Nadabatha
Nadab'atha (Ναδαβάθ v.r. Γαβαδάν; Syriac, Nobot; Vulg. Madaba), "a place from which the bride was conducted by the children of Jambri (q.v.) when Jonathan and Simon attacked them (1 Macc. 9:37). Josephus (Ant. 13:1, 4) gives the name as Gabath (Γαβαθά). Jerome's conjecture (in the Vulgate) can hardly be admitted, because Medeba was the city of the Jambrites (see verse 36) to which the bride was brought, not that from which she came. That Nadabatha was on the east of Jordan is most probable; for though, even to the time of the Gospel narrative, by 'Chanaaiites' — to which the bride in this case belonged — is signified Phoenicians, yet we have the authority (such as it is) of the Book of Judith (verse 3) for attaching that name especially to the people of Moab and Ammon; and it is not probable that when the whole country was in such disorder a wedding cortege would travel for so great a distance as from Phoenicia to Medeba. On the east of Jordan the only two names that occur as possible are Neboby Eulsebius and Jerome written lNabo and iNabauand Nabathcea. Compare the lists of places round es-Salt, in Robinson, 1st ed. 3:167-70." SEE GABATIHA.
