successor Caligula reversed this foreign policy, installed Agrippa in place of Antipas, and permitted Aretas to rule Damascus. A coin of Damascus bearing an inscription of Aretas is dated in this period.

ARGOB

(Arʹgob) [mound, stoneheap, region of clods].

1. One of the men assassinated with King Pekahiah of Israel in 778 B.C.E., by a usurper named Pekah, who was assisted in the crime by fifty Gileadites.—2 Ki. 15:23-25.

2. A region of Bashan that was conquered while Israel was still E of the Jordan and that became part of the territory of the tribe of Manasseh. It appears to have been the seat of the kingdom of Og and is described as having sixty fortified cities besides very many rural towns. (Deut. 3:4, 5, 13, 14) This was the “land of the Rephaim” or “land of giants.”

Argob lay E of the Sea of Galilee. Although the traditional site for Argob is that of el-Leja, a lava-covered area about twenty miles (32 kilometers) S of Damascus, the description in Deuteronomy of an area with rural towns would seem to favor the fertile plain to the W of el-Leja. On this broad tableland the cities had no natural defenses and would have need for the “high walls” mentioned. There are ruins of such great cities studding the entire territory of Bashan.

In King Solomon’s time Argob was part of one of twelve districts placed under deputies responsible for providing food for the royal household.—1 Ki. 4:7, 13.

ARIDAI

(Arʹi·dai) [perhaps of Persian origin, delight of Hari].

One of Haman’s ten sons.—Esther 9:9; see HAMAN.

ARIDATHA

(A·ri·daʹtha) [perhaps of Persian origin, given by Hari].

One of Haman’s ten sons.—Esther 9:8; see HAMAN.

ARIEH

(A·riʹeh) [lion].

A man assassinated in Samaria in 778 B.C.E. together with King Pekahiah of Israel, by usurper Pekah.—2 Ki. 15:25.

ARIEL

(Arʹi·el) [perhaps, the altar hearth of God, or the lion of God].

1. A Moabite whose two sons were killed by Benaiah.—2 Sam. 23:20; 1 Chron. 11:22.

2. One of the nine head ones especially used by Ezra in obtaining qualified “ministers for the house of our God.” This was in the spring of 468 B.C.E. when about 1,500 Israelite males under Ezra were about to depart from the river Ahava for Jerusalem.—Ezra 8:15-17, 31.

3. A cryptic name applied five times to Jerusalem at Isaiah 29:1, 2, 7. It here likely means the “altar hearth of God.”

Jerusalem was the location of God’s temple that had within its precincts the sacrificial altar. Because of this the city was, in effect, God’s altar hearth. It was also supposed to be the center of Jehovah’s pure worship. However, the message in Isaiah 29:1-4 is ominous in content and predicts the destruction due to come to Jerusalem at the hands of Babylon in 607 B.C.E. So, the meaning of verse 2 may be that Jerusalem (Ariel) would then become an “altar hearth” in a different sense: as a city running with shed blood and consumed by fire and filled with the bodies of victims of the fiery destruction. The underlying causes for this calamity are stated in verses 9 to 16. Verses 7 and 8, however, show that the nations wreaking such destruction on Jerusalem would fail in their ultimate purpose or goal.

ARIMATHEA

(Ar·i·ma·theʹa) [Gr. form of Heb. Ra·mahʹ, height].

A “city of the Judeans” in the time of Jesus, and the native city of Joseph, the secret disciple who obtained Jesus’ corpse for burial. (Luke 23:50-53; Matt. 27:57-60; Mark 15:43-46; John 19:38-42) The location of Arimathea is generally considered to be at the site of modern Rentis, about twenty miles (32 kilometers) NW of Jerusalem and about sixteen miles (26 kilometers) E of Joppa (modern Jaffa).

ARIOCH

(Arʹi·och) [perhaps of Sumerian origin; servant of the moon-god].

1. The king of Ellasar who, in league with Chedorlaomer and two other kings, shared in crushing the rebellion of Sodom and Gomorrah and carried off Lot and his household. Abraham then overtook the victors, defeated Arioch and his confederates, and rescued Lot. (Gen. 14:1-16; see CHEDORLAOMER.) The ancient location of Ellasar is not certain.—See ELLASAR.

2. The chief of Nebuchadnezzar’s bodyguard, who was under orders to kill all the wise men of Babylon after they failed to reveal and interpret the king’s dream. Upon learning that Daniel was prepared to reveal the dream and give the interpretation, “Arioch, in a hurry, took Daniel in before the king.”—Dan. 2:12-25.

ARISAI

(Arʹi·sai) [perhaps, lionlike, arrow of Aria].

One of Haman’s ten sons.—Esther 9:9; see HAMAN.

ARISTARCHUS

(Ar·is·tarʹchus) [best ruler].

One of Paul’s close associates, a traveling companion and fellow prisoner, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. (Acts 20:4; 27:2) He is introduced in the account of Paul’s third missionary journey; at the height of the Ephesian riot Aristarchus and Gaius were forcibly dragged into the theater. (Acts 19:29) He could have been the “brother” who assisted Paul with the contribution for the Judeans that was collected in Macedonia and Greece.—2 Cor. 8:18-20.

Aristarchus accompanied Paul on the voyage to Rome, but how he secured passage is uncertain, perhaps as a slave for Paul. (Acts 27:2) While in Rome he further assisted and encouraged Paul and for a time shared his prison bonds. Greetings from Aristarchus are conveyed in Paul’s letters to the Colossians (4:10) and Philemon (23, 24).

ARISTOBULUS

(A·ris·tobʹu·lus) [best counselor].

An individual, some of whose household in Rome were sent greetings by Paul.—Rom. 16:10.

See HEROD.

ARK

[chest, box, vessel].

1. Noah’s ark was the provision by which forefathers of all mankind survived the global deluge of 2370-2369 B.C.E. (See DELUGE; NOAH No. 1.) Detailed instructions were given to Noah by Jehovah as to its size, shape, design for light and ventilation, and materials to be used for its construction.—Gen. 6:14-16.

DESIGN AND SIZE

The ark was a rectangular chestlike vessel presumably having square corners and a flat bottom. It needed no rounded bottom or sharp bow to cut rapidly through the water; it required no steering; its only functions were to be watertight and stay afloat. A vessel so shaped is very stable, cannot be easily capsized, and contains about one-third more storage space than ships of conventional design. The roof was likely flat or perhaps angled slightly if at all.

In size the ark was 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide and 30 cubits high. Conservatively calculating the cubit as 17.5 inches (some think the ancient cubit was nearer twenty-two or twenty-four inches), the ark measured 437 feet 6 inches by 72 feet 11 inches by 43 feet 9 inches (133.5 meters by 22.3 meters by 13.4 meters), less than half the length of the ocean liner “United States.” Incidentally, this proportion of length to width (6 to 1) is used by modern naval architects. This gave the ark over one and a fifth million cubic feet in gross volume. It is estimated that such a vessel would have a displacement nearly equal that of the