Who and what is …
Arba

also known as: Arbah

Meaning: four

This was the name of a man and a city/place.

Arbah, the man

He was a giant and the father of Anak.

Anak is the ancestor of the Anakim, a group of tall or giant-like people encountered by the Israelite spies in Numbers 13:22, 33).

Joshua 14:15 calls him “the greatest man among the Anakim.”

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Arbah, the city

In Genesis 35:27, the phrase “the city of Arbah” (or similar wording) appears in certain English translations, particularly the King James Version (KJV) and some older or literal renderings. The verse describes Jacob's return to his father Isaac after his journeys:

And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. —Genesis 35:27 KJV

The New American Standard Bible says,

And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre of Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. —Genesis 35:27 NASB

This place called Araba (Arabah) was most likely named after the giant. From him the city of Hebron derived its earlier name of Kirjath-Arba, i.e., the “city of Araba” (Joshua 14:15; 15:13; 21:11; Genesis 13:18; 23:2).

The biblical text explicitly equates the Arbah and Hebron: “the city of Arbah, which is Hebron.” Hebron is an ancient city in the hill country of Judah (southern Canaan/land of Israel), located about 30 km south of Jerusalem at an elevation of roughly 3,040 feet (making it one of the highest cities in the region). It served as a key patriarchal site:

In the events recorded in Genesis 35, Jacob returns to this family homestead area after the events at Bethel and the loss of Rachel, just before Isaac's death is recorded (Genesis 35:28, 29). The mention of Mamre alongside “the city of Arbah/Hebron” reflects the broader patriarchal association of the region with oaks/plains of Mamre (an ally of Abraham in Genesis 14) and the urban center of Hebron.

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Article Version: March 28, 2026