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41 THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

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length of about 1,200. Egress from the country is possible by the two land routes to the east and west the eastern road leads into Babylonia and thence northward into Syria, the western into Egypt and thence southward, or directly north along the coast plain, which at some places furnishes an entrance into the interior of Palestine.

Biblical Data Arabia is mentioned in the Bible in the following passages Ezek. xxvii. 21 Jer. xxv. 34a; Isa. xiii. 20, xxi. 13; Jer. iii. 2; Neh.



ii.

19, iv.

1,

vi.

1



II Chron. ix. 14, xvii. 11, xxi.

xxvi. 7. To these might be added the doubtful passages: Jer. 1. 37; I Kings x. 15; Ezek. 16, xxii. 1,

In Biblical

xxx. 5; Jer. xxv. 245. An examination of these, however, proves that

the terms " Arabia " and " Arabians " are used in a number of senses. (1) In Jer. iii. 2 (" In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness ") and in Isa. xiii, 20 ("Neither shall the Arabian pitch his tent there") reference is made to the wandering marauding Bedouin who looks for opportunities to plunder, or stops here and there to eat the fat of the land. In neither case is this "Arabian," strictly speaking, an inhabitant of Arabia. The passage in Isaiah presupposes frequent incursions into Babylonia of the tent-dwelling Bedouins referred to in the Assyrian inscriptions. Sometimes, however, the Bedouins traveled in companies large enough to do serious injury. To such is reference made in II Chron. xvii. 11, of whom Jehoshaphat exacts tribute, which they pay in rams and goats the gold and silver of a nomadic people. The home of these marauding bands is vaguely indicated by the phrase, " which were near the Ethiopians " (II Chron. Conflicts xxi. 16). They appear again in Jehowith rani's reign, when, owing to the weakArabs, ness of the kingdom, they are able to make an incursion and, after plundering the land, escape with their booty. In Uzziah's reign they make a similar attempt, but with no success (II Chron. xxvi. 7). It would seem that these attacks were directed from the west, because the Arabians are named with the Philistines. (2) In the strict sense of the word, Arabia is mentioned in Jer. xxv. 24a; but the addition, "All the kings of mingled multitude " (" Ereb "), to the phrase, "all the kings of Arabia," appears to be a dittography. From Arabia, gold and silver were sent to Solomon (II Chron. ix. 4), and, in accordance with this passage, in its parallel (1 Kings x. 5) " Ereb " must be changed to " Arab. " similar change, suggested by Cornill, following Aquila, Symmachus, and the Peshitta, must be made in Ezek. xxx. 5 (Smend, on the passage), where Arabia is mentioned in connection with Lud, Put, and Egypt. The classic passage is Ezek. xxvii. 21, where Arabia is referred to as one of the As in the other contributors to the wealth of Tyre. citations, "Arabia" here means only the northern part. It contributed lambs, rams, and goals other

Passages,

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A



Arabia sent their share, Trade with Kedar, Sheba, and Eden sending lambs, Arabia. spices, gold, and precious stones. There perhaps is evidence that after and even during the Exile, Arabians made their fixed abode in Palestine. At the rebuilding of the walls districts in

Ar Arabia

they gave Nehemiah

much annoyance

(Neh.

iv.),

particularly Geshem, the Arabian (Neh. ii. 1, 19). Jer. 1. 37 is a doubtful passage, but it can hardly refer to the Arabians. One other might be mentioned. In the Elijah story (I Kings xvii. 4), ravens (" 'orebim") bring food to the prophet. The Talmud (Hul. 5a) reports an interesting discussion, wherein

suggested that

"

" might be the name or perhaps men of a certain locality, this of course implying the reading " Arabians." And despite the fact that all the ancient versions read "ravens," the reading "Arabians" or " Bedouins " is still a possibility. The hiding-place of Elijah lay directly in the path of the bands who, in the period of drought, would have reason to it is

of

men (Judges

'orebim

vii. 25),

remain near a brook (I Kings x. vii. 6). (3) In later times "Arabian" signifies the more restricted Nabatsean. II Mace. v. 8 mentions Aretas, prince of the Arabians, who is known from other sources to have been a Nabatsean. The same restriction applies to the New Testament (Gal. i. 17, iv. 25 II Cor. xi. 32).

The Arabians are mentioned also on the Assyrian inscriptions with the same ambiguity (Bedouins or

Arabs in Assyrian In-

Arabians) as in the Hebrew sources, being variously given as "Aribu," "Arubu," "Arabi," or even "Arbi."

They

are first found in the days of Shalmaneser II. In a battle fought in 854 at Karkar, Gindibi the Arabian, with his 1,000 camels, took part. Tiglath-pileser III. makes an invasion into Arabia, and among others who pay homage and tribute are found the two queens, Zabibe and Samsi. In Sennacherib's reign the " tent-dwelling " Arabs have moved northward and, in conjunction with the Arami and the Kaldi, make trouble for the king. His son and successor, Esarhaddon, defeats them at Bazu. They are by no means destroyed, however, for they are still found in the empire in the reign of Asurbanipal. The constant migration of the hordes from central Arabia into Babylonia, and thence along the Euphrates into Palestine, has been going on at all times, The as appears from the Bible and the inscriptions. episode of Abraham's journey is but one stage. From Arabia the wanderers poured into Babylonia and settled there. Pressure from Arabia dispersed them and they wandered north. On the west the Arabs entered Egypt and went south into Yemen and It is quite probable that Semitic cusAbyssinia. toms, mythology, and national traits were carried in successive stages from central Arabia to the other parts where Semites were found. HornArabia as mel, von Kremer, and Guidi assume

scriptions.

Home

that Mesopotamia was the original home of the Semite but, as has been pointed out by De Goje, agriculturists and inhabitants of mountains never become nomads. The reverse is often true. Sayce, Schrader Sprenger, and Schroder favor Arabia.

of the Semites,



points out that on mythological, historical, geographand linguistic grounds Arabia must be the

ical,

N51deke suggests starting-point of Semitic culture. Africa as the original home of the Semites a view adopted by Brinton, Jastrow, and Barton but this in nowise conflicts with Arabia as the Semitic center

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