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.