genesis 10:29

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Genesis 10:29

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”

— D.L. Moody
Genesis 10:29
Verse 29 of 32

Scripture focus

And Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab: all these [were] the sons of Joktan.

Genesis 10:29KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Genesis 10:29

Theological / Devotional

Ophir. Designates both a people and a land. Although mentioned frequently in the Old Testament, its precise location is still unknown. Inasmuch as it took Solomon’s ships three years to complete a voyage from the Red Sea port of Ezion-Geber (1 Kings 9:28; 10:11, 22; etc.), Ophir must have been a rather distant land. Scholars have identified it with a southeastern region of Arabia, with a strip on the eastern coast of the Persian Gulf called Apir by the Elamites, or with India. The products imported from Ophir, gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks, may favor an identification with India rather than with Arabia. If Ophir was in India, it is hard to explain why all the other identifiable descendants of Joktan migrated eastward to the subcontinent of India after Genesis was written, because Moses places all the descendants of Joktan within definite geographical limits (see verse 30). According to another explanation, Ophir of the table of nations was in Arabia, whereas that of Solomon’s expeditions was in India. The latest available evidence, however, based on Egyptian inscriptions, seems to identify Ophir with Punt, which is understood to be the region of Somaliland in East Africa.

Havilah, and Jobab. Neither has as yet been identified.

By SdaBc