Raamiah (Hastings' Dictionary)

One of the twelve chiefs who returned with Zerubb.ibel, Neh V. In the parallil passage, Ezr 2^, the name is Reelaiah (n.Vy-i, B 'PeeXtid, A 'PeeUas), and in 1 Es 5' llESAlAS (which see). It is impossible to decide with certainty what was the original read- ing, although n'^iii probably represents it more nearly than n-ojn. RAAMSES, RAMESES (orcvT Ex 1" ; KDy! Gn 47", Ex li2'' ; l..\'.\ 'Pa/ifffff.) [D 0111. in Gn 47"]).— The city of Kaamses was, like Pithoiii, built by the Israelites for the Pharaoh of the Oppression (Ex I"), who has been shown by Dr. Naville's discovery of the site of Pithom to have been Ramses II. of the 19th dynasty (see Pithom). It was from Raanises or Rameses that the Israelites started when they lied from Eg\pt ; and as the next stage in their journey was Succoth (Ex 12"), Raarases could not have been far from Pithom. It must also have been in the land of Goshen, as is indeed expressly stated in Gn 47", where Goshen is called proleptically ' the land of Rameses.' According to LXX of Gn 46^ ' the land of Rameses' [D om.] included also Heroopolis or Pithom. Qosem or Goshen was the capital of the 20th nome of Lower Egypt, and is now represented by Saft el-Henna, at the western end of tlie Wady TumUat, north of Belbfis, and a little to the east of Zagazig. The 8th nome, of which Pithom wa« the capital, adjoined the 20th to the east. We should therefore probably look for the site of Raamses somewhere between Belbfis and Tel el- Maskhflta. The latter was identified with Raamses by Lei)sius, and the identification was perpetuated for a time in the name of Ramses given to the place by the French engineers during the construction of the Fresh-water Canal. Dr. Naville's excavations proved, howe\ er, that Tel el-Maskhflta is Pithom, and consequently the site of Raamses must be sought el.sewhere. The city is mentioned in the Egyptian texts. We learn from them that it was built, like Pithom, by Ramses II., from whom it derived its name; and a letter of the scribe Panbesa, translated by Bnigsch {Ilistory of Egypt, Eng. tr. ii. pp. 96-98) and Goodwin (RP, 1st ser. vi. p. 11 ff.), gives a long and glowing description of it. Its canals are said to be 'rich in fish, its lakes swarm with birdi, its meadows are green with vegetaliles.' The canal KABBAH KABBAH 189 on tlie banks of wliifli it stood comnmnicated with the sea, and was called Pa-shet-Hor, ' the mere of Horus.' Brugsch at one time wished to identify it ^vith Tanis (Zoan), where there seems to hiive been a Pi-I!amessu or 'temjile of Ramses,' erected by Ramsfs ii., but the discovery of the position of Pithom obliged him to change his mind. An un- edited papyrus in the possession of M. Gol6nischetT, moreover, distinguislies it from Tanis, and places it between Tanis and Zaru (on the eastern frontier) in a list of the towns of the Delta. 'The land of Rameses ' seems to have taken its name from the city. LiTisR,\TrRK. — Jacques de Roup<i, GftxjrapJiie anciennf de la Bafxe-Efjt/pte, 1S91 ; II. Bniir^rh, Dictionnaire mioqrajihique de fancienne E^upte, 1879 ; Dillinunn-Kjssel on Ex 1^' ; Driver iu Uogiirth's A tttlntrity and ArctujboCogy, lb99, p. 65 ; Bail, Lightjrom Uu tost, p. 109 (. A. U. SaYCE. KABBAH 1. (.n:-! ; Jos 13^ B 'kpiS, A 'Pa^^d ; 2S 11' 12, '-» 'Po^;3d»: 1 Ch 20> 'PaS^di-; Am 1" 'Po/S/Sd; Jer 49[30]=' 'Va^Sie ■ Ezk 2.5^ rhv w6\iv rod'Aiifiuv), or more fully Rabbath-bene-Ammon = ' Kabbah of the children of Amnion ' (p:;; •;? n, i ; Dt 3" 7) &Kpa Twv l/iux 'A/x/uiK ; 2 S 12'^ 17^, Ezk 2l=» 'Pa(,3)^de vl^v "AM^aii", Jer 4'J[3U]» 'PaySySdO). The chief and, in fact, the only city of the Ammonites mentioned in the OT. It was situ- ated about 25 miles N.E. of the north end of the Dead Sea, in the fruitful valley which forms the upper course of the Jabbok (cz-Zerka), now called the Wufly 'Amman (Buhl, GAP 48, 260 f.). Under Ptolemv n. (Philadelphus) the city was rebuilt and called Philadelphia, but the oririnal name sci-ms never to have been completely Tost, and is still preserved in the modem 'Animun. Apart from the isolated notice in Dt 3", where a pa.ssing reference is made to it as the site of the bed or sarcophagus of Og king of Baslian, and the statement in Jos 13^ that it lay out.>-ide the ea-stern border of the tribe of Gad on the east of Jordan, no allusion is made in the OT to the capital of the Ammonites until the reign of David. According to the narrative of 2 S lO'-lP 12-«-»' (which appears in a condensed and less accurate form in 8-', see Samuel, Books of) an embassy was -sent bj' David to condole with Hanun king of Amnion on the death of his father Nahash. The envojs, however, were grossly insulted by the Ammonite king and his servants, who, in view of the growing power of the Israelite monarch, were inclined, jierliaps not unnaturally, to suspect the motives of his embassy. This treatment of the envoys could have but one result, and the Ammon- ites therefore at once summoned to their aid those poutlieru tribes of the Aninueans who were their more immediate neighbours on the east of Jordan. Meantime the Israelite army, under the command of Joab, had lo.st no time in invading the country of the Ammonites. Their intention, doubtless, was to lay siege to Babbah itself ; for though he was aware (2 S 10') of the alliance between the Ammonites ami Aranueans, Jo.ib docs not appear to have realized either the strength or the jiosition of the Aranucan force that was opposed to him, until he had actuallj' come within striking distance of the Ammonite capital (vy.'»). The Aiiima?ans, however, as we learn from the Chronicler (1 Ch 19'), had penetrated as far south as Medeba, and now threatened to cut oil' his retreat across the Jordan. Thus hemmed in 'before and behind,' Joab perceived that his only hope of safety lay in assuming the ofl'ensive. He therclore divided his army into two, and, having entrusted Abishai with the task of holding the Ammonites in check, himself led ' all the picked men of l.srael ' in an attack on the more powerful .^rama'an.s. The combined movement was completely successful : the AramtBans fled discomtited, and their example was soon followed by the Ammonites, who took r-fuge in Kabbah. Joab, however, did not follow up his advantage, but retired with the armj' to Jerusalem. In the following year David took the lield in person against the Arama-ans, who had reassembled under Shobach, captain of the host of Iladadezer, at Helam (probably not far from Damascus), and defeated them with great slaughter (\'v. '-"). The \vay was now clear for the renewal of the war with the Ammonites, and Joab, with the whole army and the ark (11"), was despatched across the Jordan to ravage the land of the Ammonites, and to lay siege to Kabbah (IP). If, as the biblical narrative seems to imply, both the sous of Batlisheba were born during this period, the siege of Kabbah must have lasted nearly two years. The aim of the besiegers was doubtless to starve out the city, rather than to take it by storm (U-"- ^) : the actual liglitin" was probabl5' confined to the occasions on whicli the beleaguered garrison attempted a sortie. It was by exposing Uriah the Hittite to one of these sallies that Joab was able to eflect David's plan for getting rid of the former (vv.'^'"). The fate of the city was finally sealed by the capture of the spring of water from wliich the inhabitants derived their water supply (12-'' reading c~C \"i 'spring of waters' for orErr tv 'city of waters,' so Klostermann ; but .see Clieyne [Expos. Tiine.1, Sept. 18'J8, p. 143 f.], who would read liere and in the preceding verse csV? Ty 'the city of MUcom'): only in this way can we harmonize Joab's message (v.-""-) with the phrase ' the royal city' (njiS^n ry) in v.^. By the latter phrase is probably meant the royal castle or citadel, situ- ated at the apex of the lofty triangular plateau, which seems to have formed the site of the ancient Kabbah. 'The two sides are bounded by wadies which diverge from the ai)ex, where they are divided by a low neck of land, and thence separ- ating, fall into tlie valley of the Jabbok, which forms the base of the triangle' (Olipliant, The Land of Gilencl, p. 259 f.). The precipitous char- acter of the wadis — on the one side there is a drop of 300 ft., on the other of 400 ft.— precluded any access to the streams below, save at the (? artificial) depression which separated the cita<lel from the rest of the city. Hence the capture of the latter virtually placed the city at the mercy of Joab, and as.sured him of its speedy downfall. He thereupon despatched messengers to David, bid- ding him collect the rest of his forces, and super- intend the final assault of the (ity, 'lest,' he adds, ' I take the city, and my name be called ui)on it' — in token, namely, of its concjuest by him. (See, further, on this passage, vol. i. p. 344"). David at once resiioudcd to Joab's appeal, and shortly after his arrival the city was taken, to- gether with much sjioil, including the crown of AliUom (LXX), the god of the Ammonites. (Tor a full discussion of the treatment of the inhabit- ants of Kabbah 1 y David, see Driver, A'otes on Samuel, pp. 2-2{i-22'Ji. From tlie few scattered notices of Kabbah in the writings of the prophets from the 8tli cent, onwards, we gather that the city once more re- verted to the jjosscssion of the Ammonites. Thus Amos, in his denunciation of Aimiiun (1'"'), pro- phesies the destruction of the wall and palaces of Kabbah, while similar language is used by Jere- miah (49'- ') shortly before the siege of Jerusalem, and by Ezekicl ('25'). It is noticeable that the • The reading of the Hebrew text ' city of wnten ' is URually explained as referring to the lower town. But (1) the phrtma it«elf iu an unlikely one to he applied to a ^rt of the eity, (2) there is no reference elsewhere to a division of the city, and (3) the explanation seenm diie to the present condition of the ruins of 'Amman, which date, at earliest, from liomao times. 190 RAEBI, EABBONI RAB-MAG latter regards Rabbali as no less important politi- cally tlian Jenisaleiii itself (2)-»[Heb.-"']i. In tlie 3rd cent. B.C. Kabbah was ^lill a place of consideral)le importance. After its capture by Ptolemy Pluiadelplius (B.C. 2S.5-247) it was called Philadelphia, and the surrounding district Phila- delphene or Arabia Philadul]>liensis (Ritter, Die Erdkunde, xv. pt. ii. p. 1154 f.). According to Polybius (v. 71), the city underwent a severe and protracted siege under Antiochus the Great, who succeeded in capturing it only through the agency of a captive. The latter revealed the existence of the subterranean passage by which tlie L'arrison of the citadel obtained their water supply : the passage was accordingly blocked up, and tlie gar- rison forced to surrender. The same authority makes use of the old name Rahbatamana ('Pa/3/3a- Ta^Lava), while Stephen of Byzantium states that it was formerly called Ainana, and afterwards Astarte. Joseplius describes it as the most easterly border-town of Persea (BJ ni. iii. 3), and Strabo especially notes it as one of the localities inhabited by a mixed population. It formed one of the cities of the Decapolis, and in the middle of the 4th cent. Ammianus JIarcellinus classes it with Bostra and Geresa as one of the fortilied great cities of Coele-Syria (Ritter, I.e.). Philadelphia, later, became tlie seat of a Christian bishup, forming one of the nineteen sees of ' Pala^stina tertia ' (Reland, Pal. 22S). Of the Arabic geographers, IMuk.iddasi (A.D. 985) describes 'Amman as the capital of the Belka district, lying on the border of the desert. He mentions the castle of Goliath as situated on the hill overhanging the city, and containing the tomb of Uriah, over which is built a mosque. YftkClt (iii. 719), in A.D. 1225, men- tions it as the city of the emperor Dakiyanfls (Deoius) : he further relates the Moslem legend, according to which 'Amman, the founder of the city, was the son of Lot's brother ("Amman = 'he who is of the uncle'). Abulfeda (A.D. 1321) also assigns the founding of the city to Lot (Guy le Strange, Pnl. under the Modems, p. 391 f.). Coins of the city exist with the head of Marcus Aurelius (A.D. Uil-lSO) and the legend 'Philadelphia of Hercules of Coele-Syria'; but, save for a few rude stone monuments, nothin" remains in the way of archi- tecture'which can be referred with any certitude to a pre-Roman period' (see Survey ofE. Pal. pp. 19-64, where a full description is given of the present site; see also Baedeker pp. 170-172; Merrill, En.<!t of Jordan, p. 398 f.). 2. (Jos Li" .n;nrr ; B •Za8r,^i, A'Ape^pi ; Arebba). A city of Judah, apparently near Kiriath-jearim. J. F. Stenning. RABBI, RABBONI From 3"!, primarUy 'master' in contrast with slave (Aboth i. 3; Suhka ii. 9; et nl.), was formed, bv the addition of the pro- nominal suffix, -n ('Pa;3/3r, 'Pa|3;3d WH), ' my m.aster,' the use of wliioli as a title of respect by which teachers were addressed occurs first within the last century before the destruction of Jeru- salem. The Mishna contains several instances of this mode of address (Nedarim ix. 5 ; liosh hnshnna ii. 9; Berarhoth ii. 5, 7 ; e< al.). In a similar way was formed Rabboni (Va^^oi/l Mk 10", 'PojS^ou^I Jn 20"=, 'Va^^ouvd WH) from l;"! or ]S:n (used of God in Taanith iii. 8), an Aramaic form of the title uscil almcst exclusively to designate the president of the Sanhedrin, if a descendant of Hillel, from the time of Ganinliel I. (Aboth 1. 17). In later times the title of Habbi appears to have been conferred officially upon such as were author- ized in Palestine to decide ritual or legal questions (Babn mrzia 86a ; Sanhedrin 136), the corre- sponding Babylonian title beinij Rab or Mar ; but there is no evidence of its use in this sense before or in the time of Christ. Its suffix, however, quickly lost its specific force by a process of which parallels are allorded in several languages ; and in the NT the word occurs simply as a courteous title of address. Rabboni is even more respectful ; and in the two passages where it is used of Christ (Mk 10" and Jn 20'") the pronominal force may not have entirely disappeared. Neither word occurs in classical use, in the LXX or other Gr. version of the OT, or in the Apocrypha. In the NT the shorter title is apidied to Christ in Mt26=°-''», Mk 9' IP' U\ Jn l, " 3= 43' 6'^ 92 118; to John Baptist in Jn 3="; whilst in Mt 23'- » Christ forbids His disciples to covet or use it. In Jn 1** a parenthesis states its equivalence in meaning with SiSdo-KuXf, which is in turn cited in Jn 20"" as a synonym of Rabboni. RVm implicitly supports this explana- tion in Mt 238, where, however, the text reads Ka6i]yi]Tris, a word whose primary meaning of ' guide ' naturally suggests that of ' teacher.' See, for further details and for literature, Schiirer, ILIP II. i. 315 fl'., and of. Dalman, Worte Jesu, 267, 272 ff. R. W. Moss.