Dinhabah

Din'habah (Hebrews Dinhabah', דִּנהָבָה, perhaps robbers' den, otherwise ambush; Sept. Δενναβά; Vulgo Denaba), an Edomitish city, the capital (and probably birthplace) of king Bela (Ge 36:32; 1Ch 1:43). Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast. s.v. Δαναβά, Damnaba) mention a village Dannea (Δαννεά, Jerome Damnaba) eight miles from Areopolis, or Ar of Moab (Jerome, "on the road to Armon"), and another on Mount Peor, seven miles from Esbus (Heshbon); but neither of these has claim to be the Dinhabah of Scripture. R. Joseph, in his Targum (on 1Ch 1:43, ed. Wilkins), finds a significance in the name. After identifying Balaam, the son of Beor, with Laban the Syrian, he adds, "And the name of his capital city was Dinhabah, for it was given (איתיהיבת) him as a present." The name is not uncommon among the Shemitic races. Ptolemy (5:15, 24) mentions a Danaba (Δανάβα) in Palmyrene Syria, afterwards a bishop's see, and according to Zosimus (3:27) there was a Danabe (Δανάβη) in Babylonia. The place in question was doubtless one of the petty localities of Mount Seir, possibly at Dibdiba, a little N.E. of Petra (Smith's list in Robinson's Researches, 3, App. page 114, and 1, Map).