Difference between revisions of "Aretas"

<p> <strong> ARETAS </strong> . This is the dynastic name (Aram. [Note: Aramaic.] <em> Charethath </em> ) of several kings of the Nahatæan Arabs whose capital was Petra (Sela), and whose language for purposes of writing and commerce was an [[Aramaic]] dialect, as is seen from the existing inscriptions. (Cooke, <em> N. Semitic Inscr </em> . p. 214 ff.). The first of the line is mentioned in 2Ma 5:8; the fourth (whose personal name was Æneas) in &nbsp; 2 Corinthians 11:32 , where his ‘ethnarch’ is said to have ‘guarded the city of the [[Damascenes]] in order to take’ St. Paul; but the [[Apostle]] escaped. This was within three years after his conversion (&nbsp; Galatians 1:17 f., &nbsp; Acts 9:23 ff.). There is a difficulty here, for Damascus was ordinarily in the Roman province of Syria. Aretas III. had held it in b.c. 85; the Roman coins of Damascus end a.d. 34 and begin again a.d. 62 3. It has been supposed that the <strong> Nabatæans </strong> held the city during this interval. Yet before the death of Tiberius (a.d. 37) there could hardly have been any regular occupancy by them, as Vitellius, proprætor of Syria, was sent by that emperor to punish Aretas IV. for the vengeance that the latter had taken on Herod Antipas for divorcing his sister in favour of Herodias. It has therefore been thought that a.d. 37 is the earliest possible date for St. Paul’s escape; and this will somewhat modify our view of [[Pauline]] chronology (see art. Paul the Apostle, § 4). Yet the allusion in &nbsp; 2 Corinthians 11:32 f. does not necessarily imply anything like a permanent tenure of Damascus by Aretas’ ethnarch. A temporary occupancy may well have taken place in Aretas’ war against Herod Antipas or afterwards; and it would be unsafe to build any chronological theory on this passage. The reign of Aretas IV. lasted from b.c. 9 to a.d. 40; inscriptions (at <em> el-Hejra </em> ) and coins are dated in his 48th year (Cooke, <em> l.c. </em> ). </p> <p> [[A. J]]  Maclean. </p>

<p> A common name of many [[Arabian]] kings. &nbsp;2 Corinthians 11:32; "in Damascus the governor '''''Ethnarch)''''' under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me; and through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands." The ethnarch did it to please the Jews, who (&nbsp;Acts 9:24) "watched the gates day and night to kill Paul." His office was to exercise authority under the king, over the many Jews in large cities: compare &nbsp;Acts 9:25. Damascus had been a city of the Roman province, Syria; and we have Damascene coins of Augustus and Tiberius, and afterward of Nero, etc., but we have none of Caligula. This implies that some change in the government of Damascus took place under Caligula, Tiberius's successor. Moreover, Aretas, king of [[Arabia]] Nabataea dud its capital Petra, made war on Antipas for divorcing Aretas' daughter, and defeated him. </p> <p> But Tiberius, at Antipas' entreaty, commanded Vitellius, governor of Syria, to take Aretas dead or alive. Before the order was executed Tiberius himself was dead. Then all was reversed. Antipas was banished by Caligula to Lyons, and his kingdom given to Agrippa, his nephew and his foe. It seems therefore to harmonize with history, as well as with Scripture, to assume that in A.D. 38 or 39, when Caligula made several changes in the E., he also granted Damascus to Aretas. The incidental way in which Paul alludes to Aretas' kingship over Damascus at the time of his escape from the ethnarch under him, by being let down in a basket from a house on the city wall (compare &nbsp;Acts 9:23-25), is a strong presumption for the truth of the Acts and Second [[Epistle]] to Corinthians. This was three years after Paul's conversion; so that [[A. D]]  36 will be the date of his conversion. </p>

<p> The name of several kings of northwestern Arabia. The only one mentioned in [[Scripture]] gave his daughter in marriage to Herod Antipas; but she being repudiated by Herod, Aretas made war upon him and destroyed his army. In consequence of this, the emperor Tiberius directed Vitellius, then proconsul of Syria, to make war upon or dead to Rome. But while [[Vitellius]] was in the midst of preparation for the war, he received intelligence of the death of Tiberius, [[A. D]]  37; on which he immediately recalled his troops, dismissed them into winter quarters, and then left the province. Aretas, taking advantage of this supineness, seems to have made an incursion and got possession of Damascus, over which he appointed a governor or ethnarch, who, [[A. D]]  39, at the instigation of the Jews, attempted to put Paul in prison, &nbsp;2 Corinthians 11:32 . Compare &nbsp;Acts 9:24,25 . </p>