Beth-arabah was a town and wilderness area allotted to Judah and Benjamin, and the Arbathite was a descendant of Abi-albon.
Also known as Beth Arabah · Arabah · Arbathite
Beth-arabah, meaning "house of the desert" or "house of the plain" in Hebrew, was a town and wilderness area mentioned in the Old Testament. In Joshua 15:6 and 15:61, it is listed as part of the wilderness area within the territory allotted to the tribe of Judah. However, in Joshua 18:18 and 18:22, Beth-arabah is mentioned as a town in the territory allotted to the tribe of Benjamin.
The exact location of Beth-arabah is not specified in the Bible, but it was likely situated in the Judean Desert, near the Dead Sea. The wilderness of Beth-arabah was one of the regions where the cities of Judah were located (Joshua 15:61).
The term "Arbathite" is used to describe Abi-albon, one of David's mighty men, in 2Sa.23.31 and 1Ch.11.32. The name suggests that Abi-albon was from Beth-arabah or had some connection to the town or region.
Approximate location: 31.843, 35.506 · view on a map · on the Bible atlas
House of the desert, one of the six cities of Judah, situated in the sunk valley of the Jordan and Dead Sea (Josh. 18:22). In Josh. 15:61 it is said to have been “in the wilderness.” It was afterwards included in the towns of Benjamin. It is called Arabah (Josh. 18:18).
BETH-AR'ABAH (house of the plain), a city of Judah in the wilderness, Josh 15:6, Josh 15:61; counted as a city of Benjamin, Josh 18:22; called Arabah in Josh 18:18, in the valley of the Jordan near the Dead Sea.
BETH-AR'ABAH (house of the plain), a city of Judah in the wilderness, Josh 15:6, Josh 15:61; counted as a city of Benjamin, Josh 18:22; called
Arabah in Josh 18:18, in the valley of the Jordan near the Dead Sea.
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.
6 verses in 3 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H1026
went up to Beth-hoglah, proceeded north of Beth-arabah, and went up to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben.
These were in the wilderness: Beth-arabah, Middin, Secacah,
Then it went on to the northern slope of Beth-arabah and went down into the valley.
Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,
Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite,
Hurai from the brooks of Gaash, Abiel the Arbathite,
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.