Bible Encyclopedias
Arpad; Arphad

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ar´pad; ar´fad ( ארפּד , 'arpādh , "support"): A city of Syria, captured frequently by the Assyrians, and finally subjugated by Tiglath-pileser III in 740 bc, after a siege of two years. It is now the ruin Tell Erfād , 13 miles Northwest of Aleppo. Arpad is one of the conquered cities mentioned by Rabshakeh, the officer of Sennacherib, in his boast before Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:34; 2 Kings 19:13; Isaiah 36:19; Isaiah 37:13; the King James Version Arphad ). Isaiah puts a boast about its capture in the mouth of the Assyrian king (Isaiah 10:9 ), and Jeremiah mentions it as "confounded" because of evil tidings, in the oracle concerning Damascus (Jeremiah 49:23 ). On every occasion Arpad is mentioned with Hamath.