I. RAMAH, a City of Benjamin, situate Judg. iv. 5. & xix. 3. Euseb. in locis. Hieron. in Osee v. Idem in Sophon. 1. 1 Kings xv. 17. 2 Chron. xvi. 1. Joseph. Antiq. l. 8. c. 6.between Gaba and Bethel, towards the Mountains of Ephraim, six Miles distant from Jerusalem towards the North. Saint Jerom places it near Gaba, seven Miles from Jerusalem: It was still in being in his Time, and was then only a small Village. This City stood upon the Road that went from Samaria to Jerusalem; whence it was that Baasha King of Israel caus’d it to be fortify’d, that there might be no Passage out of the Land of Judah into that of Israel. Josephus calls it Ramathan.
I make no doubt but that this is the 1 Sam. i. 1, 19. & ii. 11, &c.same as Ramatha, or Ramathaim-zophim, the Country of the Prophet Samuel. This City was on the Frontiers of Ephraim and Benjamin; and these Sorts of Cities were often inhabited by Men of both the Tribes. Rama, Ramath, and Ramathaim, may express but one and the same Place. The other Ramah, or Ramula, thought to be the Country of Samuel, cannot be so; as will be seen afterwards.
‘Tis also very probable that Jeremiah Jer. xl. 1, 2, 3.speaks of this Ramah, when he says, that Nebuzar-adan, who had the Command of the Chaldean Army, having found him among the Captives at Ramah, whither they had been all brought together, set him at Liberty, and permitted him to go where-ever he pleas’d. And ‘tis of the same Place that we explain that other Prophecy of Jeremiah, wherein the Lord Jer. xxxi. 15,16,17.comforts Rachel, for the taking away of her Children of the Tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, which had been carried into Captivity: A Voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping: Rachel weeping weeping for her Children, refused to be comforted for her Children, because they were not. Thus saith the Lord, Refrain thy Voice from Weeping, and thine Eyes from Tears: for thy Work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord, and they shall come again from the Land of the Enemy. And there is Hope in thine End, saith the Lord, that thy Children shall come again to their own Border. St. Matth. ii. 18.Matthew hath made an Application of this Passage of the Mourning of Rahel or Rachel, to the Massacre of the Infants of Bethlehem by Herod. But it is plain, that That was not the literal and historical Sense of this Passage of Jeremiah.
The Scripture often joins Ramah with Gaba, Geba, or Gibeah, as being two neighbouring Places: So Ezra ii. 26. Nehem. vii. 30. Isai. x. 29. Hosea v. 8. We also see, 1 Sam. xxii. 6. that when Saul abode in Gibeah, and sate under a Tree at Ramah, that he was inform’d of David’s having been seen in the Forest of Haresh: But in this Place we take Ramah only to signify the Eminence that was at Gibeah.