PADDAN

(Padʹdan) [plain, flatland].

The shortened form of “Paddan-aram” (Gen. 35:9; 48:7); apparently the same as the “field of Syria [Aram].” (Gen. 28:6, 7; Hos. 12:12) Paddan was a region around the city of Haran in northern Mesopotamia. (Gen. 28:7, 10; 29:4) Though some consider Paddan and Aram-naharaim to be identical, it seems more likely that Paddan was a part of Aram-naharaim. (Gen. 24:10; 25:20; NW, 1953 ed., ftns.) This may be inferred from the fact that Aram-naharaim (meaning “Aram of the two rivers”) included mountainous territory, something that could not be true of Paddan, if its name is correctly understood to mean “plain,” “flatland.”—Num. 23:7; Deut. 23:4; NW, 1950 ed., ftns.

The patriarch Abraham resided temporarily at Haran in Paddan. (Gen. 12:4; 28:7, 10) Later, from among the offspring of his relatives there, his son Isaac and then his grandson Jacob got their wives. (Gen. 22:20-23; 25:20; 28:6) Jacob personally spent twenty years at Paddan in the service of his father-in-law Laban. (Gen. 31:17, 18, 36, 41) While there, he became father to Dinah and eleven sons. (Gen. 29:20–30:24) His twelfth son, Benjamin, was born in Canaan.—Gen. 35:16-18, 22-26; 46:15; 48:7.