Sacred Texts Bible Index
Arad (1.) Now Tell Arad, a Canaanite city, about 20 miles south of Hebron. The king of Arad "fought against Israel and took of them prisoners" when they were retreating from the confines of Edom (Num 21:1; Num 33:40; Jdg 1:16). It was finally subdued by Joshua (Jos 12:14). (2.) One of the sons of Beriah (Ch1 8:15).
Aram The son of Shem (Gen 10:22); according to Gen 22:21, a grandson of Nahor. In Mat 1:3, Mat 1:4, and Luk 3:33, this word is the Greek form of Ram, the father of Amminadab (Ch1 2:10). The word means high, or highlands, and as the name of a country denotes that elevated region extending from the northeast of Palestine to the Euphrates. It corresponded generally with the Syria and Mesopotamia of the Greeks and Romans. In Gen 25:20; Gen 31:20, Gen 31:24; Deu 26:5, the word "Syrian" is properly "Aramean" (R.V., marg.). Damascus became at length the capital of the several smaller kingdoms comprehended under the designation "Aram" or "Syria."
Aram-naharaim Aram of the two rivers, is Mesopotamia (as it is rendered in Gen 24:10), the country enclosed between the Tigris on the east and the Euphrates on the west (Psa 60:1, title); called also the "field of Aram" (Hos 12:12, R.V.) i.e., the open country of Aram; in the Authorized Version, "country of Syria." Padan-aram (q.v.) was a portion of this country.
Aram-zobah (Psa 60:1, title), probably the region between the Euphrates and the Orontes.
Aran Wild goat, a descendant of Seir the Horite (Gen 36:28).
Ararat Sacred land or high land, the name of a country on one of the mountains of which the ark rested after the Flood subsided (Gen 8:4). The "mountains" mentioned were probably the Kurdish range of South Armenia. In Kg2 19:37; Isa 37:38, the word is rendered "Armenia" in the Authorized Version, but in the Revised Version, "Land of Ararat." In Jer 51:27, the name denotes the central or southern portion of Armenia. It is, however, generally applied to a high and almost inaccessible mountain which rises majestically from the plain of the Araxes. It has two conical peaks, about 7 miles apart, the one 14,300 feet and the other 10,300 feet above the level of the plain. Three thousand feet of the summit of the higher of these peaks is covered with perpetual snow. It is called Kuh-i-nuh, i.e., "Noah's mountain", by the Persians. This part of Armenia was inhabited by a people who spoke a language unlike any other now known, though it may have been related to the modern Georgian. About 900 B.C. they borrowed the cuneiform characters of Nineveh, and from this time we have inscriptions of a line of kings who at times contended with Assyria. At the close of the seventh century B.C. the kingdom of Ararat came to an end, and the country was occupied by a people who are ancestors of the Armenians of the present day.
Araunah Agile; also called Ornan Ch1 21:15, a Jebusite who dwelt in Jerusalem before it was taken by the Israelites. The destroying angel, sent to punish David for his vanity in taking a census of the people, was stayed in his work of destruction near a threshing-floor belonging to Araunah which was situated on Mount Moriah. Araunah offered it to David as a free gift, together with the oxen and the threshing instruments; but the king insisted on purchasing it at its full price (Sa2 24:24; Ch1 21:24, Ch1 21:25), for, according to the law of sacrifices, he could not offer to God what cost him nothing. On the same place Solomon afterwards erected the temple (Sa2 24:16; Ch2 3:1). (See ALTAR.)
Arba Four, a giant, father of Anak. From him the city of Hebron derived its name of Kirjath-arba, i.e., the city of Araba (Jos 14:15; Jos 15:13; Jos 21:11; Gen 13:18; Gen 23:2). (See HEBRON.)
Arbathite A name given to Abi-albon, or, as elsewhere called, Abiel, one of David's warriors (Sa2 23:31; Ch1 11:32), probably as being an inhabitant of Arabah (Jos 15:61), a town in the wilderness of Judah.