Ramah (ancient Israel)

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Ramah - "height" - is the name of several places in ancient Israel:

• The same as Ramathaim- Zophim.
• The same as Ramoth-Gilead.
• A city of Simeon in Negev. It was the same as Baalath-Beer, east of Beersheba.
• A city of Asher, which seems to be difficult to identify. Some have believed it to be the same as Rameh, southeast of Tyre.
• A city in Naphtali's territory. It may be the same as Khirbet Zeitun er-Rameh east of today's Rameh village.
• Ramah in Benjamin. It was located near Gibeon, Gibeah, Mizpah, and Geba. It is identified with modern Er-Ram, about 8 km north of Jerusalem. The city is first mentioned in Joshua 18:25, near Gibeah of Benjamin. A Levite came traveling to Gibeah, with Ramah just ahead. (Jg 19:11-15) It was fortified by Baasha, king of the northern kingdom (1 Kings 15:17-22; 2 Chr. 16:1-6). Asa, king of the southern kingdom, employed Ben Hadad the Syrian king to attack Baasha at home and draw his forces away from this city (1 Kings 15:18, 20). When Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians, those taken captive were assembled in Ramah before being moved to Babylon. Jeremiah said Rachel was weeping over her sons, because they were no more. (Jer. 31:15). Rachel had so desired children that she considered herself dead without them. (Gen. 30:1) Jeremiah said that she was figuratively weeping because of the loss of the people killed or taken in captivity. And since she was the mother of Benjamin, it would fit because those in Ramah were Benjaminites. The words got another meaning in applying to the gruesome slaughter of boy children when the tyrant Herod the Great was king.