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Archaeological finds and biblical references indicate that in the early 8th century BCE, the time of Jeroboam II, the Northern Kingdom expanded in the south as far as Kuntillet Ajrud in northeast Sinai and in the northeast to the Irbid Plateau and the southern Bashan. This seems to demonstrate Israel's interest in dominating the two branches of the Arabian trade routes—the Darb el-Ghazza in Sinai and the King's Highway in Transjordan. Against this background, I discuss the possibility that Israel also extended its rule or domination to Edom and to other sectors of Transjordan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of a mistaken interpretation of the Madaba map, biblical Naal Zered is often identified in the scholarship as Wādi al-sā, which marks the boundary between Moab and Edom southeast of the Dead Sea. In reality, the brook of Zered does not appear on the Madaba map and the sole documentary evidence available for its identification is the Bible, which situates Naal Zered near Naal Arnon. The author proposes Wādi Nkheile, which spills into the Arnon from the southeast, as the most likely candidate for the biblical Zered. This identification perhaps also sheds light on the conflicting biblical sources regarding the question of whether or not the Moabites allowed the Israelites to pass through their territory en route to Canaan. In the postbiblical era Naal Zered appears in the boundaries baraita (baraita de-teumin) as part of the eastern border of the land of Israel and the article demonstrates that the identification of Naal Zered as Wādi Nkheile is consistent with the geographical logic of the baraita. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]