Bible People

The Nabataeans were the wealthy Arab architects of Petra who controlled the ancient incense routes and played a critical, though often background, role in the political landscape of the New Testament era.

The Maonites were a hostile desert tribe from Edom who were crushed by the kings of Judah, with their descendants ironically surviving history as servants in the Jewish Temple.

The Geshurites were an Aramean people whose strategic alliance with King David, through the marriage of Maakah, introduced foreign royal blood into Israel and provided the sanctuary where Absalom’s rebellion was incubated.

The people of Bashan were the formidable subjects of the giant King Og, known for their fortified cities and immense wealth, whose defeat became an eternal song of God’s victory over the impossible.

The Hagarites were a wealthy and powerful Ishmaelite tribe whose defeat by the Transjordanian Israelites serves as a testament that victory in battle depends on crying out to God rather than military might alone.

The Horites were the cave-dwelling, indigenous clans of Mount Seir who were conquered and absorbed by the descendants of Esau, serving as a historical marker of God’s sovereign assignment of lands to specific nations.

The Anakites were a fearsome race of giants who tested Israel’s faith, serving as the ultimate symbol that no enemy is too great for God to overthrow.

The Rephaites were an ancient race of giants who inhabited Canaan and Bashan, striking terror into Israel with their size and strength until they were defeated by Moses, Joshua, and David.

The Kenizzites were a Canaanite or Edomite clan who fully assimilated into the tribe of Judah, producing the hero Caleb and the first judge Othniel, and securing the hill country of Hebron through their fierce loyalty to God.