Genes. x. 22. Aram.I. ARAM, fifth Son of Shem, was the Father of the people of Syria, who from him are called Aramæans. There are many countries of this name, distinguished in Scripture, Aram Naharaïm, or Syria of the two rivers, that is, Mesopotamia, Aram of Damascus, Aram of Soba, Aram Bethrohob, and Aram of Maacha; be cause the Cities of Damascus, Soba, Bethrohob, and Maachah, were in Syria; or at least because Syria contained the Cantons or Provinces of Soba, Maachah, Rohob, &c. Homer and Hesiod call those Aramæans, whom the Greeks of more modern times call Syrians. The Prophet Amos seems to Amos ix. 7.say that the first Aramæans dwelt in the Country of Kir, in Iberia, where the river Cyrus runs; and that God brought them from thence, as he did the Hebrews out of Egypt. But when this transmigration happened, no one knows. It must be very ancient, since Moses always calls the Syrians, and people of Mesopotamia, Aramites. The people of Syria often made war against the Hebrews. David subdued them, and obliged them to pay him tribute. Solomon preserved the same authority over them. But after the separation of the ten Tribes, it does not appear that the Syrians were generally subject to the Kings of Israel; unless perhaps under Jeroboam the Second, who restored the Kingdom of Israel to its ancient boundaries, 2 Kings xiv. 25.
