1172. 'Dedan' means cognitions of lower celestial things that exist in ritual forms. This is clear from the following places in the Word: In Ezekiel,

The sons of Dedan were your traders, many islands were the merchandise of your hand; horns of ivory, and ebony they brought as your present. Ezekiel 27:15

'Horns of ivory, and ebony' in the internal sense means the exterior goods that constitute forms of worship or ritual. In the same prophet,

Dedan, she was your trader in chariot-cloaks, ¹ Arabia and all the princes of Kedar Ezekiel 27:20-21.

Here 'chariot-cloaks' ¹ in like manner means exterior goods, or those that constitute forms of ritual. In Jeremiah,

Their wisdom has become rotten. Flee! they have turned themselves away, they have taken themselves down to dwell in the deep, O inhabitants of Dedan. Jeremiah 49:7-8.

Here 'Dedan' in the proper sense stands for forms of ritual which have no internal worship, that is, no worship of the Lord from the heart within them, and which are spoken of as 'turning themselves back, and taking themselves down to dwell in the deep'. From the quotations above it is now clear that 'the sons of Cush' means cognitions of spiritual things, and 'the sons of Raamah' cognitions of celestial.

Footnotes:

In Genesis 34:10, this signifies to secure and communicate knowledges for oneself. (Arcana Coelestia 4453)

In Genesis 42:34, this signifies truths will become fruitful from good, and will turn to use and profit. (Arcana Coelestia 5527)

In Luke 19:15, this shows how business is useful when it is the real love and money is a subservient, supporting love, provided the merchant avoids and recoils from fraud and deceptive practices as sins. It is different when money is the real love and business is the subservient, supporting love. This is greed, the root of evils. (Divine Providence 220)

'To merchandise and trade' in the Word, signifies acquiring spiritual riches, which are the knowledges of truths and goods, and in an opposite sense, knowledges of falsity and evil. The negative are used to gain in the world, and the positive, to gain heaven. This is why the Lord compared the kingdom of heaven to a merchant seeking goodly pearls, in Matthew 13:45-46, and the members of the church to servants to whom were given talents to trade with and make profit, in Matthew 25:14-20. And since 'Tyre' signifies the church with respect to the knowledges of truths and good, 'her trade and merchandise' are discussed throughout the whole of Ezekiel 27, and in Ezekiel 28:5, and Isaiah 23:1, 8. The perverted church among the Jews in the land of Canaan is called the land of traffic, in Ezekiel 16:3, 29, 21:35, and 29:14. 'To trade' signifies acquiring knowledges for one's self, and to communicate. This is because in heaven, where the Word is perceived according to the internal sense, there is no trading, because there is no gold or silver or any currency for trade in the world. This is why when trading is mentioned in the Word, it a spiritual sense, and is perceived as corresponding, in general, to the acquisition and communication of knowledges, specifically whatever is being traded. If gold is mentioned, it is the good of love and wisdom, and silver, the truth of intelligence and faith, and so on.

(References: Ezekiel 16; Isaiah 23; Luke 12, 19, 19:12-26; Matthew 13)