Râma

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

RAMA or Ramah ("an elevated spot".)

1. In Benjamin ( Jeremiah 31:15;  Matthew 2:18). The cry of the weeping mothers and of Rachel is poetically represented as heard as far as Rama, on the E. side of the N. road between Jerusalem and Bethel; Rama where Nebuzaradan gathered the captive Jews to take them to Babylon. Not far from Gibeah of Saul ( 1 Samuel 22:6;  Hosea 5:8;  Isaiah 10:28-32). Now Er Ram , five miles from Jerusalem ( Judges 4:5;  Judges 19:13;  Joshua 18:25). There is an Er Ram one mile and a half E. of Bethlehem; but explain  Jeremiah 31:15 as above.

Baasha fortified it, to prevent his subjects from going S. to Jerusalem to the great feasts, and so joining the kingdom of Judah ( 1 Kings 15:17-21;  2 Chronicles 16:1-5). (See Baasha ; ASA.) The coincidence is dear between Rama's being built by Israel, its overthrow by Judah, and the emigration from Israel to Judah owing to Jeroboam's idolatry ( 1 Kings 12:26;  2 Chronicles 11:14-17); yet the events are named separately, and their connection only inferred by comparison of distinct passages, a minute proof of genuineness. Its people returned after the captivity ( Ezra 2:26;  Nehemiah 7:30). The Rama,  Nehemiah 11:33, was further W.

2. The house of Elkanah, Samuel's father ( 1 Samuel 1:19;  1 Samuel 2:11). Samuel's birthplace, residence, and place of burial. Here he built an altar to Jehovah ( 1 Samuel 7:17;  1 Samuel 8:4;  1 Samuel 15:34;  1 Samuel 16:13;  1 Samuel 19:18;  1 Samuel 25:1;  1 Samuel 28:3). Contracted from Ramathaim Zophim, in Mount Ephraim (which included under its name the northern parts of Benjamin, Bethel, and Ataroth:  2 Chronicles 13:19;  2 Chronicles 15:8;  Judges 4:5;  1 Samuel 1:1). Muslim, Jewish, and Christian tradition places Samuel's home on the height Neby Samwil, four miles N.W. of Jerusalem, than which it is loftier. Arculf (A.D. 700) identifies it as "Saint Samuel."

The professed tomb is a wooden box; below it is a cave excavated like Abraham's burial place at Hebron, from the rock, and dosed against entrance except by a narrow opening in the top, through which pilgrims pass their lamps and petitions to the sacred vault beneath. The city where Samuel anointed Saul (1 Samuel 9-10) was probably not Samuel's own city Rama, for the city of Saul's anointing was near Rachel's sepulchre adjoining Bethlehem ( 1 Samuel 10:2), whereas Mount Ephraim wherein was Ramathaim Zophim did not reach so far S. Near Neby Samwil, the probable site of Samuel's Rama, is the well of Sechu to which Saul came on his way to Rama, now "Samuel's fountain" near Beit Isku. Beit Haninah (probably Naioth ) is near ( 1 Samuel 19:18-24). Hosea ( Hosea 5:8) refers to Rama. The appended "Zophim" distinguishes it from Rama of Benjamin. Elkanah's ancestor Zuph may have been the origin of the "Zophim."

3. A fortress of Naphtali in the mountainous region N.W. of the sea, of Galilee. Now Rameh, eight miles E.S.E. of Safed, on the main track between Akka and the N. of the sea of Galilee, on the slope of a lofty hill.

4. On Asher's boundary between Tyre and Sidon; a Rama is still three miles E. of Tyre.

5. Ramoth Gilead ( 2 Kings 8:29;  2 Chronicles 22:6).

6. Re-occupied by Benjamin on the return from Babylon ( Nehemiah 11:33). Identified by Grove with Ramleh.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

The same as Ramoth-gilead (q.v.),  2 Kings 8:29;  2 Chronicles 22:6 .

Copyright Statement These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., DD Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain.

Bibliography Information Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Rama'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/r/rama.html. 1897.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Ra'ma.  Matthew 2:15 referring to  Jeremiah 31:15. It is the Greek form of Ramah . See Ramah .

Morrish Bible Dictionary

The place where Rachel was said to be 'weeping for her children.' The prophecy is in the N.T. applied to the occasion of the massacre of the infants by Herod.  Matthew 2:18 . The same as RAMAHNo. 1.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Matthew 2:18

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

Ραμᾶ , the Greek form of Ramah. found in  Matthew 2:18, referring to  Jeremiah 31:15. The original passage alludes to a massacre of Benjamites or Eph-raimites (comp.  Jeremiah 31:9;  Jeremiah 31:18) at the Ramah in Benjamin or in Mount Ephraim. This is seized by the evangelist and turned into a touching reference to the slaughter of the innocents at Bethlehem, near to which was (and is) the sepulchre of Rachel. The name of Rama is alleged to have been lately discovered attached to a spot close to the sepulchre. If it existed there in Matthew's day, it may have prompted his allusion, though it is not necessary to suppose this, since the point of the quotation does not lie in the name Ramah, but in the lamentation of Rachel for the children, as is shown by the change of the Υἱοῖς of the original to Τέκνα . The allusion is doubtless to Ramah, one of the leading cities of Benjamin, and not, as many have supposed, to some place of that name near Bethlehem. The passage is a difficult one, but the difficulty may be solved by a careful examination of the topography of the district. The difficulties are these:

1. Why is Rachel, the mother of Benjamin, represented as weeping for her children, seeing that Bethlehem was in Judah and not in Benjamin? The reply is, Rachel died and was buried near Bethlehem ( Genesis 35:19); the border of the tribe of Benjamin reached to her sepulchre ( 1 Samuel 10:2); not only were the children of Bethlehem slain, but also those "in all the coast thereof," thus including part of Benjamin. The spirit of the departed Rachel is then represented as rising from the tomb and mourning her slaughtered children.

2. But why was the voice of lamentation heard in Ramah nearly ten miles distant? The answer is now easy. So deep was the impression made by the cruel massacre, that the cry of distress went through the whole land of Benjamin, reaching to the capital of the tribe.

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

In the Hindu mythology an avatar of Vishnu, being the seventh, in the character of a hero, a destroyer of monsters and a bringer of joy, as the name signifies, the narrative of whose exploits are given in the "Râmâyana " ( q. v .).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

rā´ma ( Ῥαμᾶ , Rhamá ): the King James Version; Greek form of Ramah (which see) ( Matthew 2:18 ).