Genesis 25:13 ff names him as one of the sons of Yishma-El; his siblings were Nevayot, Kedar, Mivsam, Mishma, Dumah, Masa, Hadad, Teyma, Yetur, Naphish, and Kedemah, 12 in all, as we would expect from a tribal list that isn't really a genealogical table at all, but, so to speak, the labels at the dining-room table, the table in question being the Arthurian round table, which is the cosmos, and the twelve "disciples", the twelve "merry men" its twelve horoscopal constellations.
The text tells us that all twelve were male, but you will see from my notes at the links that at least one of them was probably female.
The name is usually thought to mean "miracle of god", the god in question being El. The explanation for this, however, is an obscure Arabic word meaning "miracle", where actually most Arabic speakers would use معجزة, pronounced "muejiza". Much more likely the name is not Adbe-El at all, but Adav-El, for which 1 Samuel 2:33 provides us the only Biblical instance (VE LA'ADIV ET NAPHSHECHA - וְלַאֲדִיב אֶת נַפְשֶׁךָ), and in the Hiphil or causative form, but rather more grammatically plausible than "Adbe-El". The only trouble is, there is scholarly debate over its meaning. Some translate it, as per the link, as "the grief of your spirit", where others (click here for an example) prefer to see it metaphorically, and render it as the languishing of the the heart.
The name is usually thought to mean "miracle of god", the god in question being El. The explanation for this, however, is an obscure Arabic word meaning "miracle", where actually most Arabic speakers would use معجزة, pronounced "muejiza". Much more likely the name is not Adbe-El at all, but Adav-El, for which 1 Samuel 2:33 provides us the only Biblical instance (VE LA'ADIV ET NAPHSHECHA - וְלַאֲדִיב אֶת נַפְשֶׁךָ), and in the Hiphil or causative form, but rather more grammatically plausible than "Adbe-El". The only trouble is, there is scholarly debate over its meaning. Some translate it, as per the link, as "the grief of your spirit", where others (click here for an example) prefer to see it metaphorically, and render it as the languishing of the the heart.
He was, according to the list, the third son of Yishma-El, maintaining the El link through that side of the Av-Rahamic ancestry, the other side being Yah worshippers (Yah-Tschok/Isaac, Yah-Ekev/Jacob, Yah-Suph/Joseph etc). This division is repeated in Yehudah (Yah-Hu-Yada) and Yisra-El (Yah-Sar-El). This, at least, is a view expressed by some scholars, and as TheBibleNet is trying to be open to all viable and plausible hypothesis, I note it, though I am far from convinced by it.
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