Havilah

From BibleEncyclopedia.Net

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 (Gen_10:29; compare Gen_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; 1Ch_1:23).

hav´i-la (חוילה, ḥăwīlāh; Εὑιλά, Heuilá):

(1) Son of Cush (Gen_10:7; 1Ch_1:9).

(2) Son of Yoktan, descendant of Shem (Gen_10:29; 1Ch_1:23).

(3) Mentioned with Shur as one of the limits of the territory of the Ishmaelites (Gen_25:18); compare the same limits of the land of the Amalekites (1Sa_15:7), where, however, the text is doubtful. It is described (Gen_2:11, Gen_2:12) as bounded by the river Pishon and as being rich in gold, bdellium and “shoham-stone” (English Version of the Bible, “onyx”). The shoham-stone was perhaps the Assyrian samtu, probably the malachite or turquoise. The mention of a Cushite Havilah is explained by the fact that the Arabian tribes at an early time migrated to the coast of Africa. The context of Gen_10:7 thus favors situation on the Ethiopian shore, and the name is perhaps preserved in the kolpos Aualites and in the tribe Abalitai on the South side of the straits of Babel-Mandeb. Or possibly a trace of the name appears in the classical Aualis, now Zeila‛ in Somaliland. But its occurrence among the Yoktanite Arabs (Gen_10:29) suggests a location in Arabia. South Arabian inscriptions mention a district of Khaulan (Ḥaulan), and a place of this name is found both in Tihāma and Southeast of San‛ā). Again Strabo's Chaulotaioi and Ḥuwaila in Bahrein point to a district on the Arabian shore of the Persian Gulf. No exact identification has yet been made.