TEMAN

(Teʹman) [on the right, southern].

1. A descendant of Esau through his firstborn Eliphaz (Gen. 36:10, 11; 1 Chron. 1:35, 36); an Edomite sheik.—Gen. 36:15, 16, 34, 42.

2. A place linked by some scholars with Tawilan, a few miles E of Petra. It was evidently an Edomite city or district (“the land of the Temanites”), where the descendants of Teman resided. (Gen. 36:34; Jer. 49:7, 20; Ezek. 25:13; Amos 1:11, 12; Obad. 9) The place became noted as a center of wisdom. (Jer. 49:7) In the book of Habakkuk, God is spoken of as coming from “Teman, even a Holy One from Mount Paran.” This may refer to Jehovah’s shining forth in glory, his splendor reflecting from the mountains as he brought his newly formed nation past Edom en route to the Promised Land.—Hab. 3:3, 4; compare Deuteronomy 33:2.