Arioch

The name Arioch belongs to two unrelated figures separated by more than a millennium: a Mesopotamian king who joined the eastern coalition in the days of Abram, and a Babylonian officer of the guard under Nebuchadnezzar in the days of Daniel. Each appears in a tightly bounded narrative — a campaign against the cities of the plain in Genesis 14, and the threatened execution of the wise men in Daniel 2.

King of Ellasar

The first Arioch is one of four eastern kings who march west against the kings of the plain. The opening notice introduces the coalition by name: "And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim" (Gen 14:1). When the battle is joined in the Vale of Siddim, the four reappear in the same grouping, now arrayed against the five kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela: "against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings against the five" (Gen 14:9). Arioch is named only in these two verses; he speaks no words and acts no independent action of his own. He is identified entirely by his place within the coalition that takes Lot captive and is then routed by Abram.

Captain of the King's Guard

The second Arioch serves Nebuchadnezzar at Babylon and is the officer charged with carrying out the king's edict against the wise men. He first appears as Daniel intervenes: "Then Daniel returned answer with counsel and prudence to Arioch the captain of the king's guard, who had gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon" (Dan 2:14). Daniel's first move is to question the edict's urgency — and Arioch, rather than dismissing him, opens the matter up: "he answered and said to Arioch the king's captain, Why is the decree so urgent from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel" (Dan 2:15).

When Daniel has received the dream and its interpretation by night, Arioch becomes his channel to the throne. "Therefore Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and said thus to him: Don't destroy the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will show to the king the interpretation" (Dan 2:24). Arioch acts at once, and presents Daniel as his own discovery: "Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in a hurry, and said thus to him, I have found a [prominent] man of the sons of the captivity of Judah, that will make known to the king the interpretation" (Dan 2:25). The officer who set out to execute the wise men becomes the one who escorts the deliverer of them into the royal presence.