place · also Arabian · Arbite
Arabia
עֲרָבἈραβία
Arabia, a desert region southeast of Israel, known for trade and nomadic tribes.
- verses
- 19
- first named
- 2 Samuel 23:35
- last named
- Galatians 4:25
- feature
- region
- coordinates
- 23.00°N · 46.00°E
Arabian Peninsula (OpenBible)
Scholarship offers 2 identifications for this place. The leading one is shown; the others are recorded in the gazetteer.
Description
Arabia in the text
Arabia is a vast desert region located southeast of Israel, encompassing the Arabian Peninsula. In the Bible, Arabia and its inhabitants, the Arabs or Arbites, are mentioned in various contexts, ranging from commercial interactions to prophetic messages.
The Queen of Sheba, who visited King Solomon, is said to have brought gifts from Arabia, including gold, spices, and precious stones (1Ki.10.15; 2Ch.9.14). The Arabians also paid tribute to King Jehoshaphat of Judah (2Ch.17.11) and were among the enemies who attacked Judah during the reigns of Jehoram and Ahaziah (2Ch.21.16; 22:1).
The prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel mention Arabia and its inhabitants in their prophecies. Isaiah delivers a message concerning Arabia, foretelling the decline of its glory (Isaiah 21:13-17). Jeremiah includes the kings of Arabia among those who will drink the cup of God's wrath (Jeremiah 25:24). Ezekiel lists Arabia as one of the nations that traded with Tyre (Ezk.27.21) and includes the Arabians among the allies of Egypt who will fall (Ezk.30.5).
In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul mentions his visit to Arabia after his conversion (Galatians 1:17) and uses Mount Sinai in Arabia as an allegory for the earthly Jerusalem (Galatians 4:25). On the day of Pentecost, Arabs were among the people who heard the apostles speaking in their own languages (Act.2.11).
The Arabians were known for their nomadic lifestyle, traveling through the desert with their herds and engaging in trade. They were skilled in archery and horsemanship, making them formidable opponents in warfare.
Throughout the Bible, Arabia and its people are portrayed as having both positive and negative interactions with Israel and the surrounding nations, reflecting the complex dynamics of the ancient Near East.
Relations
Direct connections
Every entity the graph places in a stated relation with this one, grouped by the kind of link. Each relation is authored once and its inverse derived, so both ends always agree. Rows marked “registry” come from the identity spine rather than from a verse, and a row marked “which bearer is the source’s decision” is one where the name could have meant more than one person. The last group is not a relation at all — it counts the events two entities stand in together.
Contains
Located in
Took part in
Stands in the same events as
Read it
Where to read it
Every verse of the text carried here that names this entity — 19, across 9 books. The name is written 20 times in them.
Onward
Where this page goes
Not the direct relations above — these are one hop further out, ranked so that a rare shared connection outweighs a common one. Descriptions by STEPBible TIPNR.
Where they appear
What happened here
Atlas's reading of each chapter this place appears in, in canonical order. One line per chapter, and each leads to the whole of it.
Sources