east Summary and Overview

(1.) The orient (mizrah); the rising of the sun. Thus "the east country" is the country lying to the east of Syria, the Elymais (Zech. 8:7). (2). Properly what is in front of one, or a country that is before or in front of another; the rendering of the word "kedem". In pointing out the quarters, a Hebrew always looked with his face toward the east. The word "kedem" is used when the four quarters of the world are described (Gen. 13:14; 28:14); and "mizrah" when the east only is distinguished from the west (Josh. 11:3; Ps. 50:1; 103:12, etc.). In Gen. 25:6 "eastward" is literally "unto the land of kedem;" i.e., the lands lying east of Israel, namely, Arabia, Mesopotamia, etc.

The Hebrew term kedem properly means that which is before or in front of a person, and was applied to the east form the custom of turning in that direction when describing the points of the compass, before, behind, the right and the left representing respectively east, west, south and north. #Job 23:8,9| The term as generally used refers to the lands lying immediately eastward of Israel, viz., Arabia, Mesopotamia and Babylonia; on the other hand mizrach is used of the far east with a less definite signification. #Isa 42:2,25; 43:5; 46:11|

EAST , EAST COUN'TRY. Gen 11:2; Job 1:3; Eze 47:8; Matt 2:1. The Hebrews used the word kedem, or "east," to describe any country which was before or in front of another -- that is, to the east of it; and it generally refers to the region around and beyond the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, including portions of Arabia, Mesopotamia, and Babylonia.

qedem, literally, "before"; for in describing the points of the compass the person faced the E. or sunrise (Greek anatolee, the E.), which was thus before or in front of him; the S. was on his right, and so is called in Hebrew "the right hand"; the N. was on his left, and so is called in Hebrew "the left hand." Job 23:8-9, "forward," i.e. eastward; "backward," i.e. westward; "on the left hand," i.e. to the N.; "on the right hand," i.e. in the S. So the Hindus call the E. para, "before "; the W. apara, "behind "; the S. doschina, "the right hand"; the N. bama, "the left." Mizrach, "the sunrise," is used when the E. is distinguished from the W. Qedem is also used to designate the lands lying immediately E. of Israel, namely, Arabia, Mesopotamia, Babylonia. Genesis 25:6; trans. "unto the land of Qedem, for unto the E. country"; Genesis 29:1, Haran. Mizrach is used of the E. more indefinitely. The Greek plural anatolai, "the sunrisings," is used of the E. indefinitely, the eastern point of the compass (Matthew 2:1); but hee anatolee, "the sunrising," singular, is used of a definite locality. So Qedem with the article (Genesis 10:30) expresses the definite country S, Arabia; "Sephara mount of the E.," a seaport on the coast of Hadramaut. More generally said of N. Arabia and Mesopotamia. Job 1:3; "the children of the E." are mentioned with the Midianites and Amalekites (Judges 6:3; Judges 6:33; Judges 7:12). Gideon and his servant understood their talk, showing that theirs was a Semitic dialect akin to the Hebrew, before it had greatly diverged from the common parent tongue. In Ezekiel 25:4 "the men of the E." are the wandering Bedouin tribes of Arabia Deserta; "they shall set their palaces in thee" (Ammon); irony; where thy palaces once stood, they shall set up very different "palaces," namely, nomadic encampments and mud-surrounded folds (Jeremiah 49:28-29). Arab is the Old Testament name for "the children of the E." (See ARAM.) Isaiah 2:6, "replenished from the E., i.e., filled with the superstitions of the E., namely, the astrology and sorceries of Chaldea.