What Was Paul Doing in “Arabia”?

About Paul’s missionary journeys to the west much has been written. But almost nothing has been said of his trip to Arabia. No wonder; it is barely mentioned, almost as an aside, in Galatians 1:17: “I went away into Arabia, and again I returned to Damascus.”

Few commentators who attempt to locate “Arabia” have justified their choice of location (one suggested the Kingdom of Nabatea, which was not created until 106 A.D.), and no one, to the best of my knowledge, has attempted an explanation of what happened there.

Where was Arabia? The Greek geographer Strabo (c. 64 B.C.—after 23 A.D.) defines Arabia Felix to include the entire Arabian peninsula bounded by the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. But what would the term “Arabia” have suggested to a Jew who lived in first-century Judea?

The first-century Jewish historian Josephus provides a very precise answer: Arabia could be seen to the east from a tower in Jerusalem. More specifically, it was contiguous to Herodian territory running along the southern border of the Roman province of Syria. Petra was the royal seat of Arabia, hence the name “Arabia Petrea,” or “Arabia belonging to Petra.” This mountain-encircled city, however, was the capital and chief city of the Nabateans, hence another name, “Arabia of the Nabateans.”

This and other geographical markers clearly indicate that when the first-century Jew Paul went into “Arabia” he meant Nabatean territory, modern Jordan. At that time, about 33 A.D., this area east of the Jordan ranged from the Hauran down through Moab and Edom and expanded on both sides of the Gulf of Aqaba.

But why did Paul go there?

Some have suggested that he sought a quiet place for reflection and study.¹ As the context of Galatians makes clear, the Law was no longer the centripetal force in Paul’s life; he would henceforth devote himself to Christ, and to assimilate a change of such magnitude he needed time and tranquility.

But this suggestion does not adequately account for what happened subsequently. Paul must have been doing something to draw attention to himself and to anger the Nabateans, because he had to return to Damascus. Three years later the Nabatean authorities still wanted to arrest him (2 Corinthians 11:32–33)—it was the Nabatean king, Aretas, who was pursuing him in Damascus when Paul was lowered in a basket through a hole in the city wall and thereby escaped.

The probable explanation is that Paul was trying to make converts in Arabia.² He clearly understood his conversion as a commission to preach the gospel among pagans: “He who…called me through his grace…reveal[ed] his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles” (Galatians 1:16). It would be characteristic of Paul to begin this task as soon as it was feasible.

In order to appreciate the violent Nabatean reaction, we must understand the Nabateans’s stormy relations with the Jews at this time.

Although Herod the Great’s mother came from an eminent Nabatean family, he later fought the Nabateans in a war that he won only after suffering heavy losses. The Nabateans, in return, enthusiastically provided auxiliary troops to aid the Roman governor of Syria in brutally suppressing the Jewish revolt that followed Herod’s death.

In order to calm the tensions between the two peoples, one of Herod’s sons (Herod Antipas) married the daughter of the Nabatean king (Aretas VI). However, in about 23 A.D.he divorced her in order to marry Herodias, the wife of his half-brother Philip. (John the Baptist criticized this marriage, as reported both by Josephus and the Gospels, with the result that John was imprisoned and then beheaded—see Matthew 14:3–12; Mark 6:17–29; Luke 3:19–20). Using a disputed border as an excuse, the Nabatean king attacked Galilee to avenge the insult to his daughter.

The Nabatean king knew from experience that Rome had little patience with warlike actions between the client kings who guarded the eastern frontier of the empire. He thus had every reason to feel anxious not only about Jewish reaction, but about Roman reaction to his attack on Galilee. The Roman emperor was perfectly capable of reacting quickly and decisively. All he had to do was to give an order to the governor of Syria, who had four legions at his disposition.

As the Nabatean king waited tensely for something to happen, his attitude towards Jews was certainly anything but benign. When Paul arrived in about 33 A.D., it was hardly a propitious moment for a Jew to begin preaching what to an outsider was but a new variety of Judaism. Those Nabateans who were the objects of Paul’s ministry must have thought he was attempting to infiltrate, divide and weaken them. What appeared as an invitation to betrayal, no doubt prompted an immediate and violent governmental reaction. Paul, however, escaped to Damascus. He was apparently considered so dangerous that three years later, the Nabatean king was still pursuing him there.

This reconstruction may not be the only one possible, but it integrates and maximizes the meager data available. How long was Paul’s sojourn in Arabia of the Nabateans? His silence as to the duration suggests that it was very short. By contrast, Paul lists his two weeks in Jerusalem and his three years in Damascus (Galatians 1:18). His impulsive gesture in going to Arabia, however, does suggest that Paul was convinced from the beginning that his mission was to Gentiles.

(For further details, see Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, “Paul in Arabia,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly, vol. 55, p. 732 [October 1993]).

About Paul’s missionary journeys to the west much has been written. But almost nothing has been said of his trip to Arabia. No wonder; it is barely mentioned, almost as an aside, in Galatians 1:17: “I went away into Arabia, and again I returned to Damascus.”