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 op. cit., Vol. 1, p. 100; Peiser in: Schrader, Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek, Vol. 2, p. 54]).

Settled as they were in oases and carrying trade by caravans (Job, 6: 19), the Sabaeans were also engaged in breeding camels, goats, and sheep, and it was urgently necessary for them to camp in tents, at least from time to time. Both their flocks and their caravans were now and then attacked by remoter tribes and clans, and therefore they too, like all the inhabitants of the oases, were fond of setting out on warlike, plundering expeditions, partly to punish the troublesome tribes, partly also to satisfy their longing for adventures and to provide themselves with camels and other animals. There is an account of such a plundering expedition in Job, 1: 14–15. This narrative is entirely probable and shows not only that the writer was well acquainted with the habits and customs of the Sabaeans but also that we should locate the residence of Job near some Sabaean oasis and thus to the southeast of the Dead Sea, where their caravans passed.

Other Biblical writers refer to the tribe of Saba only as traders. Ezekiel, 27: 22, records that the traders from Saba and Raʻama conveyed the best balsam, various precious stones, and gold to the market at Tyre.

According to Joel, 4: 8, the Jews sold slaves to the Saba nation, dwelling afar off. Ezekiel, 38: 13, refers to the trade relations between the Saba and the merchants from Tarshish. Isaiah, 60: 6, promises that young camels shall come to Zion from Madian and ʻÊfa’ bearing gold and incense of the Saba traders. From this reference it is clear that the great transport route from Saba proper, or southwestern Arabia, passed through the territory of the tribes of Madian and ʻÊfa; for otherwise the latter could not have participated in the trade of Saba. This shows that the camping places of the tribes of Madian and ʻÊfa must be located somewhere near the oasis of Tejma. As the inhospitable desert of the Nefûd, through which no great transport route led, extends to the east of the oasis of Tejma, it must further be supposed that these camping places were situated to the west of the oasis and thus in the territory through which the great transport route of Saba actually passed.

Friedrich Delitzsch, Wo lag das Paradies?, Leipzig, 1881, p. 304, identified the Ḫajappa tribe of the Assyrian annals quite accurately with the Biblical tribe of ʻÊfa (Septuagint: Gafa(r) or Gajfa(r) of Isaiah, 60: 6). This tribe belonged to the descendants of Abraham who were the kinsmen of Saba and formed the first clan of the tribe of Madian (Gen., 25: 4). There is a reference to this kinship also in Isaiah, 60: 6. The name ʻÊfa has still been preserved in the ruin of the ancient temple of Ṛwâfa, as this name is pronounced by some clans of the Beni ʻAṭijje, although others, as well as all the Ḥwêṭât at-Tihama, say Rwâfa. The interchange of ṛ and ʻ with r is fairly frequent. Ṣadaṛ is said instead of ṣadar, azṛaḳ instead of azraḳ (azṛaḳ al-ʻajnên), šarrâṯa instead of šaʻʻâṯa, taḳanṭaʻ instead of taḳanṭar, etc. If the modern pronounciation Ṛwâfa is correct, we may conclude that the ʻÊfa tribe had its camping grounds in the territory of Ḥesma. It is impossible to identify ʻÊfa with Ṛajfe (Jâḳût, Muʻǧam