Arphaxad is a name that turns up in a family line, three times over. He is a son of Shem, born “two years after the flood” (Genesis 11:10), and he fathers Shelah, who in turn fathers Eber. Chronicles repeats the line, and Luke carries it forward when he lists the ancestors of Jesus (Luke 3:36). Nothing is told about Arphaxad himself beyond his years and his children. Still, the repeated record shows how carefully Scripture keeps track of who came from whom, so that the story reaches from Noah’s sons to later generations. Read Genesis 11:10-17 to see the chain unfold.
9 verses
The children of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.
These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:
And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah:
And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.
The sons of Shem; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram, and Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Meshech.
And Arphaxad begat Shelah, and Shelah begat Eber.
Shem, Arphaxad, Shelah,
Which was the son of Cainan, which was the son of Arphaxad, which was the son of Sem, which was the son of Noe, which was the son of Lamech,
Matthew George Easton, 1897
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.
William Smith, 1884
(stronghold of the Chaldees).
(1.) The son of Shem and ancestor of Eber. (Genesis 10:22,24; 11:10)
(2.) Arphaxad, a king "who reigned over the Medes in Ecbatana," Judith 1:1-4; perhaps the same as Phraortes, who fell in a battle with the Assyrians, 633 B.C.