Bible Dictionary
CARAVAN
A caravan was a traveling company of merchants, animals, and goods crossing the ancient trade routes. Job compares unreliable friends to a caravan misled by a stream that dries up when travelers most need water.
Definition
A caravan was a traveling company of merchants, animals, and goods. It was a commercial goods train moving along the routes between the lands of the Semitic world.
Biblical Usage
Job compares unreliable friends to a brook that attracts caravans seeking water but dries up when the thirsty travelers need it. Isaiah refers to caravans of the trading Jedanites.
Historical Background
Caravans traveled between Babylon, Syria, Arabia, and Egypt, with the principal routes passing through Canaan. They carried merchandise and could be diverted from the main route by the expectation of water.
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>kar'-a-van, kar-a-van' ('orach): This word is not found in the King James Version, but the Revised Version (British and American) employs it three times, namely, in Job 6:18,19 ('orchoth), where the King James Version renders "paths" (Job 6:18) and "troops" (Job 6:19); in Isa 21:13 ('orechoth), where the King James Version and English Versions of the Bible give "travelling companies," and in Eze 27:25 (sharoth), where the King James Version gives a totally different translation. The Hebrew text in Ezekiel is dubious, but in Isaiah and Job "caravan" is undoubtedly a correct rendering of the Hebrew (compare also Ge 37:25). The inhabitants of Palestine were familiar with the caravans--the goods trains of the Semitic world--which traveled between BabyIon and Syria on the one hand to Arabia and on the other to Egypt. The main routes between these countries passed through Canaan. Isaiah refers to "caravans of Jedanites"--a trading Arabic tribe who conveyed their wares to Babylon. Job compares his would-be friends to a deceitful brook, full in the rainy season, but dry in summer, which entices caravans to turn aside from the main route in the hope of a plentiful supply of water, but which fails the thirsty travelers when they need it most.</p><p>T. Lewis</p>