Reference: Rabbah
Easton
or Rab'bath, great. (1.) "Rabbath of the children of Ammon," the chief city of the Ammonites, among the eastern hills, some 20 miles east of the Jordan, on the southern of the two streams which united with the Jabbok. Here the bedstead of Og was preserved (De 3:11), perhaps as a trophy of some victory gained by the Ammonites over the king of Bashan. After David had subdued all their allies in a great war, he sent Joab with a strong force to take their city. For two years it held out against its assailants. It was while his army was engaged in this protracted siege that David was guilty of that deed of shame which left a blot on his character and cast a gloom over the rest of his life. At length, having taken the "royal city" (or the "city of waters," 2Sa 12:27, i.e., the lower city on the river, as distinguished from the citadel), Joab sent for David to direct the final assault (2Sa 11:1; 12:26-31). The city was given up to plunder, and the people were ruthlessly put to death, and "thus did he with all the cities of the children of Ammon." The destruction of Rabbath was the last of David's conquests. His kingdom now reached its farthest limits (2Sa 8:1-15; 1Ch 18:1-15). The capture of this city is referred to by Amos (Am 1:14), Jeremiah (Jer 49:2-3), and Ezekiel (Eze 21:20; 25:5).
(2.) A city in the hill country of Judah (Jos 15:60), possibly the ruin Rubba, six miles north-east of Beit-Jibrin.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
(For only Og, king of Bashan, was left from the remnant of the Rephaim. Indeed, his bedstead--it [was] a bedstead of iron. It is in Rabbah of the {Ammonites}. Nine cubits [is] its length, and four cubits [is] its width according to the cubit of a man.)
Kiriath Baal (that [is], Kiriath Jearim) and Rabbah; two cities and their villages.
It happened afterwards [that] David attacked [the] Philistines and subdued them, and he took Metheg Ammah from the hands of [the] Philistines. When he defeated Moab, he measured them with the cord, making them lie on the ground. He measured two cords to kill and {the third cord} to let live. So Moab became servants of David, bringing tribute. read more. Then David struck down Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, when he went to restore his monument at the Euphrates River. David captured from him one thousand and seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand {foot soldiers}. David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but {from them} he spared a hundred chariot horses. When Aram of Damascus came to help Hadadezer, the king of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand men of Aram. David placed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, so Aram became servants of David, bringing tribute. Yahweh protected David everywhere he went. David took the small round gold shields which had {belonged} to the servants of Hadadezer, and he brought them [to] Jerusalem. From Betah and from Berothai, the towns of Hadadezer, King David took very many bronze [items]. When Toi, the king of Hamath, heard that David had defeated all the army of Hadadezer, Toi sent Joram his son to King David {to greet him} and to congratulate him because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him; {for Hadadezer had often been at war with Toi}. {He brought with him} objects of silver and objects of gold and objects of bronze. King David dedicated them also to Yahweh [along] with the silver and the gold that he had dedicated from all of the nations which he had subdued; from Aram and from Moab and from the {Ammonites} and from [the] Philistines and from Amalek and from the plunder of Hadadezer the son of Rehob, the king of Zobah. So David made a name for himself when he returned from defeating Aram in the Valley of Salt, eighteen thousand. He put garrisons in Edom; all over Edom he put garrisons, and all of Edom became servants of David. Yahweh protected David wherever he went. David reigned over all of Israel, and he was administering justice and righteousness for all his people.
{It came about in the spring}, at the time {kings} go out, David sent Joab and his servants with him and all of Israel. They ravaged all of the {Ammonites} and besieged Rabbah, but David [was] remaining in Jerusalem.
And Joab fought against Rabbah of the {Ammonites}, and he captured {the royal city}. Then Joab sent messengers to David and said, "We have fought against Rabbah, and we captured the city of the waters.
Then Joab sent messengers to David and said, "We have fought against Rabbah, and we captured the city of the waters. So then, gather the remainder of the army and encamp against the city and capture it, lest I capture the city and my name be proclaimed over it." read more. So David gathered all of the army, and he went to Rabbah and fought against it and captured it. He took the crown of their king from his head. (Now its weight [was] a talent of gold, and there [was] a precious stone [in it] and it [was] put on David's head.) He brought out the plunder of the city {in great abundance}. He also brought out the people who [were] in it and put them to the saws and to the iron picks and to the iron axes, and he sent them to the place of the brickmakers. Thus he used to do to all the cities of the {Ammonites}, and he and all of the army returned to Jerusalem.
{Therefore} look, days [are] coming," {declares} Yahweh, "and I will sound against Rabbah, the {Ammonites}, [the] alarm of [the] war, and it will become as a mound of desolation, and its daughters will burn in the fire. Then Israel will dispossess his dispossessors," says Yahweh. "Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is devastated. Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah, put on sackcloth. Lament and run back and forth among the walls. For Milcom will go into exile, his priests and his officials together.
You must mark a road for [the] coming of [the] sword [to] Rabbah of the {Ammonites} and [to] Judah, in Jerusalem [the] fortified.
And I will make Rabbah as a pasture of camels and the {Ammonites} as a haunt of flocks, and they will know that I [am] Yahweh." '"
So I will kindle a fire against the wall of Rabbah and it will devour its citadel fortresses with a war cry on the day of battle, with a storm on the day of the violent tempest.
Fausets
("greatness of size or numbers".)
1. Ammon's chief city, its only city named in Scripture, in contrast to the more civilized Moab's numerous cities (De 3:11; 2Sa 12:26; 17:27; Jer 49:2; Eze 21:20). (See AMMON.) Conjectured to be the Ham of the Zuzim (Ge 14:5). After Hanun's insult Abishai and Joab defeated the allies Ammon and the Syrians of Bethrehob, Zoba, Ishtob, and Maachah (2 Samuel 10). The following year David in person defeated the Syrians at Helam. Next, Joab with the whole army and the king's bodyguard (including Uriah: 2Sa 23:39) besieged Ammon (11/type/leb'>2 Samuel 11; 1 Chronicles 19; 20). The ark apparently accompanied the camp (2Sa 11:11), a rare occurrence (1Sa 4:3-6); but perhaps what is meant is only that the ark at Jerusalem was "in a tent" (2Sa 7:2,6) as was the army at Rabbah under Jehovah the Lord of the ark, therefore Uriah would not go home to his house.
The siege lasted nearly two years, from David's first connection with Bathsheba to the birth of Solomon. The Ammonites made unsuccessful sallies (2Sa 11:17). Joab finally took the lower town, which, from the stream rising in it and flowing through it perennially, is called "the city of waters," and from the king's palace "the royal city." Then in a characteristic speech, half jest half earnest (2Sa 12:28, compare 2Sa 19:6-7), which shows the power he had gained over David through David's secret and wicked commission (2Sa 11:14-15), he invited David to crown the capture by taking the citadel lest if he (Joab) took it, it should be called after his name. Josephus (Ant. 7:7, section 5) says the fortress had but one well, inadequate to supply the wants of its crowded occupants. (On its capture by David, and his putting the people under saws and harrows to cut them in pieces in retaliation for their cruelties, see DAVID, also Jg 1:7; 1Sa 11:2.)
Amos (Am 1:14) speaks of its "wall" and "palaces" and "king" (perhaps Moloch) about to be judged by God. So also Jer 49:2-3. Nebuchadnezzar attacked Ammon because of Baalis their king having instigated Ishmael to slay Gedaliah the Chaldaean governor (Jer 40:14). See 1Ma 5:6 as to subsequent judgments on Ammon. Ezekiel (Eze 21:20) depicts Nebuchadnezzar's divination to decide whether he should attack Jerusalem or Rabbah the first. Jerusalem's fall should be followed by that of Rabbah (compare Josephus, Ant. 10:9, section 7). Under the Ptolemies Rabbah still continued of importance as supplying water for the journey across the desert, and was made a garrison for repelling the Bedouins of that quarter.
Ptolemy Philadelphus named it Philadelphia. Josephus (B. J. 3:3, section 3) includes Rabbah in Decapolis. Now Amman, on a tributary (Moiet Amman) of the Zerka river (Jabbok), 19 miles S.E. of Es Salt ("Ramoth Gilead"), 22 E. of Jordan. Its temple, theater, and forum are remarkable ruins. Eight Corinthian columns of the theater (the largest known in Syria) remain. It has become as foretold "a stable for camels, a couching place for flocks a desolate heap" (Eze 25:5). Its coins bear the image of Astarte, and the word Heracleion from Hercules the idol which succeeded Moloch. The large square stones of the citadel are put together without cement, the massive walls are evidently very ancient.
2. Rabbah of Moab, called in the Bible Ar, in the highlands S.E. of the Dead Sea.
3. Rabbah of Judah, near Kirjath Jearim (Jos 15:60).
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In the fourteenth year Kedorlaomer and the kings who [were] with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-Karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-Kiriathaim,
(For only Og, king of Bashan, was left from the remnant of the Rephaim. Indeed, his bedstead--it [was] a bedstead of iron. It is in Rabbah of the {Ammonites}. Nine cubits [is] its length, and four cubits [is] its width according to the cubit of a man.)
Kiriath Baal (that [is], Kiriath Jearim) and Rabbah; two cities and their villages.
Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with {their thumbs and big toes} cut off used to pick up [scraps] under my table; just as I have done, so God has repaid to me. And they brought him [to] Jerusalem, and he died there.
When the army came [back] to the camp, the elders of Israel asked, "Why has Yahweh defeated us today before [the] Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to us from Shiloh so that it may come into our midst and deliver us from the hand of our enemies." So the army sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of Yahweh of hosts who sits [between] the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, [were] there with the ark of the covenant of God. read more. Now when the ark of the covenant of Yahweh arrived at the camp, all Israel {let out a loud shout} so that the earth shook. When [the] Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, "What [is] the noise of this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews?" Then they learned that the ark of Yahweh had come into the camp.
And the king said to Nathan the prophet, "Look, please, I [am] living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God [is] staying in the middle of the tent."
For I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought up the {Israelites} from Egypt until this day; [rather,] I [was] going about in a tent and in a tabernacle.
Uriah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah [are] living in the booths; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord [are] camping on the surface of the open field; and I, shall I go to my house to eat and to drink and to sleep with my wife? [By] your life and the life of your soul, I surely will not do this thing."
And it happened in the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, and he sent it by the hand of Uriah. He had written in the letter, "Put Uriah in the front, in the face of the fiercest fighting, then draw back from behind him so that he may be struck down and die."
The men of the city came out and fought with Joab. Some from the army from the servants of David fell; Uriah the Hittite also died.
So then, gather the remainder of the army and encamp against the city and capture it, lest I capture the city and my name be proclaimed over it."
by loving those who hate you and hating those who love you. Indeed, you have made clear this day that you have no [regard for your] commanders or officers, for I have realized today that [were] Absalom alive, and all of us were dead, then [that would] have been right in your eyes! So then, get up and go out and {speak kindly to your servants}, for I swear by Yahweh, if you do not go out, no man will lodge this night with you, and this disaster [will be] greater for you than any disaster that has come upon you from your childhood until now!"
and said to him, "{Are you at all aware} that Baalis, the king of the {Ammonites}, has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, to kill you?" But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam would not believe them.
{Therefore} look, days [are] coming," {declares} Yahweh, "and I will sound against Rabbah, the {Ammonites}, [the] alarm of [the] war, and it will become as a mound of desolation, and its daughters will burn in the fire. Then Israel will dispossess his dispossessors," says Yahweh.
{Therefore} look, days [are] coming," {declares} Yahweh, "and I will sound against Rabbah, the {Ammonites}, [the] alarm of [the] war, and it will become as a mound of desolation, and its daughters will burn in the fire. Then Israel will dispossess his dispossessors," says Yahweh. "Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is devastated. Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah, put on sackcloth. Lament and run back and forth among the walls. For Milcom will go into exile, his priests and his officials together.
You must mark a road for [the] coming of [the] sword [to] Rabbah of the {Ammonites} and [to] Judah, in Jerusalem [the] fortified.
You must mark a road for [the] coming of [the] sword [to] Rabbah of the {Ammonites} and [to] Judah, in Jerusalem [the] fortified.
And I will make Rabbah as a pasture of camels and the {Ammonites} as a haunt of flocks, and they will know that I [am] Yahweh." '"
So I will kindle a fire against the wall of Rabbah and it will devour its citadel fortresses with a war cry on the day of battle, with a storm on the day of the violent tempest.
Hastings
1. The capital city of the Ammonites (wh. see). Rabbah was situated on the upper Jabbok on the site of the modern 'Amm
See Verses Found in Dictionary
(For only Og, king of Bashan, was left from the remnant of the Rephaim. Indeed, his bedstead--it [was] a bedstead of iron. It is in Rabbah of the {Ammonites}. Nine cubits [is] its length, and four cubits [is] its width according to the cubit of a man.)
Their territory was Jazer and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the {Ammonites} up to Aroer, {which is east of Rabbah};
Kiriath Baal (that [is], Kiriath Jearim) and Rabbah; two cities and their villages.
{It came about in the spring}, at the time {kings} go out, David sent Joab and his servants with him and all of Israel. They ravaged all of the {Ammonites} and besieged Rabbah, but David [was] remaining in Jerusalem.
He had written in the letter, "Put Uriah in the front, in the face of the fiercest fighting, then draw back from behind him so that he may be struck down and die."
And Joab fought against Rabbah of the {Ammonites}, and he captured {the royal city}.
And Joab fought against Rabbah of the {Ammonites}, and he captured {the royal city}. Then Joab sent messengers to David and said, "We have fought against Rabbah, and we captured the city of the waters.
Then Joab sent messengers to David and said, "We have fought against Rabbah, and we captured the city of the waters. So then, gather the remainder of the army and encamp against the city and capture it, lest I capture the city and my name be proclaimed over it." read more. So David gathered all of the army, and he went to Rabbah and fought against it and captured it.
So David gathered all of the army, and he went to Rabbah and fought against it and captured it.
Just as David had arrived in Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the {Ammonites} and Makir the son of Ammiel from Lo Debar and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim
And it happened [that] {in the spring time of year}, the time [when] kings go out [to battle], Joab led the troops of the army and destroyed the land of the {Ammonites}. And he came and besieged Rabbah, but David remained in Jerusalem. And Joab struck Rabbah and destroyed it.
{Therefore} look, days [are] coming," {declares} Yahweh, "and I will sound against Rabbah, the {Ammonites}, [the] alarm of [the] war, and it will become as a mound of desolation, and its daughters will burn in the fire. Then Israel will dispossess his dispossessors," says Yahweh.
You must mark a road for [the] coming of [the] sword [to] Rabbah of the {Ammonites} and [to] Judah, in Jerusalem [the] fortified.
And I will make Rabbah as a pasture of camels and the {Ammonites} as a haunt of flocks, and they will know that I [am] Yahweh." '"
So I will kindle a fire against the wall of Rabbah and it will devour its citadel fortresses with a war cry on the day of battle, with a storm on the day of the violent tempest.
Morish
Rab'bah Rabbath. Rab'bath
1. The fortified capital of the Ammonites. It was not included in the cities taken by the tribes on the east of the Jordan. De 3:11; Jos 13:25. Joab, however, attacked it, and, during its siege, Uriah, by the instigation of David, lost his life. The city was eventually taken and destroyed. 2Sa 11:1; 12:26-29; 17:27; 1Ch 20:1. Subsequently, when the strength of Israel was broken, it appears to have recovered itself, for we find its doom announced in the prophets. Jer 49:2-3; Eze 21:20; 25:5; Am 1:14. Identified with Amman 31 57' N, 35 57' E. There are many ruins on the site, but they are judged to belong to the Roman period, when a city, called Philadelphia, was built there. A stream rises in the midst of the city, and this fact, together with its being the last place to obtain water for crossing the desert, doubtless was the cause of its being called 'the city of waters.' 2Sa 12:27.
2. City of Judah, near Kirjath-jearim. Jos 15:60. Identified by some with ruins at Rubba, 31 40' N, 34 58' E.
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(For only Og, king of Bashan, was left from the remnant of the Rephaim. Indeed, his bedstead--it [was] a bedstead of iron. It is in Rabbah of the {Ammonites}. Nine cubits [is] its length, and four cubits [is] its width according to the cubit of a man.)
Their territory was Jazer and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the {Ammonites} up to Aroer, {which is east of Rabbah};
Kiriath Baal (that [is], Kiriath Jearim) and Rabbah; two cities and their villages.
{It came about in the spring}, at the time {kings} go out, David sent Joab and his servants with him and all of Israel. They ravaged all of the {Ammonites} and besieged Rabbah, but David [was] remaining in Jerusalem.
And Joab fought against Rabbah of the {Ammonites}, and he captured {the royal city}. Then Joab sent messengers to David and said, "We have fought against Rabbah, and we captured the city of the waters.
Then Joab sent messengers to David and said, "We have fought against Rabbah, and we captured the city of the waters. So then, gather the remainder of the army and encamp against the city and capture it, lest I capture the city and my name be proclaimed over it." read more. So David gathered all of the army, and he went to Rabbah and fought against it and captured it.
Just as David had arrived in Mahanaim, Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the {Ammonites} and Makir the son of Ammiel from Lo Debar and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim
{Therefore} look, days [are] coming," {declares} Yahweh, "and I will sound against Rabbah, the {Ammonites}, [the] alarm of [the] war, and it will become as a mound of desolation, and its daughters will burn in the fire. Then Israel will dispossess his dispossessors," says Yahweh. "Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is devastated. Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah, put on sackcloth. Lament and run back and forth among the walls. For Milcom will go into exile, his priests and his officials together.
You must mark a road for [the] coming of [the] sword [to] Rabbah of the {Ammonites} and [to] Judah, in Jerusalem [the] fortified.
And I will make Rabbah as a pasture of camels and the {Ammonites} as a haunt of flocks, and they will know that I [am] Yahweh." '"
So I will kindle a fire against the wall of Rabbah and it will devour its citadel fortresses with a war cry on the day of battle, with a storm on the day of the violent tempest.
Smith
Rab'bah
(great).
1. A very strong place on the east of the Jordan, and the chief city of the Ammonites. In five passages --
De 3:11; 2Sa 12:26; 17:27; Jer 49:2; Eze 21:20
--it is styled at length Rabbath of the Ammonites, or the children of Ammon; but elsewhere,
Jos 13:25; 2Sa 11:1; 12:27,29; 1Ch 20:1; Jer 49:3
simply Rabbah. When first named it is mentioned as containing the bed or sarcophagus of the giant Og.
De 3:11
David sent Joab to besiege Rabbah.
etc. Joab succeeded in capturing a portion of the place --the "city of waters," that is, the lower town so called from its containing the perennial stream which rises in and still flows through it. The citadel still remained to be taken, but this was secured shortly after David's arrival.
Long after, at the date of the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar,
it had walls and palaces. It is named in such terms as to imply that it was of equal importance with Jerusalem.
From Ptolemy Philadelphus (B.C. 285-247) it received the name of Philadelphia. It was one of the cities of the Decapolis, and became the seat of a Christian bishop. Its ruins, which are considerable are found at Ammon about 22 miles from the Jordan. It lies in a valley which is a branch, or perhaps the main course, of the Wady Zerka usually identified with the Jabbok. The public buildings are said to be Roman, except the citadel, which is described as of large square stones put together without cement, and which is probably more ancient than the rest.
2. A city of Judah named with Kirjath-jearim in
only. No trace of its existence has yet been discovered.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
(For only Og, king of Bashan, was left from the remnant of the Rephaim. Indeed, his bedstead--it [was] a bedstead of iron. It is in Rabbah of the {Ammonites}. Nine cubits [is] its length, and four cubits [is] its width according to the cubit of a man.)
(For only Og, king of Bashan, was left from the remnant of the Rephaim. Indeed, his bedstead--it [was] a bedstead of iron. It is in Rabbah of the {Ammonites}. Nine cubits [is] its length, and four cubits [is] its width according to the cubit of a man.)
Their territory was Jazer and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the {Ammonites} up to Aroer, {which is east of Rabbah};
Kiriath Baal (that [is], Kiriath Jearim) and Rabbah; two cities and their villages.
{It came about in the spring}, at the time {kings} go out, David sent Joab and his servants with him and all of Israel. They ravaged all of the {Ammonites} and besieged Rabbah, but David [was] remaining in Jerusalem.
The men of the city came out and fought with Joab. Some from the army from the servants of David fell; Uriah the Hittite also died.
And Joab fought against Rabbah of the {Ammonites}, and he captured {the royal city}. Then Joab sent messengers to David and said, "We have fought against Rabbah, and we captured the city of the waters. read more. So then, gather the remainder of the army and encamp against the city and capture it, lest I capture the city and my name be proclaimed over it." So David gathered all of the army, and he went to Rabbah and fought against it and captured it. He took the crown of their king from his head. (Now its weight [was] a talent of gold, and there [was] a precious stone [in it] and it [was] put on David's head.) He brought out the plunder of the city {in great abundance}. He also brought out the people who [were] in it and put them to the saws and to the iron picks and to the iron axes, and he sent them to the place of the brickmakers. Thus he used to do to all the cities of the {Ammonites}, and he and all of the army returned to Jerusalem.
{Therefore} look, days [are] coming," {declares} Yahweh, "and I will sound against Rabbah, the {Ammonites}, [the] alarm of [the] war, and it will become as a mound of desolation, and its daughters will burn in the fire. Then Israel will dispossess his dispossessors," says Yahweh.
{Therefore} look, days [are] coming," {declares} Yahweh, "and I will sound against Rabbah, the {Ammonites}, [the] alarm of [the] war, and it will become as a mound of desolation, and its daughters will burn in the fire. Then Israel will dispossess his dispossessors," says Yahweh. "Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is devastated. Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah, put on sackcloth. Lament and run back and forth among the walls. For Milcom will go into exile, his priests and his officials together.
"Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is devastated. Cry out, O daughters of Rabbah, put on sackcloth. Lament and run back and forth among the walls. For Milcom will go into exile, his priests and his officials together.
You must mark a road for [the] coming of [the] sword [to] Rabbah of the {Ammonites} and [to] Judah, in Jerusalem [the] fortified.
You must mark a road for [the] coming of [the] sword [to] Rabbah of the {Ammonites} and [to] Judah, in Jerusalem [the] fortified.