Shual (2)
Shu'al (Heb. Shual, שׁוּעָל, a jackal;, Sept. in Chronicles Σουάλ v.r. Σουλά and Σουδά; in Kings, Σωγάλ), the name of a man and of a region.
1. Third named of the eleven "sons" of Zophah, descendants of Asher (1Ch 7:36). B.C. post 1612.
2. A district ("land of Shual") named only in 1Sa 13:17, to denote the direction taken by one of the three parties of marauders who issued from the Philistine camp at Michmash. Its connection with Ophrah (probably Taiyibeh) and the direction of the two other routes named in the passage make it pretty certain that the region in question lay north of Michmash. If, therefore, it be identical with the "land of Shalim" (1Sa 9:4) — as is not impossible — we obtain the first and only clue yet obtained. to Saul's journey is quest of the asses. The name Shual has not yet been identified in the neighborhood of Taiyibeh or elsewhere. It may have originated in the Hebrew signification of the word ("jackal"), in which case it would be appropriate enough to the wild desolate region east of Taiyibeh — a region containing a valley or ravine at no great distance from Taiyibeh which bore, and perhaps still bears, the name of "Hamflas." SEE ZEBOIM, VALLEY OF. Others (as Thenius, in Exeg. Handb.) derive the name from a different root, and interpret it as "hollow land."
