BETH-ARABAH

beth-ar'-a-ba (beth ha-`arabhah; Baitharaba, "place of the Arabah"):

(1) One of the 6 cities of Judah "in the wilderness" (Joshua 15:61), on the borders of Benjamin and Judah (Joshua 15:6; 18:18 Septuagint). "The wilderness of Judah" is the barren land West of the Dead Sea. Beth-arabah is not yet identified.

(2) One of the cities of Benjamin (Joshua 18:22). Septuagint (Codex Vaticanus) reads Baithabara, and this may be correct. The names are early confounded.

See BETHABARA .

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.