Arpachshad

Who was Arpachshad?

Arpachshad or Arphaxad or Arphacsad was one of the five sons of Shem, the son of Noah. His brothers were Elam, Asshur, Lud and Aram; he is an ancestor of Abraham. He is said by Gen. 11:10 to have been born two years after the Flood, when Shem was 100.

Arpachshad's son is called Salah, except in the Septuagint, where his son is Cainan, Salah being Arpachshad's grandson. Cainan is also identified as Arpachshad's son in Luke 3:36 and Jubilees 8:1. The Book of Jubilees additionally identifies Arpachshad's wife as Rasu'aya, the daughter of Susan, who was the son of Shem's older son Elam.

Some ancient Jewish sources, particularly Jubilees, point to Arpachshad as the immediate progenitor of Ura and Kesed, who allegedly founded the city of Ur Kesdim on the west bank of the Euphrates — the same bank where Ur, identified by Leonard Woolley in 1927 as Ur of the Chaldees, is located.