Genesis 36:20 names him as the second son of Se'ir of the Beney Chor (Horites). His siblings were Lotan (לוטן), Tsivon (צבעון), Anah (ענה), Dishon (דשון), Etser (אצר) and Dishan (דישן). Are Dishon and Dishan really the same? Any significance that there were seven siblings? There usually is in Biblical tales.
Shoval's own sons were Alvan (עלון), Manachat (מנחת), Eyval (עיבל), Shepho (שפו) and Onam (אונם).
1 Chronicles 2:50 names a Shoval in the clan of Kalev (כָלֵב) ben Yephuneh: "The sons of Chur, the firstborn of Ephratah (אֶפְרָתָה), were Shoval the father of Kiryat Ye'arim (קִרְיַת יְעָרִים)" - which is interesting, because Kiryat-Ye'arim was a place, not a person, so does "father" perhaps mean "elder"?. 1 Chronicles 4:1 has Perets (פֶּרֶץ), Chetsron (חֶצְרוֹן), Karmi (כַּרְמִי), Chur (חוּר) and Shoval as the sons of Yehudah.
How many of these were the names of people, and how many of places? Or can we deduce a sociological history: the eponymous founder of the clan, at the point where it ceased to be fully (or even at all) nomadic, and became settled at some point of the region, first as a set of tents, then perhaps a caravanserai, gradually with fixed dwellings, then the appurtenances of a town, a shrine, even at last a city wall?
We know that Eyval was Mount Ebal, which faced Mount Gerizim with Shechem in the valley between them. Likewise Sei'ir, associated with both Esav and Yishma-El. What about the others? "The firstborn of Ephratah" appears to suggest nomads from Mesopotamia, like Av-Ram himself indeed; however, see my notes to Ephratah. Kiryat Ye'arim was the town where the Ark was stored after it had been captured in battle, and then returned by the Pelishtim (1 Samuel 4:1-7:1); it remained there until the Temple was built in Yeru-Shala'im.
The name means "flowing" or "a shoot", from the root Shaval (שבל).
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