Arab

Arab was a city in the hill country of Judah, listed in the tribal allotment of Joshua 15:52 among the towns in the mountainous southern district of the tribe. Its name, meaning ambush, may reflect a topographical feature of the site—perhaps a hidden valley or concealed approach. The city is generally identified with Khirbet er-Rabiyeh, located in the southern Judean highlands approximately twelve miles southwest of Hebron.

Arab is not mentioned elsewhere in the biblical narrative, and no significant events are recorded there. Its inclusion in the Judahite city list of Joshua 15 nevertheless attests to the systematic settlement of the hill country by the tribe of Judah following the initial conquest, filling in a landscape that would later be familiar from references to cities like Hebron, Eshtemoa, and Debir in the same district.