EAST, CHILDREN (MEN, PEOPLE) OF THE עבְנֵי־קֶֽדֶמ׃׃א. A term evidently describing nations located to the E of Pal. Qedem (“East”) already occurs in the Egyp. Romance of Sinuhe (c. 1900 b.c.) as a land near Canaan where Bedouins were seen. In Genesis 29:1 Jacob journeyed to the territory of the people of the E in Paddan-aram, northern Mesopotamia. Judges 6-8 includes the בְנֵי־קֶֽדֶם as Arabs who fought Israel with the Midianites and Amalekites. (See Jer 49:28; Ezek 25:4, 10.) Job 1:3 describes Job as the “greatest of the children of the east.” Some think that northern Arabia, Edom, or Moab provides the setting of the book, a location which fits Isaiah 11:14 also. Hitti affirms that Arabia in general was the home of the children of the E.

Along with the Egyptians, the Eastern people were known for their wisdom (1 Kings 4:30). The wise men who visited the young child Jesus were also from the E (Matt 2:1-12).

Bibliography P. K. Hitti, History of the Arabs, 7th ed. (1960), 43.