Ramah #37

Ramah means “height” in Hebrew, and it was a common name for hilltop towns, so the Bible mentions several places called Ramah. The best known lies in the territory of Benjamin, a short distance north of Jerusalem (Joshua 18:25). It is the home of the prophet Samuel, and it later becomes a symbol of grief through a verse in Jeremiah that Matthew’s Gospel applies to the birth of Jesus.

Biblical Significance

Samuel’s parents, Elkanah and Hannah, are from Ramathaim-zophim in the hill country of Ephraim (1 Samuel 1:1), and after presenting their son at Shiloh they return to their house at Ramah (1 Samuel 1:19; 2:11). As an adult Samuel makes an annual circuit as judge to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, but always returns to Ramah, where his house is and where he builds an altar to the Lord (1 Samuel 7:15-17). It is at Ramah that the elders of Israel come to Samuel and ask for a king “like all the nations,” a request that troubles Samuel but that the Lord tells him to grant (1 Samuel 8:4-9). Samuel privately anoints Saul not far away (1 Samuel 9:25 to 10:1). When Saul’s jealousy of David turns violent, David flees to Samuel at Naioth in Ramah, where Saul’s messengers and then Saul himself are overcome by the Spirit of God and prophesy (1 Samuel 19:18-24). When Samuel dies, all Israel mourns, and he is buried at his home in Ramah (1 Samuel 25:1).

Ramah also stands on the road to exile. The prophet Jeremiah writes, “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children” (Jeremiah 31:15), and he records that after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC, the Babylonian captain Nebuzaradan released him at Ramah from a column of exiles (Jeremiah 40:1). Matthew quotes the verse in connection with Herod’s slaughter of the infants of Bethlehem (Matthew 2:17-18).

Today

Ramah of Benjamin is generally identified with the village of er-Ram, about five miles (8 km) north of Jerusalem in the West Bank, and the name has survived. Kings Baasha and Asa fought over the site because of its strategic position on the road between Israel and Judah (1 Kings 15:17-22). Extensive excavation has not been undertaken there, so knowledge of its ancient remains is limited.

The location of Samuel’s own Ramah, or Ramathaim, is debated. Some scholars identify it with Ramah of Benjamin, others with a town in the hills of Ephraim traditionally associated with Arimathea, and some suggest Nebi Samwil, where a medieval tomb of Samuel is venerated. The evidence does not settle the question.