Putiel (Hastings' Dictionary)

The father-in-law of Aaron's son Eleazar, Ex 6-^ (P). About Putiel we liear nothing more in the 0 T, and the meaning of the name is uncertain. Gray (IIPN 210) classes it amongst the late and artilicial names character- istic of the lists of P and the Chronicler. It may be half -Egyptian half-Semitic ( = 'he whom El gave,' see Dillm. -Ryssel, Exodus, ad loc), but even if so, it will not bear all the weight of the argument that Hommel (^-I/?2'293, 295) builds upon it in regard to the early history of Israel and the character of the Priests' Code. J. A. Selbie.