Tema

From BibleEncyclopedia.Net

South; desert, one of the sons of Ishmael, and father of a tribe so called (Gen_25:15; 1Ch_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.

tē´ma (תּימא, tēmā', “south country”; Θαιμάν, Thaimán):

The name of a son of Ishmael (Gen_25:15; 1Ch_1:30), of the tribe descended from him (Jer_25:23), and of the place where they dwelt (Job_6:19; Isa_21:14). This last was a locality in Arabia which probably corresponds to the modern Teimā' (or Taymā' (see Doughty, Arabia Deserta, I, 285)), an oasis which lies about 200 miles North of el-Medina, and some 40 miles South of Dūmat el-Jandal (Dumah), now known as el-Jauf. It is on the ancient caravan road connecting the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Aḳaba; and doubtless the people took a share in the carrying trade (Job_6:19). The wells of the oasis still attract the wanderers from the parched wastes (Isa_21:14). Doughty (loc. cit.) describes the ruins of the old city wall, some 3 miles in circuit. An Aramaic stele recently discovered, belonging to the 6th century BC, shows the influence of Assyrian article The place is mentioned in the cuneiform inscriptions (Schrader, KAT2, 149).