Genesis 25:15 - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Bible Comments

Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:

Tema, [Septuagint, Theman] - the ninth son of Ishmael, a town and district of the province of Nejd, in the northeast of Arabia, and in the great tribe of Beni Teman.

Jetur - the name of a province as well as a man. It appears (1 Chronicles 5:19) that it lay on the southeast side of Hermon, corresponding exactly to the Geshurites (Joshua 13:3; 1 Samuel 27:8), the Ituraeans, and to the modern district of Jeidur, which is southwest of the great plain of Damascus, and is for the most part table-land.

Naphish - re-created (Gesenius) [Septuagint, Nafes] - is associated (1 Chronicles 1:31; 1 Chronicles 5:18-23) with Jetur, and, of course, the settlement of this tribe along the eastern slopes of the Hermon and Bashan mountains.

Kedemah - inhabitant of East [Septuagint, Kedma]. Foster finds it in the town Kedehma, in Hijr, on the Persian Gulf. Knobel and Bunsen ('Bibelwerk') conjecture from the name, that this tribe was located between Mecca and Medina, 'where the mountain land of the Beni Sobh, a branch of the numerous tribe Beni Harb, the proper site of the fragrant balsam, lies.

Genesis 25:15

15 Hadar,a and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah: