Rama
(Matt 2:18), the Greek form of Ramah. (1.) A city first mentioned in Josh 18:25, near Gibeah of Benjamin. It was fortified by Baasha, king of Israel (1 Kgs 15:17–22; 2 Chr 16:1–6). Asa, king of Judah, employed Benhadad the Syrian king to drive Baasha from this city (1 Kgs 15:18, 1 Kgs 15:20). Isaiah (Isa 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 (Jer 39:8–12; Jer 40:1). Rachel, whose tomb lies close to Bethlehem, is represented as weeping in Ramah (Jer 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 (Matt 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” (Josh 19:29).
(3.) One of the “fenced cities” of Naphtali (Josh 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 Sam 1:1, 1 Sam 1:19).
(5.) The same as Ramoth-gilead (q.v.), 2 Kgs 8:29; 2 Chr 22:6.
Named in the Bible
1 verse
- Matthew 2:18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
From Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), by Matthew George Easton.
