Obal is a name found in the King James Bible, appearing 1 time in the text.
Who This Was
Obal was a descendant of Joktan, listed among the generations that came from Shem, the son of Noah. He appears in the table of nations recorded in Genesis 10, a passage that traces the spread of peoples and families after the flood. In that setting, the sons of Joktan are named as part of the broader record of how the earth was divided among the descendants of Noah’s sons.
Scripture tells us very little about Obal personally. He is mentioned only once in the King James Bible, in Genesis 10:28, where his name appears in a simple list: “And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba.” No deeds, words, or defining events are recorded of him. He is one name among many in a genealogy, remembered chiefly as a link in the chain of Joktan’s descendants.
What Scripture says of him, then, is essentially this: he belonged to a family line, and that line had its place in God’s unfolding account of the nations. The genealogies of Genesis are not mere filler; they show that real people, in real families, carried forward the story of humanity after the flood. Obal’s role is quiet and obscure, but he is not omitted. He is named, and in being named he is counted among those whose generations filled the earth.
The Name
The name Obal is a Hebrew name, but its meaning is not clearly established. Various suggestions have been offered by scholars over the years, yet none commands wide agreement, and the text itself gives no explanation of the name. Because the meaning is not recoverable with confidence, it is best to say so plainly rather than assign it a meaning it may not carry. What we can say is that it was the personal name of a descendant of Joktan, preserved in the Hebrew genealogies of Genesis.
A Closing Thought
Most of us will never be remembered in a list that survives for thousands of years, and yet Obal’s single mention invites a quieter reflection. He lived, he belonged to a family, and he had a place in God’s story—even though we know nothing else about him. Faithfulness is not measured by how much is written about us. The God who numbered the generations of Joktan also knows every ordinary life hidden in the long sweep of history. Like Obal, we may be unknown to the world, but we are not unknown to Him.
At a Glance
- Gender: Male
- Testament: Old
- Mentions in the KJV: 1
Where It Appears in Scripture
- Genesis 10:28 — And Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,