| ARAM
1. The name of three men in the Bible: a son of Shem, Genesis 10:22, a grandson of Nahor, Genesis 22:21, and an ancestor of our Lord, Ruth 4:19 1 Chronicles 2:10 Matthew 1:3 Luke 3:33 2. Nearly synonymous with Syria; the Hebrew name of the whole region northeast of Palestine, extending from the Tigris on the east nearly to the Mediterranean on the west, and to the Taurus range on the north. It was named after Aram the son of Shem. Thus defined, it includes also Mesopotamia, which the Hebrews named Aram-naharaim, Aram of the two rivers, Genesis 25:20 48:7. Various cities in the western part of Aram gave their own names to the regions around them: as Damascus, (Aram-Dammesek,) 2 Samuel 8:6; Maachah, near Bashan, 1 Chronicles 19:6; Geshur, Joshua 12:5 2 Samuel 15:8; Zobah, and Beth-rehob, 2 Samuel 10:6,8. Several of these were powerful states, and often waged war against Israel. David subdued them and made them tributaries, and Solomon preserved this supremacy. After him it was lost, except perhaps under Jeroboam II. See SYRIA, PADAN-ARAM. The Aramaean language, nearly resembling the Hebrew, gradually supplanted the latter as a spoken language, and was in use in Judea at the time of Christ. It is still used by Syrian Christians around Mosul.
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