Joshua 13:9

From Aroer, that is upon the bank of the river Arnon, and the city that is in the midst of the river, and all the plain of Medeba unto Dibon;

From Aroer, that is upon the bank of the river Arnon, and the city that is in the midst of the river. This city was situated on the north side of the river-the southern extremity of the country conquered by the Israelites-where its site is still traceable both in the modern name Ara'ir and from the head of ruins that mark the spot. But Aroer, like Rabbah, consisted of two portions, one on the bank and the other in the bed of the stream (cf. 2 Samuel 24:5). [Septuagint, en mesoo tees farangos, in the midst of the valley or wady.] This latter portion must have been, as Porter ('Handbook, Syria and Palestine,' p. 301) conjectures, 'some fortress (air) in the bed of the Arnon, at or near to Aroer.' There is no trace of any, nor indeed is there room for one, at this spot; but Burckhardt states that about one hour eastward, at the junction of Wady Lejum with the Arnon, there is a level tract of pasture ground, in the midst of which stands a hill with some ruins upon it, and this may probably be the site of "the city that is in the midst of the river."

All the plain of Medeba. This city, the ruins of which occupy a little hill, and are about one and a-half mile in circumference, is one hour fifteen minutes toward the southeast of Heshbon.

Unto Dibon - now Dhiban, the ruins of which are extensive, situated in the low-lying plains of Kura, about three miles northeast from the Arnon (Mojib). Though rebuilt by the Gadites (Numbers 32:34), it was afterward assigned to the Reubenites. Isaiah and Jeremiah rank it in later times as a Moabite town (Isaiah 15:1; Jeremiah 48:18). "All the plain of Medeba unto Dibon" (Joshua 13:9); "all the plain by Medeba" (Joshua 13:16); "all the cities of the plain" (Joshua 13:21; Deuteronomy 3:10) = 'the country or field of Moab' (Numbers 21:20).