Arad
A'rad (Heb. Arad', עֲרָד, perh. flight), the name of a city and of a man.
1. (Sept. Α᾿ρἀδ, but in Joshua ῎Αδερ.) An ancient city (so called perhaps from wild asses in the vicinity, comp. עֲרוֹד, onager) on the southernmost borders of Palestine, whose inhabitants drove back the Israelites as they attempted to penetrate from Kadesh into Canaan (Nu 21:1; Nu 33:40, where the Auth. Verso has "King Arad," instead of "King of Arad"), but were eventually subdued by Joshua, along with the other southern Canaanites (Jos 12:14; also Jg 1:16). It lay within the original limits of the tribe of Judah (Jos 12:14) north (north- west) of the desert of Judah (Jg 1:16). Eusebius (Α᾿ραμά) and Jerome place Arad twenty Roman miles from Hebron, and four from Malatha, in the neighborhood of the desert of Kadesh (see Reland, Palaest. p. 481, 501, 573). This accords well with the situation of a hill called Tell Arad, which Dr. Robinson observed on the road from Petra to Hebron. He describes it as "a barren-looking eminence rising above the country around." He did not examine the spot, but the Arabs said there were no ruins upon or near it, but only a cavern (Researches, 2:472, 622). The same identification is proposed by Schwarz (Palest. p. 86). SEE HORMIAH. According to Van de Velde (Narrat. 2:83-85) there are fragments of pottery on the top of the Tell, and a ruined reservoir on its south side. It was an episcopal city in Jerome's time (Ritter, Erdk. 14:121).
2. (Sept. Α᾿ρώδ v. r. ᾿Ωρήδ.) One of the "sons" of Beriah of the tribe of Benjamin (1Ch 8:15), B.C. apparently 536.
