McClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Arpad

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McClintock Biblical Encyclopedia: Arpad


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(Isa_36:19; Isa_37:13) or Ar'phad (Heb. Arpad', àִøְôָּã , perhaps a support; but see below; Sept. in 2 Kings Á᾿ñöÜä , elsewhere Á᾿ñöÜè , in Isa_10:9 undistinguishable), a Syrian city, having its own king (2Ki_19:13; Isa_37:13), in the neighborhood of Hamath (2Ki_18:34; Isa_10:9; Isa_36:19) and Damascus (Jer_49:23), with both of which it appears to have been conquered by the Assyrians under Sennacherib. Michaelis and others seek Arphad in Raphance or Raphanee of the Greek geographers (Ptol. v, 15; Steph. Byzant. in Å᾿ðéöÜíåéá ; Joseph. War, 7:1, 3; 7:5, 1), which was a day's journey west of Hamath (Mannert, VI, i, 431). Paulus (Comment. in Isa_10:9) thinks it was a city in the neighborhood of the Tigris and Euphrates. Some, however, are content to find this Arphad in the A rpha ( Á᾿ñöᾶ ) which Josephus (War, iii, 3, 5) mentions as situated on the north-eastern frontier of the northernmost province of Herod Agrippa's tetrarchy; also called A rtha ( Á᾿ñèᾶ ) or Arfa by other ancient writers (Reland, Palcest. p. 584). But it seems best (with Doderloin and others) to refer it to the Phoenician island city Arvad or Aradus (q.v.), which was opposite Hamath (the interchange of ô and å being very natural).