ARABIA

The Arabian Peninsula forms part of the Asiatic continent at its extreme SW corner. It is bounded on the E by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the S by the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, and on the W by the Red Sea, while the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia, Syria and Palestine curves around its northern end. Surrounded as it is on three sides by water, in part it resembles a huge island and is commonly called by its people the “Island of the Arabs” (Jazirat al-ʽarab).

With an area of nearly 1,000,000 square miles (2,590,000 square kilometers), or the equivalent of about one-third the land surface of the continental United States, Arabia is the world’s largest peninsula. The western coastline stretches some 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) and, at its widest point, the peninsula is about 1,200 miles (1,930 kilometers) across.

The name “Arabia” is of Semitic origin and is believed to be drawn from a root word meaning “to be arid.” (Compare the “desert plain” [Heb., ʽaravʹ; “Arabia,” AV] at Isaiah 21:13.) The peninsula consists of a rocky tableland sloping eastward down toward the Persian Gulf from its backbone formed by the mountain range running parallel to the W coast. One peak in the SW corner reaches an altitude of over 12,000 feet (3,657.6 meters).

Across the interior of the southern end of the peninsula lies the great desert known as al-Rabʽ al-Khali, the largest continuous stretch of sandy area on earth, known as the “Empty Quarter.” To the N of the Najd or central plateau is the smaller al-Nufud Desert region, which culminates in the Syrian Desert, a stony plateau extending from the Transjordanian area over to the Euphrates River. From the early centuries of the Common Era geographers described the sections of Arabia as Arabia Petrea, embracing the Sinai Peninsula, Edom, and Moab; Arabia Deserta, the Syrian Desert; and Arabia Felix, or South Arabia.

WATER SOURCES GOVERN HUMAN AND ANIMAL LIFE

The small streams found along the outer edges of the peninsula and in the high central plateau (or Najd) are not numerous and their flow is only during certain seasons. Job, who evidently lived in what is today the Syrian Desert region, describes the drying up of such “winter torrents.”—Job 6:15-20.

Though so much of this vast tableland is arid, yet sufficient rainfall does occur along the western mountain range, the central plateau, and in the S to sustain a considerable population. Here and around the larger oases the “fellahin” or peasant farmers can produce crops of millet, wheat, barley and corn, and here are found date palms (Ex. 15:27) and fig trees. Acacia trees, producing the resinous gum known as gum arabic, and other balsamic and aromatic trees and plants formed a major part of the ancient Arabian economy, as they do to a lesser extent in modern times, being eclipsed today by the “black gold” of petroleum.—Gen. 2:12; see BALSAM.

Even the al-Nufud Desert in the N at times receives enough winter rain to bring forth a growth of grass on which the camels and sheep of the roving Bedouins can feed. In large sections, however, the general scarcity of water allows only for a nomadic life dependent upon scattered oases, water holes and wells. Temperatures are extreme, reaching as much as 130° F. (54° C.) during the day in certain parts, while dropping sharply to chilly levels at night.

With such existing conditions, animal and bird life is necessarily reduced, yet sheep, goats, camels, wild asses, jackals, falcons and eagles live there today, as they did in Bible times. (Ezek. 27:21; 2 Chron. 17:11; Judg. 6:5; Job 39:5-8, 26, 27; Isa. 60:7; 34:13) Some wildlife, such as the lion, the wild bull and the ostrich, have now become extinct in this territory. (Job 38:39, 40; 39:9-18) Arabic horses are renowned for their beauty and strength to this day.—Compare Job 39:19-25.

ARABIAN TRIBES

Arabia eventually became the home of many of the post-Flood families listed at Genesis chapter ten. In the Semitic branch, Joktan fathered the heads of some thirteen different Arabian tribes; while three of Aram’s descendants, Uz, Gether and Mash, appear to have settled in the area of N Arabia and the Syrian Desert. The tent-dwelling Ishmaelites ranged from the Sinai Peninsula, across N Arabia and as far as Assyria. (Gen. 25:13-18) The Midianites located mainly in the NW part of Arabia just E of the Gulf of Aqabah. (Gen. 25:4) Esau’s descendants were based in the mountainous region of Edom to the SE of the Dead Sea. (Gen. 36:8, 9, 40-43) From the Hamitic branch several descendants of Cush, including Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and his sons Sheba and Dedan, and Sabteca, seem to have occupied mainly the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula.—Gen. 10:7.

EARLY BIBLICAL CONNECTIONS

Abraham skirted around Arabia in migrating from Ur of the Chaldees to the land of Canaan. When later obliged to go down to Egypt he may have passed through part of Arabia by traversing the northern portion of the Sinai Peninsula (rather than following the route along the Mediterranean coast), as also on his return trip. (Gen. 12:10; 13:1) The drama of the book of Job has its setting in the land of Uz in northern Arabia (Job 1:1), and the Sabean raiders who attacked the property of this “greatest of all the Orientals” were doubtless an Arabian tribe descended from Joktan. (Job 1:3; Gen. 10:26-28) Job’s three “comforters” and Elihu also appear to have come from Arabian sectors. (Job 2:11; 32:2) Moses spent forty years in Arabia when sojourning with the Midianite Jethro. (Ex. 2:15–3:1; Acts 7:29, 30) The next event of major importance to occur in Arabia was the giving of the Law covenant at Mount Sinai in the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula, where the liberated nation of Israel had congregated. (Ex. 19:1, 2) Thus, the apostle Paul some fifteen centuries later referred to the event as taking place at “Sinai, a mountain in Arabia.”—Gal. 4:25.

In view of the present state of Arabia in general, the picture of perhaps two million Israelites living for forty years in the wilderness may seem a near impossibility. (Ex. 12:37, 38) The major factor, of course, was the miraculous provision of food and water assured them by Jehovah. (Deut. 8:2-4; Num. 20:7, 8) Although the conditions were clearly difficult and the scarcity of water is obviously indicated in the Scriptural account (Num. 20:4, 5), there is, nevertheless, reason to believe that at that time, some three thousand four hundred years in the past, the water supply in Arabia was to some extent superior to what it is at the present time. (See WILDERNESS OF THE WANDERING.) As the Funk and Wagnalls’ New Standard Bible Dictionary (p. 58) comments: “It is possible that desert routes may have been practicable for large caravans or even armies which now can be traversed only by small companies.” The existence of many deep dry wadis or valleys, which were once riverbeds, gives evidence that at some time in the past there was sufficient rainfall to produce streams of water coursing through them. The disappearance of certain forms of animal life may be due in part to the decrease in the water supply. Yet, basically, Arabia was then just what its name implies: an arid land or steppe.

RAIDERS AND CAMEL CARAVANS

Out of Arabia during the period of the Judges came hordes of camel-riding Midianites, Amalekites and “Easterners” to ravage the land of Israel. (Judg. 6:1-6) Such razzias or sudden raids have always been the principal method of warfare in Arabia. (2 Chron. 22:1) The camel, whose domestication is believed to have been effected in Arabia, was in use as a mode of transportation at least as early as the time of Abraham. (Gen. 24:1-4, 10, 61, 64) Due to the great superiority of the camel over the ass for extended desert travel, its domestication is considered to have accomplished somewhat of an economic revolution for Arabia, contributing to the development of the so-called “Spice Kingdoms” of South Arabia.

Camel caravans out of the more fertile S wound along the desert routes that ran parallel to the Red Sea, moving from oasis to oasis and from well to well until reaching the Sinai Peninsula, from which point they could branch off to Egypt or continue up into Palestine or to Damascus. Besides their highly prized spices and aromatic resins, such as frankincense and myrrh (Isa. 60:6), they might carry gold and almug wood from Ophir (1 Ki. 9:28; 10:11) and precious gems, as did the queen of Sheba on her visit to King Solomon. (1 Ki. 10:1-10, 15; 2 Chron. 9:1-9, 14) The waters off the coast of Bahrain abound with pearl oysters. Since the SW corner of Arabia is separated from Africa by a narrow strait of water only about twenty miles (32 kilometers) across, products from Ethiopia (2 Chron. 21:16), such as ivory and ebony wood, could also be included in the wares of these traveling merchants.—Ezek. 27:15.

ANCIENT ARABIAN KINGDOMS

Secular history indicates four major kingdoms located in South Arabia: the Minaean, Sabean, Qatabanian and Hadhramautian. The Minaean Kingdom is believed to have existed from the second millennium B.C.E. to 650 B.C.E., with its capital at Karnaw NE of Sanʽa, the present capital of Yemen. The Sabean Kingdom was evidently located somewhat S of the Minaean, in the eastern part of present-day Yemen. If, as seems likely, it was the land of the queen of Sheba, it was then in existence at the time of Solomon’s reign (1037-997 B.C.E.). (Matt. 12:42) Its capital, Maʼrib, was situated about sixty miles (97 kilometers) E of Sanʽa on the eastern side of the mountain range, several thousand feet above sea level. This kingdom lasted until about 115 B.C.E. (See SHEBA.) The Qatabanian Kingdom had its capital at Timnaʽ and occupied part of the area once known as the Aden Protectorate. It seems to have been contemporaneous with that of Sheba. Hadhramaut is usually identified with Hazarmaveth of Genesis 10:26. The Wadi Hadhramaut, a long valley running parallel to the S coast of Arabia, was the center of the kingdom with its capital at Shabwa. Other Biblical names occurring as places in Arabia are Dedan, Tema, Dumah and Buz.—Isa. 21:11-14; Jer. 25:23, 24.

Ancient Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions also make mention of various tribes of Arabia. Shalmaneser III who was a contemporary of King Ahab (940-919 B.C.E.), lists “Gindibuʼ, from Arabia” and his one thousand camel riders as among the coalition opposing the Assyrians at the battle of Qarqar. “Zabibe,” and “Samsi” are mentioned as Arabian queens in the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser III and Sargon II. This latter queen, as well as a Sabean monarch, is reported as paying tribute of “gold in the form of dust, precious stones, ivory, ebony-seeds, all kinds of aromatic substances, horses (and) camels.” Other cuneiform inscriptions refer to the Sabai; the Nabaiti, the Qidri, and the Idibaili; the Masai, and the Temai. (Compare Genesis 25:3, 13-15.) Nabonidus, the Babylonian king whose son Belshazzar was ruling in Babylon at the time of its fall (539 B.C.E.), spent ten years in the oasis city of Taimaʼ (Tema) in the northern part of the central plateau of Arabia.—See TEMA.

During the fifth century B.C.E. Palestine was subject to considerable influence from Arabia, as seen by the references to “Geshem the Arabian” at Nehemiah 2:19 and 6:1-7.

The Himyarite Kingdom, which gained control of South Arabia about 115 B.C.E., had its capital at Zafar (suggested by some to be the Sephar of Genesis 10:30; however, see SEPHAR). To the N the Nabataeans (possibly descended from Nebaioth of Genesis 25:13), with their capital at Petra in the rocky gorges of Edom, became powerful from the fourth century B.C.E. onward. In time they extended their control throughout the S part of the Negeb and up through Moab and the region of Transjordan. During some years of the first century B.C.E. and again in the first century C.E. they ruled over Damascus. Their king Aretas IV (c. 9 B.C.E.–40 C.E.) is mentioned at 2 Corinthians 11:32 with regard to Paul’s escape from Damascus, described at Acts 9:23-25. Herod Antipas married the daughter of Aretas IV but divorced her in order to marry Herodias.—Mark 6:17; see ARETAS.

Paul, following his conversion, says that he “went off into Arabia, and . . . came back again to Damascus.” (Gal. 1:17) Such journey may have been in the neighboring area of the Syrian Desert, though the term would also allow for its being in any part of the Arabian Peninsula.

During the first century B.C.E. Palmyra to the NE of Damascus began to develop as an Arab center and in time surpassed Petra as a trading state. In 270 C.E., under Queen Zenobia, the Palmyrene army occupied Egypt and became a serious rival to Rome until defeated in 272 C.E.

LANGUAGE AND RELIGION

The language of the peoples of Arabia is a member of the South Semitic group and has remained more stable than the other Semitic languages. It has, therefore, proved helpful in improving the understanding of many expressions and words in the ancient Hebrew of the Bible. Many thousands of inscriptions in the South Arabian script have also been discovered, giving information especially as to the political and religious activity of the people.

The religion of Arabia appears to have centered around astral worship, as did that of ancient Babylon. (Isa. 47:13) Ranking first among their gods were those of the Arabian trinity: ʼIlumquh (the moon, whose light at night allowed for comfortable grazing of flocks); Dat-Himyam (the sun-goddess and consort of ʼIlumquh); and ʼAttar (the planet Venus, corresponding to Ishtar, and viewed as the offspring of ʼIlumquh and Dat-Himyam). Beneath these was a pantheon of minor deities.

Both Judaism and Christianity penetrated into Arabia, the latter doubtless as a result of the Arabian converts at Pentecost. (Acts 2:11) The last king of the South Arabian Himyarite Kingdom, described previously, professed Judaism and in 523 C.E. ordered a massacre of Christians in his territory. Thereafter the Abyssinian campaigns of 523 and 525 C.E. brought an end to his kingdom. In the seventh century Mohammed produced the religion of Islam, which in time, spread throughout all Arabia and, by aggressive warfare, established an 1Arabian empire stretching from Spain, across North Africa and Egypt, through to the Punjab in India.

In view of the very limited knowledge of Arabia (and particularly of South Arabia) that prevailed until recent times, one cannot but be impressed with the accurate knowledge of its geography and tribes set forth in the Biblical record.

ARABIAN

(A·raʹbi·an).

The names “Arab” and “Arabian” in the Scriptures are used chiefly in a broad sense as applying to an inhabitant of Arabia, that immense land to the E and S of Palestine. At times the context and use infer a specific tribe or ethnic group.—1 Ki. 10:15; 2 Chron. 9:14; 21:16.

A number of Arabian tribes were Semitic, descending from Shem through Joktan; others were Hamitic, descending through Ham’s son Cush. (Gen. 10:6, 7, 26-30) Some of Abraham’s descendants by Hagar and Keturah also came to dwell in Arabia, as the sons of Ishmael who “took up tabernacling from Havilah near Shur, which is in front of Egypt, as far as Assyria.” (Gen. 25:1-4, 12-18) Esau’s offspring, dwelling in the mountainous region of Seir, also came within the general classification of Arabian.—Gen. 36:1-43.

For the most part the Arabians were a wandering people who led a pastoral life, dwelling in tents. (Isa. 13:20; Jer. 3:2) Others, however, were traders and some are mentioned as merchants for Tyre. (Ezek. 27:21) God’s servants had numerous contacts with them. The Midianite merchants on their way to Egypt to whom Joseph was sold were Arabian, as were the Sabeans from S Arabia who raided Job’s cattle and she-asses. (Gen. 37:28; Job 1:1, 15) During their forty-year trek in the wilderness the Israelites came into calamitous contact with the Baal-worshiping Midianites (Num. 25:6, 14-18), and, during the period of the Judges, hordes of camel-riding Arabians regularly raided Israel for seven years, until Judge Gideon administered them a severe defeat.—Judg. 6:1-6; 7:12-25.

Rulers of Arabian kingdoms paid tribute to King Solomon. (1 Ki. 10:15; 2 Chron. 9:14) The Arabs paid Jehoshaphat a tribute of 7,700 rams and an equal number of he-goats, but later allied themselves with the Philistines against Jehoshaphat’s son and successor Jehoram, their marauder bands killing many of his sons. (2 Chron. 17:11; 21:16; 22:1) Uzziah waged successful warfare against them during his reign. (2 Chron. 26:1, 7) Arabian opposers were among those causing difficulty to Nehemiah during the restoration of Jerusalem’s walls.—Neh. 2:19; 4:7, 8; 6:1.

Though nomadic, generally independent, and often quite isolated from the mainstream of activity of those times, the Arabs came in for prophetic attention and judgment by God. (Isa. 21:13; Jer. 25:17-24) Centuries later, some Arabians were perhaps among those becoming members of the early Christian congregation at Pentecost.—Acts 2:11, 41; see ARABIA.

ARAD

(Aʹrad) [fugitive].

1. One of the headmen of the tribe of Benjamin who at one time lived in Jerusalem.—1 Chron. 8:15, 28.

2. A city on the southern border of Canaan, whose king attacked Israel as they approached Canaan. The Israelites devoted the district to destruction and called it “Hormah,” meaning “ban.” (Num. 21:1-3; 33:40) They did not then settle there, however, and evidently some of the inhabitants escaped destruction. Hence, the king of Arad is included in the list of thirty-one kings later vanquished in Joshua’s whirlwind campaign. (Josh. 12:14) The Kenites later settled in the wilderness area to the S of Arad.—Judg. 1:16.

The site is identified with Tell ʽArad, one of the most imposing mounds in the Negeb region. It lies on a somewhat rolling plain about twenty-two and a half miles (36 kilometers) E-NE of Beer-sheba. It is one of the few sites in the Negeb that have retained their same names for the past three thousand years.

ARAH

(Aʹrah) [wayfarer or traveler].

1. A son of Ulla of the tribe of Asher.—1 Chron. 7:30, 39.

2. Head of a family whose members returned to Jerusalem from Babylon with Zerubbabel. (Ezra 2:1, 2, 5; Neh. 7:6, 7, 10) Probably the father of Shecaniah, the father-in-law of Tobiah the Ammonite.—Neh. 6:18.

ARAM

(Aʹram) [highland, high, exalted].

1. The last son listed of Shem’s five sons. Aram and his four sons, Uz, Hul, Gether and Mash, constituted five of the seventy post-Flood families, and their descendants were the Aramaeans and Syrians.—Gen. 10:22; 1 Chron. 1:17.

2. The son of Kemuel and a grandson of Nahor, the latter being Abraham’s brother. Aram was, therefore, a grandnephew of Abraham and a first cousin once removed of Isaac. Rebekah, the daughter of Aram’s uncle Bethuel, was Aram’s first cousin. Nahor’s family did not leave Mesopotamia with Abraham, but years later “the report got through to Abraham” of Nahor’s progeny, including news of Aram.—Gen. 22:20-23; 11:27, 31; 24:4, 10.

3. One of the four “sons” of Shomer of the tribe of Asher, and listed among the “heads of the house of the forefathers, select, valiant, mighty men, heads of the chieftains.” (1 Chron. 7:34, 40) Both Aram and his father were born in Egypt, since his grandfather and great-grandfather were numbered among the offspring of Jacob who ‘came into Egypt.’—Gen. 46:8, 17.

4. In the Authorized Version Aram occurs at Matthew 1:3, 4 and at Luke 3:33.—See ARNI; RAM No. 1.

5. The name “Aram” is used in a geographical sense, by itself and in conjunction with other terms, to refer to regions in which the descendants of Aram were concentrated.

Aram, used alone, basically applies to Syria and is generally so translated. (Judg. 10:6; 2 Sam. 8:6, 12; 15:8; Hos. 12:12) It then included the region from the Lebanon mountains across to Mesopotamia and from the Taurus mountains in the N down to Damascus and beyond in the S.—See SYRIA.

Aram-naharaim (Ps. 60, title) literally means “Aram of the two rivers” and is generally translated with the Greek word of related meaning, “Mesopotamia.” The two rivers were the Euphrates and the Tigris. Stephen speaks of Abraham as living in Mesopotamia while yet down in Ur of the Chaldees (Acts 7:2), and, when sending his servant to seek a wife for Isaac many years later, Abraham told him to go to the city of Nahor in (Upper) Mesopotamia (Aram-naharaim). (Gen. 24:2-4, 10) Balaam of Pethor