ARIEL âr ĭ əl (אֶרְאֵל, H737, אֲרִיאֵ֣ל, altar hearth of God or less likely lion of God). 1. A symbolical designation for Jerusalem (Isa 29:1, 2, 7) possibly suggested by metonymy as the place where the altar of God with its worship was located. Those who identify the word with “God’s hearth” suppose that the word comes from ’arāh “to burn” on the analogy with the Arab. ’ira tun, feminine “hearth.” If this is the correct root, then the lamedh would be an afformative (cf. G.K. §85s). The Isaiah Targum, Knobel, Delitzsch, and Hitzig favor this view and point to Ezekiel 43:15, 16 where Ariel (in the Qere and some MSS) refers to an altar of four cubits with four horns on its corners. This view seems to be preferable to that of Gesenius, Ewald and Cheyne who understand it to mean “God’s lion” and cite 2 Samuel 23:20 and Isaiah 33:7. One other possibility could be suggested: “the light of God” cf. ’or, ’ur, Akkad. Urr(um) and Ugaritic ’ar, “light” or “day.” Notice, however, that except for Ugaritic, the vowel is generally in the u class and not the a class as the MT has preserved it above.

2. One of the “men of understanding” sent unto Iddo, the chief at the place Casiphia, and to his brethren, the Nethinim, with an order to bring Ezra’s ministers for the house of God (Ezra 8:16, 17). His name means “lion of El.”

3. Areli (אַרְאֵלִֽי) is the name of a family in Gad (Gen 46:16; Num 26:17).

4. The LXX B and L of 2 Samuel 23:20 (= 1 Chron 11:22) reads “the two sons of Ariel of Moab” while the MT has “the two ariel(s) of Moab” and may refer to the “hearth altar” rather than a proper name (cf. the Moabite Mesha Stone, line 12: “the ’AR’L of DWDH”).

Bibliography F. Delitzsch, von Orelli and Joseph Alexander commentaries on Isaiah; J. B. Pritchard, (ed) ANET², 320.