Two cities named Rabbah are mentioned in the Old Testament.
1) The more famous of the two, Rabbah of the Ammonites, or Rabbah bene 'ammon, was the capital city of Ammon, and is identified with the modern city of Amman of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The city was largely occupied by Greek settlers after Alexander the Great's conquest of the region, and was re-named Philadelphia (not to be confused with that cited in Rev 1:11 and 3:7). Under Roman rule it became one of the ten cities in a loose confederation known as the Decapolis.
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Rabbah of the Ammonites was one of the last cities to be conquered by David before he consolidated his kingdom. His troops under Joab besieged the city for two years before it finally capitulated and was reduced to ashes (2 Sam 12:26-31). It was during the spring of this war that David, instead of joining his army, stayed back in Jerusalem and fell into his adultery with Bathsheba, and it was to this city that David callously plotted to send her husband Uriah to be killed in battle (2 Sam 11:14-26).
Rabbah of the Ammonites was also the city in which the bed of Og king of Bashan, "made of iron and more than thirteen feet long and six feet wide" could still be seen during the days when an editor was putting together the final form of the book of Deuteronomy (Deut 3:11).
2) A town in Judah mentioned only in passing in the list of towns allotted to the tribe of Judah (Jos 15:60). Other than the fact that it was located "in the hill country" (v48) we know nothing about the place.
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