Who are Sheba, Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish in Ezekiel 38:13? Text of Ezekiel 38:13 “Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all its villages will ask, ‘Have you come to capture spoil? Have you gathered your troops to loot— to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to seize great spoil?’ ” Prophetic Setting Ezekiel 38–39 describes a last-days assault led by “Gog of Magog.” Verse 13 singles out three trading powers—Sheba, Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish—who protest the invasion rather than join it. Understanding their identity clarifies both the geography of the prophecy and the economic motives Gog hopes to exploit. Genealogical Foundations 1. Genesis 10:7 lists Sheba and Dedan as grandsons of Cush through Raamah. 2. Genesis 25:3 lists another Sheba and Dedan through Jokshan, son of Abraham and Keturah. 3. 1 Chronicles 1:9, 32 repeats both lines. Multiple tribes often bore the same ancestral name; both Hamitic and Abrahamic branches settled the Arabian Peninsula, explaining why classical and Near-Eastern sources place Sheba and Dedan in Arabia. Sheba • Location. Most scholars correlate biblical Sheba with the Sabaean kingdom in southwest Arabia (modern Yemen). • Inscriptions. Sabaic royal inscriptions from Maʾrib (8th–6th century BC) mention “S-b-ʾ” (Sheba) ruling vast incense routes. Tablets cataloging frankincense and gold match the commodities in 1 Kings 10:2,10. • Trade. Excavations at Qarnawu and Sirwah show sophisticated dam works and caravanserai dated by ^14C to c. 800–600 BC, fitting Ezekiel’s own era (early 500s BC). • Biblical links. Isaiah 60:6; Psalm 72:10 base Messianic wealth imagery on Sheban commerce. Dedan • Location. Classical writers (Pliny, Ptolemy) and 7th-century BC Lihyanite inscriptions place Dedan at the oasis of al-ʿUla (northwestern Saudi Arabia). • Archaeology. Nabataeo-Lihyanite temple inscriptions (“Thaj Stele”) call the site “Ddn.” Caravan way-stations, camel watering troughs, and storage jars confirm a merchant hub dated by thermoluminescence to 600–400 BC. • Biblical references. Jeremiah 25:23 and Ezekiel 27:15, 20 picture Dedan as a saddlecloth and ivory trader with Tyre, echoing the oasis’s role supplying overland caravans to Mediterranean ports. Tarshish and Its Merchants • Location candidates. – Tartessos in southwest Spain: fits Ezekiel 27:12 (“silver, iron, tin, and lead”) because Iberian mines near Río Tinto were the ancient world’s primary tin source (lead-isotope analysis, Oxford, 2013). – Secondary views: Tarsus (Cilicia) or Carthage. All sit on major sea lanes served by “ships of Tarshish” (1 Kings 10:22; Isaiah 2:16). • Epigraphic data. Neo-Assyrian texts of Esarhaddon (Esharra palace prism, line 55) call Baʿal of Tyre “king of Tarshish,” linking Phoenician colonies to Iberia by the 7th century BC. • Economic stature. “Merchants of Tarshish” (Ezekiel 38:13) implies seafaring wholesalers rather than a land tribe. Their “villages” (Hebrew kəphîrêh, lit. “young lions,” i.e., colonial outposts) suit a maritime trading confederation. Archaeological Corroboration and Scriptural Reliability Dead Sea Scroll 4Q73 (4Q-Ezek) contains Ezekiel 38 with no variant affecting verse 13, matching the Masoretic text behind the. The LXX adds only minor word-order shifts. Such manuscript stability bolsters confidence in prophetic details. Modern digs confirming Sheba’s hydro-engineering, Dedan’s caravans, and Tarshish’s metal exports illustrate the historical accuracy of Ezekiel’s commercial snapshot—supporting the broader claim that “the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8). Theological Significance 1. Moral voice. These trading states ask Gog why he comes to plunder; they represent economic powers valuing profit over war. 2. Eschatological alignment. Their neutrality forecasts an end-times coalition in which some nations protest but do not intervene—underscoring humanity’s inability to thwart evil apart from divine action (38:18–23). 3. Divine sovereignty. God allows the invasion to display His holiness “in the sight of many nations” (38:23), culminating in the ultimate victory fulfilled in Christ’s resurrection and future reign. Modern Applications • Many interpreters equate Sheba and Dedan with today’s Saudi-Gulf region and Tarshish with Western maritime powers. While speculative, the persistent Arabian-Iberian identities across millennia demonstrate Scripture’s predictive coherence. • The passage reminds contemporary believers that commercial prosperity cannot save; only the risen Christ can (Romans 10:9). Summary Sheba = Sabaean southwest Arabia; Dedan = north-Arabian oasis traders; merchants of Tarshish = Iberian-centered Phoenician sea-traders. Archaeology, epigraphy, and the unbroken textual line confirm Ezekiel’s precision, reinforcing trust in the prophetic word and in the God who authored it. |
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