Commercial nations and nomad tribes aiding the Church
The nations engaged in commerce bring their wares to the Church; the tribe of Midian, descended from Abraham and Keturah (Gen_25:2), and of which the Ephaens formed a branch, dwelling on the east coast of the Elanitic Gulf in the town of Madyan, lying five days’ journey south from Aria (according to the Arabic geographers)--these come in caravans so numerous and so long that the country round Jerusalem swarms with camels.
All these, Midianites and Ephaens, come from Sheba, of which Viral says, solis est turea virga Sabaeis, and which, according to Strabo, was a populous country of ample resources, producing myrrh, incense and cinnamon. There (viz in Yemen), where spices, precious stones and gold are found, they have brought gold and incense; and these valuable gifts they now bring to Jerusalem, not as unwilling tribute, but with cheerful proclamation of the glorious doings and attributes of Jehovah, the God of Israel. As the trading nations come, so also do the nomad tribes: Kedar, i.e the Kedarenes, armed with bows (Isa_21:17), and dwelling infortified settlements (Isa_42:11) in the desert between Babylon and Syria; and Nebaioth (likewise of Ishmaelitish origin, according to Gen_25:23), a nomad tribe which, though still of no importance during the Israelitish monarchy, rose in the first century B.C. to eminence as a civilized nation, whose territory extended from the Elanitic Gulf to the country lying east of the Jordan, across Belka and as far as Hauran--for the monumental inscriptions they have left behind reach from Egypt to Babylon, though Arabia Petrcea is the chief place where they are found. The Kedarenes drive their flocks of small cattle, when collected, to Jerusalem, and the rams of the Naboteans, brought by this nation, ere placed at the service of the Church, and ascend, for good pleasure, the altar of Jehovah. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
Dromedaries
Properly young camels. The word does not occur in the Old Testament elsewhere; amongst the Arabs it denotes, according to some of the native lexicographers, a camel less than nine years old. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)
