Bible Encyclopedias
Aretas

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Ἀρέτας; Arab. charresh, Pococke, Spec. Hist. Arab. p. 58, or, in another form, c(haurish=חוֹרֵשׁ, graver, Pococke, 1:70, 76, 77, 89), the common name of several Arabian kings (see Diod. Sic. 14:70; comp. Wesseling; Michaelis, in Pott's Syllog. 3, 62 sq.).

1. The first of whom we have any notice was a contemporary of the Jewish high-priest Jason and of Antiochus Epiphanes, about B.C. 170 (2 Maccabees 5:8): "In the end, therefore, he (Jason) had an unhappy return, being accused before Aretas, the king of the Arabians."

2. Josephus (Ant. 13, 13, 3) mentions an Aretas, king of the Arabians

(surnamed Obedas, Ο᾿βέδας , Ant. 13, 13, 5), contemporary with Alexander Jannaeus (died B.C. 79) and his sons. After defeating Antiochus Dionysus, he reigned over Coele-Syria, "being called to the government by those that held Damascus (κληθεὶς εἰς τὴν ἀρχὴν ὑπὸ τῶν τὴν Δαμασκὸνἐχόντων ) by