Ramah (Hastings' Dictionary)

This word, with its various modifications and compounds Ram, Ramah, Ranioth, Ramathaim, Arimatliiea, is derived from the root en ' to be lofty.' It appears as a 'high place' four times (Ezk 16"- ^- "•»). As a proper name it is used of — 1. (B ApaijX, A 'Pa;ia) One of the fenced cities of the tribe of Naphtali (Jos 19"). It is not otherwise mentioned in OT. Robinson (iii. 79) has identified it as lidmeh, a village on the great route between 'Aklui and Dama-scus, and about 8 miles W.S.W. of Safed. The village lies upon the southern lower cultivated slope of the moun- tain whose ridge forms a boundary between U]>per and Lower Galilee, but still several hundred feet above the plain. It is a large village, surrounded by extensive olive groves, and has no traces of antiquity within or around. It is mentioned by Eusebius (Onom. 288, 9) and Jerome {ih. 146, 19), Brocardus (c. 0) and Adrichomius (p. 123). 2. (Pa/xa) One of the cities on the boundary of the tribe of Asher near Tyre (Jos 19-). ' And the border turned to liamah, and to the fenced city of Tyre.' Robinson (iii. 64) considers there is no question (and in this he is followed by Gu6rin, GaliUe, ii. 12of., and SWP) that Ramah of Asher is represented by the modern village of RAmia. It is situated about 12 miles duo east of the Ladder of Tyre, as the crow Hies. It stands upon an i.solated hill, in the midst of a basin with green fields, surrounded by higher hills. The south- western portitm of the basin has no outlet for its waters ; which therefore collect in a shallow, niarshy lake, which dries up in summer. It is a •luall stone village with a few ligs and olives : there are cisterns and a large birhet for water- ■npiWy. There are many sarcophagi about the hillside, some of unusual size. One of the lids measured 7A feet long and 2 feet broad. Robin- son considered the remains generally 'a striking monument of antiquity.' West of Rdmia is a lofty hill called Bcl/it, on which are extensive ruins, and remains of a temple of which ten columns are still standing. Tliere is no trace of Ramah of Asher in any liistorical records except the bare mention of the name by Eusebius and Jerome. Cf. Buhl, p. 231 n. 3. ("Pfwuff, -PafLa) 2 K 82» = 2 Ch 22«. In this case Ranuth is an abbreviation of Bamoth-GILEAD (whicli see). 4. (Pa/ia, in IIos 5' t4 ifr)\6.) A city of Benjamin which is possibly (see below) also identical with No. 6, the birthplace and home of Samuel, but for convenience of consideration it is taken separately. It is given in the list of 14 cities and their villages allotted to Benjamin (Jos 18^), the greater number of which have been identified north of Jerusalem. The first tliree are Gibeon (el-Jib, 5 miles N.N.W. of Jerusalem and 3 miles west oi er-RAm), Ramah (er RAm, 2600 feet, 5 miles due north of Jerusalem and near the main road to north), Beeroth (el- Bireh, 10 miles north of Jerusalem near main road to north). Isaiah (10^) enumerates the posi- tions that will be successively taken up by the king of Assyria as he approaches Jerusalem aftei laying up his carriages (i.e. baggage) at Michmash ■ ' They are gone over the pass : they have taken up their lodging at Geba ; Raman trembleth ; Gibeah of Saul is fled.' The Levite (Jg 19'^), pass- ing Jerusalem with his concubine when the day was far spent, passed on to Gibeah (Tell el-FiiC, 2 miles south of er-RAm), which was short of Ramah. The Palm-tree of Deborah was between Ramah and Bethel in the hill-country of Ephraira (Jg 4'). Beilin (Bethel) is 5 mUes N. of er-RAm. From these notices it seems to follow that er- RAm. is the modern equivalent of R.imah. the distance from Jerusalem (5 miles as the crow flies) accords with the account of Eusebius and Jerome (Oiioma.it. '287, 1; 146, 9: 6 m. N. of Jerusalem) and of Josephus (A)it. vill. xii. 3). After the separation of the kingdoms, Baasha king of Israel (1 K 1.5'"') went up against Judali and built (fortified) Ramah, 'that he mi^ht not suffer any one to go out or come in to Asa iving of Judah,' showing tliat Ramah commanded the hirfi road leading to Jerusalem ; but .Vsa secured the assistance of Benhadad king of Syria, who smote the northern cities of Israel, so that Baasha de- sisted from buUding Ramah, and Asa took away the stones and the timber and built with them Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah (2 Ch 16'"'). From this it would appear that liamah was more suit- able for defence towards the south than towards the north. After the destruction of Jerusalem, Ramah is mentioned as the place (Jer 40') where the captain of the guard over those who were carried away captive from Jerusalem loosed Jere- miah from Ills chains. Ramah was very near to Geba and Gibeah : see Is 10-" cited above, and cf. ' Blow ye the comet in Gibeah and the trumi)et in Ramah' (llos 5'); ' The chUdren of Raman and Geba'(Ezr2-'', Neh 7'"[L.\X Apa/«i]).+ It was also the traditional site of Rachel's tomb: 'A voice was heard in Ramah . . . Rachel weeping for her children '(Jer 31": cf. above, p. 193). The Ramah of Nell 11"^ is, in all |)robability, the same place. Er-RAm is a small village in a conspicuous position on the top of a high white hill, with olives: it has a well to the south; west of the • But In 1 8 22« 'Saul waa sittlnp In Oiheah ... In Ramah' render in nibcah . . . on the A''>;;/t( '(Keil, Kirkp., eta, RVm), even, indpetl, if we shoiiici not read, with LXX (i» Ba.u«) and H. P. Smith, 'on the hinh placf.'—S. R. I). t In 1 Es 6'^ wc fliid Kirama (K(t)ifi»fjut) ioBtead of RamaX 193 EAMAH RAMAH village is a good birket with a pointed vault ; on the hill are cisterns. At Khdn er-lidm, by tlie main roaJ, is a (juarry ; and drafted stones are used up in the village walls {SWP iii. 155). The height of the village is about 2(iU0 feet. C. Warren. 5. Ramah of the South (33i nOK-i; Ba/j-id (A la/neS) Kari \l§a). — ' Height of the soutli,' a city of Simeon (Jos 19'), at its extreme southern limit, apparently another name forBAALATU-BEEK, with which it is in apposition in this passage. It appears to be the same as Ramoth of the South (1 S 30", LXX here also has the singular, 'Pa/m i'6tov). The verse is not contained in the parallel list (in the description of Judah), Jos 15-|>-»- (after v.'2) ; and in the transcript in 1 Ch p^-^^ though (v.^^) Ba.al ( = Baalath-beer : LXX BaXar) is men- tioned, the alternative name ' Ramah of the South ' is not gi\en. Nor is it mentioned by Eusebius or Jerome. Its situation is quite un- certain. It has been placed on a low ridge called ^ubbet el-Baul, about 35 m. S. of Hebron, on the main route from Hebron to Petra ; or (Tristram, Bible Places, 23) at Kurnub, a little further to the S. (see Rob. ii. 197, 19S, 202) ; but either identifi- cation rests upon slight grounds (cf. DUlm. on Jos 15=^ ; Buhl, 184). 6. 1 S V^ 2" VS IS' 16" 19'", '- 20' 25' 28'; in 1 S 1', also, Ramathaim, ' the double eminence,' or ' the two Ramahs ' (o^nEnri : LXX in all the passages quoted ( -I- 19'-^), except 19'^- '="• ^ 20', has Ap/ia0aifi, which it also inserts in 1 S 1' after ' his city': comp. 1 Mac 11* 'Paixadf/j. [so MSS ; As corruptly 'PaSaAiftK], Pesh. iCLiAlDJ). The birth- place, residence, and burial-place of Samuel (1 S 1' 7" 28). The question of its site isdithcult; and there have been many claimants for it. All that we definitely know about it is that it was on an eminence, as its name ' Ramah ' implies, and that it was in the hill-country of Ephraim, not too far either from Shiloh, the sanctuary to which the parents of Samuel went up yearly to sacrifice (1 S 1), or from Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah (Neby Samwil), the places visited by Samuel in his annual circuits as judge (IS "7'°-"). Although this has been doubted, it is also extremely difficult to avoid identifying it with the unnamed city where Saul found Samuel (1 S 9), and which is sjjoken of as if it were the seer's habitual residence (vv."- '"). As regards antiquity, Eusebius writes (Onom. 225, 11 tt.) : ' Apixae^^ 2«,/,a [as LXX]. The city of Elkana and Samuel. It lies near Diospolis [Jerome, ib. 96, 18, adds, 'in the district of Timnah ' (in regione Thamnitica)] ; thence came Joseph, said in the Gospels to be from Arimathea.' And in 1 Mac 11* Ramathem is mentioned, to- gether with Aplu-erema (Ephraim, 5 m. N.E. of Bethel) and Lydda( = Diospolis), as three toparchies which had belonged to Samaria, but were in B.C. 145 transferred to Judsea. These notices would agree witli a site Beit-Rima, a village on a hill 13 m. E.N.E. of Lydda (Diospolis), and 2 m. N. of Tinmah (Tibneh), proposed originally by Furrer in Schenkcl's Bibellexinon (cf. Sehiirer, i. 183), and adopted by G. A. Smith, HGIIL 254, and Buhl, 170. It is true, Eus. says ' near Diospolis ' : but • ' Ramathaim-zophim • (D-jW D:n:;-;n) is grammatically im- possible. Of course the expression cannnt mean ' the heights of the views' (I), as the reader of Tent-Work (p, 257) is gravely informed LXX tor □'Bis has Su«, showing that the final c has arisen by dittography from the following word Read either ' a man of Ramathaim, a Zuphite ('J^s ; see IS 9') of the hill- country of Ephraim' (Wellh., Driver, Lohr); or (though this is not the usual way of designating a person's native place in the OT) 'a man of the Ramathites (D'ni:-]n-[p : 1 Ch 11^), a Zuphite,' etc. (Klost, Budde, H. P. SmithVlhe dual •Rama- thaim,' though by no means unparalleled (of. Kirialhaim, Gederothttini), is remarkable, in view of the Ding. hd-Ramah En V.19 and everywhere else. the word need not be understood too strictly; and there are other passages in which the ' district of Timnali ' is reckoned by him as belonging to tlie ipiov Aiotr7r6\ews (219, 84 = Jerome 92, 4; 239, 93-4 = Jerome 107, 12-14: so Timnah itself, 260, 4 = 156, 7). Beit-Riina is 12 m. W. of Shiloh, and 12 m. N. W. of Bethel, on the W. edge of the hill- countiy of Ephraim.t Another possible site for Ramah would be Rdm- allah, 3 m. S.W. of Bethel, and 12 m. S.W. of Shiloh, now a large Christian village, standing on a high ridge, with rock-cut tombs, and overlooking the whole country towards the W. as far as tha sea (BRP i. 453 f. ; PEP Mem. iii. 13). This was suggested by Ewald [Hist. ii. 421), m ith the remark that its present name, ' tlie high place of God,' seems still to mark it as a place of ancient sanctity. Ram-allah has not the same support of tradition that Beit-Rima enjoys ; but (if Ramah be the city of Samuel of 1 S 9) it seems to agree better with the terms of 1 S Q^"""- ^ ; for Rftm-allah, though, if it were Ramathaim, it would be in 'the hill- country of Ephraim '(IS 1'), might also, as seema to be implied of the city in 1 "S 9 (vv.'"™"'-'), be regariled as being in Benjamin (cf. Jg 4'). Saul would probably, on his route home to Gibeah, pass naturally near Rachel's sepulchre, on the (N.) 'border of Benjamin (IS 10-), somewhere near er-Rfim (No. i), and might abo 'meet' naturally men 'going up' to Bethel (v.^), whether his starting-point were Beit-Rima or Rim-allah. Of otiier, less probable identifications, the follow- ing may be mentioned : — (1) Ramleh. Tlie traveller of to-day, as he journeys through the Maritime Plain from Joppa to Jerusalem, is assured by his dragoman, when he reaches Ramleh (12 m. S.E. of Joppa, 2 m. S.W. of Lydda), that this is the Arimathsea of tha Gospels. As Robinson {BRP ii. 234-41) shows at length, there is no ground for this identification. Ramleh is no ancient city ; it was buUt by Suleiman, after he had destroyed Lydda, in the 8th cent. A.D. ; and it is first mentioned (aco. to Robinson, p. 234) in 870 (under the form Ramitla) by the monk Bernard. The name Ramleh signifies sand; and lias no etymological connexion what- ever with Ramah, high. Ramleh is also in the Maritime Plain, not, like Ramathaim, in the ' hill-country' of Ephraim. (2) Neby Samwil, the commanding and con- spicuous eminence (2935 ft. ) above Gibeon, i\ m. N.W. of Jerusalem. Procopius (c. 560) men- tions a monastery of ' Si . Samuel ' in Palestine (though without indicating its site); and in the Crusaders' time a church of ' St. Samuel ' was built (A.D. 1157) at Neby Samwil, which, with Moslem additions (including a minaret), remains, though partlj' in a ruined state, to the present day ; close by, and once probably in the nave of the church, is the cenotaph of the prophet, now a Moslem wely (cf. Robinson, BRP i. 450 f. ; SP 2\i i.; Jent.\Vork,2o^i. ; PEP Mem. iii. 12 f., 149- 152, with views). The Ramah of Samuel was identi- fied, at least provisionally, with Neby Samwil by Mr. (afterwards Sir G.) Grove (in Smith's Dli). The liradition connecting the place with Samuel is, however, very late ; and Neby Samwil is mu<:li more probably Mizpeh (Rob. i. 460 ; HGUL 120 ; Buhl, 167 f.). (3) Other identiUcations that have been proposed are SOba, 30 an elevated conitral hill, 5 m. W. of Jerusiilem (Itiil)inson, it 7-10) ; the Frankenbcrg, or Jebel Fureidis, the ancient Her- odium, 4 m. S.E, of Bethlehem (Oes. Th6«. 1276) ; er-lt:un, said • Lydda, as Robinson, BliP ii. 240, obsen'ea, though 11 milel from Joppa, is said in Ac 93s to be ' near ' to it t Elsewhere, however (146, 25 1. ; 2S3, 11 f.), Eua and Jcrom identify Arimatha^a with a "PifA^te or Remfthis, also i ipitd ^torrikittf, — supposed to be the village :i ?tantieb, 6 m. M. of Lydda. KAMATHAIM RANGE 199 to be a little N. of Beth-lehem, and E. of the so-called ' Rachel'a tomb,' but not known to Rob. (ii. 8 n.) or marked on the J'Kh^ map(Bonar, Land of HroinUe, 114); Rainel el-Ivbatil, I m. N. oi lIel)ron (van de Velde, Syr. and Pal, ii. 5U); and the two hei-lils (• Riunatliuim ') of 'Ah'a (2900 ft.) and Birch (2!l80 ft.), < m. W.S.W. of Beth-lehem — the latter \ m. S. of the fonner, out without a name on the PEF mop (Schick, PKFSi, 1898, p. IBf., with map). But it is incredible that any of tlicse places can have been reu'arded as being in KphraUii (1 S 1') ; and, except the fir^t, they are all connected with the identification of ' Kachel's sepulchre ' in 1 S 10- with the place now shown as ■ Rachel's tomb,' 1 m. N. of Beth-lehem, which (see p. 19*") •ccuis impossible. S. Ii. BltlVER.