ARAD (ā'răd, Heb. ‘ărādh)

A descendant of Benjamin (1Chr.8.15).A city, now Tell Arad, about seventeen miles (twenty-eight km.) south of Hebron. Its king opposed Israel and his city was destroyed and renamed Hormah (Num.21.1-Num.21.3; Num.33.40; cf. Josh.12.14). According to Judg.1.16, Kenites settled in the area.

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ARAD â’ ăd (עֲרָד, LXX ̓Αράδ; wild ass, fugitive). 1. A city in the NE Negeb some seventeen m. S of Hebron and about the same distance W of Masada. The city occupied an excellent strategic position in the middle of a wide, gently rolling plain. The Tell indicates that Arad was a center of civilization as early as the fourth millennium b.c. and again in Abrahamite times. The archeological evidence also implies that Arad was a city of stone and brick with defensive walls by the 10th cent. b.c.

The city of Arad is mentioned only four times in the OT (Num 21:1; 33:40; Josh 12:14; Judg 1:16). In the KJV it is twice taken incorrectly for the name of a king (Num 21:1; 33:40). According to Numbers 21:1-3, the “king” (or chieftain) of Arad joined battle with Israel, Israel being victorious and calling the place Hormah (“destruction”).

2. A descendant of Benjamin through Beriah (1 Chron 8:15).

Bibliography

On 1. see N. Glueck, Rivers in the Desert: A History of the Negev (1959), 49-53 and passim; Y. Aharoni and R. Amiran, “The Problem of Canaanite Arad,” IEJ, XIV (1964), 144-147.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

(`aradh; Arad):

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(2) One of the descendants of Elpaal the son of Shaharaim, mentioned among the descendants of Benjamin (1Ch 8:15).

Willis J. Beecher