Biblical Nations - Nabataeans

Nabataeans

Key Scripture: 2 Corinthians 11:32

Figures: Aretus

This week we delve into a bit of Biblical mystery.  Over the past few posts we have looked at the neighbors of the Hebrew people who occupied the territory to the south and east of the Promised Land.  This time we'll look at a people group that expanded just beyond those areas, and eventually encroached upon their lands.  What makes this mysterious, however, is that while they play a few important roles in the Biblical narrative and are known well enough to history, they are never directly mentioned by name in the Scriptures.  The are the Nabataeans, and learning about them may actually answer one of the big questions in the New Testament.

The Nabataean people are thought to be descendants of Ishmael, the oldest son of Abraham by his wife's servant, Haggar.  Ishmael's oldest son was named Nebajoth, but whether this people group was entirely descended from him or if the younger families simply adopted the name of the oldest heir is unknown.  Like their forefather they adopted a nomadic lifestyle, and by the time of Moses they had left the Negev region of southern Canaan and occupied land beyond the territories of the Edomites and Moabites.  At some point during their history they became involved in the spice trade that extended from the southern extents of the Arabian peninsula to the Mediterranean as well as Mesopotamia.  When the Babylonian Empire destroyed the kingdom of Judah, it caused a wave of movement into the vacated lands they left behind.  The Moabites and Edomites that pushed into the region, which subsequently left a void behind them that the Nabataeans soon filled.  Two major routes crossed within the region, the main spice route that connected the Red Sea to Gaza and the King's Highway that extended from Egypt to the Euphrates (and eventually connected with additional routes all the way to Asia).  The Arabian Nabataeans used skillfully engineered cisterns and channels to collect rainwater which allowed them to successfully create stations along these two roads, and at their intersection the magnificent and architecturally significant city of Petra was established which served as the civilization's hub for the next 500 years.

The primary rise of the Nabataeans occurred after the close of the Old Testament, when the Persian influence across the region gave way to the Greeks under the leadership of Alexander the Great.  One of his successors was named Antigonus, whose rule the Nabataeans refused to recognize and who was unsuccessful in enforcing control over the Arab peoples.  During the Maccabean Revolt, which is recorded in the Apocrypha, the Nabataean king Aretas I pressed against the southern region of Greek-controlled Judah, which served to help the Jewish people establish their independence.  His son, Aretas II also fought against the Seleucid rulers in the region, but during the following reign of Obadas I the Nabataeans began to attack the Jewish lands east of the Jordan River which resulted in the capture of the territories of Moab and Gilead.  Eventually their control extended as far north as Damascus, and by the time Aretas III became king they had both the strength and wealth to repel Roman dominion for over 150 years, during which time the events of the New Testament began.  The daughter of Aretas IV, named Phasaelis, was given in marriage to Herod Antipas, and she would play an indirect role in the Gospels as she was the wife who was spurned when her husband divorced her in favor of his brother Philip's wife, Herodias.  It was on her account that John the Baptist spoke out against Herod, which led to the prophet's imprisonment and eventual execution.  Aretas actually invaded in response to his daughter being sent home and defeated the army of Antipas, but retreated when Roman assistance was provided.

Shortly after the conversion of Saul at Damascus, his sudden support for Jesus Christ and His followers led to a plot against his life.  As told by Luke in Acts and recounted in 2 Corinthians by Paul himself, he was lowered down the city wall in a basket to avoid the Jews and the local ruler under King Aretas who were prepared to arrest him.  In Galatians the apostle insists he received the Gospel that he preached from a divine revelation, not the preaching or writings of men, and that he spent three years in Arabia before returning again to Damascus.  The trip he described was likely within the Arab Nabataean kingdom, and it's unclear whether the basket escape happened during the first or second stay in Damascus - Paul, after all, had a history of returning to cities that had previously tried to kill him.  After the events of the New Testament, the Nabataeans began to decline as Rome began to chip away at their borders while also cutting into their wealth by establishing new trade routes.  Seeking the approval of the Roman emperor, King Malichus supplied troops during the invasion and destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, at which time the Temple was destroyed.  The attempt to court favor was unsuccessful, however, and upon the death or abdication of the last Nabataean king, Rabbel II, the entire region was claimed for Emperor Trajan in AD 106.  Over the following years their society changed drastically.  Economically, the trade routes declined and desert agriculture became the primary industry.  Culturally, their written language shifted from Aramaic to Greek.  Religiously, the people first began to adopt the pagan practices of the Romans before later converting to Christianity by the 5th century.  A major earthquake in AD 363 affected the entire region, damaging not just buildings but also the water storage and transfer structures, and the capital city of Petra began to decline until the Byzantine era.  By the end of the 7th century invasion by Muslims caused the majority of cities to be abandoned and left behind as ruins.  Crusaders briefly established fortifications nearby, but for centuries the location of Petra was lost to all but a few locals until it was rediscovered and reintroduced to the western world in 1812.  Today, archaeology and tourism is all that is left of this once-grand kingdom and despite repeated attempts nobody has conclusively determined if any offspring of the Nabataeans remain.