Man living at the time of the Patriarchs
Dedan was a grandson of Abraham through Jokshan, born to Keturah.
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Dedan is mentioned in the genealogies of Genesis 25 and 1Chronicles 1 as a descendant of Abraham through his concubine Keturah. He is listed as a son of Jokshan and a grandson of Abraham (Gen.25.3; 1Ch.1.32).
After Sarah's death, Abraham took Keturah as his concubine, and she bore him several children, including Jokshan. Jokshan's sons, Sheba and Dedan, are mentioned alongside other descendants of Abraham through Keturah.
The genealogies in these chapters demonstrate God's fulfillment of His promise to make Abraham a father of many nations (Gen.17.4-6). The descendants of Abraham through Keturah, including Dedan, are distinct from the Israelites, who descended from Abraham through Isaac and Israel (or 'Jacob').
Apart from these genealogical references, no further details are provided about Dedan or his specific role in the biblical narrative. His mention serves to highlight the breadth of Abraham's descendants and the various nations that traced their lineage back to the patriarch.
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DE'DAN (low ground). 1. The name of a descendant of Ham. Gen 10:7; 1 Chr 1:9. A son of Jokshan, son of Abraham by Keturah. Gen 25:3; 1 Chr 1:32.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
2 verses in 2 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H1719
Jokshan was the father of Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were the Asshurites, the Letushites, and the Leummites.
The sons born to Keturah, Abrahamʼs concubine: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. The sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan.
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.