Phalec is a name found in the King James Bible, appearing 1 time in the text.
Who This Was
Phalec is the name by which Peleg appears in the New Testament genealogy of Jesus Christ. He is listed in Luke 3:35 as a descendant of Shem, the son of Heber and the father of Ragau. The genealogy in Luke traces the lineage of Jesus backward through His ancestor Joseph, moving from the time of Christ all the way to Adam, and Phalec appears in that stretch of the line that runs through the patriarchs after the flood. The source note identifies him as Peleg, the descendant of Shem mentioned in the genealogies of Genesis, and Luke’s spelling “Phalec” reflects the Greek form of that Hebrew name.
In the King James Version, the name Phalec occurs exactly once, in Luke 3:35. The verse reads: “Which was the son of Saruch, which was the son of Ragau, which was the son of Phalec, which was the son of Heber, which was the son of Sala.” He appears in a chain of names, each one linking the next, with no narrative attached to him in the New Testament. Scripture records nothing of what Phalec did, said, or experienced; he is known only as one link in the line that leads to Christ.
What Scripture says of him, then, is entirely a matter of placement. He belongs to the generations that carried the promise forward after the flood, and the Gospel of Luke names him as an ancestor of Jesus. The setting in which he appears is this genealogy, a formal record of descent rather than a story. Within the biblical text, his significance is that he is part of the family line through which God brought His Son into the world.
The Name
The name Phalec is the Greek form, as it appears in Luke’s Gospel, of the Hebrew name Peleg. The Hebrew name is widely understood to be connected to a root meaning “division” or “channel,” and Genesis itself supplies the reason: in the days of Peleg “the earth was divided” (Genesis 10:25). Because that explanation is given in Scripture, the meaning of the name is well established rather than merely guessed. The Greek spelling “Phalec” does not change that underlying sense; it is simply how the name came into the New Testament text.
A Closing Thought
Phalec never speaks a word in Scripture, never performs a deed, and never receives a command or a promise that the text records. He is simply a name in a long list. Yet that is precisely where his quiet testimony lies: the story of redemption did not depend on a few famous figures alone but on ordinary generations who lived, married, had children, and passed the line along. Most of us will be remembered, if at all, as links in someone else’s story. Phalec reminds us that faithfulness in an unseen place is still faithfulness, and God’s purposes are carried by those whose names we may never notice.
At a Glance
- Gender: Male
- Testament: New
- Mentions in the KJV: 1
Where It Appears in Scripture
- Luke 3:35 — Which was the son of Saruch, which was the son of Ragau, which was the son of Phalec, which was the son of Heber, which was the son of Sala,