havilah Summary and Overview

the sand region. (1.) A land mentioned in Gen. 2:11 rich in gold and bdellium and onyx stone. The question as to the locality of this region has given rise to a great diversity of opinion. It may perhaps be identified with the sandy tract which skirts Babylonia along the whole of its western border, stretching from the lower Euphrates to the mountains of Edom. (2.) A district in Arabia-Felix. It is uncertain whether the tribe gave its name to this region or derived its name from it, and whether it was originally a Cushite (Gen. 10:7) or a Joktanite tribe (10:29; compare 25:18), or whether there were both a Cushite and a Joktanite Havilah. It is the opinion of Kalisch, however, that Havilah "in both instances designates the same country, extending at least from the Persian to the Arabian Gulf, and on account of its vast extent easily divided into two distinct parts." This opinion may be well vindicated. (3.) One of the sons of Cush (Gen. 10:7). (4.) A son of Joktan (Gen. 10:29; 1 Chr. 1:23).

HAV'ILAH . 1. A son of Cush, Gen 10:7. 2. A son of Joktan, Gen 10:29.

1. Genesis 10:7. 2. Descendants of Havilah, son of Cush, probably intermingled with the descendants of Havilah the Joktanite Havilah. So one people was formed, occupying Khawlan, the fertile region in the N.W. portion of Yemen or Arabia Felix. The Joktanite settlement was probably the earliest, the Arabs tracing the name Khawlan (which is another form of Havilah or Chavilah, with the ending n) to a descendant of Kahtan or Joktan. The region is fertile, abounding in myrrh, well watered, and populous. The Havilah bordering on the Ishmaelites "as thou goest to Assyria" (Genesis 25:18), also on Amalek (1 Samuel 15:7), seems distinct. This Havilah is not as the former Havilah in the heart of Yemen, but on the border of Arabia Petrea toward Yemen, between the Nabateans and the Hagarites; the country of the Chauloteans.