The troops of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them.
The troops - i:e., caravans. Tema, north of Arabia Deserta, near the Syrian desert, called from Tema son of Ishmael (Genesis 25:15; Isaiah 21:14; Jeremiah 25:23). Still so called by the Arabs. Job 6:19-20 give another picture of the mortification of disappointed hopes-namely, those of the caravans on the direct road, anxiously awaiting the return of their companions from the distant valley. The mention of the locality whence the caravans came gives living reality to the picture. Sheba refers here not to the marauders in North Arabia Deserta (Job 1:15), but to the merchants (Ezekiel 27:22) in the South, in Arabia Felix or Yemen, "afar off" (Jeremiah 6:20; Matthew 12:42; Genesis 10:28). Caravans are first mentioned Genesis 37:25; men needed to travel thus in companies across the desert, for defense against the roving robbers, and for mutual accommodation.
The companies waited cannot refer to the caravans who had gone in quest of the waters; because Job 6:18 describes their utter destruction.