a wild ass; a dragon
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary
ARAD.1. A city in the Negeb, the king of which provoked Israel (Num_21:1) and was slain by Joshua (Jos_12:14). In its vicinity the Kenites settled (Jdg_1:16). It is probably Tell Arâd, 16 miles S. of Hebron. 2. A Benjamite (1Ch_8:15).
W. Ewing.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
1. 1Ch_8:15.
2. A Canaanite royal city (Jos_12:14), N. of the wilderness of Judah (Jdg_1:16). In Num_21:1; Num_33:40, for "king Arad the Canaanite" translate "the Canaanite king of Arad." Robinson identifies it as on the hill Tel Arad between Moladah and Hebron. A large white mound is all that is left to mark the site of the city of the king who attacked Israel.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.
A'rad. (a wild ass).
1. A Benjamite, son of Beriah, who drove out the inhabitants of Gath. 1Ch_8:15. (B.C. 536).
2. A royal city of the Canaanites, named with Hormah and Libnah. Jos_12:14. The wilderness of Judah was to the south of Arad." Jdg_1:16. It may be identified with a hill, Tel 'Arad, an hour and a half northeast by east from Milh (Moladah), and eight hours from Hebron.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
ā?rad (ערד, ‛ărādh; Ἀράδ, Arád):
(1) A city mentioned four times in the Old Testament. In the King James Version it is twice mistakenly rendered as the name of a king (Num_21:1; Num_33:40). Three times it is spoken of as in the South Country, one mention using the phrase 'the wilderness of Judah which is in the South Country of Arad' (Jdg_1:16), that is, the part of the wilderness of Judah which is in the South Country near Arad. It was situated near the frontier of Judah and Simeon, being grouped with Debir, Hormah, Makkedah, etc. (Jos_12:14). Arad and other cities joined in attacking Israel in the fortieth year of the sojourn in the wilderness (Num_21:1-3), and Israel vowed to ?make their cities a devoted thing.? In the case of Zephath, one of the cities, this vow was fulfilled after the death of Joshua (Jdg_1:17). The Kenite relatives of Moses had their inheritance near Arad (Jdg_1:16). In the form a-ru-dâ the city is mentioned by Shishak of Egypt as among the places which he conquered in Palestine. The identification of the site with Tel Arad, about 17 miles South of Hebron, seems to be generally accepted.
(2) One of the descendants of Elpaal the son of Shaharaim, mentioned among the descendants of Benjamin (1Ch_8:15).
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Arad, an ancient city on the southernmost borders of Palestine, whose inhabitants drove back the Israelites as they attempted to penetrate from Kadesh into Canaan (Num_21:1), but were eventually subdued by Joshua, along with the other southern Canaanites (Jos_12:14, comp. 10:41; also Jdg_1:16). Eusebius and Jerome place Arad twenty Roman miles from Hebron. This accords well with the situation of a hill called Tell 'Arad, which Dr. Robinson observed on the road from Petra to Hebron. He describes it as 'a barren-looking eminence rising above the country around.' He did not examine the spot, but the Arabs said there were no ruins upon or near it, but only a cavern. The name alone is, however, too decisive to admit a doubt that the hill marks the site of the ancient Arad.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.
Arad
(Heb. Arad', עֲרָד, perh. flight), the name of a city and of a man.
1. (Sept. Α᾿ρἀδ, but in Joshua ῎Αδερ.) An ancient city (so called perhaps from wild asses in the vicinity, comp. עֲרוֹד, onager) on the southernmost borders of Palestine, whose inhabitants drove back the Israelites as they attempted to penetrate from Kadesh into Canaan (Num_21:1; Num_33:40, where the Auth. Verso has King Arad, instead of King of Arad), but were eventually subdued by Joshua, along with the other southern Canaanites (Jos_12:14; also Jdg_1:16). It lay within the original limits of the tribe of Judah (Jos_12:14) north (north- west) of the desert of Judah (Jdg_1:16). Eusebius (Α᾿ραμά) and Jerome place Arad twenty Roman miles from Hebron, and four from Malatha, in the neighborhood of the desert of Kadesh (see Reland, Palaest. p. 481, 501, 573). This accords well with the situation of a hill called Tell Arad, which Dr. Robinson observed on the road from Petra to Hebron. He describes it as a barren-looking eminence rising above the country around. He did not examine the spot, but the Arabs said there were no ruins upon or near it, but only a cavern (Researches, 2:472, 622). The same identification is proposed by Schwarz (Palest. p. 86). SEE HORMIAH. According to Van de Velde (Narrat. 2:83-85) there are fragments of pottery on the top of the Tell, and a ruined reservoir on its south side. It was an episcopal city in Jerome's time (Ritter, Erdk. 14:121).
2. (Sept. Α᾿ρώδ v. r. ᾿Ωρήδ.) One of the sons of Beriah of the tribe of Benjamin (1Ch_8:15), B.C. apparently 536.
Arad
SEE WILD ASS.
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.