John Gill Bible Commentary

And Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah. The posterity of Hadoram, from the likeness of the name and sound, might seem to be the Adramitae of Ptolemy (f), but Bochart (g) thinks they are the Drimati of Pliny (h), who dwelt in the extreme corner of Arabia, to the east, near the Macae, who were at the straits of the Persian Gulf; and he observes, that the extreme promontory of that country was called Corodamum, by transposition of the letters "D" and "R": Uzal gave name to a city which is still so called; for R. Zacuth (i) says, the Jews which dwelt in Yaman, the kingdom of Sheba, call Samea, which is the capital of the kingdom of Yaman, Uzal; and who also relates, that there is a place called Hazarmaveth unto this day, of which see Gen 10:26 the kingdom in which Uzal is said by him to be was the south part of Arabia Felix, as Yaman signifies, from whence came the queen of the south, Mat 12:42 and Uzal or Auzal, as the Arabs pronounce it, is the same the Greeks call Ausar, changing "L" into "R"; hence mention is made by Pliny (k) of myrrh of Ausar, in the kingdom of the Gebanites, a people of the Arabs, where was a port by him called Ocila (l), by Ptolemy, Ocelis (m), and by Artemidorus in Strabo, Acila (n), and perhaps was the port of the city Uzal, to the name of which it bears some resemblance: Diklah signifies a palm tree, in the Chaldee or Syriac language, with which kind of trees Arabia abounded, especially the country of the Minaei, as Pliny (o) relates; wherefore Bochart (p) thinks the posterity of Diklah had their seat among them, rather than at Phaenicon or Diklah, so called from the abundance of palm trees that grew there, which was at the entrance into Arabia Felix at the Red sea, of which Diodorus Siculus (q) makes mention; and so Artemidorus in Strabo (r) speaks of a place called Posidium, opposite to the Troglodytes, and where the Arabian Gulf ends, where palm trees grew in a wonderful manner, on the fruit of which people lived, where was a Phaenicon, or continued grove of palm trees; and here is placed by Ptolemy (s) a village called Phaenicon, the same with Diklah. (f) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 5.) (g) Ut supra, (Phaleg. l. 2.) c. 20. (h) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. (i) Juchasin, fol. 135. 2. (k) Nat. Hist. l. 12. c. 16. (l) lb. c. 19. (m) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 5). So Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 23. (n) Geograph. l. 16. p. 529. (o) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. (p) Ut supra. (Phaleg. l. 2. c. 22.) (q) Bibliothec. l. 3. p. 175. (r) Geograph. l. 16. p. 34. (s) Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 6. c. 5.)