NEBAIOTH or NEBAJOTH (ne - ba'yoth), (Heb.:11';:;, neb-aw-yolle, fruitfulness).
1. The Firstborn Son of Ishmael (Gen. xxv: 13; Citron. P2o) and the prince or sheik (rendered by Jerome OliNapxos) of one of the twelve Ishma elitish tribes, which, as well as the territory they occupied, continued to bear his name in after times (Gen. xxv :f6; comp. xvii :2o). One of Esau's wives, Mahalath, otherwise called Bashe math, is expressly designated as 'the sister of Nebaioth' (Gen. xxviii :9; xxxvi :3) ; and by a singular coincidence the land of Esau, or Edam, was ultimately possessed by the posterity of Ne baioth. In common with the other Ishmaelites, they first settled in the wilderness 'before' (i. e., to the east of) their brethren, the other descendants of Abraham ; by which we are probably to under stand the great desert lying to the east and south east of Palestine (Gen. xxv :18; XXI :21 ; XV1:I2 ; and see the article ARABIA.) From the refer ences of Scripture it is evident that the tribe of Nebaioth followed for ages the nomadic life of shepherds.
2. JVabathwans. This people included a va riety of Arab races taking their common name from the progenitor of the largest or most influ ential tribe, Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael.
(1) Invasion of Western Asia. The success ful invasion of Western Asia, first by the Assyr ians and afterwards by the Chaldxans, could not but affect the condition of the tribes in Northern Arabia, though we possess no record of the special results. The prophet Isaiah, after his obscure oracle regarding Dumah (ch. xxi itt, 12), intro duces a 'judgment upon Arabia,' i. e., Desert Ara bia, which some suppose to have been fulfilled by Sennacherib, while others think it refers to the later events that are foretold by Jeremiah (Aix : 28-33) as befalling `Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor,' in consequence of the ravages of Nebu chadnezzar. Be this as it may, we know that when the latter carried the Jews captive to Babylon, the Edomites made themselves masters of a great part of the south of Palestine (see 1Dum/EA), while either then or at a later period they them selves were supplanted in the southern part of their own territory by the Nabathxans.
The territory occupied by the Nabathmans in its widest sense included the whole of Northern Arabia from the Euphrates to the Elanitic Gulf of the Red Sea ; but more strictly taken it denoted (at least in later times) only a portion of the southern part of that vast region (Josephus, An tiq. I :I2, 4; St. Jerome, Quost. on Is. xxv :13; Am mianus Marcellinus, xiv :8). We first hear of the Nabathwans in history in the reign of Antigonus, who succeeded Alexander the Great in Babylon, and died in the year B. C. 3o1. He sent two ex peditions against them; both were unsuccessful.
(2) Agriculture and Commerce. The Naba thmans were as yet essentially a pastoral people, though they were likewise engaged in commerce, which they afterwards prosecuted to a great ex tent, and thereby acquired great riches and re nown. It was in this way that they gradually became more fixed in their habits; and, living in towns and villages, they were at length united tinder a regular monarchical government, con stituting the kingdom of Arabia, or, more strictly, Arabia Petrera. the name being derived not, as some suppose, from the rocky nature of the coun try, but from the chief city, Petrwa.
(3) Kings of Arabia Petrcea. The common name of the kings of Arabia Petrwa was either Aretas or Obodas. Even in the time of Anti ochus Epiphanes (about B. C. 166), we read in 2 Mace. v:8, of an Aretas, king of the Arabians; vrid from that period downwards they came fre quently into contact both with the Jews and Ro mans, as may be seen in the hooks of the Maecahees and the writings of Josephus. When Judas Mac cabmus and his brother Jonathan had crossed the Jordan, they reached after a three days' march the country of the Nabathmans, who gave them a very friendly reception (1 Mace. v :24, 25; Jo seph. Antiq. xii. 8. 3; comp. xiii. 13. 5. 15, and De Bell. lud., i. 4. 4. 7)• Long before the king dom of Arabia was actually conquered by the Romans, its sovereigns were dependent on the Roman power. An expedition was sent thither by Augustus, under rElius Gallus, governor of Egypt, and a personal friend of the geographer Strabo, who has left us an account of it. After