Peleg

Peleg was one of the two sons of Eber and an ancestor of the Israelites. Peleg had his first son named Reu when he was thirty, and he had other sons and daughters as well. Peleg lived to the age of 239 years.

The record states that the earth was divided in "the days of Peleg". Some have argued that the division was the continuing shift of the tectonic plates of the planet earth, but it was likely the splitting of the "sons of Heber" into numerous branches. This is best seen in the listing of the sons of Joktan, with only one of Peleg's sons being named. The significance of this is seen in the covenantal family that formed with Jacob when he was called "Israel" by Yahweh. In other words, the Messianic line. The event that forced this was the dispersion in the time of Nimrod.

Name and Family
The name Peleg (Heb: פֶּלֶג) means "division". The word is used in the record to indicate division made by man-made streams of water (canals, or channels) and could be applied symbolically to a "family tree" flowing from a common source (the Patriarch Heber).

As a great grandson of Noah, of the line of Shem, Peleg would have grown up in a developing city-state in the company with an extended family including Hamitic and Japhethic cousins. His brother Joktan was to become the father of the Arabic clans. His ancestors going back to Noah were alive in the same region.