Amraphel
AMRAPHEL
King of Shinar in the time of Abraham. With three other petty kings, he made war upon the tribes around the Dead Sea, and the cities of the plain, Gen 14:1 .
Fuente: American Tract Society Bible Dictionary
Amraphel
King of Sennaar, or Babylonia, one of the Mesopotamian kings mentioned in Genesis; now believed to be identical with Hammurabi (2250 B.C. ).
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Amraphel
King of Sennaar (Shinar), or Babylonia, one of the four Mesopotamian kings–the other three being Arioch, King of Pontus (Ellasar); Chodorlahomor, King of Elam, and Thadal (Tedal), King of Nations (Goyim)–who, according to the fourteenth chapter of Genesis, jointly invaded Chanaan and defeated the five kings of the Plains, capturing Lot and his family, together with a rich booty. On their way home they were assailed and routed in a single night by Abraham and his 318 men in the vale of Sava (Siddim), near the Dead Sea. Among the rescued prisoners were Lot and his family. Abraham, furthermore, while on his way back from his victorious attack, was met by Melchisedech, the HighPriest of ElElion, at Jerusalem, who celebrated Abraham’s victory by a thanksgiving offering of bread and wine, taking from him, as his sacerdotal share, the tenth part of the booty. To Biblical scholars and theologians the personality of Amraphel is of considerable interest, owing to the fact that he has been long ago identified by the majority of Assyriologists and Biblical critics with the great Babylonian king, Hammurabi, the sixth monarch of the first Babylonian dynasty, who reigned about 2250 B. C.. This ruler’s famous Code of Laws, the oldest code of laws in the world, was discovered in 1901-2, in Susa, the ancient capital of Elam, by the French archæological expedition, and was for the first time deciphered and translated by the French Dominican scholar, Father Scheil, of Paris
The identity of Amraphel and Hammurabi is now unanimously accepted by Assyriologists and Biblical critics. Phonetically, the two names are identical. The variants of the second form are Ammirabi, Ammurapi, and Hammumrabi, etc. Hammu, or Ammu, was in all probability the name of a god, as it is found in many compound names such as Sumuhammu, Jasdihammu, and Zimrihammu. The element rabi is very common in Babylonia, and it means “great”; the full name, consequently, means “The god Ammu is great”, on the same analogy as names like Sinrabi, Samasrabi, and many others. According to Dr. Lindle, followed by Sayce and others, the name was also pronounced Ammurabi, and, so Dr. Pinches was the first to point out, the form Ammurapi is also met with by the side of Hammurabi, and like many of the Babylonian kings of that period, he was deified, being addressed as iluAmmurabi or Ammurabiilu, i.e. “Ammurabi the god”, ilu being the equivalent of the Hebrew El, which means “god”. Now Ammurabiilu or Ammurapilu is letter for letter the Amraphel, or Amrapel, of Genesis. According to another hypothesis, suggested by Dr. Husing, the l at the end of the form “Amraphel” is superfluous, for he would join it to the next word, and read: “And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel, as Arioch king of Ellasar was over Shinar, that Chodorlahomer . . .” Another, and according to Dr. Pinches perhaps more likely, explanation is that this additional letter l is due to a faulty reading of a variant writing of the name, with a polyphonous character having the value of pil, as well as bi, which form may, in fact, still be found. But whichever hypothesis we adopt, the identity of Amraphel and Hammurabi is phonetically beyond dispute.
The political situation presupposed in Gen., xiv, reflects, furthermore, with a remarkable degreee of probability, the condition of the times of Hammurabi’s reign. The leader of the force and the suzerain to whom the Chanaanitish princes were subject, was a king of Elam. Elam, therefore, must have been the predominant power at the time, and the Babylonian king must have been its vassal. The narrative, nevertheless, is dated in the reign of the Babylonian king, and not in that of the King of Elam, and it is to the reign of the Babylonian king that the events described in it are attached. Babylonia, however, was not a united country; there was another king, Arioch of Ellasar, who divided with the Amraphel of Sennaar the government of it, and like Amraphel, acknowledged the supremacy of Elam. Finally, the “nations” (goyim), whoever they were, were also subject to Elam, as well as the distant province of Chanaan. If we turn our glance to the political condition of Hammurabi’s times and period, we shall find that the contemporary monuments of Babylonia are in perfect accord with the situation presupposed by Gen., xiv.
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OUSSANI in New York Review (Aug.-Sept., 1906), 204-243, with full bibliography.
GABRIEL OUSSANI Transcribed by WGKofron With thanks to St. Mary’s Church, Akron, Ohio
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume ICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Amraphel
(Heb., Amraphel’, , apparently the Sanscrit amarapala, keeper of the gods; Sept. , Josephus , Ant. 1, 9, 1), a king (perhaps Hamite, comp. Rawlinson’s Herodotus, 1, 446) of Shinar (i.e. Babylonia), confederated with Chedorlaomer (q.v.), king of Elam, and two other kings, to make war against the kings of Pentapolis, viz., Sodom, Gomorrah, and the three neighboring cities, which they plundered; among the captives whom they carried off was Lot, Abrahami’s nephew; but Abraham (q.v.) pursued them, retook Lot, and recovered the spoil (Gen 14:1; Gen 14:4), B.C. cir. 2080.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Amraphel
king of Shinar, southern Chaldea, one of the confederates of Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, in a war against Sodom and cities of the plain (Gen. 14:1, 4). It is now found that Amraphel (or Ammirapaltu) is the Khammu-rabi whose name appears on recently-discovered monuments. (See CHEDORLAOMER). After defeating Arioch (q.v.) he united Babylonia under one rule, and made Babylon his capital.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Amraphel
One of the four invading kings (Gen 14:9). Shinar, his kingdom, or Babylonia, was subordinate to the great Elanrite king, (See CHEDORLAOMER.) The Assyrian monuments attest that an Elamite king invaded and plundered Babylonia in 2386 B.C.; and Babylonian remains bear traces of Elamitic influence.
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Amraphel
AMRAPHEL.The king of Shinar (Gen 14:1). He has been identified (by Schrader and usually) with Hammurabi, king of Babylonia, but apart from the difficulties due to differences of spelling, there is no evidence that Hammurabi was ever allied with a king of Elam and a king of Larsa to invade the West. Boscawen suggests Amar-Pal, the ideographic writing of Sinmuhallit, the father of Hammurabi, for whom such an alliance is more likely. See Chedorlaomer.
C. H. W. Johns.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Amraphel
amra-fel, am-rafel (, ‘amraphel, or, perhaps better, ‘ameraphel).
1. The Expedition Against Sodom and Gomorrah
This name, which is identified with that of the renowned Babylonian king Hammurabi (which see), is only found in Gen 14:1, Gen 14:9, where he is mentioned as the king of Shinar (Babylonia), who fought against the cities of the plain, in alliance with Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Nations (the Revised Version (British and American) GOIIM). The narrative which follows is very circumstantial. From it we learn, that Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela or Zoar, had served Chedorlaomer for 12 years, rebelled in the 13th, and in the 14th year Chedorlaomer, with the kings enumerated, fought with and defeated them in the vale of Siddim, which is described as being the Salt Sea. Previous to this engagement, however, the Elamites and their allies had attacked the Rephaim (Onkelos: giants) in Ashtaroth-karnaim, the Zuzim (O: mighty ones, heroes) in Ham (O: Hamta’), the Emim (O: terrible ones) in Shaveh-kiriathaim, and the Horites in their Mount Seir, by the Desert. These having been rendered powerless to aid the revolted vassals, they returned and came to Enmishpat, or Kadesh, attacked the country of the Amalekites, and the Amorites dwelling in Hazazontamar (Gen 14:2-7).
2. The Preparation and the Attack
At this juncture the kings of the cities of the plain came out against them, and opposed them with their battle-array in the vale of Siddim. The result of the fight was, that the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, with their allies, fled, and fell among the bitumen-pits of which the place was full, whilst those who got away took refuge in the mountain. All the goods and food (the camp-equipment and supplies) of the kings of the plain were captured by Chedorlaomer and his allies, who then continued their march (to their own lands) (Gen 14:8-11).
3. Abraham’s Rescue of Lot
Among the captives, however, was Lot, Abram’s nephew, who dwelt in Sodom. A fugitive, having escaped, went and announced the result of the engagement to Abram, who was at that time living by Mamre’s oak plantation. The patriarch immediately marched forth with his trained men, and pursued them to Dan, where he divided his forces, attacked the Elamite-Babylonian army by night, and having put them to flight, pursued them again to Hobah, on the left (or North) of Damascus. The result of this sudden onslaught was that he rescued Lot, with the women and people, and recaptured Lot’s goods, which the allies of Amraphel had carried off (Gen 14:12-16).
4. Difficulties of the Identification of Amraphel
There is no doubt that the identification of Amraphel with the Hammurabi of the Babylonian inscriptions is the best that has yet been proposed, and though there are certain difficulties therein, these may turn out to be apparent rather than real, when we know more of Babylonian history. The l at the end of Amraphel (which has also ph instead of p or b) as well as the fact that the expedition itself has not yet been recognized among the campaigns of Hammurabi, must be acknowledged as two points hard to explain, though they may ultimately be solved by further research.
5. Historical Agreements
It is noteworthy, however, that in the first verse of Gen 14 Amraphel is mentioned first, which, if he be really the Babylonian Hammurabi, is easily comprehensible, for his renown to all appearance exceeded that of Chedorlaomer, his suzerain. In Gen 14:4 and Gen 14:5, however, it is Chedorlaomer alone who is referred to, and he heads the list of eastern kings in Gen 14:9, where Tidal comes next (a quite natural order, if Goiim be the Babylonian Gut, i.e. the Medes). Next in order comes Amraphel, king of Babylonia and suzerain of Arioch of Ellasar (ri-Aku of Larsa), whose name closes the list. It may also be suggested, that Amraphel led a Babylonian force against Sodom, as the ally of Chedorlaomer, before he became king, and was simply crown prince. In that case, like Belshazzar, he was called king by anticipation. For further details see ARIOCH and CHEDORLAOMER, and compare ERI-AKU and HAMMURABI; for the history of Babylonia during Hammurabi’s period, see that article.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Amraphel
Amraphel, king of Shinar, one of the four kings who invaded Palestine in the time of Abraham (Gen 14:1-2, seq.) [ABRAHAM; CHEDORLAOMER].
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Amraphel
[Am’raphel]
King of Shinar, in the time of Abram. Gen 14:1; Gen 14:9.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Amraphel
H569
King of Shinar.
Gen 14:1; Gen 14:9
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Amraphel
Amraphel (m’ra-fl), keeper, or highest of the gods. Perhaps a Hamite king of Shinar or Babylonia, who joined the victorious incursion of the Elamite Chedorlaomer against the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain. Gen 14:1.
Fuente: People’s Dictionary of the Bible
Amraphel
Am’raphel. (keeper of the gods). Perhaps a Hamite king of Shinar or Babylonia, who joined the victorious incursion of the Elamite, Chedorlaomer, against the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain. Genesis 14. (B.C. 1898).