The hill of RAMAH elevation 2600 feet- moderan er-Ram. Hebrew meaning to be lofty. 9km north of Jerusalem (2)
WYSIWYG. There is no great visual panorama at al-Ram. The modern village is today almost an extension of Ramallah itself, and is covered by the normal concrete buildings and interrupted by busy traffic and noise of modern existence. Once the location of quiet and considered prophetic advice, the city now contains little trace of these spiritual origins. Warren describes a well to the south, a birket (pool) to the north of the city and a quarry at Khan er-Ram
Ramah contains an enormous history. It was a village close to Gibeah, which is identified with Jeba a few kilometres to the north. Josh 18:25 The distance between the towns not considerable as indicated by the Levite travelling north from Jerusalem considering both Ramah and Gibeah as alternates for accommodation north of Jebus. Judges 19:11-15 and returning exiles are mentioned as coming from Geba – Ramah Ezra 2:25; 7:30
It was the home city of Samuel 1Sam 1:19; 2:11; 25:1; 28:3 otherwise known as Ramathaim-Zophim 1:1 and from here judged the nation 7:17; 8:4 Saul the first king was located then only a few kilometres to the north 1Sam 15:34 yet was unaware of the location of Samuel’s house. The distance between Ramah, Gibeah and Ai being the distance of hearing an alarm trumpet Hosea 5:8 Interestingly Deborah in her administration for Israel was found between Ramah and Bethel Judges 4:5 The traditional tomb of Samuel is located at an-Nabi Samu’il (arabic) or modern Nebi Samwil based on the crusader relocation of what they considered Samuels bones. Benjamin of Tudela visited the site when he traveled the land in 1173, noting that the Crusaders had found the bones of Samuel in a Jewish cemetery in Ramla on the coastal plain.
Asa engaged the Syrians to attack Basha following the northern king’s fortification of Ramah 1Kings 15:17-22; 2Chron 6:5 The closeness to Jerusalem being perceived a real impending threat to the southern kingdom. It was this closeness that provided the staging grounds for the Babylonians to remove the captives from the conquest of Jerusalem Jer 31:15; 40:1 a scene of terrible anguish with the considered end of the world for the nation of Israel, were it not for the miraculous intervention of deity at the hand of the Persians some 70 years later. This disaster was remembered again at the death of the infants at Bethlehem by the hand of Herod Matt 2:18 This closeness to Jerusalem (5km) noted again in the proximity of Sennacherib in his conquest Isa 10:28
Some consider that Joseph of Arimathea came from Ramah (1)
ref: (1) Petrus Comestor (ca. 1100-1179) Historia Scholastica (2) 6 roman miles; Omasticon 287, 1:146,9:6 (3) Josephus antiq viii.7.3
