padan-aram Summary and Overview

the plain of Aram, or the plain of the highlands, (Gen. 25:20; 28:2, 5-7; 31:18, etc.), commonly regarded as the district of Mesopotamia (q.v.) lying around Haran.

By this name, which signifies the table-land of Aram, i.e. Syriac, the Hebrews designated the tract of country which they otherwise called the Aram-naharaim, "Aram of the two of rivers," the Greek Mesopotamia, #Ge 24:10| and "the field (Authorized Version,'country') of Syria." #Ho 12:13| The term was perhaps more especially applied to that portion which bordered on the Euphrates, to distinguish if from the mountainous districts in the north and northeast of Mesopotamia. It is elsewhere called PADAN simply. #Ge 48:7| Abraham obtained a wife for Isaac from Padan-aram. #Ge 25:20| Jacob's wives were also from Padan-aram, #Ge 28:2,5,6,7; 31:1-8; 33:18|

PA'DAN-A'RAM (the low highland), the country from which Abraham obtained a wife for his son Isaac. Gen 24:10; Gen 25:20; Gen 28:2, Gen 28:5, Gen 28:7, from whence Jacob secured his wives, and where Laban lived. Gen 31:18; Gen 33:18; Gen 35:9, Gen 35:26; Gen 46:15. Padan-aram has usually been identified with Mesopotamia, the region between the two great rivers Euphrates and Tigris, and is believed more particularly to designate the plain, in distinction from the mountainous district, in the North of Mesopotamia. Another theory in respect to the location of Padan-aram has been advocated at various periods, to which attention has been directed of late by Dr. Merrill and Prof. Paine. They suggest that Milton places Haran (and of course Padan-aram) south or west of the Euphrates, and Dr. Beke (1845) wrote a learned work to prove that Padan-aram was in the vicinity of Damascus. This view, however, is opposed by the great majority of the most eminent scholars, and has too few facts in its favor to give it much importance. See Mesopotamia and Syria.

"The flat land of Aram," contrasted with the more mountainous region of the N. and N.E. of Mesopotamia (Hosea 12:12), "the field (sedeh) of Aram" (Genesis 25:20), the same as Aram Naharaim, "Aram of the two rivers," or Mesopotamia. (See MESOPOTAMIA.) (Genesis 24:10). Aram expresses the highland of Syria, contrasted with the lowland of Canaan. The land between Tigris and Euphrates is a vast flat, except where the Sinjar range intersects it. The home of Rebekah, Laban, etc.