Ashur

For other uses, see Ashur (disambiguation).

Ashur (Hebrew: אַשּׁוּר‎; often also transliterated as Asshur to reflect the pointing of Hebrew letter 'ש' (Shin) in the Masoretic text, which doubles the 'ש'), was the second son of Shem, the son of Noah. Ashur's brothers were Elam, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.

The Hebrew text of Genesis 10:11 is somewhat ambiguous as to whether it was Asshur himself (as the 1611 Authorized Version says), or Nimrod (as in some other English translations) who built the Assyrian cities of Nineveh, Resen, Rehoboth-Ir and Calah, since the name Asshur can refer to both the person and the country.(Genesis 10:8-12 AV, Genesis 10:8-12 ESV)^[1]

The 1st century Judaeo-Roman historian Flavius Josephus further gives the following statement: "Ashur lived at the city of Nineve; and named his subjects Assyrians, who became the most fortunate nation, beyond others” (Antiquities, i, vi, 4).

Ashur the father of Tekoa is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 4.

References

1. ^ Samuel Shuckford, James Talboys Wheeler (1858), The sacred and profane history of the world connected, Vol.1, pp. 106–107, http://books.google.com/books?id=8zV9AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA106