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•RAMA (Matthew 2:18), the Greek form of Ramah. (1.) A city first mentioned in Joshua 18:25, near Gibeah of Benjamin. It was fortified by Baasha, king of Israel (1 Kings 15:17-22; 2 Chronicles 16:1-6). Asa, king of Judah, employed Benhadad the Syrian king to drive Baasha from this city (1 Kings 15:18, 20). Isaiah (10:29) refers to it, and also Jeremiah, who was once a prisoner there among the other captives of Jerusalem when it was taken by Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 39:8-12; 40:1). Rachel, whose tomb lies close to Bethlehem, is represented as weeping in Ramah (Jeremiah 31:15) for her slaughtered children. This prophecy is illustrated and fulfilled in the re-awakening of Rachel’s grief at the slaughter of the infants in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:18). It is identified with the modern village of er-Ram, between Gibeon and Beeroth, about 5 miles due north of Jerusalem. (See SAMUEL.)
(2.) A town identified with Rameh, on the border of Asher, about 13 miles south-east of Tyre, “on a solitary hill in the midst of a basin of green fields” (Joshua 19:29).
(3.) One of the “fenced cities” of Naphtali (Joshua 19:36), on a mountain slope, about seven and a half miles west-south-west of Safed, and 15 miles west of the north end of the Sea of Galilee, the present large and well-built village of Rameh.
(4.) The same as Ramathaim-zophim (q.v.), a town of Mount Ephraim (1 Samuel 1:1, 19).
(5.) The same as Ramoth-gilead (q.v.), 2 Kings 8:29; 2 Chronicles 22:6.
One of the Levitical families descended from Kohath, that of Zuph or Zophai (1 Chronicles 6:26, 35), had a district assigned to them in Ephraim, which from this circumstance was called “the land of Zuph,” and hence the name of the town, “Zophim.” It was the birth-place of Samuel and the seat of his authority (1 Samuel 2:11; 7:17). It is frequently mentioned in the history of that prophet and of David (15:34; 16:13; 19:18-23). Here Samuel died and was buried (25:1).
This town has been identified with the modern Neby Samwil (“the prophet Samuel”), about 4 or 5 miles north-west of Jerusalem. But there is