The Mountains of Armenia

The Hebrew word pronounced aw-rawr-rawt is found four times in the Holy Scriptures. It is translated (in the King James Version) twice as "Ararat," in Genesis and Jeremiah.

"^8:4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat." (Genesis 8:4 KJV)

"^51:27 Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillars." (Jeremiah 51:27 KJV)

The same Hebrew word is translated (in the King James Version) twice as "Armenia," a verse recorded identically in 2 Kings and Isaiah (keeping in mind that the prophet Isaiah was active during the era recorded in 2 Kings - see The Prophets: Isaiah).

"^19:37 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead." (2 Kings 19:37 KJV)

^37:38 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Armenia: and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead." (Isaiah 37:38 KJV)

"The ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat"

"Ararat" is of course most Biblically well-known from the Flood in the time of Noah (see The Floods Brought By Christ). Although "Mount Ararat" has become popularly used for where Noah's ark came to rest, as the Bible record plainly states, Ararat was actually a mountain range. Two peaks, about 7 miles / 11 kilometers apart, have been identified as the most likely location of the ark's resting place. The one is 14,300 feet and the other 10,300 feet above the adjacent Araxes plain. The higher of the two has a snow-covered peak year round, and was known to the ancient Persians (who were neither Jews nor Christians) as "Noah's mountain."

"^8:1 And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; ^8:2 The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; ^8:3 And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. ^8:4 And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. ^8:5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.

^8:6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made [see also How Big Was Noah's Ark?]: ^8:7 And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. ^8:8 Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; ^8:9 But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark. ^8:10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; ^8:11 And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. ^8:12 And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more [see Noah's Raven and Dove].

^8:13 And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. ^8:14 And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.

^8:15 And God spake unto Noah, saying, ^8:16 Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee. ^8:17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.

^8:18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him: ^8:19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark." (Genesis 8:1-19 KJV)

The area of those mountains was also anciently known as Armenia, hence the reason that some translators used "Armenia" to translate the Hebrew word pronounced aw-rawr-rawt i.e. Ararat - they were indicating where "Ararat" was located. Ancient Armenia covered a wider area than the present-day Armenia, which is within the territory of the ancient boundaries. It was to "Armenia," which is immediately north of and adjacent to Assyria (see Ancient Empires - Assyria), that the assassins of Assyrian king Sennacherib fled.

"^19:32 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria [see The Day Sennacherib Challenged God], He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. ^19:33 By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this city, saith the LORD. ^19:34 For I will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

^19:35 And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

^19:36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. ^19:37 And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead." (2 Kings 19:32-37 KJV)

Fact Finder: What did all three "arks" of Bible History have in common?
See Arks Of The Covenant

This Day In History, October 25

732: Charles Martel, ruler of the Franks, defeated the Saracens at Poitiers.

1415: The Battle of Agincourt, in France. A bloody victory of 12,000 English led by Henry V over 60,000 French in the middle period of the Hundred Years War. The 3-hour battle resulted in the deaths of the French forces leader Charles d'Albret, 12 other members of the highest nobility, 1,500 knights, and 4,500 men-at-arms. The victory was made possible by a new British weapon - longbows, which devastated the enemy sword-armed armored knights at a distance. The English losses were negligible.

1555: Charles V (a Hapsburg) abdicated as Holy Roman Emperor. His son Philip II received Spain, the newly-discovered continent of North America, Italy and the Netherlands, while his brother became Holy Roman Emperor as Ferdinand I.

1671: Giovanni Cassini discovered Iapetus, a moon of the planet that humans call Saturn.

1760: King George III of England was crowned. His reign was marked by the rebellion of the New England colonies that Britain founded and built in the wilderness of northeastern North America over a century earlier.

1854: During the Crimean War at the Battle of Balaclava, Lord Cardigan led "the charge of the Light Brigade" cavalry against the Russians.

1900: Britain's annexation of the Boer Republic came into effect. The territory was renamed Transvaal.

1923: Dr. Frederick Banting and Dr. J.R. Macleod of the University of Toronto were awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for their discovery of the hormone insulin. The discovery made possible more effective control of diabetes.

1936: The government of Germany and Italy declared their formation of the "Rome-Berlin Axis" (listen to our Sermon The European World Wars).

1950: Communist Chinese forces crossed the Yalu River into North Korea.

1951: Winston Churchill was again elected Prime Minister of Britain after 6 years out of office.

1955: Austria was reinstated as a sovereign country when the last World War Two allied occupation forces left.

1971: The United Nations General Assembly voted to remove Taiwan from the U.N. and to admit communist China in it place.

1983: U.S. troops invaded Grenada to repel alleged Cuban and Soviet influence on the tiny Caribbean island. Britain was not informed before the invasion even though Grenada was a member of the British Commonwealth.