Difference between revisions of "Arabia"

<p> Only rarely does the Bible mention [[Arabia]] by name. It usually refers to the peoples of the region by the family or tribal groups to which they belonged. Often it refers to Arabia simply as the east’ (&nbsp;Genesis 10:30; &nbsp;Genesis 25:6; &nbsp;Judges 6:3; &nbsp;Isaiah 2:6; &nbsp;Ezekiel 25:4). </p> <p> Many of the people descended from Noah (Genesis 10), [[Abraham]] (through his concubine Keturah; &nbsp;Genesis 25:1-6), and [[Esau]] (Genesis 36) settled as tribal groups in Arabia. They were wandering shepherds rather than farmers, since most of the land was not suitable for cultivation and some of it was desert. Among the better known tribal groups were Joktam and [[Sheba]] in the south (&nbsp;Genesis 10:25-29; &nbsp;1 Kings 10:1-13; &nbsp;Psalms 72:10; &nbsp;Psalms 72:15; &nbsp;Isaiah 60:6) and [[Dedan]] and [[Kedar]] in the north (&nbsp;Isaiah 21:13-17; &nbsp;Isaiah 42:11; &nbsp;Jeremiah 25:23-24; &nbsp;Jeremiah 49:28; &nbsp;Ezekiel 25:13; &nbsp;Ezekiel 27:21). </p>

<p> A vast country of Asia, extending one thousand five hundred miles from north to south, and one thousand two hundred from east to west; containing a surface equal to four times that of France. The near approach of the [[Euphrates]] to the [[Mediterranean]] constitutes it a peninsula, the largest in the world. It is called Jezirat-el-Arab by the Arabs; and by the [[Persians]] and Turks, Arebistan. This is one of the most interesting countries on the face of the earth. It has, in agreement with prophecy, never been subdued; and its inhabitants, at once pastoral, commercial, and warlike, are the same wild, wandering people as the immediate descendants of their great ancestor [[Ishmael]] are represented to have been. </p> <p> Arabia, or at least the eastern and northern parts of it, were first peopled by some of the numerous families of Cush, who appear to have extended themselves, or to have given their name as the land of Cush, or Asiatic Ethiopia, to all the country from the [[Indus]] on the east, to the borders of Egypt on the west, and from [[Armenia]] on the north to Arabia Deserta on the south. By these Cushites, whose first plantations were on both sides of the Euphrates and [[Gulf]] of Persia, and who were the first that traversed the desert of Arabia, the earliest commercial communications were established between the east and the west. But of their [[Arabian]] territory, and of the occupation dependent on it, they were deprived by the sons of Abraham, Ishmael, and Midian; by whom they were obliterated in this country as a distinct race, either by superiority of numbers after mingling with them, or by obliging them to recede altogether to their more eastern possessions, or over the Gulf of Arabia into Africa. From this time, that is, about five hundred and fifty years after the flood, we read only of [[Ishmaelites]] and [[Midianites]] as the shepherds and carriers of the deserts; who also appear to have been intermingled, and to have shared both the territory and the traffic, as the traders who bought [[Joseph]] are called by both names, and the same are probably referred to by Jeremiah , 25, as "the mingled people that dwell in the desert." But Ishmael maintained the superiority, and succeeded in giving his name to the whole people. </p> <p> Arabia, it is well known, is divided by geographers into three separate regions, called Arabia Petraea, Arabia Deserta, and Arabia Felix. </p> <p> The first, or Arabia Petraea, is the northwestern division, and is bounded on the north by [[Palestine]] and the [[Dead]] Sea, on the east by Arabia Deserta, on the south by Arabia Felix, and on the west by the Heroopolitan branch of the Red Sea and the Isthmus of Suez. The greater part of this division was more exclusively the possession of the Midianites, or land of Midian; where Moses, having fled from Egypt, married the daughter of Jethro, and spent forty years keeping the flocks of his father-in-law: no humiliating occupation in those days, and particularly in Midian, which was a land of shepherds; the whole people having no other way of life than that of rearing and tending their flocks, or in carrying the goods they received from the east and south into [[Phenicia]] and Egypt. The word flock, used here, must not convey the idea naturally entertained in our own country of sheep only, but, together with these or goats, horned cattle and camels, the most indispensable of animals to the Midianite. It was a mixed flock of this kind which was the sole care of Moses, during a third part of his long life; in which he must have had abundance of leisure, by night and by day, to reflect on the unhappy condition of his own people, still enduring all the rigours of slavery in Egypt. It was a similar flock also which the daughters of [[Jethro]] were watering when first encountered by Moses; a trifling event in itself, but important in the history of the future leader of the Jews; and showing, at the same time, the simple life of the people among whom he was newly come, as well as the scanty supply of water in their country, and the strifes frequently occasioned in obtaining a share of it. Through a considerable part of this region, the [[Israelites]] wandered after they had escaped from Egypt; and in it were situated the mountains [[Horeb]] and Sinai. Beside the tribes of Midian, which gradually became blended with those of Ishmael, this was the country of the Edomites, the Amalekites, and the Nabathaei, the only tribe of pure Ishmaelites within its precincts. But all those families have long since been confounded under the general name of Arabs. The greater part of this district consists of naked rocks and sandy and flinty plains; but it contained also some fertile spots, particularly in the peninsula of Mount Sinai, and through the long range of Mount Seir. </p> <p> The second region, or Arabia Deserta, is bounded on the north and north- east by the Euphrates, on the east by a ridge of mountains which separates it from Chaldea, on the south by Arabia Felix, and on the west by Syria, Judea, and Arabia Petraea. This was more particularly the country first of the Cushites, and afterward of the Ishmaelites; as it is still of their descendants, the modern Bedouins, who maintain the same predatory and wandering habits. It consists almost entirely of one vast and lonesome wilderness, a boundless level of sand, whose dry and burning surface denies existence to all but the [[Arab]] and his camel. Yet, widely scattered over this dreary waste, some spots of comparative fertility are to be found, where, spread around a feeble spring of brackish water, a stunted verdure, or a few palm trees, fix the principal settlement of a tribe, and afford stages of refreshment in these otherwise impassable deserts. Here, with a few dates, the milk of his faithful camel, and perhaps a little corn, brought by painful journeys from distant regions, or plundered from a passing caravan, the Arab supports a hard existence, until the failure of his resources impels him to seek another </p> <p> <em> oasis, </em> or the scanty herbage furnished on a patch of soil by transient rains; or else, which is frequently the case, to resort, by more distant migration, to the banks of the Euphrates; or, by hostile inroads on the neighbouring countries, to supply those wants which the recesses of the desert have denied. The numbers leading this wandering and precarious mode of life are incredible. From these deserts [[Zerah]] drew his army of a million of men; and the same deserts, fifteen hundred years after, poured forth the countless swarms, which, under [[Mohammed]] and his successors, devastated half of the then known world. </p> <p> The third region, or Arabia Felix, so denominated from the happier condition of its soil and climate, occupies the southern part of the Arabian peninsula. It is bounded on the north by the two other divisions of the country; on the south and south-east by the Indian Ocean; on the east by part of the same ocean and the [[Persian]] Gulf; and on the west by the Red Sea. This division is subdivided into the kingdoms or provinces of Yemen, at the southern extremity of the peninsula; Hejaz, on the north of the former, and toward the Red Sea; Nejed, in the central region; and Hadramant and Oman, on the shores of the Indian Ocean. The four latter subdivisions partake of much of the character of the other greater divisions of the country, though of a more varied surface, and with a larger portion capable of cultivation. But [[Yemen]] seems to belong to another country and climate. It is very mountainous, is well watered with rains and springs, and is blessed with an abundant produce in corn and fruits, and especially in coffee, of which vast quantities are exported. In this division were the ancient citrus of Nysa, Musa or Moosa, and Aden. This is also supposed to have been the country of the queen of Sheba. In Hejaz are the celebrated cities of [[Mecca]] and Medina. </p> <p> Arabia [[Felix]] is inhabited by a people who claim [[Joktan]] for their father, and so trace their descent direct from Shem, instead of Abraham and Ham. They are indeed a totally different people from those inhabiting the other quarters, and pride themselves on being the only pure and unmixed Arabs. Instead of being shepherds and robbers, they are fixed in towns and cities; and live by agriculture and commerce, chiefly maritime. Here were the people who were found by the [[Greeks]] of Egypt enjoying an entire monopoly of the trade with the east, and possessing, a high degree, of wealth, and consequent refinement. It was here, in the ports of Sabaea, that the spices, muslins, and precious stones of India, were for many ages obtained by the Greek traders of Egypt, before they had acquired skill or courage sufficient to pass the straits of the Red Sea; which were long considered by the nations of Europe to be the produce of Arabia itself. These articles, before the invention of shipping, or the establishment of a maritime intercourse, were conveyed across the deserts by the Cushite, Ishmaelite, and [[Midianite]] carriers. It was the produce partly of India, and partly of Arabia, which the travelling merchants, to whom Joseph was sold, were carrying into Egypt. The balm and myrrh were probably Arabian, as they are still the produce of the same country; but the spicery was undoubtedly brought farther from the east. These circumstances are adverted to, to show how extensive was the communication, in which the [[Arabians]] formed the principal link: and that in the earliest ages of which we have any account, in those of Joseph, of Moses, of Isaiah, and of Ezekiel, "the mingled people" inhabiting the vast Arabian deserts, the Cushites, Ishmaelites, and Midianites, were the chief agents in that commercial intercourse which has, from the most remote period of antiquity, subsisted between the extreme east and west. And although the current of trade is now turned, caravans of merchants, the descendants of these people, may still be found traversing the same deserts, conveying the same articles, and in the same manner as described by Moses! </p> <p> The singular and important fact that Arabia has never been conquered, has already been cursorily adverted to. But Mr. Gibbon, unwilling to pass by an opportunity of cavilling at revelation, says, "The perpetual independence of the Arabs has been the theme of praise among strangers and natives; and the arts of controversy transform this singular event into a prophecy and a miracle in favour of the posterity of Ishmael. Some exceptions, that can neither be dissembled nor eluded, render this mode of reasoning as indiscreet as it is superfluous. The kingdom of Yemen has been successively subdued by the Abyssinians, the Persians, the Sultans of Egypt, and the Turks; the holy cities of Mecca and [[Medina]] have repeatedly bowed under a [[Scythian]] tyrant; and the Roman province of Arabia embraced the peculiar wilderness in which Ishmael and his sons must have pitched their tents in the face of their brethren." But this learned writer has, with a peculiar infelicity, annulled his own argument; and we have only to follow on the above passage, to obtain a complete refutation of the unworthy position with which it begins: "Yet these exceptions," says Mr. Gibbon, "are temporary or local; the body of the nation has escaped the yoke of the most powerful monarchies: the arms of [[Sesostris]] and Cyrus, of Pompey, and Trajan, could never achieve the conquest of Arabia; the present sovereign of the Turks may exercise a shadow of jurisdiction, but his pride is reduced to solicit the friendship of a people whom it is dangerous to provoke, and fruitless to attack. The obvious causes of their freedom are inscribed on the character and country of the Arabs. Many ages before Mohammed, their intrepid valour had been severely felt by their neighbours; in offensive and defensive war. The patient and active virtues of a soldier are insensibly nursed in the habits and discipline of a pastoral life. The care of the sheep and camels is abandoned to the women of the tribe; but the martial youth, under the banner of the emir, is ever on horseback and in the field, to practise the exercise of the bow, the javelin, and the scimitar. The long memory of their independence is the firmest pledge of its perpetuity; and succeeding generations are animated to prove their descent, and to maintain their inheritance. Their domestic feuds are suspended on the approach of a common enemy; and in their last hostilities against the Turks, the caravan of Mecca was attacked and pillaged by four score thousand of the confederates. When they advance to battle, the hope of victory is in the front, in the rear the assurance of a retreat. Their horses and camels, who in eight or ten days can perform a march of four or five hundred miles, disappear before the conqueror; the secret waters of the desert elude his search; and his victorious troops are consumed with thirst, hunger, and fatigue, in the pursuit of an invisible foe, who scorns his efforts, and safely reposes in the heart of the burning solitude. The arms and deserts of the [[Bedouins]] are not only the safeguards of their own freedom, but the barriers also of the happy Arabia, whose inhabitants, remote from war, are enervated by the luxury of the soil and climate. The legions of [[Augustus]] melted away in disease and lassitude; and it is only by a naval power that the reduction of Yemen has been successfully attempted. When Mohammed erected his holy standard, that kingdom was a province of the Persian empire; yet seven princes of the Homerites still reigned in the mountains; and the vicegerent of [[Chosroes]] was tempted to forget his distant country and his unfortunate master." </p> <p> Yemen was the only Arabian province which had the appearance of submitting to a foreign yoke; but even here, as Mr. Gibbon himself acknowledges, seven of the native princes remained unsubdued: and even admitting its subjugation to have been complete, the perpetual independence of the Ishmaelites remains unimpeached. For this is not their country. Petra, the capital of the [[Stony]] Arabia, and the principal settlement of the Nabathaei, it is true, was long in the hands of the Persians and Romans; but this never made them masters of the country. Hovering troops of Arabs confined the intruders within their walls, and cut off their supplies; and the possession of this fortress gave as little reason to the Romans to exult as the conquerors of Arabia Petraea, as that of [[Gibraltar]] does to us to boast of the conquest of Spain. </p> <p> The Arabian tribes were confounded by the Greeks and Romans under the indiscriminate appellation of Saracens; a name whose etymology has been variously, but never satisfactorily, explained. This was their general name when Mohammed appeared in the beginning of the seventh century. Their religion at this time was Sabianism, or the worship of the sun, moon, &c; variously transformed by the different tribes, and intermingled with some [[Jewish]] and [[Christian]] maxims and traditions. The tribes themselves were generally at variance, from some hereditary and implacable animosities; and their only warfare consisted in desultory skirmishes arising out of these feuds, and in their predatory excursions, where superiority of numbers rendered courage of less value than activity and vigilance. Yet of such materials Mohammed constructed a mighty empire; converted the relapsed Ishmaelites into good Musselmen; united the jarring tribes under one banner; supplied what was wanting in personal courage by the ardour of religious zeal; and out of a banditti, little known and little feared beyond their own deserts, raised an armed multitude, which proved the scourge of the world. </p> <p> Mohammed was born in the year 569, of the noble tribe of the Koreish, and descended, according to eastern historians, in a direct line from Ishmael. </p> <p> His person is represented as beautiful, his manners engaging, and his eloquence powerful; but he was illiterate, like the rest of his countrymen, and indebted to a Jewish or Christian scribe for penning his Koran. Whatever the views of Mohammed might have been in the earlier part of his life, it was not till the fortieth year of his age that he avowed his mission as the [[Apostle]] of God: when so little credit did he gain for his pretensions, that in the first three years he could only number fourteen converts; and even at the end of ten years his labours and his friends were alike confined within the walls of Mecca, when the designs of his enemies compelled him to fly to Medina, where he was favourably received by a party of the most considerable inhabitants, who had recently imbibed his doctrines at Mecca. This flight, or <em> Hegira, </em> was made the Mohammedan aera, from which time is computed, and corresponds with the 16th of July, 622, of the Christian aera. Mohammed now found himself sufficiently powerful to throw aside all reserve; declared that he was commanded to compel unbelievers by the sword to receive the faith of one God, and his prophet Mohammed; and confirming his credulous followers by the threats of eternal pain on the one hand, and the allurements of a sensual paradise on the other, he had, before his death, which happened in the year 632, gained over the whole of Arabia to his imposture. His death threw a temporary gloom over his cause, and the disunion of his followers threatened its extinction. Any other empire placed in the same circumstances would have crumbled to pieces; but the Arabs felt their power; they revered their founder as the chosen prophet of God; and their ardent temperament, animated by a religious enthusiasm, gave an earnest of future success, and encouraged the zeal or the ambition of their leaders. The succession, after some bloodshed, was settled, and unnumbered hordes of barbarians were ready to carry into execution the sanguinary dictates of their prophet; and, with "the Koran, tribute, or death," as their motto to invade the countries of the infidels. During the whole of the succeeding century, their rapid career was unchecked; the disciplined armies of the Greeks and Romans were unable to stand against them; the Christian churches of Asia and Africa were annihilated; and from India to the Atlantic, through Persia, Arabia, Syria, Palestine, Asia Minor, Egypt, with the whole of northern Africa, Spain, and part of France, the impostor was acknowledged. [[Constantinople]] was besieged; Rome itself was plundered; and nothing less than the subjection of the whole Christian world was meditated on the one hand, and tremblingly expected on the other. </p> <p> All this was wonderful; but the avenging justice of an incensed Deity, and the sure word of prophecy, relieve our astonishment. It was to punish an apostate race, that the Saracen locusts were let loose upon the earth; and the countries which they were permitted to ravage were those in which the pure light of revelation had been most abused. The eastern church was sunk in gross idolatry; vice, and wickedness prevailed in their worst forms; and those who still called themselves [[Christians]] trusted more to images, relics, altars, austerities, and pilgrimages, than to a crucified Saviour. </p> <p> About a hundred and eighty years from the foundation of Bagdad, during which period the power of the [[Saracens]] had gradually declined, a dreadful reaction took place in the conquered countries. The Persians on the east, and the Greeks on the west, were simultaneously roused from their long thraldom, and, assisted by the Turks, who, issuing from the plains of Tartary, now for the first time made their appearance in the east, extinguished the power of the caliphate, and virtually put an end to the Arabian monarchy in the year 936. A succession of nominal caliphs continued to the year 1258: but the provinces were lost; their power was confined to the walls of their capital; and they were in real subjection to the Turks and the Persians until the above year, when Mostacem, the last of the Abbassides, was dethroned and murdered by Holagou, or Hulaku, the Tartar, the grandson of Zingis. This event, although it terminated the foreign dominion of the Arabians, left their native independence untouched. They were no longer, indeed, the masters of the finest parts of the three great divisions of the ancient world: their work was finished; and returning to the state in which Mohammed found them three centuries before, with the exception of the change in their religion, they remained, and still remain, the unconquered rovers of the desert. </p> <p> It is not the least singular circumstance in the history of this extraordinary people, that those who, in the enthusiasm of their first successes, were the sworn foes of literature, should become for several ages its exclusive patrons. Almansor, the founder of Bagdad, has the merit of first exciting this spirit, which was encouraged in a still greater degree by his grandson Almamon. This caliph employed his agents in Armenia, Syria, Egypt, and at Constantinople, in collecting the most celebrated works on [[Grecian]] science, and had them translated into the Arabic language. Philosophy, astronomy, geometry, and medicine, were thus introduced and taught; public schools were established; and learning, which had altogether fled from Europe, found an asylum on the banks of the Tigris. Nor was this spirit confined to the capital: native works began to appear; and by the hands of copyists were multiplied out of number, for the information of the studious, or the pride of the wealthy. The rage for literature extended to Egypt and to Spain. In the former country, the Fatimites collected a library of a hundred thousand manuscripts, beautifully transcribed, and very elegantly bound; and in the latter, the [[Ommiades]] formed another of six hundred thousand volumes; forty-four of which were employed in the catalogue. Their capital, Cordova, with the towns of Malaga, Almeria, and Murcia, produced three hundred writers; and seventy public libraries were established in the cities of Andalusia. What a change since the days of Omar, when the splendid library of the [[Ptolemies]] was wantonly destroyed by the same people! A retribution, though a slight one, was thus made for their former devastations; and many Grecian works, lost in the original, have been recovered in their Arabic dress. Neither was this learning confined to mere parade, though much of it must undoubtedly have been so. Their proficiency in astronomy and geometry is attested by their astronomical tables, and by the accuracy with which, in the plain of Chaldea, a degree of the great circle of the earth was measured. But it was in medicine that, in this dark age, the Arabians shone most: the works of [[Hippocrates]] and [[Galen]] had been translated and commented on; their physicians were sought after by the princes of Asia and Europe; and the names of Rhazis, Albucasis, and Avicenna are still revered by the members of the healing art. So little, indeed, did the physicians of Europe in that age know of the history of their own science, that they were astonished, on the revival of learning, to find in the ancient Greek authors those systems for which they thought themselves indebted to the Arabians! </p> <p> The last remnant of Arabian science was found in Spain; from whence it was expelled in the beginning of the seventeenth century, by the intemperate bigots of that country, who have never had any thing of their own with which to supply its place. The Arabians are the only people who have preserved their descent, their independence, their language, and their manners and customs, from the earliest ages to the present times; and it is among them that we are to look for examples of patriarchal life and manners. A very lively sketch of this mode of life is given by Sir R. K. Porter, in the person and tribe of an Arab sheik, whom he encountered in the neighbourhood of the Euphrates. "I had met this warrior," says Sir R. K. P., "at the house of the British resident at Bagdad; and came, according to his repeated wish, to see him in a place more consonant with his habits, the tented field; and, as he expressed it, ‘at the head of his children.' As soon as we arrived in sight of his camp, we were met by crowds of its inhabitants, who, with a wild and hurrying delight, led us toward the tent of their chief. The venerable old man came forth to the door, attended by his subjects of all sizes and descriptions, and greeted us with a countenance beaming kindness, while his words, which our interpreter explained, were demonstrative of patriarchal welcome. One of my Hindoo troopers spoke Arabic, hence the substance of our succeeding discourse was not lost on each other. Having entered, I sat down by my host; and the whole of the persons present, to far beyond the boundaries of the tent, (the sides of which were open,) seated themselves also, without any regard to those more civilized ceremonies of subjection, the crouching of slaves, or the standing of vassalage. These persons, in rows beyond rows, appeared just as he had described, the offspring of his house, the descendants of his fathers, from age to age; and like brethren, whether holding the highest or the lowest rank, they seemed to gather round their common parent. But perhaps their sense of perfect equality in the mind of their chief could not be more forcibly shown, than in the share they took in the objects which appeared to interest his feelings; and as I looked from the elders or leaders of the people, seated immediately around him, to the circles beyond circles of brilliant faces, bending eagerly toward him and his guest, (all, from the most respectably clad to those with hardly a garment covering their active limbs, earnest to evince some attention to the stranger he bade welcome,) I thought I had never before seen so complete an assemblage of fine and animated countenances, both old and young: nor could I suppose a better specimen of the still existing state of the true Arab; nor a more lively picture of the scene which must have presented itself, ages ago, in the fields of Haran, when [[Terah]] sat in his tent door, surrounded by his sons, and his sons' sons, and the people born in his house. The venerable Arabian sheik was also seated on the ground with a piece of carpet spread under him; and, like his ancient [[Chaldean]] ancestor, turned to the one side and the other, graciously answering or questioning the groups around him, with an interest in them all which clearly showed the abiding simplicity of his government, and their obedience. On the smallest computation, such must have been the manners of these people for more than three thousand years; thus, in all things, verifying the prediction given of Ishmael at his birth, that he, in his posterity, should ‘be a wild man,' and always continue to be so, though ‘he shall dwell for ever in the presence of his brethren.' And that an acute and active people, surrounded for ages by polished and luxurious nations, should from their earliest to their latest times, be still found <em> a wild people, dwelling in the presence of all their brethren, </em> (as we may call these nations,) unsubdued and unchangeable, is, indeed, a standing miracle: one of those mysterious facts which establish the truth of prophecy." But although the manners of the Arabians have remained unaltered through so many ages, and will probably so continue, their religion, as we have seen, has sustained an important change; and must again, in the fulness of time, give place to a faith more worthy of the people. </p> <p> St. Paul first preached the [[Gospel]] in Arabia, &nbsp;Galatians 1:17 . Christian churches were subsequently founded, and many of their tribes embraced [[Christianity]] prior to the fifth century; most of which appear to have been tinctured with the Nestorian heresy. At this time, however, it does not appear that the Arabians had any version of the [[Scriptures]] in their own language, to which some writers attribute the ease with which they were drawn into the Mohammedan delusion; while the "Greeks, Syrians, Armenians, Abyssinians, Copts, and others," who enjoyed that privilege, were able to resist it. </p>

<p> (Arabia arid tract). The Arabah, originally restricted to one wady, came to be applied to all Arabia. (See [[Arabah]] .) Bounded on the N. by Palestine and Syria, E. by the Euphrates and the Persian Gulf, S. by the Arabian Sea and strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, W. by the Red Sea and Egypt. 1700 miles long by 1400 broad. Designated &nbsp;Genesis 25:6 "the east country," the people "children of the East" (&nbsp;Genesis 29:1; &nbsp;Judges 6:3), chiefly meaning the tribes E. of [[Jordan]] and N. of the Arabian peninsula. "All the mingled people" is in [[Hebrew]] '''''Ha Ereb''''' (&nbsp;Exodus 12:38; &nbsp;Jeremiah 25:20; &nbsp;Ezekiel 30:5), possibly the Arabs. The three divisions are Arabia Deserta, Felix, and Petraea. The term '''''Κedem''''' , "the East," with the Hebrew probably referred to [[Arabia Deserta]]  or N. Arabia, bounded E. by the Euphrates, W. by the mountains of Gilead. Jeremiah (&nbsp;Jeremiah 2:6) describes its features, "a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and of the shadow of death, that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt." </p> <p> [[Tadmor]] or Palmyra "in the wilderness" was on its N.E. border (&nbsp;1 Kings 9:18). Moving sands, a few thorny shrubs, and an occasional palm and a spring of brackish water, constitute its general character. The sand wind, the simoom, visits it. [[Hither]] Paul resorted after conversion for that rest and reflection which are needed before great spiritual enterprises (&nbsp;Galatians 1:17). Moses' stay of 40 years in the same quarter served the same end of preparatory discipline. Its early inhabitants were the Rephaim, Emim, Zuzim, [[Zamzummim]] (&nbsp;Genesis 14:5); Ammon, Moab, Edom, the Hagarenes, the Nabathaeans, the people of Kedar, and many wandering tent-dwelling tribes, like the modern Bedouins, succeeded. The portion of it called the Hauran, or [[Syrian]] desert, abounds in ruins and inscriptions in Greek, Palmyrene, and an unknown tongue. </p> <p> [[Arabia Felix]]  or happy, S. Arabia, bounded on the E. by the Persian Gulf, S. by the Arabian Sea, W. by the Red Sea. Yemen, famed for its fertility ("the right hand", so the south, compare &nbsp;Matthew 12:42); and [[Hadramaut]] (Hazarmaveth, &nbsp;Genesis 10:26) were parts of it. Sheba answers to Yemen (&nbsp;Psalms 72:10), whose queen visited [[Solomon]] (&nbsp;1 Kings 10:1). The dominant family was that of Himyer, son of Sava; one of this family founded the modern kingdom of the Himyerites, now called el Hedjaz, the land of pilgrimage, on account of the pilgrimages to Mecca the birthplace, and Medina the burial place, of Mahomet. The central province of the Nejd is famed for the Arab horses and camels, "the ships of the desert." </p> <p> Joktan, son of [[Eber]] (&nbsp;Genesis 10:25), was the original founder, Ishmael the subsequent head, of its population. The Hagarenes, originally the same as the Ishmaelites, subsequently are mentioned as distinct (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 5:10; &nbsp;1 Chronicles 5:19; &nbsp;1 Chronicles 5:22; &nbsp;Psalms 83:6). The people of Yemen have always lived in cities, and practiced commerce and agriculture. It was famed for gems and gold, spices, perfumes, and gums (&nbsp;1 Kings 10:10; &nbsp;Ezekiel 27:22). Many of the luxuries attributed to it, however, were products of further lands, which reached Palestine and Egypt through Arabia. </p> <p> [[Arabia Petraea]]  called from its city Petra, the rock, or [[Selah]] (&nbsp;2 Kings 14:7), now Hadjar, i.e. rock. Between the gulfs of [[Suez]] and Akabah; Palestine and Egypt are its northern boundary. The desert of mount [[Sinai]] (Burr et tur Sinai), where [[Israel]] wandered, [[Kadesh]] Barnea, Pharan, Rephidim, Ezion Geber, Rithmah, Oboth, Arad, Heshbon, were in it. The wady Leja (perhaps the valley of Rephidim), near jebel Mousa, and the wady Feiran (Paran, &nbsp;Numbers 13:3), are most luxuriant. Hawarah (Marab, &nbsp;Exodus 15:23) is 33 miles S.E. of Ayoun Mousa (the fountain of Moses); 7 miles S. of this is wady Gurundel, perhaps the [[Elim]] of &nbsp;Exodus 15:27. Precipitous bore rocks, void of herbage, form the southern coast. Cush, son of Ham, originally peopled Arabia (the ruins of Marib, or Seba, and the inscriptions are Cushite; in [[Babylonia]] too there are [[Cushite]] traces); then Joktan, of Shem's race (&nbsp;Genesis 10:7; &nbsp;Genesis 10:20; &nbsp;Genesis 10:25; &nbsp;Genesis 10:30). </p> <p> The posterity of Nahor, of Abraham and [[Keturah]] (Genesis 25), of [[Lot]] also, formed a part of the population, namely, in Arabia Deserta. Then Ishmael's, then Esau's descendants, for Esau identified himself with Ishmael by his marrying Ishmael's daughter (&nbsp;Genesis 28:9). The head of each tribe is the sheikh; the office is hereditary in his family, but elective as to the individual. The people are hospitable, eloquent, poetical, proud of ancestry, but predatory, superstitious, and revengeful. The wandering and wild Bedouins are purest in blood and preserve most the Arab characteristics foretold in &nbsp;Genesis 16:12; "He will be a wild" (Hebrew a wild donkey of a) "man; his hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against him" (marking their incessant feuds with one another or with their neighbors), "and he shall dwell [[Tent]] in the presence of all his brethren." </p> <p> The image of a wild donkey untamable, roaming at its will in the desert (compare &nbsp;Job 39:5-8), portrays the Bedouin's boundless love of freedom as he rides in the desert spear in hand, despising town life. His dwelling in the presence of his brethren implies that Ishmael would maintain an independent nationality before all Abraham's descendants. They have never been completely subjugated by any neighboring power. Compare &nbsp;Job 1:15; &nbsp;Jeremiah 49:8; &nbsp;Jeremiah 3:2; &nbsp;2 Chronicles 21:16. From their dwelling in tents they are called Scenitoe. Their tents are of goats' hair cloth, black or brown (&nbsp;Song of Solomon 1:5), arranged in a ring, enclosing their cattle, each about 25 feet long and 7 high. The town populations by intermarriages and intercourse with foreigners have lost much of Arab traits. Mecca, in their belief, is where Ishmael was saved and [[Hagar]] died and was buried. </p> <p> The [[Kaaba]] or [[Square]] was built by Seth, destroyed by the flood, and rebuilt by Abraham and Ishmael. Sabeanism, or the worship of the hosts, the sun, moon, and stars, was the first lapse from original revelation (&nbsp;Job 31:26-27); but just before Mahomet they were divided between it, Judaism, Magianism, and corrupted Christianity. [[Mahometanism]] became the universal faith in A.D. 628. The [[Wahabees]] are one of the most powerful sects, named from Abd el Wahab, who in the beginning of last century undertook to reform abuses in Mahometanism. To the Arabs we owe our arithmetical figures. They took the lead of Europeans in astronomy, chemistry, algebra, and medicine. They spread their colonies from the [[Senegal]] to the indus, and from [[Madagascar]] to the Euphrates. The Joktanites of southern Arabia were seafaring; the Ishmaelites, more northward, the caravan merchants (&nbsp;Genesis 37:28). </p> <p> The Arabic language is the most developed of the Semitic languages. in the 14th or 13th century B.C. the Semitic languages differed much less than in later times. Compare &nbsp;Genesis 31:47; &nbsp;Judges 7:9-15; Phurah, Gideon's servant, evidently understood the Midianites. But in the 8th century B.C. only educated [[Jews]] understood [[Aramaic]] (&nbsp;2 Kings 18:26). In its classical form Arabic is more modern than Heb., in its ancient form probably sister to Hebrew and Aramaic. The Himyeritic is a mixture with an African language, as appears from the inscriptions; the Ekhili is its modern phase. [[Monuments]] with Himyeritic inscriptions are found in Hadramaut and the Yemen. There was a Cushite or [[Ethiopian]] Sheba, as well as a Shemitic Sheba (&nbsp;Genesis 10:7; &nbsp;Genesis 10:28). </p> <p> The Himyerites had a Cushite descent. The Arabic is one of the most widely spoken languages. The Hebrew literature dates from the 15th century B.C, the Arabic only from the 5th century B.C. For this reason, and the greater simplicity of Hebrew modes of expression, it seems probable the Hebrew is the elder sister. A few Arabic forms are plainly older than the corresponding Hebrew The Book of Job in many of its difficult Hebrew roots receives much illustration from Arabic. The Arabic is more flexible and abounding in vowel sounds, as suits a people light hearted and impulsive; the Hebrew is weightier, and has more consonants, as suits a people graver and more earnest. The Arabic version of the Scriptures now extant was made after Mahomet's time. That in the London Polyglott was in part by R. Saadias [[Gaon]] (the Excellent). </p>

<p> Arabia (Ἀραβία, from עֲרָב), which now denotes the great peninsula lying between the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, was in ancient times a singularly elusive term. Originally it meant simply ‘desert’ or ‘desolation,’ and when it became an ethnographic proper name it was long in acquiring a fixed and generally understood meaning. ‘Arabia’ shifted like the nomads, drifted like the desert sand. It did not denote a country whose boundaries could be defined by treaty, shown by landmarks, and act down in a map. Too vast and vague for delimitation, it impressed the imagination like the steppe, the prairie, or the veldt, while it had a character and history of its own. To the settled races of Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine, it meant any part of that hinterland, skirting the confines of civilization, which was the camping-ground of wandering tribes for ever hovering around peaceful towns and spreading terror among their inhabitants. It was the dim border region, not so wholly unproductive as to be incapable of supporting life, interposed between cultivation and the sheer wilderness. So uncertain was the application of the term, that there was no part of the semi-desert fringe extending from the lower [[Tigris]] to the lower Nile which was not at one time or another called Arabia. To the prophets of Israel the word had one meaning, on Persian inscriptions another, and to Greek writers (Herod. ii. and iii.; Xenophon, I. v. 1, VII. viii. 25) still another. Every one used it to denote that particular hinterland whose tribes and peoples were more or less known to him; that was <i> his </i> Arabia. </p> <p> But by the 3rd cent. b.c. the Arab tribe of the Nabataeans had become a powerful nation, with [[Petra]] as their capital, and from that time onward Arabia began to be identified, especially in the Western mind, with the Natataean kingdom. While 1 Mac. still distinguishes the Nabataeans from other Arabs (&nbsp;1 [[Maccabees]] 5:25; &nbsp;1 Maccabees 9:35), 2 Mac. speaks of Aretas, the hereditary king of the Nabataeans, as ‘king of the Arabs’ (&nbsp;2 Maccabees 5:8). In the time of [[Josephus]] this people ‘inhabited all the country from the Euphrates to the Red Sea’ ( <i> Ant </i> . I. xii. 4). Soon after taking possession of [[Judaea]] , the Romans sent an expedition, under [[Marcus]] Scaurus, against the Nabataeans (59 b.c.); and, though their subjugation was not accomplished at that time, it must have taken place not much later. From the days of Augustus the kings of the Arabians were as much subject to the [[Empire]] as Herod, king of the Jews, and they had the whole region between Herod’s dominions and the desert assigned to them. To the north ‘their territory reached as far as Damascus, which was under their protection, and even beyond Damascus, and enclosed as with a girdle the whole of Palestinian Syria’ (Mommsen, <i> Provinces </i> 2, Lond. 1909, ii. 148f.). The Arabians who were present at the first Christian [[Pentecost]] (&nbsp;Acts 2:11) were most likely Nabataeans, possibly from Petra. </p> <p> The Nabataean kings made use of Greek official designations, and St. Paul relates how ‘the governor’ (ὁ ἐθνάρχης) of [[Damascus]] ‘under [[Aretas]] the king’ was foiled in the attempt, probably made at the instigation of the Jews, to put him under arrest soon after his conversion (&nbsp;2 Corinthians 11:32 f.). This episode, which has an important bearing on the chronology of St. Paul’s life, raises a difficult historical problem. [[Damascene]] coins of [[Tiberius]] indicate that the city was under direct Roman government till a.d. 34; and, as the legate of Syria was engaged in hostilities with Aretas till the close of the reign of Tiberius, it is very unlikely that this emperor yielded up Damascus to the Nabataean king. But the accession of [[Caligula]] brought a great change, and the suggestion is naturally made that he bought over Aretas by ceding Damascus to him. The fact that no Damascene coins bearing the Emperor’s image occur in the reigns of Caligula and [[Claudius]] is in harmony with this theory (Schürer, <i> History of the Jewish People (Eng. tr. of GJV).] </i> i. ii. 357f.). The view of Mommsen ( <i> Provinces </i> 2, ii. 149), following Marquardt ( <i> Röm. Staatsverwaltung </i> , Leipzig, 1885, i. 405), is different. [[Talking]] of the voluntary submission of the city of Damascus to the king of the Nabataeans, he says that </p> <p> ‘probably this dependence of the city on the Nabataean kings subsisted so long as there were such kings [i.e. from the beginning of the Roman period till a.d. 106]. From the fact that the city struck coins with the heads of the Roman emperors, there follows doubtless its dependence on Rome and therewith its self-administration, but not its non-dependence on the Roman vassal-prince; such protectorates assumed shapes so various that these arrangements might well be compatible with each other.’ </p> <p> See, further, Aretas, </p> <p> In the [[Galatian]] [[Epistle]] (&nbsp;Galatians 1:17) St. Paul states that after his escape from. Damascus he ‘went away into Arabia,’ evidently for solitary communion with God; but he does not further define the place of his retreat, and Acts makes no allusion to this episode. When he quitted the city under cover of darkness, he had not a long way to flee to a place of safety, for the desert lies in close proximity to the Damascene oasis. Possibly he went no further than the fastnesses of Ḥauran. Lightfoot ( <i> Gal </i> . 87f.), Stanley ( <i> Sinai and Palestine </i> , Lond. 1877, p. 50), and others conjecture that he sought the solitude of Mt. Sinai, with which he seems to show some acquaintance in the same Epistle (&nbsp;Galatians 4:25). But he could scarcely have avoided specific reference to so memorable a journey, which would have brought him into a kind of spiritual contact with Moses and Elijah. Besides, the peninsula of Sinai was about 400 miles from Damascus; and, as military operations were being actively carried on by the legate of Syria against Aretas in a.d. 37-the probable year of St. Paul’s conversion-it would scarcely have been possible for a stranger to pass through the centre of the perturbed country without an escort of soldiers. </p> <p> In a.d. 106 the governor of Syria, Aulus [[Cornelius]] Palma, broke up the dominion of the Nabataean kings, and constituted the Roman province of Arabia, while Damascus was added to Syria. For the whole region the change was epoch-making, </p> <p> ‘The tendency to acquire these domains for civilisation and specially for [[Hellenism]] was only heightened by the fact that the Roman government took upon itself the work. The Hellenism of the East … was a church militant, a thoroughly conquering power pushing its way in a political, religious, economic, and literary point of view’ (Mommsen, <i> op. cit. </i> ii. 152). </p> <p> Under the strong new régime the desert tribes were for the first and only time brought under control, with the result that no small part of ‘the desert’ was changed into ‘the sown.’ ‘Rome won the nomads to her service and fastened them down in defence of the border they had otherwise fretted and broken.… [[Behind]] this Roman bulwark there grew up a curious, a unique civilisation talking Greek, imitating Rome, but at heart Semitic (G. A. Smith, <i> EGHL </i> , London, 1894, p. 627). </p> <p> Literature.-E. Schürer, <i> History of the Jewish People (Eng. tr. of GJV).] </i> i. ii. 345ff.; J. Euting, <i> Nabatäische Inschriften aus Arabien </i> , Berlin, 1885; H. Vincent, <i> Les Arabes en Syrie </i> , Paris, 1907; G. A. Cooke, <i> North-Semitic [[Inscriptions]] </i> , London, 1903; and the article‘Arabs (Ancient),’ by Th. Nöldeke, in <i> Encyclopaedia of [[Religion]] and Ethics </i> . i. 659. </p> <p> James Strahan. </p>

<p> '''Ara'bia.''' ''(Desert, Barren).'' A country known in the Old [[Testament]] under two designations: - </p> <p> 1. ''The East Country,'' &nbsp;Genesis 25:6, or perhaps ''The East,'' &nbsp;Genesis 10:30; &nbsp;Numbers 23:7; &nbsp;Isaiah 2:6, and ''Land Of The Sons Of The East,'' &nbsp;Genesis 29:1. [[Gentile]] name, ''Sons Of The East,'' &nbsp;Judges 6:3; &nbsp;Judges 7:12; &nbsp;1 Kings 4:30; &nbsp;Job 1:3; &nbsp;Isaiah 11:14; &nbsp;Jeremiah 49:28; &nbsp;Ezekiel 25:4. </p> <p> From these passages, it appears that ''Land Of The East'' and ''Sons Of The East'' indicate, primarily, the country east of Palestine, and the tribes descended from Ishmael and from Keturah; and that this original signification may have become gradually extended to Arabia and its inhabitants generally, though without any strict limitation. </p> <p> 2. '''Arab'' and ''A'Rab'' , whence Arabia. &nbsp;2 Chronicles 9:14; &nbsp;Isaiah 21:13; &nbsp;Jeremiah 26:24; &nbsp;Ezekiel 27:21. (Arabia is a triangular peninsula, included between the Mediterranean and Red seas, the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf. Its extreme length, north and south, is about 1300 miles, and its greatest breadth 1500 miles. - Encyclopedia Britannica). </p> <p> '''Divisions.''' - Arabia may be divided into ''Arabia Proper,'' containing the whole peninsula as far as the limits of the northern deserts; ''Northern Arabia'' (Arabia Deserta), constituting the great desert of Arabia; and ''Western Arabia,'' the desert of Petra and the peninsula of Sinai, or the country that has been called ''Arabia Petraea,'' </p> <p> I. '''Arabia Proper,''' or the ''Arabian Penninsula'' consists of high tableland, declining towards the north. Most of it is well peopled, watered by wells and streams, and enjoys periodical rains. The moist fertile tracts are those on the southwest and south. </p> <p> II. '''Northern Arabia,''' or the ''Arabian Desert,'' is a high, undulating, parched plain, of which the Euphrates forms the natural boundary from the Persian Gulf to the frontier of Syria, whence it is bounded by the latter country and the desert of Petra on the northwest and west, the peninsula of Arabia forming its southern limit. </p> <p> It has few oases, the water of the wells is generally either brackish or unpotable and it is visited by the sand-wind called ''Samoom.'' The inhabitants principally descended from Ishmael and from Keturah, have always led a wandering and pastoral life. They conducted a considerable trade of merchandise of Arabia and India from the shore of the Persian Gulf. &nbsp;Ezekiel 27:20-24. </p> <p> III. '' Western Arabia'' includes the peninsula of Sinai, ''See '' [[Sinai]] , and the desert of Petra; corresponding generally with the limits of Arabia Petraea. The latter name is probably derived from that of its chief city, not from its stony character. </p> <p> It was mostly peopled by descendants of Esau, and was generally known as the land of [[Edom]] or Idumea, ''See '' '''Edom, [[Idumaea]] or Idumea''' ''.'' , as well as by its older appellation, the desert of Seir or Mount Seir. ''See '' [[Seir]] ''.'' </p> <p> '''Inhabitants.''' - (Arabia, which once ruled from India to the Atlantic, now has eight or nine millions of inhabitants, about one-fifth of whom are Bedouin or wandering tribes, and the other four-fifths settled Arabs. - Encyclopedia Britannica). </p> <p> 3. The descendants of [[Joktan]] occupied the principal portions of the south and southwest of the peninsula, with colonies in the interior. The principal Joktanite kingdom, and the chief state of ancient Arabia, was that of the Yemen. </p> <p> 4. The [[Ishmaelites]] appear to have entered the peninsula from the northwest. That they have spread over the whole of it (with the exception of one or two districts on the south coast), and that the modern nation is predominantly Ishmaelite, is asserted by the Arabs. </p> <p> 5. Of the descendants of [[Keturah]] , the Arabs say little. They appear to have settled chiefly north of the peninsula in Desert Arabia, from Palestine to the Persian Gulf. </p> <p> 6. In northern and western Arabia are other peoples, which, from their geographical position and mode of life are sometimes classed with the Arabs, of these are [[Amalek]] , the descendants of [[Esau]] , etc. </p> <p> ( ''Productions'' - The productions are varied. The most noted animal is the horse. Camels, sheep, cattle, asses, mules and cats are common. Agricultural products are coffee, wheat, barley, millet, beans, pulse, dates and the common garden plants. In pasture lands Arabia is peculiarly fortunate. In mineral products it is singularly poor, lead being most abundant. - Encyclopedia Britannica). </p> <p> '''Religion.''' - The most ancient idolatry of the Arabs we must conclude to have been fetishism. Magianism, an importation from [[Chaldaea]] and Persia, must be reckoned among the religions of the pagan Arabs; but it never had very numerous followers. </p> <p> Christianity was introduced into southern Arabia toward the close of the second century, and about a century later it had made great progress. It flourished chiefly in the Yemen, where many churches were built. [[Judaism]] was propagated in Arabia, principally by Karaites, at the captivity. They are now nominally Mohammedans. </p> <p> '''Language.''' - Arabic, the language of Arabia, is the most developed and the richest of Shemitic languages, and the only one of which we have an extensive literature; it is, therefore, of great importance to the study of Hebrew. </p> <p> '''Government.''' - Arabia is now under the government of the Ottoman empire. </p>

&nbsp;1 Kings 10:15&nbsp;2 Chronicles 9:14&nbsp;2 Chronicles 17:11&nbsp;2 Chronicles 21:16&nbsp;2 Chronicles 22:1&nbsp;2 Chronicles 26:7&nbsp;Nehemiah 2:19&nbsp;Nehemiah 4:7&nbsp;Nehemiah 6:1&nbsp;Isaiah 13:20&nbsp;Isaiah 21:13&nbsp;Jeremiah 3:2&nbsp;Jeremiah 25:24&nbsp;Ezekiel 27:21&nbsp;Acts 2:11&nbsp;Galatians 1:17&nbsp;Galatians 4:25 <p> Old Testament The Arabian peninsula, together with the adjoining lands which were home to the biblical Arabs, includes all of present-day Saudi Arabia, the two Yemens (San'a' and Aden), Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Kuwait, as well as parts of Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and the Sinai Peninsula. The vast Arabian peninsula was divided into two distinct economic and social regions. Most biblical references to Arab peoples or territory are to the northern and western parts of this whole, but sometimes includes both the northern and southern portions. </p> <p> In the northern portion of Arabia the mountains of the Anti-Lebanon, the Transjordanian Highlands, and the mountains of Edom flank the desert on the west. The mountains continue all the way down the western edge of the Arabian Peninsula bordering the Red Sea and are actually much higher and more rugged in the south. The central and northern portions of the peninsula, and extending north into Syria and Iraq, are vast expanses of sandy and rocky desert, including some of the driest climate in the world. </p> <p> The name Arab comes from a Semitic root which in Hebrew is <i> arab </i> , probably meaning “nomad” or bedouin. This refers to the people of the northwestern parts of the Arabian territory, whom the Old Testament writers knew as nomadic herders of sheep and goats, and later, of camels. Sometimes <i> arab </i> simply refers to the economic status of nomads without geographical or ethical reference. [[Proper]] understanding of [[Scripture]] includes determining the specific meaning of Arab in each context. </p> <p> The Arabs are also called in the Bible “the sons (or children) of the east.” Furthermore, many of the names of the Old Testament refer to people or tribes who were ethnically and linguistically Arab. These include the Midianites, the Ishmaelites, the people of Kedar, the Amalekites, the Dedanites, the Temanites, and others. The Israelites recognized their blood relationship with the Arabs. Most of these groups are linked with Abraham through his son Ishmael or through his second wife Keturah (&nbsp;Genesis 25:1 ). </p> <p> The inhabitants of southern Arabia, in the mountains fringing the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, were town-dwellers with a sophisticated system of irrigation. They possessed considerable wealth from incenses and spices which they grew, from gold, silver, and precious stones, which they mined in their own territory, and from these and other products which they transported and traded to the Mediterranean world and [[Mesopotamia]] from as far away as East Africa, India, and China. </p> <p> New Testament The New Testament references to Arabia are fewer and less complex. The territory of the Nabatean Arabs is probably intended in each instance. The [[Nabateans]] controlled what is today southern Jordan and the [[Negeb]] of Israel; for a time they controlled as far north as Damascus. Arabs heard the gospel at Pentecost (&nbsp;Acts 2:11 ). Paul went to Arabia after his conversion (&nbsp;Galatians 1:17 ). </p> <p> Joseph Coleson </p>

<p> [[Arabia]] ( ''A-Râ'Biah'' ), ''Arid, Sterile.'' A peninsula in the southwestern part of Asia, between the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Persian Gulf. Its extreme length from north to south is about 1300 miles, its greatest breadth about 1500 miles, though from the northern point of the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf is only about 900 miles. It has the sea on all sides except the north. Its area is estimated at 1,030,000 square miles; and of the three ancient divisions of the country, that known as Arabia Felix was by far the largest and most important. Its main features are a coast range of low mountains or table land, seldom rising over 2000 feet, broken on the eastern coast by sandy plains; this plateau is backed up by a second loftier range of mountains in the east and south. The Sinaitic peninsula is a small triangular region in the northwestern part, or corner, of Arabia. See Sinai. The ancients divided it into Petræa, Deserta, and Felix; or the stony, the desert, and the happy or fertile. The principal animals are the horse, famed for its form, beauty, and endurance; camels, sheep, asses, dogs, the gazelle, tiger, lynx, and monkey; quails, peacocks, parrots, ostriches; vipers, scorpions, and locusts. Of fruits and grains, dates, wheat, millet, rice, beans, and pulse are common. It is also rich in minerals, especially in lead. Arabia in early [[Israelitish]] history meant a small tract of country south and east of Palestine, probably the same as that called Kedem, or "the east." &nbsp;Genesis 10:30; &nbsp;Genesis 25:6; &nbsp;Genesis 29:1. Arabia in New Testament times appears to have been scarcely more extensive. &nbsp;Galatians 1:17; &nbsp;Galatians 4:25. The chief inhabitants were known as Ishmaelites, Arabians, Idumeans, Horites, and Edomites. The allusions in the Scripture to the country and its people are very numerous. Job is supposed to have dwelt in Arabia. The forty years of wandering by the Israelites under Moses was in this land. See Sinai. Solomon received gold from it, &nbsp;1 Kings 10:15; &nbsp;2 Chronicles 9:14; [[Jehoshaphat]] flocks, &nbsp;2 Chronicles 17:11; some of its people were at [[Jerusalem]] at the Pentecost, &nbsp;Acts 2:11; Paul visited it, &nbsp;Galatians 1:17; the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah frequently refer to it. &nbsp;Isaiah 21:11-13; &nbsp;Isaiah 42:11; &nbsp;Isaiah 60:7; &nbsp;Jeremiah 25:24; &nbsp;Jeremiah 49:28-29. The Minnaean country to which Moses fled, according to recent discoveries, was among the most cultured of ancient times, having alphabetic writing and literary works earlier than the Phœnicians. It has been said, that if any people in the world afford in their history an instance of high antiquity and great simplicity of manners, the Arabs surely do. Of all peoples, the Arabs have spread farthest over the globe, and in all their wanderings have preserved their language, manners, and peculiar customs more perfectly than any other nation. </p>

<li> Arabia Petraea, i.e., the [[Rocky]] Arabia, so called from its rocky mountains and stony plains. It comprehended all the north-west portion of the country, and is much better known to travellers than any other portion. This country is, however, divided by modern geographers into (1) Arabia Proper, or the Arabian Peninsula; (2) Northern Arabia, or the Arabian Desert; and (3) Western Arabia, which includes the peninsula of Sinai and the Desert of Petra, originally inhabited by the [[Horites]] (&nbsp;Genesis 14:6 , etc.), but in later times by the descendants of Esau, and known as the Land of Edom or Idumea, also as the Desert of Seir or Mount Seir. <p> The whole land appears (&nbsp;Genesis 10 ) to have been inhabited by a variety of tribes of different lineage, Ishmaelites, Arabians, Idumeans, Horites, and Edomites; but at length becoming amalgamated, they came to be known by the general designation of Arabs. The modern nation of Arabs is predominantly Ishmaelite. Their language is the most developed and the richest of all the Semitic languages, and is of great value to the student of Hebrew. </p> <p> The Israelites wandered for forty years in Arabia. In the days of Solomon, and subsequently, commercial intercourse was to a considerable extent kept up with this country (&nbsp;1 Kings 10:15; &nbsp;2 Chronicles 9:14; &nbsp;17:11 ). Arabians were present in Jerusalem at Pentecost (&nbsp;Acts 2:11 ). Paul retired for a season into Arabia after his conversion (&nbsp;Galatians 1:17 ). This country is frequently referred to by the prophets (&nbsp;Isaiah 21:11; &nbsp;42:11; &nbsp;Jeremiah 25:24 , etc.) </p> <div> <p> '''Copyright Statement''' These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton [[M.A., DD]]  Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by [[Thomas]] Nelson, 1897. Public Domain. </p> <p> '''Bibliography Information''' Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Arabia'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/a/arabia.html. 1897. </p> </div> </li>

<p> A very large country is embraced by this name, lying south, south-east, and east of Palestine. It was of old, as it is now by the natives, divided into three districts. </p> <p> 1. Arabia Proper, being the same as the ancient Arabia Felix, embraces the peninsula which extends southward to the Arabian Sea and northward to the desert. </p> <p> 2. Western Arabia, the same as the ancient Arabia Petraea, embraces Sinai and the desert of Petra, extending from Egypt and the Red Sea to about Petra. </p> <p> 3. Northern Arabia, which joins Western Arabia and extends northward to the Euphrates. </p> <p> &nbsp;1 Kings 10:15; &nbsp;2 Chronicles 9:14; &nbsp;Isaiah 21:13; &nbsp;Jeremiah 25:24; &nbsp;Ezekiel 27:21; &nbsp;Galatians 1:17; &nbsp;Galatians 4:25 . See ARABIANS. </p>

<p> Is a country of Western Asia, lying south and east of Judea. It extends 1,500 miles from north to south, and 1,200 from east to west. On the north it is bounded by part of Syria, on the east by the Persian Gulf and the Euphrates, on the south by the Arabian Sea and the straits of Babelmandel, and on the west by the Red sea, Egypt, and Palestine. Arabia is distinguished by geographers into three parts-Deserta, Petraea, and Felix. </p>

<p> Ara´bia, an extensive region occupying the south-western extremity of Asia, between 12° 45´ and 34½° N. lat., and 32½° and 60° E. long., from Greenwich; having on the W. the Isthmus of Suez and the Red Sea (called from it the Arabian Gulf), which separate it from Africa; on the S. the Indian Ocean; and on the E. the Persian Gulf and the Euphrates. The boundary to the north has never been well defined. It is one of the few countries of the south where the descendants of the aboriginal inhabitants have neither been extirpated nor expelled by northern invaders. They have not only retained possession of their ancestral homes, but have sent forth colonies to all the adjacent regions, and even to more distant lands, both in Africa and Asia. </p> <p> With the history of no country save that of Palestine are there connected so many hallowed and impressive associations as with that of Arabia. Here lived and suffered the holy patriarch Job; here Moses, when 'a stranger and a shepherd,' saw the burning, unconsuming bush; here [[Elijah]] found shelter from the rage of persecution; here was the scene of all the marvelous displays of divine power and mercy that followed the deliverance of Israel from the [[Egyptian]] yoke, and accompanied their journeyings to the [[Promised]] Land; and here [[Jehovah]] manifested Himself in visible glory to His people. From the influence of these associations, combined with its proximity to Palestine, and the close affinity in blood, manners, and customs between the northern portion of its inhabitants and the Jews, Arabia is a region of peculiar interest to the student of the Bible; and it is chiefly in its relation to subjects of Bible study that we are now to consider it. </p> <p> In early times the Hebrews included a part of what we call Arabia among the countries, they vaguely designated as 'the East,' the inhabitants being numbered among the 'Sons of the East,' i.e. Orientals. But there is no evidence to show that these phrases are ever applied to the whole of the country known to us as Arabia. They appear to have been commonly used in speaking of those parts which lay due east of Palestine, or on the north-east and south-east; though occasionally they do seem to point to tracts which lay indeed to the south and southwest of that country, but to the east and southeast of Egypt. </p>

<p> The most westerly peninsula of Asia and the largest in the world, being one-third the size of the whole of Europe, consisting of ( <i> a </i> ) a central plateau with pastures for cattle, and fertile valleys; ( <i> b </i> ) a ring of deserts, the Nefud in the N., stony, the Great Arabian, a perfect Sahara, in the S., sandy, said sometimes to be 600 ft. deep, and the Dahna between; and ( <i> c </i> ) stretches of coast land, generally fertile on the W. and S.; is divided into eight territories; has no lakes or rivers, only wadies, oftenest dry; the climate being hot and arid, has no forests, and therefore few wild animals; a trading country with no roads or railways, only caravan routes, yet the birthland of a race that threatened at one time to sweep the globe, and of a religion that has been a life-guidance to wide-scattered millions of human beings for over twelve centuries of time. </p>