HUL

[possibly, circle, circuit].

A “son” of Aram. (Gen. 10:23) At 1 Chronicles 1:17, though, Hul appears to be listed as a “son” of Shem. In the Alexandrine Manuscript and Hebrew manuscript Kennicott 175, 1 Chronicles 1:17 reads as does Genesis 10:23, having the phrase “and the sons of Aram” before listing Uz, Hul, Gether and Mash. So, the omission of the words “and the sons of” at 1 Chronicles 1:17 in the Masoretic text may be due to scribal error. But this is not necessarily the case; in the Scriptures, “sons” can also include grandsons and even later descendants. (For what might be a comparable situation, see 1 Chronicles 1:4, where Shem, Ham and Japheth are not introduced as sons of Noah, perhaps because their relationship to Noah was so well known that the original writer felt it unnecessary to make the identification.)

The area settled by the descendants of Hul is not definitely known. Josephus identifies Hul (UI) as the founder of Armenia. (Antiquities of the Jews, Book I, chap. VI, par. 4) Others have suggested areas in Mesopotamia and elsewhere. Many favor the Huleh region in the vicinity of the Biblical “waters of Merom” that lay N of the Sea of Galilee, since the name “Hul” seems to be preserved in “Huleh” and also in “Ulatha,” a town in that area mentioned by Josephus.