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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comFausset Bible Dictionary: Dedan
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Son of Raamah, son of Cush (), brother of Sheba. A second Dedan is son of Jokshan, son of Keturah (), and is brother of a second Sheba. The recurrence of the same names points to an intermarriage between the Cushite (Ethiopian, rather Hamitic) Dedan and the Semitic Dedan, which is referred to as Edomite (; ; ; , "ye traveling companies (merchant caravans) of Dedanim".)
The Cushite Dedan near the head of the Persian gulf and Chaldaea, the avenue of commerce to India, is referred to in , as the names in the context prove; but Dedan is connected with N.W. Arabia, and associated with Assyria (), i.e. the Semitic or Edomite Dedan, yet also connected with the Cushite "Sheba and Raamah" () on the Persian gulf. The Semitic Sabeans, descended from Sheba tenth son of Joktan, dwelt in S.W. Arabia, from the Red Sea to the straits of Bab el Mandeb. Ezekiel thus recounts the two channels of merchandise, Raamah on the Persian gulf, and Sheba on the Red Sea in Arabia. The name Dedan still remains in Dadan, an island on the border of the Persian gulf. (See RAAMAH)