Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,
Hadoram, Uzal and Diklah are three of the thirteen sons of Joktan. Three names pass by in a single breath, with nothing else said about them. So why does God keep them on record at all?
A family that can still be traced
One commentator ties Joktan's name to the Arab tribes, and says traces of his sons survive too:
William KellyJoktan appears, on plenty of varied evidence, to answer to the Arabic Kachtán… Masoudy says that the Beni Sad and the Kahtan Arabs are the only remnants of the primitive tribes of Arabia. Both tribes are famous in the most remote antiquity, when Arabian history is for the most part covered with complete darkness. We shall see that the traces of his thirteen sons are almost all plain enough as well.
Uzal, a city still standing
Uzal left the deepest mark on the map of southern Arabia. The name also turns up in a trading list in Ezekiel:
William KellyUzal comes sixth on the list. In ancient times he gave his name to the capital city of Yemen, later and still now Sanà… Arabic authors have compared it with Damascus for its waters and its fruits. Niebuhr says its houses and palaces are finer than those of any other town in Arabia. The Jews, it seems, have lived there beyond memory, and they know the city only by the name of Uzal… Dr. Henderson and Mr. Darby give [Ezekiel 27:19] like this: "Vedan and Javan of Uzal traded in your markets: wrought iron, cassia, and calamus were among your goods."
The ESV reads differently at Ezekiel 27:19. Kelly's point is that older English versions hid this reference to Uzal.
Diklah, and why the faintest name still counts
Diklah yields almost nothing to research. That is where Kelly finds the lesson:
William KellyAbout Diklah, the eighth name, there is little to say. The name means "palm-trees," so some have looked to the city Phoinikon in the north-west of Arabia Felix… Yet Mr. Poole knows of no trace of Diklah in Arabic works. He finds only a place called Dakalah in El-Yemameh, named by Kamoos, where many palm-trees grew. Enough then appears to this day, even about the least noticeable of these early tribes of Arabia. It confirms the account Moses gave. It also shows the gracious interest of God in the otherwise obscure and unremarkable races of mankind.
What Chronicles leaves out
Genesis 10 carries this same list, but adds the territory the sons of Joktan settled. Chronicles drops that detail, and the omission is deliberate:
H. L. RossierGenesis 10 deals with the spread of the nations over the earth. Those details would serve no purpose for the aim of the book we are now considering. For the same reason the borders of the Canaanites in Genesis 10:18-20 and those of the sons of Joktan (Gen. 10:30-32) are passed over here in complete silence.
The natural line first, the chosen line after
The chapter records Joktan's thirteen sons, then drops them, returns to Shem and moves on to Abraham. One pattern shapes the whole list:
H. L. RossierIn 1 Chronicles 1 we find two series of names highlighted. The first (vv. 1-4) begins with Adam and ends with Noah's sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. The second (vv. 24-27) begins again at Shem and ends with Abraham. These two series form an unbroken chain. It starts from grace toward fallen man. It ends in the promises made to Abraham and taken hold of by faith.
The order of the names is not the order of God's choice. Shem heads verse 4 though he was not the eldest, yet the chapter lists the families of Japheth and Ham before his:
H. L. RossierIn God's eyes Shem, chosen by grace, has the first place. But in the natural order what is spiritual does not come first… The same holds for Abraham's offspring: "The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael" (v. 28). Isaac is named first, seen as first in God's thoughts, but Ishmael, the elder, is listed first (v. 29) as the seed according to the flesh.
How to read a list like this
Should Christians study lists like this at all? One commentator answers:
H. L. Rossier…it is useless to approach the genealogies simply with one's own intelligence, as the rationalists have so often done. We would also point out that these are not the genealogies the apostle warns us not to give heed to (1 Tim. 1:4; Titus 3:9). He was warning against a certain philosophical system that tried to set up endless ranks in a hierarchy of spirits.
Summary
- Recorded. Hadoram, Uzal and Diklah are three of Joktan's thirteen sons. History still carries traces of nearly all thirteen among the tribes of Arabia.
- Remembered. Uzal's name settled on the capital of Yemen, later called Sanà, and the Jews living there have known it by no other name.
- Rescued from obscurity. Even the faintest of these names confirms the account Moses gave. It also shows God's gracious interest in unremarkable peoples.
- Reshaped. Chronicles keeps the names but drops the territories Genesis gives. The spread of the nations is not this book's subject.
- Redirected. The chapter lists the line of the flesh first and the chosen line second — Ishmael before Isaac. So it runs from grace toward fallen man to the promises made to Abraham.