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Bible Encyclopedias
Nodab
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or (Heb. Nodab', נוֹדָב , nobility; Sept. Ναδαβαῖοι; Vulg. Nodab), the name of an Arab tribe mentioned only in 1 Chronicles 5:19, in the account of the war of the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half of the tribe of Manasseh against the Hagarites (1 Chronicles 5:9-22) ‘ And they made war with the Hagarites, with Jetur, and Nephish, and Nodab" (1 Chronicles 5:19). In Genesis 25:15, and 1 Chronicles 1:31, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah are the last three sons of Ishmael. and it has been therefore supposed that Nodab also was one of his sons. But we have no other mention of Nodab, and it has been surmised, in the absence of additional evidence, that he was a grandson or other descendant of the patriarch, and that the name, in the time of the record, was that of a tribe sprung from such descendant. The Hagarites, and Jetur, Nephish, and Nodab, were pastoral people, for the Reubenites dwelt in their tents throughout all the east [land] of Gilead (1 Chronicles 1:10), and in the war a great multitude of cattle-camels, sheep, and asses were taken. A hundred thousand men were taken prisoners or slain, so that the tribes must have been very numerous; and the Israelites "dwelt in their steads until the captivity." If the Hagarites (or Hagarenes) were, as is most probable, the people who afterwards inhabited Hejer, (See HAGARENES), they were driven southwards into the north-eastern province of Arabia, bordering the mouths of the Euphrates and the low tracts surrounding them. (See ITURAEA); (See JETUR); (See NAPHISH). Calmet (after Jerome, Quaest. Heb. in Lib. 1 Paralip.) has suggested that Nodab is another name for KEDEMAH, and this appears to derive some probability from the fact that the list in Genesis mentions in order "Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah;" while in Chronicles we have "Jetur, Nephish, and Nodab." Forster, who adopts this view, advances another argument in its favor. He says, "This Ishmaelitish tribe, agreeable to a very general Arab usage, being designated, in the one instance by its patronymic, in the other by its nom de guerre. For,
1. The signification of the word Nodab, in the Arabic idiom, is ‘ the vibration of a spear;'
2. The natives of the coast of the Persian Gulf, in the vicinity of Kadema, were famous for the manufacture of spears; and,
3. Nodab is expressly mentioned by the author of the Kamus, a Writer of the 15th century, as a then existing Arab tribe" (Geogr. of Arabia, 1:314 sq.). This reasoning is scarcely conclusive; but there is at least some probability in the theory. (See ARABIA); (See ISHMAEL).
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Nodab'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/n/nodab.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
