Editing Arpachshad

{{short description|In the Bible, son of Shem, the son of Noah}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Arpachshad
| image              = Arphaxad.jpg
| image_size         = 
| caption            = Arpachshad, son of Shem
| birth_date         = 2094 BC (tradition)
| birth_place        = [[Ur]], [[Sumer]]<br />(present-day southern [[Iraq]])
| death_date         = 1656 BC (aged 438) (tradition)
| death_place        = 
| occupation         = 
| parents            = [[Shem]]
| children           = [[Selah (biblical figure)|Selah]], and other sons and daughters
}}
'''Arpachshad''' ({{langx|ar|أرفخشذ}}&nbsp;– ʾArpaḵšaḏ; {{langx|he|אַרְפַּכְשַׁד}}&nbsp;– ''ʾArpaḵšaḏ'', in [[pausa]] {{Script/Hebrew|אַרְפַּכְשָׁד}}&nbsp;– ''ʾArpaḵšāḏ''; {{langx|el|Ἀρφαξάδ}} – ''Arphaxád''), alternatively spelled '''Arphaxad''' or '''Arphacsad''', is one of the postdiluvian men in the Shem{{endash}}Terah genealogy. The name is recorded in the [[Book of Genesis]] in the [[Hebrew Bible]] (or [[Old Testament]] of [[Christianity|Christian]] [[Bible]]) and subsequently copied in different biblical books, including the [[Gospel of Luke]] in the [[New Testament]].

==Biblical accounts==
According to the [[Book of Genesis]] he was one of the five sons of [[Shem]] (the son of [[Noah]]).<ref>{{bibleverse|Genesis|10:22|KJV}} {{Bibleverse|Genesis|11:10-13|KJV}} {{Bibleverse|1 Chronicles|1:17-18|KJV}}</ref> He is the twelfth name of the [[Genealogies of Genesis|Genesis genealogy]] that traces [[Abraham]]{{'}}s ancestry from Adam to [[Terah]] (cf. {{bibleverse|Luke|3:36–38|KJV}}). Beginning with Adam, nine [[Antediluvian]] names are given that predate Noah and [[Genesis flood narrative|the Flood]], and nine postdiluvian, beginning with Noah's eldest son Shem and ending with [[Terah]].<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing| isbn = 978-0-567-57455-8| last = Blenkinsopp| first = Joseph| title = Creation, Un-creation, Re-creation: A discursive commentary on Genesis 1-11| date = 2011-02-17}}</ref>

According to the text, Arpachshad's brothers were [[Biblical Elam|Elam]], [[Ashur (Bible)|Asshur]], [[Lud son of Shem|Lud]] and [[Aram, son of Shem|Aram]]. Arpachshad's son is called [[Selah (biblical figure)|Selah]], except in the [[Septuagint]], where his son is [[Cainan]], Shelah being Arpachshad's grandson. Cainan is also identified as Arpachshad's son in [[Gospel of Luke|Luke]] {{bibleverse-nb|Luke|3:36|KJV}} and in the non-canonical book of [[Jubilees]] 8:1. The [[Book of Jubilees]] additionally identifies Arpachshad's wife as ''Rasu'aya'', the daughter of ''Susan'', who was the son (or daughter in some versions) of Shem's older son Elam. (Arpachshad's mother is named in this source as ''Sedeqetelebab''; for competing traditions on the name of Shem's wife see [[wives aboard the Ark]].)

==Identifications==
Some ancient Jewish sources, particularly Jubilees, point to Arpachshad as the immediate progenitor of Ura and Kesed, who allegedly founded the city of ''[[Ur of the Chaldees|Ur Kasdim]]'' (Ur of the Chaldees) on the west bank of the [[Euphrates]] (Jubilees 9:4; 11:1–7) – the same bank where [[Ur]], identified by [[Leonard Woolley]] in 1927 as Ur of the Chaldees, is located.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Millard|first=Alan R.|url=http://fontes.lstc.edu/~rklein/Documents/Ur.htm|journal=[[Biblical Archaeology Review]]|date=May–June 2001|title=Where Was Abraham's Ur?|access-date=2008-01-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190201212830/http://fontes.lstc.edu/~rklein/Documents/Ur.htm|archive-date=2019-02-01|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Until Woolley's identification of Ur, Arpachshad was understood by many Jewish and Muslim scholars to be an area in northern [[Mesopotamia]]. This led to the identification of Arpachshad with [[Urfa|Urfa-Kasid]] (due to similarities in the names {{Script/Hebrew|ארפ־כשד}} and {{Script/Hebrew|כשדים}}) – a land associated with the [[Chalybes|Khaldis]], whom [[Josephus]] confused with the [[Chaldea]]ns. Donald B. Redford asserted that Arpachshad is to be identified with [[Babylon]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Redford|first=Donald B.|title=Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gkN9QgAACAAJ|year=1993|publisher=Princeton UP|isbn=9780691000862|page=405}}</ref>

==Another person with the same name==
Another Arpaxad is referenced in the [[deuterocanonical]] [[Book of Judith]] as a king of the [[Medes]], and if this supposed Median king is contemporary with the conquest of the Assyrians, he could be identified with [[Phraortes]] ({{circa|665}} - 633 BC).<ref>[[Jerusalem Bible]] (1966), footnote c at Judith 1:1</ref> If he is contemporary with [[Nebuchadnezzar II]] (named as king of the Assyrians in Judith), he might be identified with [[Cyaxares]] (r. 625–585 BC).<ref name="Waltz">{{cite book|last=Waltz|first=Robert B.|title=The Bible in History|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3tWMmH9LRcYC&pg=PA320|access-date=19 June 2014|pages=319–20|chapter=Phraortes}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Adam to David}}
{{Adam to Muhammad}}
{{Sons of Noah}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Book of Genesis people]]
[[Category:Shem]]
[[Category:Noach (parashah)]]
[[Category:Book of Jubilees]]