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Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume II

Book Fifteen — the multiplication of mankind after the flood

{The sons of Regma: Saba and Dadan.}

LatineEnglish

{The sons of Regma: Saba and Dadan.}1

Filii Regma: Saba et Dadam.

ANTE hos recensendus videbatur sextus filius Chus: hic autem dictus est Nemrod; sed quia is audacia, robore et potentia maxime insignis fuit, primusque mortalium regnum vel tyrannidem potius affectavit, et condendae Babylonis Babyloniique regni princeps fuit, idcirco Moses post alios filios Chus breviter recensitos separatim de eo agit.
Before these the sixth son of Chus seemed to need to be reckoned: this one was called Nemrod; but because he was most notable for audacity, strength, and power, and was the first of mortals to aim at kingship — or rather tyranny — and was the founder of Babylon and chief of the Babylonian kingdom, therefore Moses, after the other sons of Chus had been briefly enumerated, treats of him separately.2
PRIMUS igitur filiorum Regma nominatur Saba, sed priore litera per Scin, unde ad differentiam prioris qui per Samech scribitur, hic appellabitur a nobis Schaba. Schabaeos autem supra indicavimus eam partem Felicis Arabiae incoluisse quae magis ad Sinum Persicum vergit; et fuere isti propter thura, quorum feracissima est eorum regio, apud omnes gentes celeberrimi. Isti sunt Sabaei qui apud Iob capite primo dicuntur abegisse boves et asinas Iob; nam cum essent latrociniis exercitati et assueti, his maxime Satan usus est ad spoliandum bonis suis Iob. Habitabat autem Iob in terra Hus, quae Idumaeam complectitur, cui vicinos fuisse Chaldaeos ex eadem historia patet. Etsi autem Sabaei propter aurum, thus et gemmas ditissimi erant, nihilominus tamen latrociniis delectabantur, praedas a vicinis petentes, sicut docet Plinius: „Mirum dictu,“ inquit, „ex innumeris populis pars aequa in commerciis et latrociniis degit…“
The first, then, of the sons of Regma is named Saba, but in its first letter with Scin; whence, to distinguish him from the former who is written with Samech, he will be called by us Schaba. The Schabaeans, as we indicated above, inhabited that part of Arabia Felix which inclines more toward the Persian Gulf; and these were, on account of their frankincense (of which their region is most productive), most famous among all nations. These are the Sabaeans who in Job, chapter one, are said to have driven off the oxen and she-asses of Job; for since they were practiced and habituated in robberies, Satan made especial use of them to despoil Job of his goods. Now Job dwelt in the land of Hus, which embraces Idumaea, and that the Chaldeans were neighbors to it is clear from the same history. And although the Sabaeans were most wealthy on account of gold, frankincense, and gems, nonetheless they delighted in robberies, seeking plunder from their neighbors, as Pliny teaches: „A wondrous thing to tell,“ he says, „of innumerable peoples an equal part passes its life in commerce and in robberies…“3
„…ex innumeris populis pars aequa in commerciis et latrociniis degit; in universum gentes ditissimae, ut apud quas opes Romanorum et Parthorum subsidant, vendentibus quae ex mari aut sylvis capiunt, nihil invicem redimentibus.“
„…of innumerable peoples an equal part passes its life in commerce and in robberies; on the whole the richest of nations, inasmuch as among them the wealth of the Romans and Parthians settles, since they sell what they take from the sea or the woods, but buy back nothing in return.“4
HORUM porro Sabaeorum thuriferam fuisse regionem perspicere licet ex capite sexto Hieremiae et Isaiae sexagesimo; et huius Sabaeae gentis reginam fuisse quae ad Salomonem magna pompa venit non est dubitandum, cum in scriptura appelletur Regina Schaba, et indicium huius faciat copia aromatum et auri quae ad Salomonem detulit. Et quoniam haec Sabaea respectu Iudaeae Australis est et ad Meridiem spectans, et ab ipsa Iudaea longo terrarum spatio distans, propterea vocatur Regina Austri, et venisse a finibus terrae, id est, a longinquis regionibus. Namque Ioël capite tertio etiam huiusmodi Sabaeos appellat gentem longinquam. Demiror igitur qui venerit in mentem Iosepho libro octavo Antiquitatum eam Reginam facere Aegypti et Aethiopiae reginam.
That the region of these Sabaeans was frankincense-bearing may further be perceived from the sixth chapter of Jeremiah and the sixtieth of Isaiah; and that the queen who came to Solomon with great pomp was of this Sabaean nation is not to be doubted, since in Scripture she is called the Queen of Schaba, and an indication of this is afforded by the abundance of aromatics and gold which she brought to Solomon. And since this Sabaea is, with respect to Judaea, to the south and facing the Meridian, and distant from Judaea itself by a long stretch of lands, on that account she is called the Queen of the South, and is said to have come ‘from the ends of the earth,’ that is, from far-off regions. For in Joel, chapter three, he also calls Sabaeans of this kind ‘a distant nation.’ I wonder, therefore, what came into Josephus's mind, in the eighth book of the Antiquities, to make that queen a queen of Egypt and Ethiopia.5
ALTERUM porro ipsius Regma filium Moses Dadam vel Dedam appellat. Dadanaeos autem Beatus Hieronymus gentem facit Aethiopiae in plaga Occidentali. Cur Iosephus pro Dadan legat Iudam, et pro Dadanaeis Iudaeos, equidem ne divinando quidem rationem ullam adhuc reperire potui. Facit enim Iosephus duos filios Regma: „Alter,“ inquit, „filius eius Iudas genti Iudaeorum inter occidentales Aethiopes originem dedit et nomen; alter vero Saba Sabaeis.“ Iudaeorum gentem aliquando tenuisse sedes in Occidentali Aethiopia ego apud nullum auctorem legi. Sed forte culpa in Iosepho non fuit qui ho id scripsit, sed aliorum qui postea scripturam eius corruperunt. VERUM Dadanaeos non fuisse in Occidentali Aethiopia, regione scilicet immensis a mari Mediterraneo spatiis, et ab urbe Tyri remotissima, videtur manifestum fieri ex verbis Ezechielis, qui capite vigesimo septimo Dadanaeos appellat negotiatores et institores Tyriorum, quique celeberrimum Tyriorum mercatum frequentarent, comportandis eo tapetibus ad sedendum. Cui autem credibile fieri potest Dedanaeos ex Aethiopia usque Occidentali, infinitis paene terrarum spatiis terrestrique itinere, negotiandi et lucrandi causa Tyrum frequenter petiisse?
The other son of Regma himself Moses calls Dadan or Dedan. The Dadanaeans Blessed Jerome makes a nation of Ethiopia in the western region. Why Josephus reads Judas in place of Dadan, and Jews in place of Dadanaeans, I have not been able, even by divining, to find any reason. For Josephus makes two sons of Regma: „The one son of his, Judas,“ he says, „gave origin and name to the nation of the Jews among the western Ethiopians; the other, Saba, to the Sabaeans.“ That the nation of the Jews ever held seats in western Ethiopia I have read in no author. But perhaps the fault was not in Josephus, who wrote it thus, but in others who afterward corrupted his writing. But that the Dadanaeans were not in western Ethiopia — a region distant by immense spaces from the Mediterranean Sea, and most remote from the city of Tyre — seems to be made manifest from the words of Ezekiel, who in chapter twenty-seven calls the Dadanaeans traders and dealers of the Tyrians, who frequented the most famous market of the Tyrians, bringing thither carpets for sitting. To whom can it be made credible that the Dedanaeans, from western Ethiopia, across well-nigh boundless stretches of lands and by an overland journey, frequently sought Tyre for the sake of trading and gain?6
ILLUD igitur similius vero, Dedanaeos fuisse populos Idumaeis maxime vicinos et coniunctos aut etiam mixtos et confusos. Siquidem duo prophetae Ieremias et Ezechiel, cum de vastatione et excidio Idumaeorum vaticinantur, una cum Idumaeis consociant et coniungunt Dedanaeos. Ieremias quidem quadragesimo nono capite: „Fugite,“ inquit, „terga vertite, descendite in voraginem, habitatores Dedan; quoniam perditionem Esau adduxi super eum, tempus visitationis eius.“ Per Ezechielem vero sic loquitur Deus: „Extendam manum meam super Idumaeam, ut auferam de ea iumentum et hominem, et faciam eam desertam ab Austro; et qui sunt in Dedan gladio cadent.“ Hinc apparet Dedanaeos fuisse Idumaeorum affines et socios, et odii atque crudelitatis adversus Hebraeum populum participes.
That, then, is more like the truth: that the Dedanaeans were peoples most closely neighboring and joined to the Idumaeans, or even mingled and confounded with them. For the two prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, when they prophesy concerning the devastation and ruin of the Idumaeans, associate and join the Dedanaeans together with the Idumaeans. Jeremiah indeed in the forty-ninth chapter: {Flee, turn your backs, go down into the pit, inhabitants of Dedan; for I have brought the destruction of Esau upon him, the time of his visitation.} And through Ezekiel God speaks thus: {I will stretch out my hand over Idumaea, that I may take away from it beast and man, and I will make it desolate from the south; and those who are in Dedan shall fall by the sword.} Hence it appears that the Dedanaeans were kinsmen and allies of the Idumaeans, and partners of their hatred and cruelty against the Hebrew people.7

Translator’s notes

  1. Gen 10:7b (verse lemma). ↩
  2. Transitional comment (Gen 10:7b): the 6th son Nemrod is held back and treated separately, after the others, because of his eminence as the first tyrant and founder of Babylon. ↩
  3. §51. Regma's first son Saba (spelled with Scin = ‘Schaba’ to distinguish from Chus's Saba): the Schabaeans dwelt in Arabia Felix toward the Persian Gulf, famed for frankincense. These are the Sabaeans of Job 1 who raided Job's oxen/asses — robbers used by Satan; Job lived in Hus (embracing Idumaea), near the Chaldeans. Despite their wealth they delighted in plunder (Pliny bk. 6 ch. 28, quote begins). Margins: the passage of Job ch. 1; Pliny bk. 6 ch. 28. ↩
  4. §51 (concl.). End of the Pliny quotation: these Arabian peoples, half traders and half brigands, are the richest of nations, draining off Roman and Parthian wealth. ↩
  5. §52. The Sabaeans' frankincense land (Jer 6, Isa 60); the Queen of Sheba who came to Solomon (1 Kgs 10) was of this nation (‘Regina Schaba’; her gold and spices), called ‘Queen of the South’ / from ‘the ends of the earth’ (Mt 12; Joel 3, ‘a distant nation’). Pererius marvels that Josephus (Antiquities bk. 8) made her queen of Egypt and Ethiopia. Margins: 1 Kgs 10; the Queen of Sheba who came to Solomon; Mt 12; Josephus's slip. ↩
  6. §53. Regma's second son Dadan/Dedan: Jerome = a nation of western Ethiopia; Josephus oddly reads ‘Judas/Jews’ (Jews among western Ethiopians) — Pererius suspects later corruption of Josephus's text. Ezek 27 shows the Dadanaeans as traders at Tyre (bringing carpets), too far for western Ethiopians — so they were not there. Margins: Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis; Josephus's slip (twice). ↩
  7. §54. More likely: the Dedanaeans neighbored/mingled with the Idumaeans, since Jeremiah (ch. 49) and Ezekiel (ch. 25) join Dedan with Edom in prophecies of its ruin — kinsmen, allies, and sharers of hatred against the Hebrews. Margin: what nation the Dedanaeans were. ↩