Genesis 10:7

7 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.

Genesis 10:7 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 10:7

And the sons of Cush
The first born of Ham, who had five sons, next mentioned, besides Nimrod, spoken of afterwards by himself:

Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtecha;
the first of these is Seba, the founder of the Sabaeans, according to Josephus {p}, a people seated in Arabia Deserta, which seem to be the Sabaeans brought from the wilderness, ( Ezekiel 23:42 ) and very probably the same that plundered Job of his cattle, ( Job 1:14 Job 1:15 ) . The second son is Havilah, who, as Josephus ^F17 says, was the father of the Evilaeans, now called Getuli; but the posterity of Havilah seem to be the same whom Strabo ^F18 calls Chaulotaeans, and whom he speaks of along with the Nabataeans and Agraeans, a people near Arabia Felix; and by Pliny

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 they are called Chavelaeans, and whom he speaks of as Arabians, and places them to the east of the Arabian Scenites. The third son is Sabtah; from him, Josephus ^F20 says, came the Sabathenes, who, by the Greeks, are called Astabari; the posterity of this man seemed to have settled in some part of Arabia Felix, since Ptolemy ^F21 makes mention of Sabbatha as the metropolis of that country, called by Pliny ^F23 Sabotale, or rather Sabota, as it should be read; Ptolemy places another city in this country he calls Saphtha, which seems to have its name from this man. The fourth son is Raamah or Ragmas, as Josephus calls ^F24 him, from whom sprung the Ragmaeans he says; and most of the ancients call him Rhegmah, the letter (e) being pronounced as a "G", as in Gaza and Gomorrah: his posterity were also seated in Arabia Felix, near the Persian Gulf, where Ptolemy ^F25 places the city Rhegama, or as it is in the Greek text, Regma. The fifth son is Sabtecha, whom some make to be the father of a people in the same country, Arabia Felix, near the Persian Gulf, called Sachalitae; but Dr. Wells ^F26 thinks, that the descendants of this man might be from him regularly enough styled at first by the Greeks, Sabtaceni, which name might be afterwards softened into Saraceni, by which name it is well known the people of the northern parts of Arabia, where he places the descendants of this man, were formerly denominated; though Bochart ^F1 carries them into Carmania in Persia, there being a short cut over the straits of the Persian Gulf, out of Arabia thither, where he finds a city called Samydace, and a river, Samydachus, which he thinks may come from Sabtecha, the letters "B" and "M" being frequently changed, as Berodach is called Merodach, and Abana, Amana, and so in other names.

And the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan;
no account is given of any of the posterity of the other sons of Cush, only of this his fourth son Raamah, who is said to have two sons; the first is called Sheba, from whom came the Sabaeans, according to Josephus ^F2; not the Sabaeans before mentioned in Arabia Deserta, but those in Arabia Felix, where Pomponius Mela ^F3 and Strabo ^F4 seat a people called Sabaeans, and whose country abounded with frankincense, myrrh, and cinnamon; the latter makes mention of a city of theirs called Mariaba, and seems to be the same that is now called Mareb, and formerly Saba ^F5, very likely from this man. The other son, Dedan, is called by Josephus ^F6 Judadas, whom he makes to be founder of the Judadaeans, a nation of the western Ethiopians; but the posterity of this man most probably settled in Arabia, and yet are to be distinguished from the Dedanim in ( Isaiah 21:13 ) who were Arabians also, but descended from Dedan the son of Jokshan, a son of Abraham by Keturah, ( Genesis 25:3 ) as well as from the inhabitants of Dedan in Edom, ( Jeremiah 25:23 ) ( 49:8 ) it is observed, that near the city Regma before mentioned, on the same coast eastward, was another city called Dedan; and to this day Daden, from which the neighbouring country also takes its name, as Bochart ^F7 has observed, from Barboza, an Italian writer, in his description of the kingdom of Ormus: so that we need not doubt, says Dr. Wells ^F8, but that here was the settlement of Dedan the son of Raamah or Rhegma, and brother of Sheba.

F16 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.)
F17 Ibid.
F18 Geograph. l. 16. p. 528.
F19 Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 11.
F20 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.)
F21 Geograph. l. 6. c. 7.
F23 Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28.
F24 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.)
F25 Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 7.)
F26 Geography of the Old Testament, vol. 1. p. 198.
F1 Phaleg l. 4. c. 4. col. 218.
F2 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.)
F3 De Situ Orbis, l. 3. c. 8.
F4 Geograph. l. 16. p. 536.
F5 Via. Pocock. Specimen Arab. Hist p. 57.
F6 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 1. c. 6. sect. 1.)
F7 Phaleg. l. 4. c. 6. col. 219.
F8 Ut supra, (Geography of the Old Testament, vol. 1.) p. 197.

Genesis 10:7 In-Context

5 From these the coastland peoples spread in their lands, each with his own language, by their clans, in their nations.

6 The sons of Ham: Cush, Egypt, Put, and Canaan.

7 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.

8 Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man.

9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD. Therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD."