Asia Minor.
Another mutated branch of Tubal may be the Basques who dwell on the border of Spain and France. Basques is the form of the Latin Vasco. The French province of Gascogne or Guascogne is named after them. Also, the mountain range separating France and Germany is called the Vosges, anciently called the Wasgen Forest of the Basques — this signifies their migration into the area after the Flood. Roger Collins, in his excellent work, The Basques, states that Basque historian, Esteban de Garibay published four volumes of his Compendino Historial de las Chronicas (Antwerp AD 1571) in which he claimed to trace their origins:
| “ | He took up the notion, already popular with other Spanish antiquarians, that the Iberian peninsula had been populated by the descendants of Tubal, one of the sons of Japhet the son of Noah. However, he gave this legend a distinctive twist in making the Basque regions ... the principal focus of Tubal's activity and he 'proved' this thesis by claiming affinity between various Basque place-names and those in the Bible that were associated with Armenia, where the ark had come to rest ...[14] | ” |
Collins then proceeds to give the similarities in place-names and so forth. Garibay may be correct, but further investigation is required. Jewish tradition also seems to affirm that the earliest inhabitants of Spain were descendants of Tuval or Tubal, although some believed that Tubal also dwelt to the east of the Black Sea. Both views, as we have seen, are correct.[15]
Related References
- ↑ Gesenius 1872 : 858
- ↑ Josephus Antiquities 1:6:1
- ↑ Douglas 1972 : 528
- ↑ Chamberlain 1854, quoting Herodotus
- ↑ Bohn 1854 : 4
- ↑ Huxley 1939 : 177
- ↑ Koestler 1976:9
- ↑ Encyclopedia Brittanica, vol 28:971
- ↑ ibid:60
- ↑ Milner 1941:34
- ↑ Huxley 1939:122. See also Arnakis 1969:24-27
- ↑ Brown c1889:242
- ↑ Milner 1941:34
- ↑ Collins 1986:258
- ↑ Kaplan 1981:22
- In Search of ... the Origin of Nations by C.M. White. History Research Projects 2003.
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