Aram-naharaim

Biblical Texts

Aram-naharaim appears in the following Old Testament passages.

• Genesis 24:10: Abraham sends his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac. The servant arrives at "the city of Nahor" in this region and meets Rebekah.
• Deuteronomy 23:4: Balaam, who was hired to curse Israel, is identified as coming from Pethor in this region.
• Judges 3:8, 10: Cushan-rishathaim, king of this region, rules over Israel for eight years. Othniel defeats him and delivers Israel.
• 1 Chronicles 19:6: The Ammonites hire chariots and horsemen from this region, as well as from Aram-maacah and Zobah, to fight against David.
• Psalm 60 (superscription): The psalm is set at the time when David "strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah."

The New Korean Revised Version transliterates the name as "Aram-naharaim" in the superscription of Psalm 60 and renders it as "Mesopotamia" in the other passages.

Name and Location

The name combines the Hebrew Aram with naharaim, the dual form (a form denoting a pair) of the word for "river," and is commonly interpreted as "Aram of the two rivers." The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, rendered it as "Mesopotamia" (the land between the rivers), and many translations have followed this rendering.

The region is generally located east of the upper Euphrates, in northern Mesopotamia around Haran. Opinions differ on which two rivers are meant. Some identify them as the Euphrates and the Tigris, while others take them to be the Euphrates and one of its tributaries (the Balikh or the Khabur). Some scholars identify the region with the "Naharin" mentioned in ancient Egyptian texts. It was inhabited by the Arameans. Many scholars also hold that "Paddan-aram" in Genesis (Genesis 28:2 and elsewhere) refers to the same region or to part of it.

Significance in the Bible as a Whole

In Genesis, this region is the homeland of the patriarchs, where Abraham's relatives remained. Isaac's wife Rebekah came from here, and Jacob also fled to this region, where his uncle's household lived, and there took his wives. The confession in Deuteronomy 26:5, "A Syrian ready to perish was my father" (that is, a wandering Aramean), likewise links Israel's origins to this region. In Judges and 1 Chronicles, it appears as the place from which powers threatening Israel arose.

In the New Testament the name "Mesopotamia" remains in use. Among those gathered at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost were "dwellers in Mesopotamia" (Acts 2:9). Stephen describes God's appearing to Abraham as occurring "when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran" (Acts 7:2). In this New Testament usage, Mesopotamia denotes a broader region that includes Ur of the Chaldees.

Interpretive Issues

• Difference in scope: Today "Mesopotamia" refers to the entire Tigris–Euphrates basin, including Babylonia. The Old Testament Aram-naharaim, by contrast, is understood as a region limited to its northwestern portion. Readers of "Mesopotamia" in the New Korean Revised Version should keep this distinction in mind.
• The city of Nahor: Some hold that it refers to Haran itself, while others regard it as a separate town.
• Cushan-rishathaim: Because "rishathaim" is interpreted as "double wickedness," some hold that it is an epithet rather than a personal name. Given the unusual circumstance of Othniel, a man of Judah, confronting a king from distant northern Mesopotamia, some scholars suggest that "Aram" arose from a scribal confusion with "Edom." This, however, is conjecture, and the text reads Aram-naharaim.