Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

EAST

The direction of primary orientation for the Hebrews (Heb. qeḏem). South thus was “right” or “the right hand” (têmān) and north was “left” or “the left hand” (śĕmōʾl). This eastward orientation was shared by several other Semitic peoples including the Akkadians and the Sumerians; the Egyptians, however, used south as the primary point for orientation, probably due to the southern source of the Nile River. The Hebrew root qdm has several shades of meaning, including antiquity (since Abraham came from the east); front or face (facing a direction so as to gain orientation); and the “east wind” or “wind of Yahweh” (Hos. 12:1[MT 2]; cf. Gen. 41:6; Isa. 27:8). In his travels, Yahweh was viewed as coming from the east (Ezek. 10:19; 11:23; 43:1-5).

References to the “land of the east” (ʾereṣ qeḏem; Gen. 25:6; Judg. 6:3, 33; 7:12; cf. Num. 23:7) can be translated as a proper name, “the land of Qedem.” Conflicting Egyptian references to Qedem locate the region either closer to Byblos on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in Phoenicia or E of Syria. Most scholars take the phrase descriptively as referring to the general region from northern Mesopotamia to Arabia. “People (sons, or children) of the east” (bĕnê qeḏem) probably refers to the people of this general region: the Edomites, Arabians, Midianites, and people of the Mesopotamian valley (Gen. 29:1; Isa. 11:14; Jer. 49:28). Job is described as the “greatest of the children of the east” (Job 1:3) and is said to have resided in the “land of Uz” in the general area of Edom.

Bibliography. M. Dahood, “The Four Cardinal Points in Psalm 75,7 and Joel 2,20,,” Bibl 52 (1971): 397; B. L. Gordon, “Sacred Directions, Orientation, and the Top of the Map,” History of Religions 10 (1971): 211-27.

Dennis M. Swanson

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

EAST

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)