Meaning
Aram the son of Shem (Gen 10:22); according to Gen 22:21, a grandson of Nahor. In Matt 1:3, 4, and Luke 3:33, this word is the Greek form of Ram, the father of Amminadab (1Chr 2:10).
The word means high, or highlands, and as the name of a country denotes that elevated region extending from the northeast of Palestine to the Euphrates. It corresponded generally with the Syria and Mesopotamia of the Greeks and Romans. In Gen 25:20; 31:20, 24; Deut 26:5, the word "Syrian" is properly "Aramean" (R.V., marg.). Damascus became at length the capital of the several smaller kingdoms comprehended under the designation "Aram" or "Syria."
