The Arabah, The way of Arabah, Arabah Road:

Introduction:
  1. Arabah describes two different areas in the Bible: 1. Southern Arabah: the valley between the Red sea and the Dead sea. 2. Northern Arabah: the Jordan Valley between the dead sea and the sea of Galilee.
  2. The Hebrew "arabah" means: wasteland, barren district or plain. While wasteland describes the southern Arabah, it hardly describes the northern Jordan valley. It is used in a variety of ways and contexts in the Bible. Yet arabah clearly implies a dry place without water or vegetation: Isaiah 35:6; Isaiah 35:1
  3. "the sea of the Arabah" is the dead sea since the Dead Sea is in between the northern and southern Arabah areas: Josh 12:3; 2 Kings 14:25
  4. "the Arabah road" is the road of the Southern Arabah between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea: Deut 2:8
  5. "way of the Arabah" is the Jordan Valley road and it never describes the Southern Arabah between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea: 2 Samuel 2:29; 4:7; 2 Kings 25:4
  6. "the brook of the Arabah" is the Jordan River: Amos 6:14

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Southern Arabah:
the valley between the Red sea and the Dead sea.

  1. "These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel across the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and Dizahab." Deuteronomy 1:1
  2. "'Turn and set your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negev and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates." Deuteronomy 1:7
  3. ""So we passed beyond our brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road, away from Elath and from Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab." Deuteronomy 2:8
  4. "Thus Joshua took all that land: the hill country and all the Negev, all that land of Goshen, the lowland, the Arabah, the hill country of Israel and its lowland" Joshua 11:16
  5. "in the hill country, in the lowland, in the Arabah, on the slopes, and in the wilderness, and in the Negev; the Hittite, the Amorite and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite:" Joshua 12:8
  6. "He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah [Dead Sea], according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which He spoke through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath-hepher." 2 Kings 14:25
  7. "The wilderness and the desert will be glad, And the Arabah will rejoice and blossom; Like the crocus" Isaiah 35:1
  8. "Then the lame will leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness And streams in the Arabah." Isaiah 35:6
  9. "Then he said to me, "These waters go out toward the eastern region and go down into the Arabah; then they go toward the sea, being made to flow into the sea, and the waters of the sea become fresh." Ezekiel 47:8

Northern Arabah:
the Jordan Valley between the dead sea and the sea of Galilee.

  1. "the Arabah also, with the Jordan as a border, from Chinnereth [Galilee] even as far as the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah on the east." Deuteronomy 3:17
  2. "with all the Arabah across the Jordan to the east, even as far as the sea of the Arabah [Dead Sea], at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah." Deuteronomy 4:49
  3. ""Are they not across the Jordan, west of the way toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?" Deuteronomy 11:30
  4. "the waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those which were flowing down toward the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. So the people crossed opposite Jericho." Joshua 3:16
  5. "and to the kings who were of the north in the hill country, and in the Arabah—south of Chinneroth [Galilee] and in the lowland and on the heights of Dor on the west—" Joshua 11:2
  6. "and the Arabah as far as the Sea of Chinneroth [Galilee] toward the east, and as far as the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, eastward toward Beth-jeshimoth, and on the south, at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah;" Joshua 12:3
  7. "It [Benjamin's land] continued to the side in front of the Arabah northward and went down to the Arabah." Joshua 18:18
  8. "Abner and his men then went through the Arabah all that night; so they crossed the Jordan, walked all morning, and came to Mahanaim." 2 Samuel 2:29
  9. "Now when they came into the house, as he was lying on his bed in his bedroom, they struck him and killed him and beheaded him. And they took his head and traveled by way of the Arabah all night." 2 Samuel 4:7
  10. "Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls beside the king's garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah." 2 Kings 25:4
  11. "When Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, they fled and went out of the city at night by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two walls; and he went out toward the Arabah." Jeremiah 39:4
  12. "Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled and went forth from the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls which was by the king's garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah." Jeremiah 52:7
  13. " Now these are the kings of the land whom the sons of Israel defeated, and whose land they possessed beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, from the valley of the Arnon as far as Mount Hermon, and all the Arabah to the east:" Joshua 12:1
  14. "Then they arose and went to Ziph before Saul. Now David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah to the south of Jeshimon." 1 Samuel 23:24
  15. ""For behold, I am going to raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel," declares the Lord God of hosts, "And they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath To the brook of the Arabah [Jordan River]."" Amos 6:14

 

 

By Steve Rudd: Contact the author for comments, input or corrections.

  

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