Tabrimon is a name found in the King James Bible, appearing 1 time in the text.
Who This Was
Tabrimon was the father of Ben-hadad, king of Aram, and is mentioned in the Book of 1 Kings. He appears only once in the King James Bible, in a genealogy that identifies his son as the ruler of Syria. According to 1 Kings 15:18, Ben-hadad is described as “the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus.” This single verse places Tabrimon within a royal line stretching back to Hezion, indicating that he belonged to the dynasty that ruled Aram from its capital at Damascus.
Tabrimon enters the biblical narrative indirectly, through the actions of King Asa of Judah. In the fifteenth chapter of 1 Kings, Asa faced military pressure from Baasha, king of Israel, who was fortifying Ramah to cut off movement into and out of Judah. Rather than trust in the LORD alone, Asa took all the silver and gold remaining in the treasures of the house of the LORD and of the king’s house, and sent them as a gift to Ben-hadad, Tabrimon’s son. Asa’s appeal was to the king of Syria, asking him to break his treaty with Baasha and attack Israel from the north.
Scripture records nothing else about Tabrimon himself—no deeds, no words, no length of reign. He is remembered only as a link in the chain of Syrian kings, the father of the man Asa bribed for military help. His name survives in the sacred text not because of anything he did, but because of who his son was and how that son became entangled in the affairs of Judah and Israel.
The Name
The name Tabrimon is a Hebrew transliteration of an Aramean royal name, and its meaning is not clearly recoverable from the biblical text. Suggested derivations have been offered—some connecting it to words for “good” or “pleasant” combined with “Rimmon,” the name of a Syrian deity—but none of these is firmly established. Rimmon was indeed a god worshiped in Damascus and the surrounding region, and it is possible the name honored him. However, because the exact etymology is uncertain, no meaning should be asserted as definite. What can be said plainly is that the name belongs to the onomastic world of ancient Aram, and its precise sense remains obscure.
A Closing Thought
Tabrimon’s brief appearance is a quiet reminder that much of our lives is known fully only to God. He is named once, in passing, as the father of a king—yet that single mention secured him a place in Scripture forever. Most of us will not be remembered for great deeds or public achievements. But faithfulness in ordinary places, hidden from history’s notice, is still seen by the One who numbers every life. Tabrimon lived and died in a world of thrones and treaties, and all we know of him is a name. Yet God knew him, and that is enough.
At a Glance
- Gender: Male
- Testament: Old
- Mentions in the KJV: 1
Where It Appears in Scripture
- 1 Kings 15:18 — Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants: and king Asa sent them to Benhadad, the son of Tabrimon, the son of …