Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/291

 all the nomads have their heads shaved and leave only a tuft, varying in size, at the crown.

After the Babylonian Captivity the Arabs encamped near the eastern border of Judea, for Nehemiah, 4: 1, relates that they, together with the Ammonites, prevented the Jews from completing the building of the walls of Jerusalem.

In Isaiah, 13: 20, it is noted that on the site of former Babylon not even an Arab (ʻarabi)—that is, a nomad satisfied with the worst kind of soil—will venture to encamp.

From the above-mentioned account in 2 Chronicles, 17: 11, as well as from Ezekiel, 27: 21, we learn that the Arabs used to breed sheep and goats, which they sold to the surrounding settlers. But according to Jeremiah, 3: 2, they also engaged in robbery, lying in wait by the roadside and watching for anyone whom they could attack and plunder.

According to Genesis, 14: 6 f., the Babylonian kings destroyed the men of Ḥôr in Mount Seʻîr as far as Êl Pârân, which is situated in the desert. They then turned and came to ʻÊn Mišpaṭ, which is Ḳadeš, and laid waste the whole of the land of the Amalekites and of the Amorites dwelling in Ḥaṣaṣôn Tamar, whereupon they encountered the allied kings in the lowland of Siddîm.—

The Babylonian kings must have proceeded southward along the eastern side of Moab and Edom as far as Êl Pârân, where they turned back in a northerly direction and reached the lowland of Siddîm by the Dead Sea. They certainly followed the great transport route leading from Damascus southward, and from it they made raids on the separate settlements and encampments. This transport route leads through the eastern part of Moab and Seʻîr. Through the southern half of the latter a branch road leads to the harbor of al-ʻAḳaba, at the northern extremity of the gulf of the same name.

Near al-ʻAḳaba are situated the ruins of the city of Ajla (Elath) which I identify with Êl Pârân of our account. Of Êl Pârân it is stated that it lies in the wilderness, or near the wilderness, and this would tally with the situation of Elath. At the halting places on the trade route and at the harbor of Êl Pârân the kings certainly expected to find an abundance of spoil, and, descending by the convenient transport route as far as Êl Pârân, they avoided the troublesome march through the difficult passes leading from Mount Seʻîr westward to the territory of the Amalekites and Amorites. From the context we may infer that they passed through the whole of Mount Seʻîr, turning back near Êl Pârân, beyond the borders of this mountain; we may also suppose that Êl Pârân did not lie within Mount Seʻîr proper. Proceeding from Êl Pârân toward