Shobal (Hastings' Dictionary)

A 'son ' of Seir the Ilorite, and one of the 'dukes' of the Iloiites, Gn 36-"- =3- 29 (::w3d\)= 1 Ch 1»; ■"> (BA :^w;ia\, Luc. roi'/SaX). 2. A Calebite f.imily in the tribe of Judah. This Shobal is called in 1 Ch 4'-= (BA i:ou;idX, Luc. ^ui3a\) a 'son' of Jiulah, and in 2»- (B "^w^ap, A 2w^d\, Luc. 2«/3d)»2 (BA 2w;3dX, Luc. 2«;3d) ' son ' of Caleb and 'father' of Kiriath-jearini. The name is proltablj' to be connected, if not identiliod, with No. 1 ; see Wellh. de Gentibus, etc. 39. SHOBEK (F?

ic' ; BA Zui^vk, Luc. ^wftHp).- One of the chiefs of the peojile who sealed the covenant, Neh 10=* R. SHOBI Csy ; OiWjSfi ; Sobi).— From 2 S 17="- we learn that Shobi the son of Nahash of Kabbah of the children of Amnion, to^'ether with two other influential and wealthy landowners of the trans- Jordanic country, came to meet David, when lie fled from Absalom, at Mahanaim, bringing with them large quantities of stores and provisions for the Israelite army.

It seems, however, very doubtful wliether such a person as Shobi ever existed. His name is not mentioned elsewhere, and it is diflicult to reconcile this action on the part of a son of Nahash with the insults ofl'ered by Hanun the son of Naliash, king of Amnion, to David's ambassadors (2 S 10"-), and with the sub- sequent war between Israel and Ammon, which resulted in the siege and capture of Kabbah. S. A. Cook (AJSL xviii. 3, p. 155 f.) suggests very plausibly that we should read 'Nahash, etc.

, brought ' (£"0: 'N':;;!), in place of ' Shobi the sou of Nahash,' etc. (Prin? 'Ji?!) This emendation restores a natural constniction to the verse at the expense of the words ' Shobi son of ' : in its pres- ent form the construction is involved and un- usual (see Driver, ad loc). If, however.

Cook's emendation is accepted, it is difficult to resist his further contention tliat the section dealing with the Ammonite war (2 S lO'-ll' 12-«-»') has been misplaced, and that it should follow and not pre- cede chs. 13-20. J. F. Stenning.