World Library  
  
Flag as Inappropriate
Email this Article

Paddan Aram

Article Id: WHEBN0016786442
Reproduction Date:

Title: Paddan Aram  
Author: World Heritage Encyclopedia
Language: English
Subject: Rachel, Aram-Damascus, Arameans, Ben-Hadad I, Ben-Hadad III
Collection: Aramean States, History of Aramea, History of Upper Mesopotamia, Torah Places
Publisher: World Heritage Encyclopedia
Publication
Date:
 

Paddan Aram

Arameans
Aramean kingdoms
Aramean kings
Aramean cities

Paddan Aram or Padan-aram Aramaic: פדן ארם was an early Aramean kingdom in Mesopotamia. Paddan Aram in Aramaic means the field of Aram.[1] The name may correspond to the Hebrew “sedeh Aram,” or “field of Aram.” (Rashi to Gen. 25:20; e.g., Hos. 12:13.)

Contents

  • In the Hebrew Bible 1
  • In Rabbinic interpretation 2
  • See also 3
  • References 4

In the Hebrew Bible

Paddan Aram designates the area of Harran in upper Mesopotamia. "Paddan Aram" and "Haran" may be dialectical variations regarding the same locality as paddanū and harranū are synonyms for "road" or "caravan route" in Akkadian.[2]

Padan-aram or Padan appears in 11 verses in the Hebrew Bible, all in Genesis. Adherents of the documentary hypothesis often attribute most of these verses to the priestly source[3][4][5] and the remainder to a later redactor. [6]

The city of Harran, where Abraham and his father Terah settled after leaving Ur of the Chaldees, while en route to Canaan, according to the Genesis 11:31, was located in Paddan Aram, that part of Aram Naharaim that lay along the Euphrates. Abraham's brother Nahor settled in the area. Abraham’s nephew Bethuel, son of Nahor and Milcah, and father of Laban and Rebecca, lived in Padan-aram. Abraham sent Eliezer, his steward, back there to find a wife among his kinfolk for his son, Isaac. The steward found Rebecca.[2]

Isaac and Rebecca's son Jacob was sent there to avoid the wrath of his brother Esau.[2] There Jacob worked for Laban, fathered eleven sons and daughter, Dinah, (Gen. 35:22-26; 46:15), and amassed livestock and wealth. (Gen. 31:18.) From there, Jacob went to Shechem and the Land of Israel, where his twelfth son was born to him. (Gen. 33:18.)

In Rabbinic interpretation

In the midrash, Rabbi Isaac taught that the people of Padan-aram were rogues and Rebekah was like a lily among the thorns. (Genesis Rabbah 63:4 see also Leviticus Rabbah 23:1 (deceivers); Song of Songs Rabbah 2:4 (tricksters); Zohar, Bereshit 1:136b (wicked); Rashi to Gen. 25:20 (wicked).) Rabbi Isaac thus considered Rebecca’s sojourn in Padan-aram as emblematic of Israel’s among the nations. (Zohar, Bereshit 1:137a.)

See also

References

  1. ^ , Columbia University Press, 1918Aram and IsraelKraeling, Emil Gottlieb Heinrich.
  2. ^ a b c , Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, p.627, 1915, ISBN 9780802837851The International Standard Bible EncyclopediaBromiley, Geoffrey W.,
  3. ^ Richard Elliott Friedman. The Bible with Sources Revealed, 71, 76, 82, 109, 113. New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2003
  4. ^ , p.235, Yale University Press, 2012, ISBN 9780300152630The Composition of the PentateuchBaden, Joel S.
  5. ^ Gunkle, Hermann and Biddle, Mark E., "Genesis", Mercer University Press, 1997, ISBN 9780865545175
  6. ^ Friedman 87, 89
This article was sourced from Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. World Heritage Encyclopedia content is assembled from numerous content providers, Open Access Publishing, and in compliance with The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., Public Library of Science, The Encyclopedia of Life, Open Book Publishers (OBP), PubMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and USA.gov, which sources content from all federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government publication portals (.gov, .mil, .edu). Funding for USA.gov and content contributors is made possible from the U.S. Congress, E-Government Act of 2002.
 
Crowd sourced content that is contributed to World Heritage Encyclopedia is peer reviewed and edited by our editorial staff to ensure quality scholarly research articles.
 
By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. World Heritage Encyclopedia™ is a registered trademark of the World Public Library Association, a non-profit organization.
 



Copyright © World Library Foundation. All rights reserved. eBooks from World Library are sponsored by the World Library Foundation,
a 501c(4) Member's Support Non-Profit Organization, and is NOT affiliated with any governmental agency or department.