Canaanite living before Israel's Monarchy
Arba was the father of Anak and the namesake of Kiriath-arba, which was the former name of Hebron.
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Arba is mentioned in the book of Joshua as the father of Anak and the namesake of Kiriath-arba, which was the former name of the city of Hebron. Hebron was a significant city in the hill country of Judah, later assigned to Caleb as part of his inheritance. The text states that Hebron's former name was Kiriath-arba, which means "the city of Arba." Arba is described as the greatest man among the Anakim, a group of people known for their large stature and strength. The Anakim were descendants of Anak and were considered a formidable enemy by the Israelites during their conquest of Canaan. The renaming of the city from Kiriath-arba to Hebron marks a significant shift in the region's history as the Israelites claimed the land promised to them by God. Apart from this mention in Joshua, no further information is provided about Arba himself in the biblical text.
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Four, a giant, father of Anak. From him the city of Hebron derived its name of Kirjath-arba, i.e., the city of Araba (Josh. 14:15; 15:13; 21:11; Gen. 13:18; 23:2). (See HEBRON.)
(city of the four), the progenitor of the Anakim, or sons of Anak, from whom their chief city, Hebron, received its name of Kirjath-Arba. (Joshua 14:15; 15:13; 21:11)
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
3 verses in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H0704
(Hebron used to be called Kiriath-arba, after Arba, the greatest man among the Anakim.) Then the land had rest from war.
According to the LORDʼs command to him, Joshua gave Caleb son of Jephunneh a portion among the sons of Judah—Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron. (Arba was the forefather of Anak.)
They gave them Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), with its surrounding pasturelands, in the hill country of Judah. (Arba was the father of Anak.)
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.