City
Rabbah
RAB-uh · Modern Amman, Jordan (Amman Citadel / Jabal al-Qal'a) · Also called Rabbath-Ammon, Rabbah of the Ammonites, Philadelphia (Hellenistic era)
Rabbah is a city of the biblical world, known today as Amman, Jordan (Amman Citadel / Jabal al-Qal'a).
What is known
- It was during Israel's siege of Rabbah that David arranged for Uriah the Hittite to be placed in the fiercest fighting and killed, after David's affair with Uriah's wife Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:1, 14-17)
- Joab led Israel's army in besieging the city; after he captured its royal water source, David arrived personally to complete the conquest and took the enormous gold and jeweled crown of the Ammonite king as spoil (2 Samuel 12:26-31)
- Ammonite king Nahash's earlier siege of Jabesh-gilead, and his threat to gouge out the right eye of every inhabitant, prompted Saul's first act as king — rallying Israel to relieve the city (1 Samuel 11:1-11)
- Rabbah was later Hellenized and renamed Philadelphia after Ptolemy II Philadelphus; it survives today as Amman, capital of Jordan, and the ancient citadel hill (Jabal al-Qal'a) still overlooks the modern city
History
- Founded
- Ancient capital of the Ammonite kingdom; later Hellenized and renamed Philadelphia; survives today as Amman, capital of Jordan
- Population
- Capital city of the Ammonite kingdom
- Industry
- Royal and administrative capital of Ammon
- Coordinates
- 31.9539° N, 35.9284° E
Rulers and powers
Scripture references
- 2 Samuel 11:1
- 2 Samuel 12:26-31
- 1 Samuel 11:1-2
- Deuteronomy 3:11
- Jeremiah 49:2-3
- Ezekiel 21:20
- Amos 1:14
On a modern map
Further reading
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