tema Summary and Overview

south; desert, one of the sons of Ishmael, and father of a tribe so called (Gen. 25:15; 1 Chr. 1:30; Job 6:19; Isa. 21:14; Jer. 25:23) which settled at a place to which he gave his name, some 250 miles south-east of Edom, on the route between Damascus and Mecca, in the northern part of the Arabian peninsula, toward the Syrian desert; the modern Teyma'.

(a desert), the ninth son of Ishmael, #Ge 25:15; 1Ch 1:30| whence the tribe called after him, mentioned in #Job 6:19; Jer 25:23| and also the land occupied by this tribe. #Isa 21:13,14| (B.C. after 1850.) The name is identified with Teyma, a small town on the confines of Syria.

TE'MA (south desert), an Ishmaelite tribe descended from Tema, Gen 25:15; 1 Chr 1:30, and settled in Arabia. Tema is mentioned with Sheba, Job 6:19, and with Dedan. Isa 21:14; Jer 25:23. On the great caravan-road from Damascus to Mecca and on the eastern border of Syria is a town called Teyma', near Dumah and Kedar, which is supposed to represent Tema.

("desert land".) Ishmael's ninth son (Genesis 25:15). Founder of an Arab tribe in the northern Arabia Deserta, on the border of the Syrian desert (Job 6:19); "the troops of Tema" are the caravans on the direct road anxiously "looking for" the return of their companions gone to look for water; the failure of it in the wady and the disappointment depict Job's disappointment at not finding comfort from his friends whose professions promised so much (Isaiah 21:14; Jeremiah 25:23). Teyma, a small town, preserves the name (Themme in Ptolemy 5:19, section 6); commanded by the castle El Ablak of a Jew Samuel (A.D. 550), attributed by tradition to Solomon, now in ruins; originally meant to protect the caravan route on the N. of Arabia. Compare Genesis 25:15, "sons of Ishmael, by their towns and castles." The Hebrew however for "castles" may mean "hamlets"; see Speaker's Commentary, Numbers 31:10; from tor "a row," namely, of rude dwellings, of stones piled one on another and covered with tent cloths, like the devars in Algeria.