Where do the Arabs come from?
Question:
Where do the Arabs come from? From which patriarch? Many people say Ishmael, but Ishmael had an Egyptian mother. Where in the Bible is the name Arab first used?
Answer:
In the answer to a prior question, "What happened to Ishmael's descendants?" I gave a detailed list of the various Arab nations who descended from Ishmael. I won't repeat it here.
The Arabs are not one nation but many who settled the Arabian peninsula. Jeremiah calls them, "all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed multitude who dwell in the desert." Thus their name is derived from the region and not the people. The region is first mentioned in I Kings 10:15, "besides that from the traveling merchants, from the income of traders, from all the kings of Arabia, and from the governors of the country." Other references can be found in II Chronicles 9:14; 17:11; 21:16; 22:1; 26:7; Nehemiah 2:19; 4:7; 6:1; Isaiah 13:20; 21:13; Jeremiah 3:2;25:24; Ezekiel 27:21; Acts 2:11; Galatians 1:17; 4:25.
