Nabataea

Background

The Nabataeans are generally understood to have originally been an Arab people who lived as nomads in northern Arabia. They settled in the former land of Edom, present-day southern Jordan. Many scholars hold that they occupied the region after the Edomites moved into southern Judah, although the exact timing is uncertain. The territory in southern Judah to which the Edomites moved later came to be called Idumea.

The Nabataeans grew wealthy by controlling the trade routes used by caravans (groups of merchants transporting goods by camel). Along these routes, aromatics produced in southern Arabia, such as frankincense (a tree resin used as incense) and myrrh, were carried toward the Mediterranean. The Nabataeans made Petra, a city carved out of rock, their center.

Historical Development

• c. 312 BC: According to the Greek historian Diodorus, Antigonus I, one of the successors of Alexander the Great, attacked the Nabataeans. This is regarded as the first appearance of the Nabataeans in the historical record.
• Second century BC: The Nabataeans took shape as a kingdom. Second Maccabees 5:8, part of the Apocrypha and not included in the Protestant canon, mentions "Aretas the king of the Arabians," whom scholars identify as the Nabataean king Aretas I.
• First half of the first century BC: Under Aretas III, the kingdom extended its power as far as Damascus. It also intervened in the struggles over the throne of the Jewish Hasmonean dynasty. After Rome advanced into the region, however, Nabataea became a Roman client state.
• 9 BC–AD 40: The kingdom reached its height under Aretas IV. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, a daughter of Aretas IV married Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee. Antipas, however, sent her away in order to marry Herodias, and this, among other causes, led to war between the two kingdoms, in which Antipas suffered a severe defeat. The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 11:32 that "the governor under Aretas the king" in Damascus sought to apprehend him; this Aretas is Aretas IV.
• AD 106: After the death of the last king, Rabbel II, the Roman emperor Trajan annexed the kingdom and made it the province of Arabia Petraea.

Outcome and Influence

After the Roman annexation, shifts in the trade routes led to Petra's gradual decline. Christianity later spread to the region, and the remains of churches built at Petra during the Byzantine period have been excavated. The prevailing scholarly view holds that the Nabataean script is the direct ancestor of the modern Arabic script. The site of Petra was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.

Assessment

Nabataea provides important background for understanding the political situation of the New Testament era. Josephus recorded its relations with the Herodian family. He reports that the mother of Herod the Great came from a Nabataean noble family, and he connected the war between Antipas and Aretas IV with the execution of John the Baptist.

The passages relating to Paul are frequently discussed by biblical scholars. Many hold that the "Arabia" to which Paul says in Galatians 1:17 he went shortly after his conversion refers to Nabataean territory. Because Aretas IV died around AD 40, 2 Corinthians 11:32 is also used as evidence for dating Paul's conversion. Scholars disagree, however, over whether Damascus was actually under Nabataean rule at the time or whether the "governor" was the head of the local Nabataean community there. Some connect "Nebaioth" in Isaiah 60:7 with Nabataea, but this identification is widely disputed.