Nobah

howling.

that barks or yelps

(barking ), an Israelite warrior, ( Numbers 32:42 ) who during the conquest of the territory on the east of Jordan possessed himself of the town of Kenath and the villages or hamlets dependent upon it, and gave them his own name. (B.C.1450.) For a certain period after the establishment of the Israelite rule the new name remained, ( Judges 8:11 ) but it is not again heard of, and the original appellation, as is usual in such cases, appears to have recovered its hold, has since retained; for in the slightly-modified form of Kunawat it is the name of the place to the present day.

NOBAH

no'-ba (nobhah; Codex Vaticanus Naboth, Nabai; Codex Alexandrinus Naboth, Nabeth):

(1) Nobah the Manassite, we are told, "went and took Kenath, and the villages thereof, and called it Nobah, after his own name" (Numbers 32:42). There can be little doubt that the ancient Kenath is represented by the modern Qanawat, on the western slope of Jebel ed-Druze, the ancient name having survived that of Nobah.

(2) A city which marked-the course of Gideon's pursuit of the Midianites (Judges 8:11). It is possible that this may be identical with (1). Cheyne argues in favor of this (Encyclopaedia Biblica, under the word "Gideon"). But its mention along with Jogbehah points to a more southerly location. This may have been the original home of the clan Nobah. Some would read, following the Syriac in Numbers 21:30, "Nobah which is on the desert," instead of "Nophah which reacheth unto Medeba." No site with a name resembling this has yet been recovered. If it is to be distinguished from Kenath, then probably it will have to be sought somewhere to the Northeast of Rabbath-Ammon (`Amman).

W. Ewing