Bible Encyclopedias
Zabadaeans

　　zab - a - dē´anz ( Ζαβαδαῖοι , Zabadaı́oi ; the King James Version Zabadeans ; Oesterley, in Charles, Apocrypha, I, 112, prefers, on what seems insufficient evidence, to read "Gabadeans"; Josephus ( Ant. , XIII , v, 10) by an obvious error has "Nabateans"): According to 1 Maccabees 12:31 , an Arabian tribe, defeated and spoiled by Jonathan after his victory in Hamath and before he came to Damascus. There is an ez - Zebedânı̂ about 25 miles Northwest of Damascus (now a station on the railway to Beirut), on the eastern slope of the Anti-Lebanon range. This town may very well have preserved the name of the Zabadaeans, and its situation accords nicely with Jonathan's movements in 1 Maccabees 12 .