Ramath - Mizpeh
Ramath - Mizpeh [1]
(Heb. Ramath' ham- Aitspeh', רָמִת הָמַּצְפֶּה , High-Place Of The Watch- Tower; Sept. Ἀραβὼθ Κατὰ Τὴν Μασσηφά , v. R. ῾Ραμώθ Κατὰ Τὴν Μασφά ; Vulg. Ramath Masphe ) . In defining the boundaries of the tribe of Gad, Joshua states that Moses gave them inheritance... : "from Heshbon unto Ramath-mizpeh, and Betonim" ( Joshua 13:26). This place is nowhere else mentioned; and it appears to have constituted one of the landmarks on the northern border of the tribe, which ran from the banks of the Jabbok, in the parallel of Jerash, to the southern end of the Sea of Galilee. It was in this region Jacob and Laban had their remarkable interview and entered into the covenant. The place where they vowed to each other was marked by a heap of stones, and called both Galeed and Mizpah ( Genesis 31:48-49). This would seem to suggest the identity of the Mizpah of Jacob and Ramath-Mizpeh. (See Gad); (See Jegar- Sahadutha). There was a Mizpeh in Gilead, on the north-east lorder of Gad, and close to the territory of the Ammonites. In later times the latter became the great gatheringplace of Israel east of the Jordan. (See Ramoth-Gilead). It apparently was the same as Ramath-mizpeh. In the books of Maccabees it probably appears in the garb of Masphal ( 1 Maccabees 5:35), but no information is afforded us in either Old Test. or Apocrypha as to its position. The lists of places in the districts north of es- Salt, collected by Dr. Eli Smith, and given by Dr. Robinson (Bibl. Res. 1st ed. App. to vol. iii), contain several names which may retain a trace of Ramath, viz.Ru7meimin (167 b), Reimunzzu (166 at), Rumrud7 a (165 t); but the situation of these places is not accurately known.
