MEDEBA

(Medʹe·ba) [possibly, water of quiet].

This place is represented by modern Madeba, a town located on a low, gently sloping hill about twelve miles (19 kilometers) E of the northern end of the Dead Sea. The ancient “King’s Road” linked it with other cities E of the Jordan. (Compare Numbers 20:17.) Situated on a treeless but fertile plain or plateau averaging about 2,300 feet (700 meters) in elevation, Medeba itself lies at an altitude of 2,540 feet (774 meters) above sea level. In the plain, the “tableland of Medeba,” flocks of sheep and goats find pasturage.—Josh. 13:9, 16.

After the Israelites defeated Amorite King Sihon, Medeba came to be in the territory given to the tribe of Reuben. (Josh. 13:8, 9, 15, 16) It appears that earlier the Amorites had taken Medeba from the Moabites. (Num. 21:25-30) Several centuries later, in a fight against the Ammonites, the army of King David under Joab’s command defeated Aramaean (Syrian) mercenary forces encamped before Medeba.—1 Chron. 19:6-16.

According to the Moabite Stone (line 8), Israel’s King Omri (c. 951-940 B.C.E.) took possession of the “land of Medeba,” it remaining in Israelite hands for forty years. Line 30 of the same monument, though partially defaced, appears to indicate that Moab’s King Mesha succeeded in gaining control of Medeba and rebuilt it and other cities in the area. It may be, however, that the Israelites regained dominion over Medeba when Jeroboam II (c. 844-803 B.C.E.) “restored the boundary of Israel from the entering in of Hamath clear to the sea of the Arabah.” (2 Ki. 14:25) But this would not have been for long, since Isaiah’s pronouncement (c. 778-732) against Moab shows that Medeba was by then under Moabite control, and they were foretold to ‘howl’ over the loss of the city.—Isa. 15:1, 2.