A descendant of Joktan (son of Shem); name means 'My father is God' or 'God is father'
ʾĂḇîmāʾēl appears in the Table of Nations (Genesis 10; 1 Chronicles 1) as a son of Joktan, a descendant of Shem. The name combines ab (father) with El (God), confessing that God himself is the ultimate Father. Joktan's descendants are associated with the Arabian peninsula, and some scholars tentatively identify Abimael with tribes in southern Arabia, though the identification remains uncertain.
The Table of Nations in Genesis 10 is a profoundly theological text: it presents all humanity as descending from Noah's three sons, establishing the unity of the human race under one Creator. Even Semitic names like Abimael ('God is father') preserved, within genealogical lists, an implicit acknowledgment of divine fatherhood. Acts 17:26 — 'From one man he made all the nations' — and Malachi 2:10 — 'Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us?' — echo this foundational truth. The scattered nations will one day be gathered back to the Father through the Son (John 11:52).