HUL

A son of Aram. (Ge 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 Aram” 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 1Ch 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 (Urus) as the founder of Armenia. (Jewish Antiquities, I, 145 [vi, 4]) Others have suggested areas in Mesopotamia and elsewhere. Many favor the Hula 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 “Hula” and also in “Ulatha,” a region mentioned by Josephus.​—Jewish Antiquities, XV, 360 (x, 3).