Arphaxad

AI summary: Arphaxad matters because the cross references place him near the head of the specific line that carries Scripture from Noah's family toward the patriarchs. He does not receive an extended narrative, but his place in Genesis, Chronicles, and Luke shows how carefully the tradition preserves continuity through the generations after the flood. That continuity is theological as much as historical, because it supports the unfolding story of promise. Taken together, the material presents Arphaxad as a crucial ancestral link in the genealogy of covenant history.¹

Son of Shem, born the year after the Deluge. He died at the age of 438 years (Gen. 11:10-13; 1 Chr. 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. ³