Savtechah

סבתכה


Genesis 10:7 - a district of Ethiopia.

Linked to Savtah (סבתא/סבתה) both etymologically and geographically. Gesenius and others hold that it was probably Zingitani, on the eastern borders of Ethiopia - see the link for the basis of this claim. 

Ethiopia was very much part of the ancient middle eastern world. It was not the same as modern Ethiopia of course, but much larger, incorporating all the land that ran along the shores of the Red Sea/Arabian Gulf southwards of Egypt. It is logical, of course. Sail up the Red Sea and Arabia is on your right, Ethiopia on your left, and where the Sea splits - north-west into the Gulf of Suez, north-east into the Gulf of Aqaba, there in front of you is the Sinai Peninsula. It is a very different angle from which to perceive the world, but if we are to understand that world fully, it is worth pausing a moment and shifting our compass in this direction. By sea from Ethiopia to Arabia was no journey at all, and the seas there are rarely rough; unless you count the pirates, who today are endemic.



Copyright © 2019 David Prashker
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