Nebaioth


Nebaioth or Nebajoth is mentioned at least five times in the Hebrew Bible, according to which he was the firstborn son of Ishmael, and the name appears as the name of one of the wilderness tribes mentioned in the Book of Genesis 25:13, and in the Book of Isaiah 60:7.

Biblical occurrences

In the Book of Genesis, Nebaioth is listed as the firstborn son of Ishmael:
Nebaioth is portrayed as the brother of Mahalath, one of Esau's wives:
Nebaioth is again mentioned as Ishmael's firstborn in the genealogies of the First Book of Chronicles:
In the Book of Isaiah, Nebaioth is mentioned along with his brother Kedar:

Extra-biblical occurrences

Based on similarity of sounds, Josephus, the Jewish historian of the Roman era, suggested that there was a connection with the historical Nabataeans of Hellenistic and Roman times . Although Jerome followed him, modern historians reject any connection of the Nabataeans to the "tribe of Nebaioth". Classical Arab historians sometimes name Nebaioth as an ancestor of Muhammad although another tradition names Kedar, another son of Ishmael, as his ancestor.