CHAPTER XL.
ARABIA.
The Land and the People.
The Peninsula of Arabia is bounded on the southwest by the Red Sea, on the southeast by the Indian Ocean, on the northeast by the Persian Gulf, and on the north touches the mainland of Palestine and Syria, reaching to the Euphrates (see second map). So that we might say it lies between three continents. It is divided by geographers into three parts: 1. Arabia Felix (fortunate)—the largest—all the land between the three seas. 2. Arabia Petraea (stony)—the end adjoining the Peninsula of Sinai. 3. Arabia Deserta—the desert between Palestine and the Euphrates. The old Ishmaelites used to dwell in Arabia Deserta—a land scorched by burning sands, with scant vegetation and brackish water. These Bedouins were brave, hardy, and of simple habits, but restless and rapacious. The description of the wild ass in the thirty-ninth chapter of Job well fits their character.
The nature of the land made the building of cities and organized society impossible. Conditions encouraged a lawless life, and necessity, rather than choice, tempted the Bedouins to attack merchant caravans. A French proverb runs, "To know all is to excuse all." While not endorsing this dangerous maxim, we can see that their home largely decided their character. We are all influenced by surroundings in some degree. Yet some make the most of even hard conditions and barren soil. Not so the Bedouins. They never rose to greatness religiously—satisfied to worship stars and stones and to gratify the wants of the hour. So they have not advanced. But of the Arabs of central and southern Arabia we have a better story to tell.
Arabian Jews.
Long before the fall of the second Temple—probably before the fall of the first—Jews found their way to Arabia. By the time they made their presence felt there, we find them established in separate groups or tribes.
There were many points of kinship between Jews and Arabians. The Bible hints this in making Abraham the father of both peoples through Isaac and Ishmael (Gen. xvii, 18-20). This tradition the Arabs accepted from their Jewish neighbors. They certainly both belonged to the same race—the Semitic. The Semites included Assyrians, Chaldeans, Babylonians, Syrians, Phoenicians, Hebrews, Arabs and Ethiopians. In spite of the religious divergence, the Jews adapted themselves—externally at least—to the Arabian mode of life. (It is a nice question in how far Jews should assimilate with their surroundings and in how far stand aloof.) So, while the Jews of southern Arabia engaged in commerce, those of the less civilized north were agriculturists and wandering shepherds like their Bedouin neighbors. Like them, too, some even formed robber bands; yet here at least we meet a favorable variation in that the Jews were more humane to their enemies. Further, the Jews adopted the patriarchal status of society of their Arabian surroundings—not so dissimilar to the social life depicted in Genesis—i.e., each group of families lived under the guidance of one patriarch or Sheik; such were Abraham and Jacob. The Sheik was a kind of king and his will was obeyed as law by the particular group under his sway. For there was no central government. In unsettled districts, hospitality becomes the greatest virtue, because it represents the greatest need, and its violation, the gravest crime. This is well illustrated in the Genesis story (chapters xviii and xix) of the contrasted behavior of Abraham and the people of Sodom.