Ludim

"Ludites" redirects here. For the 19th-century English textile artisans, see Luddites.

Ludim (Hebrew: לודים, romanized: Lūḏîm) is the Hebrew term for a people mentioned in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. In the Biblical Table of Nations Genesis 10:13 they were descended from Mizraim. The biblical scholar Victor P. Hamilton believes that the available evidence "suggests" that the Ludim are the Lydians.[1]

According to Josephus, their land was in Libya which was west of Egypt near the tribes of Phut in the land of the Moors towards the extreme west of Africa and the Atlantic Ocean.[2] Pliny in his natural history mentions the river Laud along south of the Atlas Mountains near the river Fut (Phut).[3] Medieval biblical exegete Saadia Gaon, identifies the Ludim with Tanisiin, and which R. Yosef Qafih thought may have been referring to the inhabitants of Tunis.[4]

These Ludim should not be confused with another group who were said to descend from Lud, son of Shem, son of Noah.

Ludim is sometimes thought to be a scribal error for Lubim, in reference to Libyans.

  1. ^ Victor P. Hamilton (31 October 1990). The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-17. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 264–. ISBN 978-1-4674-2265-9.
  2. ^ Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews, book 1.6
  3. ^ Pliny, Natural History, book 5
  4. ^ Saadia Gaon (1984). Yosef Qafih (ed.). Rabbi Saadia Gaon's Commentaries on the Pentateuch (in Hebrew) (4 ed.). Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook. p. 33 (note 32). OCLC 232667032.