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•ARPHAXAD son of Shem, born the year after the Deluge. He died at the age of 438 years (Genesis 11:10-13; 1 Chronicles 1:17, 18; Luke 3:36). He dwelt in Mesopotamia, and became, according to the Jewish historian Josephus, the progenitor of the Chaldeans. The tendency is to recognize in the word the name of the country nearest the ancient domain of the Chaldeans. Some regard the word as an Egypticized form of the territorial name of Ur Kasdim, or Ur of the Chaldees.
•ARROWS At first made of reeds, and then of wood tipped with iron. Arrows are sometimes figuratively put for lightning (Deuteronomy 32:23, 42; Psalm 7:13; 18:14; 144:6; Zechariah 9:14). They were used in war as well as in the chase (Genesis 27:3; 49:23). They were also used in divination (Ezekiel 21:21).
The word is frequently employed as a symbol of calamity or disease inflicted by God (Job 6:4; 34:6; Psalm 38:2; Deuteronomy 32:23. Comp. Ezekiel 5:16), or of some sudden danger (Psalm 91:5), or bitter words (Psalm 64:3), or false testimony (Proverbs 25:18).
•ARTAXERXES the Greek form of the name of several Persian kings. (1.) The king who obstructed the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 4:7). He was probably the Smerdis of profane history.
(2.) The king mentioned in Ezra 7:1, in the seventh year (B.C. 458) of whose reign Ezra led a second colony of Jews back to Jerusalem, was probably Longimanus, who reigned for forty years (B.C. 464-425); the grandson of Darius, who, fourteen years later, permitted Nehemiah to return and rebuild Jerusalem.