The Definition of the word Rama

Rama

(Matt. 2:18), the Greek form of Ramah. (1.) A city first "mentioned in Josh. 18:25, near Gibeah of Benjamin. It was" "fortified by Baasha, king of Israel (1 Kings 15:17-22; 2 Chr." "16:1-6). Asa, king of Judah, employed Benhadad the Syrian king" "to drive Baasha from this city (1 Kings 15:18, 20). Isaiah" "(10:29) refers to it, and also Jeremiah, who was once a prisoner" there among the other captives of Jerusalem when it was taken by "Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 39:8-12; 40:1). Rachel, whose tomb lies" "close to Bethlehem, is represented as weeping in Ramah (Jer." 31:15) for her slaughtered children. This prophecy is illustrated and fulfilled in the re-awakening of Rachel's grief at the slaughter of the infants in Bethlehem (Matt. 2:18). It is "identified with the modern village of er-Ram, between Gibeon and" "Beeroth, about 5 miles due north of Jerusalem. (See" [518]SAMUEL.) "(2.) A town identified with Rameh, on the border of Asher, about "13 miles south-east of Tyre, "on a solitary hill in the midst of" "a basin of green fields" (Josh. 19:29)." "(3.) One of the "fenced cities" of Naphtali (Josh. 19:36), on a "mountain slope, about seven and a half miles west-south-west of" "Safed, and 15 miles west of the north end of the Sea of Galilee," the present large and well-built village of Rameh. "(4.) The same as Ramathaim-zophim (q.v.), a town of Mount "Ephraim (1 Sam. 1:1, 19)." "(5.) The same as Ramoth-gilead (q.v.), 2 Kings 8:29; 2 Chr. 22:06