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RABBAH

(Heb. rabbâ)
(also RABBATH-AMMON)

1. A city in the tribal territory of Judah near Kiriath-jearim (Josh. 15:60), generally identified with Rubutu in the Amarna Letters and Rubute in Egyptian texts. The site was likely Khirbet Bîr el-µilu/Khirbet µamîdeh (149137), a short distance S of Emmaus.

2. A city (modern Amman; 238151) on the Transjordan plateau, ca. 88-105 km. (55-65 mi.) by road from Jerusalem and ca. 39 km. (24 mi.) E of the Jordan River at the headwaters of the Jabbok. Rabbah (“great” or “large”) was the center of surrounding cities and villages (cf. Ezek. 25:1-11). It is found most often in direct reference to the Ammonites (Rabbath bene Ammon, Rabbath-ammon, or Bīt-ammanu in the Assyrian texts).

Rabbah physically consisted of two parts. The upper city or acropolis, known as the “royal city” (2 Sam. 12:26), a citadel with attached terraces, was situated on Jebel Qalʿa. The lower city, the “city of waters” (2 Sam. 12:27), ran along two wadis at the base of the hill in the valley. The two were connected by a long underground passageway leading from the “city of waters” up to a cistern on Jebel Qalʿa. This 16 × 6 × 7 m. (52 × 19 × 23 ft.) high reservoir was apparently in use as early as the Middle Bronze Age and as late as the Hellenistic period.

The site has been occupied at least since the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods. MB II structures are substantial, and by LB II the city had grown considerably. The best LB architecture is represented by the temple at the old Amman airport. Continuous rebuilding, especially in modern times, has destroyed so much that it is seldom possible to discern city plans. Fortunately, some significant structures remain. Tombs carved into hillsides and defense systems on the acropolis attest to almost every period.

Rabbath-ammon showplaced the “iron bed” taken from King Og of Bashan (Deut. 3:11). David captured Rabbah and crowned himself with the gold crown of Milcom, the tutelary deity (2 Sam. 12:30). He looted and reportedly destroyed Rabbah and “all the Ammonite cities,” but they rebuilt and later supplied David with food, clothing, and other goods in his time of need (2 Sam. 17:27-29).

The city fared relatively well under the Persians. It became a Hellenistic city under Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-246 b.c.), who officially changed its name to Philadelphia. The city came under Seleucid rule for a short time, then under Nabatean, and finally Roman rule in 63 b.c., when it flourished greatly as evidenced in a propylaeum, colonnaded street, large theater, nymphaeum, temenos, and temple of Hercules. In Byzantine times it sent bishops to the Councils of Nicea (a.d. 325), Antioch (341), and Calcedon (451). Under Arab rule, an Umayyad palace crowned the acropolis.

Bibliography. M. Burdajewicz, “Rabbath-Ammon,” NEAEHL 4:1243-49; R. H. Dornemann, “Amman,” OEANE 1:98-102.

Donald H. Wimmer

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

RABBAH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)