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the Exodus the number of males above twenty years capable of bearing arms was 600,000 (Exodus 12:37). In David’s time it mounted to the number of 1,300,000 (2 Samuel 24:9).
•ARNON swift, the southern boundary of the territory of Israel beyond Jordan, separating it from the land of Moab (Deuteronomy 3:8, 16). This river (referred to twenty-four times in the Bible) rises in the mountains of Gilead, and after a circuitous course of about 80 miles through a deep ravine it falls into the Dead Sea nearly opposite Engedi. The stream is almost dry in summer. It is now called el-Mujeb. The territory of the Amorites extended from the Arnon to the Jabbok.
•AROER ruins. (1.) A town on the north bank of the Arnon (Deuteronomy 4:48; Judges 11:26; 2 Kings 10:33), the southern boundary of the kingdom of Sihon (Joshua 12:2). It is now called Arair, 13 miles west of the Dead Sea.
(2.) One of the towns built by the tribe of Gad (Numbers 32:34) “before Rabbah” (Joshua 13:25), the Ammonite capital. It was famous in the history of Jephthah (Judges 11:33) and of David (2 Samuel 24:5). (Comp. Isaiah 17:2; 2 Kings 15:29.)
(3.) A city in the south of Judah, 12 miles south-east of Beersheba, to which David sent presents after recovering the spoil from the Amalekites at Ziklag (1 Samuel 30:26, 28). It was the native city of two of David’s warriors (1 Chronicles 11:44). It is now called Ar’arah.