Dumah

Dumah names two distinct entities in the UPDV: a son of Ishmael whose name is later attached to a desert tribe and the prophetic oracle addressed to that tribe, and a small town in the hill country of Judah. The references are few — five verses across four books — but they trace a single Arabian family-line forward into a midnight oracle, while the Judahite Dumah sits quietly in the allotment lists of Joshua.

Son of Ishmael

The first Dumah is the sixth son listed in the Ishmaelite genealogy of Gen 25:13-16. The line is set out as a roll of clan-fathers: "the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth, and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, and Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa, Hadad, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah" (Gen 25:13-15). The closing summary fixes the status of the list: "These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their encampments. Twelve princes according to their nations" (Gen 25:16). Dumah, then, is one of twelve eponymous tribal heads, each tied to a settlement and a clan-territory.

The Chronicler preserves the same line in compressed form: "Mishma, and Dumah, Massa, Hadad, and Tema" (1Ch 1:30). The name pair Mishma–Dumah–Massa is identical across both witnesses, anchoring Dumah's place in the Ishmaelite tribal map.

The Burden of Dumah

Isaiah's oracle collection turns from the genealogical Dumah to the place that bears the name. The header is terse: "The burden of Dumah. One calls to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?" (Isa 21:11). The voice cries from Seir — Edomite territory bordering the Arabian wilderness — and presses the question twice. The watchman's reply follows: "The morning comes, and also the night: if you⁺ will inquire, inquire⁺: turn⁺, come⁺" (Isa 21:12). Morning and night arrive together; the plural-imperatives ("inquire⁺," "turn⁺, come⁺") address the questioners as a group, not a single petitioner. The oracle ends without resolution — the watchman invites them to come back and ask again.

A Town in Judah

The second Dumah is a town, listed without commentary among the hill-country settlements assigned to Judah: "Arab, and Dumah, and Eshan" (Jos 15:52). It appears nowhere else in the UPDV. The shared name with the Ishmaelite tribe is left unexplained in the text; the Joshua list simply registers Dumah as one Judahite town among many in its district.