1:
TABEEL (PERSON) [Heb ṭābĕ˒al/ṭābĕ˒ēl (טָבְאַל/טָבְאֵל)]. 1. Father of the unnamed person whom the kings of Syria and Israel planned to make king of Judah in place of Ahaz at the time of the Syro-Ephraimite war, ca. 735–734 b.c.e. (Isa 7:6). Several possibilities have been put forth for his identity. All theories assume that Tabeel is the name of this would-be ruler’s father or tribal ancestor. The most important options stem from the interpretation of two Assyrian cuneiform documents. In an 8th-century-b.c.e. letter discovered at Nimrud, an Assyrian official named Qurdi-Aššûr writes about “the messenger of Ayanûr, the Tabeelite [kur Ṭa-ab-i-la-aya], Ezazu by name” (Saggs 1955: 132; Albright 1955: 34). Albright applied this text to Isa 7:6 and assumed that Tabeel was the name of a tribe and its land which was located in NE Palestine or SE Syria. Hence, “the son of Tabeel” was the son of a Judean king and a Tabeelite princess (Albright 1955: 35). Mazar located the land farther to the S in S Gilead and assumed that it referred to the large estate of a Judean noble family whose ancestor was Tabeel. This family eventually became the important Tobiad family in postexilic Judah, since during the reforms of Josiah the divine element of many names was changed from “El” to “Yah.” Hence, Tabeel became Tobiyahu (Mazar 1957: 236–38). Both Albright and Mazar accepted Alt’s theory that the “son of Tabeel” referred to the holder of a hereditary state office, following traditional models in Israel and Ugarit (KlSchr 3: 212). However, Alt’s theory does little to clarify either of their positions. Furthermore, Albright’s interpretation of the Assyrian letter is controversial. A second Assyrian document, a vassal list of Tiglath-pileser III on a stele found in Iran and dated to 737 b.c.e., is the source for an entirely different theory. This list names Tubail (Tu-ba-ìl) as the king of Tyre in Phoenicia, immediately following Rezin of Damascus and Menahem of Samaria (Levine 1972: 40–41). Vanel argued that there was an alliance between Damascus, Samaria, and Tyre and that the ruler of Tyre (the son of Tabeel) was offered the throne in Jerusalem in exchange for his support in the anti-Assyrian coalition (Vanel 1974: 17–24). The Heb form ṭābĕ˒al was no doubt originally ṭābĕ˒ēl (“God is good”; cf. LXX tabeēl and #2 below). The name as given in the present text is intended by the MT as a form of ridicule (“not good”).
2. A Samaritan official in the Persian period (Ezr 4:7 [Heb ṭābĕ˒ēl] = 1 Esdr 2:12—Eng 2:16 [Gk tabellios]). Along with his colleagues Bishlam and Mithredath, he sent a letter to the Persian king Artaxerxes I (465–425 b.c.e.) requesting the king to halt the rebuilding of Jerusalem by those who had returned from exile. The request, which suggested that these Jewish inhabitants of Jerusalem would incite rebellion and the withholding of taxes, was successful.
Bibliography
Albright, W. F. 1955. The Son of Tabeel (Isaiah 7:6). BASOR 140: 34–35.
Levine, L. D. 1972. Menahem and Tiglath-Pileser: A New Synchronism. BASOR 206: 40–42.
Mazar, B. 1957. The Tobiads. IEJ 7: 137–45, 229–38.
Saggs, H.W.F. 1955. The Nimrud Letters 1952, Part II. Iraq 17: 131–33.
Vanel, A. 1974. Ṭâbe˒él en Is. VII 6 et le roi Tubail de Tyr. VTSup 26: 17–24.
John H. Hull, Jr.
Freedman, D. N. (1996, c1992). The Anchor Bible Dictionary (6:292). New York: Doubleday.
2:
Tabeel — a Persian governor of Samaria, who joined others in the attempt to prevent the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Ezra 4:7).
Easton, M. (1996, c1897). Easton's Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
3:
TABEAL*, TABEEL
1. Ruler in Samaria who, with his associates, wrote a letter to King Artaxerxes I of Persia (464–424 bc) protesting Zerubbabel’s rebuilding of the Jerusalem wall (Ezr 4:7).
2. Father of the man whom King Pekah of Israel and King Rezin of Syria wanted to put on the throne of Jerusalem after they conquered it and subdued Ahaz, king of Judah (735–715 bc; Is 7:6).
Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (1233). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
4:
TA´BEEL (taʹbe-el; Aram. “God is good”). Probably the original pronunciation of Tabeal (ta-be-al; “good-not”), evidently a scornful alteration of Tabeel.
1. The father of the man whom Rezin king of Syria and Pekah king of Israel proposed to seat on the throne of Judah instead of Ahaz (Isa. 7:6), c. 735 b.c. In the KJV the name is spelled Tabeal. It has been conjectured that “the son of Tabeel” was identical with Zichri, the “mighty man of Ephraim,” whose sanguinary deeds are recorded in 2 Chron. 28:7 and who may have thus promoted the war in hope of receiving the crown. Because of the Aram. form of the name, however, others have supposed him to have been a Syrian warrior, who, in the event of success, might hold the Judaic kingdom in fealty to Rezin, as suzerain. The Targum of Jonathan turns the name into a mere appellative and makes the passage read: “We will make king in the midst of it whoso seems good to us.”
2. A Persian official in Samaria, who, together with Bishlam, Mithredath, and others, wrote to King Artaxerxes a letter of bitter hostility regarding the rebuilders of Jerusalem (Ezra 4:7), 522 b.c. The letter was written in Aram., and it has been argued thence, as well as from the form of his name, that he and his companions were Arameans.
Unger, M. F., Harrison, R. K., Vos, H. F., Barber, C. J., & Unger, M. F. (1988). The new Unger's Bible dictionary. Revision of: Unger's Bible dictionary. 3rd ed. c1966. (Rev. and updated ed.). Chicago: Moody Press.
5:
Tabeel (tayʹbee-el; Heb., ‘El [God] is good’). 1 The father of an unnamed person whom Pekah, the king of Israel (Northern Kingdom), and Rezin, the king of Syria, conspired to make king over Judah (Southern Kingdom) should they succeed in overthrowing Ahaz (Isa. 7:6). In some versions the name is Tabeal. 2 A Persian official residing in Samaria; he was one of those who wrote to the Persian king Artaxerxes protesting the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem by the returned exiles (Ezra 4:7).
Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary. Includes index. (1st ed.) (1013). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
6:
Tabeel (Heb. ṭāḇĕ˒ēl, ṭāḇĕ˒al)
1. A Samaritan official who petitioned Artaxerxes to halt the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Ezra 4:7).
2. The otherwise unknown father of the person whom the Syro-Ephraimite coalition (ca. 735 b.c.e.) planned to place on the throne of Judah (Isa. 7:6). The change from the original form of the name, Heb. ṭāḇĕ˒ēl, to ṭāḇĕ˒al might be a Hebrew wordplay making “God is good” into “no-good” (or “good-for-nothing”).
If the name is personal, Tabeel was likely a Syrian officer and confidant of Rezin. An 8th-century Assyrian letter refers to a “Tabeelite,” implying that Tabeel was a tribal name, possibly ancestor to the Tobiad family in postexilic Judah. Tabeel could also be a regional or geographic name, connected to the “land of Tob” (Judg. 11:3, 5; 2 Sam. 10:6, 8).
Bibliography. W. F. Albright, “The Son of Tabeel (Isaiah 7:6),” BASOR 140 (1955): 34–35; J. A. Dearman, “The Son of Tabeel (Isaiah 7.6),” in Prophets and Paradigms, ed. S. B. Reid. JSOT Sup 229 (Sheffield, 1996); B. Mazar, “The Tobiads,” IEJ 7 (1957): 137–45, 229–38.
Andrew H. Bartelt
Freedman, D. N., Myers, A. C., & Beck, A. B. (2000). Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (1269). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans.
