Tubal

Tubal first turns up in a list of names: one of the seven sons of Japheth in Genesis 10. After that he stands for a people far from Israel. Ezekiel says Javan, Tubal and Meshech “traded the persons of men and vessels of brass” in Tyre’s market, and he names Tubal among the nations whose fallen warriors lie in the grave. In Ezekiel 38 and 39 God speaks against Gog, “the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.” Isaiah ends his book with Tubal among distant places that have not heard God’s fame, yet will hear it. Readers differ on how to take Ezekiel’s Gog chapters.

7 verses

Genesis

Genesis 10:2

The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.

Isaiah

Isaiah 66:19

And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.

Ezekiel

Ezekiel 27:13

Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market.

Ezekiel 32:26

There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they caused their terror in the land of the living.

Ezekiel 38:2

Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,

Ezekiel 38:3

And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:

Ezekiel 39:1

Therefore, thou son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

(1.) The fifth son of Japheth (Gen. 10:2).

(2.) A nation, probably descended from the son of Japheth. It is mentioned by Isaiah (66:19), along with Javan, and by Ezekiel (27:13), along with Meshech, among the traders with Tyre, also among the confederates of Gog (Ezek. 38:2, 3; 39:1), and with Meshech among the nations which were to be destroyed (32:26). This nation was probably the Tiberini of the Greek historian Herodotus, a people of the Asiatic highland west of the Upper Euphrates, the southern range of the Caucasus, on the east of the Black Sea.

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

is reckoned with Javan and Meshech among the sons of Japheth. (Genesis 10:2; 1 Chronicles 1:5) The three are again associated in the enumeration of the sources of the wealth of Tyre. (Ezekiel 27:13) Tubal and Javan, (Isaiah 68:19) Meshech and Tubal, (Ezekiel 32:26; 38:2,3; 39:1) are nations of the north. (Ezekiel 38:15; 39:2) Josephus identified the descendants of Tubal with the Iberians, that is, the inhabitants of a tract of country between the Caspian and Euxine Seas, which nearly corresponded to the modern Georgia.