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Nodab

NODAB (nō'dăb, Heb. nôdhāv). A tribe of Arabs, probably Ishmaelites east of the Jordan, early conquered by the two-and-a-half tribes (1Chr.5.19). Probably a family name from an ancestor by that name. The name means “noble.”

NODAB nō dăb (נוֹדָֽב). The name of an Arabian tribe mentioned in 1 Chronicles 5:19 with Jetur and Naphish, as allies of the Hagrites. These tribes were defeated and dispossessed by Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh. The time is not specified, but in 1 Chronicles 5:10 the Hagrites appear again as the opponents of Saul.

Curtis (ICC, Chronicles, p. 120) reports that the Hagrites are named in Assyrian inscrs. with the Nabateans and located in northeastern Arabia. Other ancient sources are in agreement. Probably Hagar, the mother of Ishmael, is to be connected with the Hagrites.

The general location of the Israelite tribes in Trans-Jordan, the extrabiblical notices, and the grouping of Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab with the Hagrites, would combine to identify Nodab as an Arabian tribe. The name occurs only here in the Bible and nothing more is known about it.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

A Hagrite clan which, along with Jetur and Naphish, suffered complete defeat at the hands of the trans-Jordanic Israelites (1Ch 5:19). It has been suggested that Nodab is a corruption of Kedemah or of Nebaioth, names which are associated with Jetur and Naphish in the lists of Ishmael’s sons (Ge 25:15; 1Ch 1:31), but it is difficult to see how even the most careless copyist could so blunder. There is a possible reminiscence of the name in Nudebe, a village in the Chauran.