Brockhaus and Efron Jewish Encyclopedia e2 336-0

In the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Shinar (Hebrew for Sumer) in

Book of Genesis The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning" ...

Chapter 14, who invaded

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

along with other kings under the leadership of

Chedorlaomer Chedorlaomer, also spelled Kedorlaomer (; Hebrew: כְּדָרְלָעֹמֶר, Tiberian: ''Kəḏorlā'ōmer''; Vat. Χοδολλογομορ), is a king of Elam mentioned in Genesis 14. Genesis portrays him as allied with three other kings, ca ...

, king of Elam. Chedorlaomer's coalition defeated Sodom and the other cities in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim.

Modern identifications

Beginning with E. Schrader in 1888, Amraphel is usually associated with

Hammurabi Hammurabi (Akkadian: ; ) was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from to BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered Elam and the city-states ...

, who ruled Babylonia from 1792 BC until his death in 1750 BC. Although there is no other king in Sumerian King List or Babylonian King List that matches the name Amraphel except Hammurabi, whose name is Ammurāpi in Amorite, this view has been largely abandoned in recent years. Other scholars have identified Amraphel with ''Aralius'', one of the names on the later Babylonian king-lists, attributed first to

Ctesias Ctesias (; grc-gre, Κτησίας; fl. fifth century BC), also known as Ctesias of Cnidus, was a Greek physician and historian from the town of Cnidus in Caria, then part of the Achaemenid Empire. Historical events Ctesias, who lived in the fi ...

. Recently,

David Rohl The New Chronology is an alternative chronology of the ancient Near East developed by English Egyptologist David Rohl and other researchers beginning with ''A Test of Time: The Bible - from Myth to History'' in 1995. It contradicts mainstream ...

argued for an identification with

Amar-Sin Amar-Sin ( akk, : '' DAmar D Sîn'', after the Moon God Sîn", the "𒀭" being a silent honorific for "Divine"), initially misread as Bur-Sin (c. 2046-2037 BC middle chronology, or possibly ca. 1982–1973 BC short chronology) was the third rule ...

, the third ruler of the Ur III dynasty.

John Van Seters John Van Seters (born May 2, 1935 in Hamilton, Ontario) is a Canadian scholar of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and the Ancient Near East. Currently University Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of North Carolina, he was formerly ...

, in ''Abraham in History and Tradition'', rejected the historical existence of Amraphel.

In Rabbinic tradition

Rabbinic sources such as

Midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...

Tanhuma Midrash Tanhuma ( he, מִדְרָשׁ תַּנְחוּמָא) is the name given to three different collections of Pentateuch aggadot; two are extant, while the third is known only through citations. These midrashim, although bearing the name of ...

''Lekh Lekhah'' 6, Targum Yonatan to Exodus 14:1, and Eruvin 53a identify Amraphel with

Nimrod Nimrod (; ; arc, ܢܡܪܘܕ; ar, نُمْرُود, Numrūd) is a biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush and therefore a great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of ...

. This is also asserted in the 11th chapter of the Sefer haYashar, attested from the early 17th century:

Genesis Rabbah Genesis Rabbah (Hebrew: , ''B'reshith Rabba'') is a religious text from Judaism's classical period, probably written between 300 and 500 CE with some later additions. It is a midrash comprising a collection of ancient rabbinical homiletical inter ...

42 says Amraphel was called by three names: Cush, after his father's name (Gen. 10:8), Nimrod, because he established rebellion (''mrd'') in the world, and Amraphel, as he declared (''amar'') "I will cast down" (''apilah'').

References

Bibliography

* Irving L. Finkel, ''The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood'' (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2014). *

External links

''Jewish Encyclopedia'': Amraphel
{{Authority control Lech-Lecha Nimrod Sumerian rulers Torah monarchs Hammurabi