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•RIBLAH fruitful, an ancient town on the northern frontier of Palestine, 35 miles north-east of Baalbec, and 10 or 12 south of Lake Homs, on the eastern bank of the Orontes, in a wide and fertile plain. Here Nebuchadnezzar had his head-quarters in his campaign against Jerusalem, and here also Necho fixed his camp after he had routed Josiah’s army at Megiddo (2 Kings 23:29-35; 25:6, 20, 21; Jeremiah 39:5; 52:10). It was on the great caravan road from Palestine to Carchemish, on the Euphrates. It is described (Numbers 34:11) as “on the eastern side of Ain.” A place still called el Ain, i.e., “the fountain”, is found in such a position about 10 miles distant. (See JERUSALEM.)
•RIDDLE (Hebrews hodah). The oldest and, strictly speaking, the only example of a riddle was that propounded by Samson (Judges 14:12-18). The parabolic prophecy in Ezekiel 17:2-18 is there called a “riddle.” It was rather, however, an allegory. The word “darkly” in 1 Corinthians 13:12 is the rendering of the Greek enigma; marg., “in a riddle.”
•RIGHTEOUSNESS See JUSTIFICATION.
•RIMMON pomegranate. (1.) A man of Beeroth (2 Samuel 4:2), one of the four Gibeonite cities. (See Joshua 9:17.)
(2.) A Syrian idol, mentioned only in 2 Kings 5:18.
(3.) One of the “uttermost cities” of Judah, afterwards given to Simeon (Joshua 15:21, 32; 19:7; 1 Chronicles 4:32). In Joshua 15:32 Ain and Rimmon are mentioned separately, but in 19:7 and 1 Chronicles 4:32 (comp. Nehemiah 11:29) the two words are probably to be combined, as forming together the name of one place, Ain-Rimmon=the spring of the pomegranate. It has been identified with Um er-Rumamin, about 13 miles south-west of Hebron.
(4.) “Rock of,” to which the Benjamites fled (Judges 20:45, 47; 21:13), and where they maintained themselves for four months after the fearful battle at Gibeah, in which they were almost exterminated, 600 only surviving out of about 27,000. It is the present village of Rummon, “on the very edge of the hill country, with a precipitous descent toward the Jordan valley,” supposed to be the site of Ai.