Padan-Aram

Pa'dan-A'ram (Heb. Paddan 'Aram', פָּדִּןאּארֲָם, the field [or flat country] of Syria, i.e. Mesopotamiaonly in Genesis; Sept. ἡ Μεσοποταμία Συρίας, Ge 25:20; Ge 28:6-7; Ge 33:18; ἡ M. Ge 28:2,5; Ge 31:18; M. τῆς Συρ. Ge 35:9,26; Ge 46:15; Alex. ἡ M. Ge 25:20; Ge 28:5,7; Ge 31:18; ἡ M. Συρ. Ge 28:2; Ge 33:18, Vulg. Mesopotamia Ge 25:20; Ge 31:18; M. Syrice, Ge 28:2,5-6; Ge 33:18; Ge 35:9,26; Ge 46:15; Syria, Ge 26:15); once called Padan simply (Ge 48:7); the tableland of Aram,'' a name by which the Hebrews designated the tract of country which they otherwise called ARAM-NAHARAIM, "Aram of the two rivers," the Greek MESOPOTAMIA (Ge 24:10), and "the field (A.V. country) of Aram" (Ho 12:12). The term was perhaps more especially applied to that portion which bordered on the Euphrates, to distinguish it from the mountainous districts in the north and north-east of Mesopotamia. Rashi's note on Ge 25:20 is curious: "Because there were two Arams, Aram-naharaim and Aram Zobah, he (the writer) calls it Paddan-Aram; the expression 'yoke of oxen' is in the Targums פִדִּן תּוֹרַין, paddan torin; and some interpret Paddan-Aram as 'field of Aram,' because in the language of the Ishmaelites they call a field paddan." In Syr. pidono is used for a "plain" or "field;" and both this and the Arabic word are probably from the Arab root fadda, "to plough," which seems akin tofid in fidit, from findere. If this etymology be true, Paddan-Aram is the arable land of Syria: "either an upland vale in the hills, or a fertile district immediately at their feet" (Stanley, Sin. and Pal. p. 129, note). Paddan, the ploughed land, would thus correspond with the Lat. arvum, and is analogous to Eng. field, the felled land, from which the trees have been cleared. SEE ARAM.

Padan-Aram plays an important part in the early history of the Hebrews. The family of their founder had settled there, and were long looked upon as the aristocracy of the race, with whom alone the legitimate descendants of Abraham might intermarry, and. thus preserve the purity of their blood. Thither Abraham sent his faithful steward (Ge 24:10), after the news had reached him in his southern home at Beersheba that children had been born to his brother Nahor. From this family alone, the offspring of Nahor and Micah, Abraham's brother and niece, could a wife be sought, for Isaac, the heir of promise (Ge 25:20), and Jacob the inheritor of his blessing (Genesis 28). SEE MESOPOTAMIA.