Medeba was a Moabite town in the fertile plain northeast of the Dead Sea. It was about 40.2 kilometers (25 miles) south of Philadelphia (which is now modern Amman). It was 9.7 kilometers (6 miles) south of Heshbon on the Roman road that led to Kerak.
In this location, the Amorites defeated Moab (Numbers 21:30). Later, Israel defeated Sihon, King of the Amorites, at Medeba. The Israelites gave this town to the tribe of Reuben (Joshua 13:9, 16). King David defeated an Aramean army at this place. The Arameans had been hired by the Ammonites to fight against David's forces (1 Chronicles 19:7).
According to the Moabite Stone (an ancient stone inscription), the town was once controlled by the Israelite kings Omri and Ahab. However, when King Mesha brought Moab back to power in the eighth century BC, he rebuilt Medeba and other Moabite cities. Medeba is mentioned in Isaiah's prophecies against Moab (Isaiah 15:2). Later, the kings Joram and Jehoshaphat tried but failed to capture this city.