NEBAIOTH ; Nabajoth), theeldest son of Ishmael (Gen. xxv. 13), and the founder of the first of the twelve Ishmaelitish tribes (ver. i6). We are told that the Ishmaelites in habited the country from Havilah to Shur ;' which includes the whole peninsula of Arabia lying between the Euphrates and the Persian Gulf on the one side, and the Red Sea on the other (ver. 18 ; see Kalisch on Gen., pp. 379> 484). In this region, therefore, the descendants of Nebaioth dwelt. They occupied the most distinguished place among their brethren, for when Esau married Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, the sacred historian distinguishes her as the sister of Nebaioth (xxviii. 9 ; xxxvi. 3). At that remote age most of the tribes inhabiting Syria and Arabia were nomad or semi-nomad. Both the climate and soil of Arabia, in which Ishmael and his sons settled, rendered this mode of life necessary. Their chief wealth consisted in flocks and herds. Owing to the total want of rain during the long summer, and the extreme scarcity of water, the herbage dries up, and shepherds must move their flocks to other regions. But while all the great tribes were thus compelled to migrate, it would seem that they pos sessed strongholds and fortified enclosures in cer tain favoured spots, where some members of each tribe always remained, and where, probably, they deposited their heavy stores and valuables. This is the case with some of the great Arab tribes at the present day. After enumerating the sons of Ishmael, Moses says, 'These are the sons of Ishmael, and these their names, by their taunts and by their castles' (xxv. 16). The word rendered towns' (arrivr) is derived from a root MI1) which signifies to enclose,' and is applied usually in the Bible to the towns of a pastoral people, as contradistinguished from those pl. V) of an agricultural or commercial people. And the castles' (nrou) were 'circular enclosures,' formed by a strong though rude fence, within which tents might be pitched, and flocks kept, in times of danger. It would appear, therefore, that all the Ishmaelite tribes adapted themselves in habits and occupation to the nature of the country in which they settled ;—roaming with their flocks and herds over the great pasture-lands of Arabia, and estab lishing permanent stations wherever practicable (see I Chron. v. 10, 19-21). The territory at first occupied by Nebaioth appears to have been on the south-east of Palestine, in and around the moun tains of Edam. There Esau met and became allied with them. As their numbers and their flocks increased, they were forced to wander more into the south and east so as to secure pasture ; and they were brought into connection with their brethren the children of Kedar, with whom Isaiah associates them (lx. 7). It is somewhat remark able that this celebrated Arab tribe is so seldom mentioned in the Bible. Three times the name occurs in Genesis, once in the genealogies of Chronicles (i. 29), and once in Isaiah ; after his age we hear no more of them in Scripture.
After the close of the 0. T. canon, both Jewish and heathen writers frequently mention an Arabian tribe called Nabatoi, or Nabatheans (Nagarcaol), as the most influential and numerous of all the tribes of that country. Josephus says regarding the descendants of Ishmael, These inhabited all the country from the Euphrates to the Red Sea, and called it Nabatene' (Naparny7); Antig. i. 13.
4). He regards the NabatMi as descendants of Nebaioth. And Jerome affirms that Nebaioth gave his name to all the region from the Euphrates to the Red Sea (Comm. in Gen. xxv. 13). But the identity of the Nabathean-s or Nabatcei, and the descendants of Nebaioth, has recently been called in question chiefly by Quatremere (11fenzoire sur les Nabate:ens), and Professor Chwolson of St. Petersburg (Die Ssabier). These celebrated Ori ental scholars have prosecuted their researches among the remains of very early Arabian and Babylonian literature. They have proved the existence of a tribe called Nabat (.jj), inhabiting in ancient times the country between the Tigris and Euphrates, and afterwards scattered ,through the Arabian peninsula ; they infer, from fragments of their literature and statements of Arab authors, that they were Arameans, and not Ishmaelites. To some of their treatises Professor Chwolson assigns a very high antiquity, dating them as far back as 240o B.C. ; but other eminent scholars consider them to be not earlier than the first cen tury of our era. In fact, little importance can be attached to Chwolson's dates and theories (see, however, Umber die Ueberreste der Alt- Babylon ischen Literatztr, 1859). It is doubtless true that a tribe called Nabat existed at a comparatively early period in Mesopotamia; may they not have been a branch of the illy of Nebaioth May they not have migrated thither, as sections of the great tribes of Arabia are wont to do now--for instance, the Shummar, whose home is Jebel Shummar, in Central Arabia, where they have villages and settlements ; but large sections of the tribe have long been naturalised among the rich pastures of Mesopotamia. In fact, there are few of the great Arabian tribes which do not pay periodical visits to the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris, and which have not branches established there. So it probably was with the tribe of Ne baioth. They visited Mesopotamia, attracted by the water and pasture ; then some of them settled there ; then from close intercourse with the learned Chaldeans, they may have acquired a taste for their literature, and may have in part adopted their language and their habits of life ; and at length when driven out of Central Asia by the rising power of the Assyrians, Medes, and Persians, they carried these back among their brethren in Arabia. Such, at least, is a probable solution of a difficult question. There can be no doubt that the descend ants of Nebaioth settled originally in and around Edom ; that in the time of Isaiah they were an influential tribe living in Western Arabia beside the children of Kedar ; that the Nabatheans occu pied the same region in the time of the Maccabees (i Maccab. v. 24, seg., cir. B.C. 161 ; cf. t Maccab. ix. 33-37 ; Joseph. A Wig. xii. S. 3) ; and that Josephus considered these Nabatheans to be the descendants of Ishmael. From these facts it may be fairly inferred that the Nabatheans of the classic authors, the tribe Nebaioth of the sacred authors, and the Beni Nabat of the Arabs, were identical (Forster, Geogr. of Arabia, i. 209, seq. ; Kalisch on Gen., p. 481 ; Jerome, Comment. en Isaiam, cap. lx. 7).