Where is Arubboth in the Bible?

Arubboth is mentioned in 1 Kings 4:10 as one of the twelve administrative districts of King Solomon's kingdom. It was located in the region of Galilee, in the territory of Issachar.

What happened at Arubboth in the Bible?

The Bible does not record a specific event at Arubboth. It is listed as the headquarters for one of Solomon's twelve district governors, Ben-Hesed, who was responsible for providing food for the king's household one month each year (1 Kings 4:7, 10).

Why is Arubboth significant?

Arubboth's significance is its inclusion in Solomon's administrative system, demonstrating the organized governance and taxation that supported his vast kingdom and building projects. Its location in Galilee also connects it to the later ministry of Jesus in that region.

Arubboth

cityOld TestamentGalilee1 verse

Today Khirbet el HamamCountry IsraelCoordinates 32.407, 35.134

Arubboth is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Galilee in modern-day Israel. Known today as Khirbet el Hamam. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.

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Archaeological Data

Occupation Phases

Chalcolithic4500 BCE – 3800 BCE

Early Bronze Age I3800 BCE – 3050 BCE

Early Bronze Age II3050 BCE – 2850 BCE

Early Bronze Age IV/Middle Bronze Age I/Int. Bronze2500 BCE – 2000 BCE

Middle Bronze Age II-III1750 BCE – 1550 BCE

Late Bronze Age III1200 BCE – 1150 BCE

Iron Age I1150 BCE – 980 BCE

Iron Age IIa-b980 BCE – 720 BCE

Iron Age II980 BCE – 539 BCE

Iron Age III (Persian)539 BCE – 333 BCE

Hellenistic333 BCE – 63 BCE

Roman63 BCE – 324 CE

Early Roman63 BCE – 70 CE

Late Roman70 CE – 324 CE

Byzantine324 CE – 638 CE

UnitoAssyrianGovernance, Villages to Empires Dataset (CC BY 4.0), doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732

Biblical History

Arubboth appears once in the Old Testament, in 1 Kings 4:10, as the administrative district assigned to Ben-hesed, one of Solomon's twelve district officers responsible for provisioning the royal court for one month each year. The passage reads: "Ben-hesed was in Arubboth, to him belonged Socoh and all the land of Hepher." This brief reference places Arubboth within the administrative reorganization of Israel under Solomon, who divided the kingdom into twelve districts for purposes of taxation and provisioning, a system that bypassed older tribal boundaries in favor of economic efficiency. Arubboth's inclusion in this list alongside Socoh and the land of Hepher suggests it was a regional center in the western foothills or lower Galilee, capable of bearing its share of the royal provisioning burden. The Solomonic administrative system, though efficient, later generated significant resentment and contributed to the tribal tensions that culminated in the division of the kingdom following Solomon's death. Arubboth thus stands as a quiet witness to a transformative moment in Israelite state formation.

Archaeological & Historical Notes

Arubboth is identified with Khirbet el-Hamam (also spelled el-Hammam), a site in the Dothan Valley area of the western lower Galilee or Samaria region of modern Israel. The identification is based on geographical consistency with the administrative district described in 1 Kings 4:10. Khirbet el-Hamam has been investigated through survey work and limited excavation. Iron Age pottery and remains have been found consistent with occupation during the Solomonic period. The broader Dothan-Jezreel corridor in which the site sits is well-attested archaeologically as an area of dense Iron Age settlement and strategic importance. Full-scale excavation of the specific site has not been undertaken, leaving details of its Solomonic-era character to be inferred from regional evidence.

Verse Appearances (1)

1Kgs

1Kgs 4:10

References

Orr, J. (ed.) (1915) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Chicago: Howard-Severance Company. [Public Domain]
OpenBible.info (n.d.) Bible Geocoding. Available at: https://www.openbible.info/geo/. [CC BY 4.0]
Bagnall, R. et al. (eds.) (n.d.) Pleiades: A Gazetteer of Past Places. Available at: https://pleiades.stoa.org. [CC BY 3.0]
Wikidata contributors (n.d.) Wikidata. Available at: https://www.wikidata.org. [CC0]
Lawrence, D. et al. (2025) Villages to Empires: a settlement dataset for the Southern Levant. doi:10.5281/zenodo.15111732. [CC BY 4.0]
Church of England (1769) The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. [Public Domain]

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