Dumah

Dumah (meaning silence or rest) was the fourth son of Ishmael and a grandson of Abraham by Hagar (Gen. 25:14; 1 Chr. 1:30), giving his name to an Arab tribe and the region they inhabited. Dumah is associated with the oasis of Dumat al-Jandal (modern Al-Jawf) in northwestern Saudi Arabia—known in Assyrian records as Adumatu—an important caravan hub in the northwestern Arabian desert. A separate town named Dumah also appears in the hill country of Judah (Josh. 15:52), an unrelated Judean settlement.

Isaiah 21:11 contains a cryptic oracle titled "the burden of Dumah," addressed to a voice calling from Seir: "Watchman, what time of the night? Watchman, what time of the night?" The oracle's address to Seir (Edom) while titled "Dumah" has led to various interpretations—some treating Dumah as a punning reference to Edom (through the letters d-m), others identifying it as the Arabian Dumah facing Edom. The oracle's mood of uncertain watchfulness suits the name's meaning of silence and expectancy.