Reference: Arabia, Arabs
Hastings
In the present article we have to do not with the part played by the Arabs in history, or with the geography of the Arabian peninsula, but only with the emergence of the Arab name and people in Bible times.
'Ar
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So we turned away from our relatives the descendants of Esau, the inhabitants of Seir, turning from the desert route, from Elat and Ezion Geber, and traveling the way of the Moab wastelands.
Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat tribute, including a load of silver. The Arabs brought him 7,700 rams and 7,700 goats from their flocks.
God helped him in his campaigns against the Philistines, the Arabs living in Gur Baal, and the Meunites.
But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard all this, they derided us and expressed contempt toward us. They said, "What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?"
When all our enemies heard and all the nations who were around us saw this, they were greatly disheartened. They knew that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.
Like wild donkeys in the desert they go out to their labor, seeking diligently for food; the wasteland provides food for them and for their children.
to whom I appointed the steppe for its home, the salt wastes as its dwelling place?
No one will live there again; no one will ever reside there again. No bedouin will camp there, no shepherds will rest their flocks there.
Here is a message about Arabia: In the thicket of Arabia you spend the night, you Dedanite caravans.
Let the desert and dry region be happy; let the wilderness rejoice and bloom like a lily!
"Look up at the hilltops and consider this. You have had sex with other gods on every one of them. You waited for those gods like a thief lying in wait in the desert. You defiled the land by your wicked prostitution to other gods.
Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your trade partners; for lambs, rams, and goats they traded with you.
both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs -- we hear them speaking in our own languages about the great deeds God has done!"
nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me, but right away I departed to Arabia, and then returned to Damascus.
Now Hagar represents Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.