East, Children of the

"Children of the East" (bene qedem) is a collective designation in the Old Testament for the nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples who inhabited the deserts and steppes east of Canaan, broadly corresponding to Arabia and the Syrian desert. They are identified in Judges 6:3 and 7:12 as the Midianites, Amalekites, and associated eastern raiders who periodically invaded Israelite territory during the period of the judges. Their camels and livestock are described as innumerable, covering the land like locusts.

In Job 1:3, Job himself is called "the greatest of all the people of the East," indicating a region of wealth and wisdom — consistent with the Old Testament association of eastern peoples with proverbial wisdom (1 Kings 4:30). Balaam comes from Pethor "in the land of the children of the east" (Numbers 23:7). Ezekiel 25:4 foretells that the children of the east will possess Ammon as part of the judgment on that nation. The Nabateans of later history are considered by many scholars to be the same group's successors.