East is the direction of sunrise and the region lying before a person facing that direction. In biblical usage it may refer generally to lands east of Israel, including Arabia, Mesopotamia, and Babylonia.
Definition
East is the direction of sunrise and, in biblical usage, the region lying before a person facing that direction. The Hebrew term kedem refers properly to what is in front or before, while mizrah denotes the orient or rising of the sun. Eastward may therefore indicate either a direction or the lands beyond Israel.
Biblical Usage
Hebrew descriptions of the four quarters assumed that a person faced east: east was before, west behind, south to the right, and north to the left. The expression may refer generally to lands east of Palestine, including Arabia, Mesopotamia, and Babylonia.
Historical Background
The sources distinguish the immediate eastern lands from the less definite far east. The biblical geographical perspective commonly treats Palestine as the point from which these directions and regions are described.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
(1.) The orient (mizrah); the rising of the sun. Thus “the east country” is the country lying to the east of Syria, the Elymais (Zech. 8:7). (2). Properly what is in front of one, or a country that is before or in front of another; the rendering of the word kedem. In pointing out the quarters, a Hebrew always looked with his face toward the east. The word kedem is used when the four quarters of the world are described (Gen. 13:14; 28:14); and mizrah when the east only is distinguished from the west (Josh. 11:3; Ps. 50:1; 103:12, etc.). In Gen. 25:6 “eastward” is literally “unto the land of kedem;” i.e., the lands lying east of Palestine, namely, Arabia, Mesopotamia, etc.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
The Hebrew term kedem properly means that which is before or in front of a person, and was applied to the east form the custom of turning in that direction when describing the points of the compass, before, behind, the right and the left representing respectively east, west, south and north. (Job 23:8,9) The term as generally used refers to the lands lying immediately eastward of Palestine, viz., Arabia, Mesopotamia and Babylonia; on the other hand mizrach is used of the far east with a less definite signification. (Isaiah 42:2,25; 43:5; 46:11)
