Nobah

no'-ba (nobhah; Codex Vaticanus Naboth, Nabai; Codex Alexandrinus Naboth, Nabeth):

(1) Nobah the Manassite, we are told, "went and took Kenath, and the villages thereof, and called it Nobah, after his own name" (Numbers 32:42). There can be little doubt that the ancient Kenath is represented by the modern Qanawat, on the western slope of Jebel ed-Druze, the ancient name having survived that of Nobah.

(2) A city which marked-the course of Gideon's pursuit of the Midianites (Judges 8:11). It is possible that this may be identical with (1). Cheyne argues in favor of this (Encyclopaedia Biblica, under the word "Gideon"). But its mention along with Jogbehah points to a more southerly location. This may have been the original home of the clan Nobah. Some would read, following the Syriac in Numbers 21:30, "Nobah which is on the desert," instead of "Nophah which reacheth unto Medeba." No site with a name resembling this has yet been recovered. If it is to be distinguished from Kenath, then probably it will have to be sought somewhere to the Northeast of Rabbath-Ammon (`Amman).

W. Ewing