'ARABĀH (Heb. "sterile and uninhabited territory": as a common noun in this sense it is frequent in Job, Is., Jer.). - A biblical geographical name (with the article: ha-'arābhāh, or in the plural: 'arēhāth). It designates (in opposition to the "mountain" har, the "low plain" šēfēlāh, the "south" nēgēbh: Josh. 11:16; 12:8) the depression (or stretches of it) extending from the south of the Hermon to the Elanitic Gulf (e.g.: Josh. 8:14; 11:2, 16; 12:1, 3, 8; 18:18) along the valley of the Jordan, the Dead Sea, and from there to the Red Sea. Precisely this last stretch (never mentioned in the Bible) is today called wādi el-'Arabah, "valley of the A."
The A. of today is the desert depression that extends for 180 km between the oasis of Gōr eş-Šāfīje on the Dead Sea and the oasis of 'Aqaba on the Red Sea (Elanitic Gulf). It is divided into three successive valleys, called today (from north to south) Wādi el-Grib, W. el-Gamr, W. el-Gerāft. Flanked by various mining centers, the long arid valley of the A. was in the 23rd-5th centuries B.C. the "copper road" (v. ASIONGEBER).
Except for Bèth-'Arábāh, a border town between Benjamin and Judah (Josh. 15:6, 61; 18:22), the Vulgate always translates 'A. as a common noun ("solitudo", "campestria", "planities", "desertum").
Bibliography7 worksA. Legendre, s. v. in DB, I, coll. 820-28; A. Musil, Arabia Petraea, II, Vienna 1907; W. J. Phythian-Adams, Israel in the 'Arabah, in Palest
BIBL.: A. Legendre, s. v. in DB, I, coll. 820-28; A. Musil, Arabia Petraea, II, Vienna 1907; W. J. Phythian-Adams, Israel in the 'Arabah, in Palestine Exploration Fund, 65 (1933), pp. 137-146 (he maintains that, in the time of David and Solomon, Israel possessed the whole A. as far as the Gulf of Elan); F.-M. Abel, Géographie de la Palestine, I, Paris 1933, pp. 81-85; II, ibid. 1938, p. 41 f.; F. Frank, Aus der 'Araba: Reiseberichte, in Zeitschr. des deutschen Palästina-Vereins, 57 (1934), pp. 191-280; A. Alt, Aus der 'Araba, II, ibid., 58 (1935), pp. 1-78.
Romeo, Antonino. “'ArabĀH (Ebr. «Territorio Sterile e Disabitato»: Come Nome Comune in Tal Senso È Frequente in Iob. Is., ier.).” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, coll. 1734–1735. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948. https://azioneromana.com/article/arabah-ebr-territorio-sterile-e-disabitato-come-nome-comune-in-tal-senso-e-frequente-in-iob-is-i.
MLA
Romeo, Antonino. “'ArabĀH (Ebr. «Territorio Sterile e Disabitato»: Come Nome Comune in Tal Senso È Frequente in Iob. Is., ier.).” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. I, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1948, coll. 1734–1735. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/arabah-ebr-territorio-sterile-e-disabitato-come-nome-comune-in-tal-senso-e-frequente-in-iob-is-i.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec1_arabah_ebr_territorio_sterile,
author = {Romeo, Antonino},
title = {'ArabĀH (Ebr. «Territorio Sterile e Disabitato»: Come Nome Comune in Tal Senso È Frequente in Iob. Is., ier.)},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {I},
pages = {1734--1735},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1948},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/arabah-ebr-territorio-sterile-e-disabitato-come-nome-comune-in-tal-senso-e-frequente-in-iob-is-i}
}
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