A son if Ishmael, Ge 25:13, whose posterity, occupied the pasture grounds of Arabia Deserta, Isa 60:7, and ultimately possessed themselves of Edom. They are thought to have been the Nabatheans of profane history. See IDUMEA.

height. (1.) Ishmael's eldest son (Ge 25:13), and the prince of an Israelitish tribe (16). He had a sister, Mahalath, who was one of Esau's wives (Ge 28:9; 36:3).

(2.) The name of the Ishmaelite tribe descended from the above (Ge 25:13,18). The "rams of Nebaioth" (Isa 60:7) are the gifts which these wandering tribes of the desert would consecrate to God.

An Arab pastoral tribe, associated with Kedar (Isa 60:7). Nebaioth was the older of the two, Ishmael's firstborn (Ge 25:13). Forefather of the Nabateans of Arabia Petraea mentioned at the close of the fourth century B.C. as extending from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, Petra being their capital. In 310 B.C. they were strong enough to resist Antigonus (Diodorus Siculus, 2:732, 733). In the first century B.C. they flourished under their "illustrious" (Josephus, Ant. 13:13, section 3; 15, section 2) king Aretas, who was chosen also king of Damascus; his successors assumed the name as an official designation (2Co 11:32). Coins are extant of the dynasty which ended A.D. 105, their Nabathaean kingdom being incorporated with Rome as the province" Arabia." Josephus (Ant. 1:12, section 4) regards "Nabateans" as synonymous with "Arabs," and says that "Ishmael's twelve sons inhabit all the regions from the Euphrates to the Red Sea" (compare Ge 25:18). Many think the rock inscriptions of Sinai to be Nabatean, and to belong to the centuries immediately before and after Christ. Forster (One Primeval Lang.) thinks them Israelite.

The name "Nabatean," as applied to a people S. and E. of Palestine, is unknown to the Arab writers, yet it is on native coins, it must therefore have been lost long before any Arab wrote on geography or history. But the Arab writers use Nabat for Babylonians not Arabians. M. Quatremere from them shows that these Nabateans inhabited Mesopotamia between the Euphrates and Tigris; they were Syro Chaldaeans, and were celebrated among the Arabs for agriculture, magic, medicine, and astronomy. Four of their works remain: the book on agriculture, that on poisons, that of Tenkeloosha the Babylonian, and that of the secrets of the sun and moon. Chwolson (Remains of ancient Babyl. Literature in Arabic Translations) thinks that "the book of Nabat agriculture," commenced by Daghreeth, continued by Yanbushadth and finished by Kuthamee, according to the Arab translator, Ibn Wahsheeyeh, the Chaldaean of Kisseen, was so commenced 2500 B.C., continued 2100, and ended under the sixth king of a Canaanite dynasty mentioned in the book, i.e. 1300 B.C.

But the mention of names resembling Adam, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Shem, Abraham, and of Hermes, Agathodaemon, Tammuz, and the Ionians, and the anachronisms geographical, linguistic, historical, and religious, point to a modern date even as late as the first century A.D. The Greeks and Romans identified the Nabateans as Arabs, and though the Nabateans of Petra were pastoral and commercial whereas the Nabathaeans of Mesopotamia were, according to the books referred to above, agricultural and scientific, it is probable they were both in origin the same people. Scripture takes no notice of the Nabathaeans unless "the rams of Nebaioth" (Isa 60:7) refer to them, though so often mentioning Edom. The Nabathaeans must therefore have come into celebrity after the Babylonian captivity. Pliny (Isa 60:11) connects the Nabateans and Kedreans as Isaiah connects Nebaioth and Kedar.

An important tribe of North Arabians. In Ge 25:13 (= 1Ch 1:29) Nebaioth is the eldest son of Ishmael; also the representative of the Ishmaelite tribes in Ge 28:9; 36:3. The people of Nebaioth have an important place among the Arabian tribes subdued by Ashurbanipal of Assyria, named by him along with the people of Kedar (wh. see), just as in the genealogy of Genesis. It is about this date (b.c. 650) that they come into prominence among the competing tribes of the peninsula

Nebai'oth Nebajoth. Nebaj'oth

Eldest son of Ishmael and one of the chiefs of the Ishmaelites. Ge 25:13; 28:9; 36:3; 1Ch 1:29. The rams of Nebaioth are mentioned, with the flocks of Kedar his brother, as ministering to the prosperity of Israel in the future day of blessing. Isa 60:7.