Son of Raamah, son of Cush (Genesis 10:7), brother of Sheba. A second Dedan is son of Jokshan, son of Keturah (Genesis 25:3), and is brother of a second Sheba. The recurrence of the same names points to an intermarriage between the Cushite (Ethiopian, rather Hamitic) Dedan and the Semitic Dedan, which is referred to as Edomite (Jeremiah 49:8; Jeremiah 25:23; Ezekiel 25:13; Isaiah 21:13, "ye traveling companies (merchant caravans) of Dedanim".)
The Cushite Dedan near the head of the Persian gulf and Chaldaea, the avenue of commerce to India, is referred to in Ezekiel 27:15, as the names in the context prove; but Ezekiel 27:20 Dedan is connected with N.W. Arabia, and associated with Assyria (Ezekiel 27:23), i.e. the Semitic or Edomite Dedan, yet also connected with the Cushite "Sheba and Raamah" (Ezekiel 27:22) on the Persian gulf. The Semitic Sabeans, descended from Sheba tenth son of Joktan, dwelt in S.W. Arabia, from the Red Sea to the straits of Bab el Mandeb. Ezekiel thus recounts the two channels of merchandise, Raamah on the Persian gulf, and Sheba on the Red Sea in Arabia. The name Dedan still remains in Dadan, an island on the border of the Persian gulf. (See RAAMAH)