Rama
Rama
(Hebrew: a high place)
City assigned by Josue to the tribe of Benjamin (Josue 18), six miles north of Jerusalem, the modern Er Ram. Site of the tomb of Rachel, mother of Joseph and Benjamin, who wept for her children “and would not be comforted” (Jeremias 31). Referred to in Matthew 2 in a prophecy of the slaughter of the infants by Herod.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Rama
, the Greek form of Ramah. found in Mat 2:18, referring to Jer 31:15. The original passage alludes to a massacre of Benjamites or Eph-raimites (comp. Jer 31:9; Jer 31:18) at the Ramah in Benjamin or in Mount Ephraim. This is seized by the evangelist and turned into a touching reference to the slaughter of the innocents at Bethlehem, near to which was (and is) the sepulchre of Rachel. The name of Rama is alleged to have been lately discovered attached to a spot close to the sepulchre. If it existed there in Matthew’s day, it may have prompted his allusion, though it is not necessary to suppose this, since the point of the quotation does not lie in the name Ramah, but in the lamentation of Rachel for the children, as is shown by the change of the of the original to . The allusion is doubtless to Ramah, one of the leading cities of Benjamin, and not, as many have supposed, to some place of that name near Bethlehem. The passage is a difficult one, but the difficulty may be solved by a careful examination of the topography of the district. The difficulties are these:
1. Why is Rachel, the mother of Benjamin, represented as weeping for her children, seeing that Bethlehem was in Judah and not in Benjamin? The reply is, Rachel died and was buried near Bethlehem (Gen 35:19); the border of the tribe of Benjamin reached to her sepulchre (1Sa 10:2); not only were the children of Bethlehem slain, but also those “in all the coast thereof,” thus including part of Benjamin. The spirit of the departed Rachel is then represented as rising from the tomb and mourning her slaughtered children.
2. But why was the voice of lamentation heard in Ramah nearly ten miles distant? The answer is now easy. So deep was the impression made by the cruel massacre, that the cry of distress went through the whole land of Benjamin, reaching to the capital of the tribe.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Rama (2)
is, in Hindu mythology, the name common to three incarnations of Vishnu, of Parasurhma, Ramachandra, and Balarama. SEE VISHNU
.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
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 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. 22:6.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Rama
RAMA or RAMAH (“an elevated spot”.)
1. In Benjamin (Jer 31:15; Mat 2:18). The cry of the weeping mothers and of Rachel is poetically represented as heard as far as Rama, on the E. side of the N. road between Jerusalem and Bethel; Rama where Nebuzaradan gathered the captive Jews to take them to Babylon. Not far from Gibeah of Saul (1Sa 22:6; Hos 5:8; Isa 10:28-32). Now Er Ram, five miles from Jerusalem (Jdg 4:5; Jdg 19:13; Jos 18:25). There is an Er Ram one mile and a half E. of Bethlehem; but explain Jer 31:15 as above.
Baasha fortified it, to prevent his subjects from going S. to Jerusalem to the great feasts, and so joining the kingdom of Judah (1Ki 15:17-21; 2Ch 16:1-5). (See BAASHA; ASA.) The coincidence is dear between Rama’s being built by Israel, its overthrow by Judah, and the emigration from Israel to Judah owing to Jeroboam’s idolatry (1Ki 12:26; 2Ch 11:14-17); yet the events are named separately, and their connection only inferred by comparison of distinct passages, a minute proof of genuineness. Its people returned after the captivity (Ezr 2:26; Neh 7:30). The Rama, Neh 11:33, was further W.
2. The house of Elkanah, Samuel’s father (1Sa 1:19; 1Sa 2:11). Samuel’s birthplace, residence, and place of burial. Here he built an altar to Jehovah (1Sa 7:17; 1Sa 8:4; 1Sa 15:34; 1Sa 16:13; 1Sa 19:18; 1Sa 25:1; 1Sa 28:3). Contracted from Ramathaim Zophim, in Mount Ephraim (which included under its name the northern parts of Benjamin, Bethel, and Ataroth: 2Ch 13:19; 2Ch 15:8; Jdg 4:5; 1Sa 1:1). Muslim, Jewish, and Christian tradition places Samuel’s home on the height Neby Samwil, four miles N.W. of Jerusalem, than which it is loftier. Arculf (A.D. 700) identifies it as “Saint Samuel.”
The professed tomb is a wooden box; below it is a cave excavated like Abraham’s burial place at Hebron, from the rock, and dosed against entrance except by a narrow opening in the top, through which pilgrims pass their lamps and petitions to the sacred vault beneath. The city where Samuel anointed Saul (1 Samuel 9-10) was probably not Samuel’s own city Rama, for the city of Saul’s anointing was near Rachel’s sepulchre adjoining Bethlehem (1Sa 10:2), whereas Mount Ephraim wherein was Ramathaim Zophim did not reach so far S. Near Neby Samwil, the probable site of Samuel’s Rama, is the well of Sechu to which Saul came on his way to Rama, now “Samuel’s fountain” near Beit Isku. Beit Haninah (probably Naioth) is near (1Sa 19:18-24). Hosea (Hos 5:8) refers to Rama. The appended “Zophim” distinguishes it from Rama of Benjamin. Elkanah’s ancestor Zuph may have been the origin of the “Zophim.”
3. A fortress of Naphtali in the mountainous region N.W. of the sea, of Galilee. Now Rameh, eight miles E.S.E. of Safed, on the main track between Akka and the N. of the sea of Galilee, on the slope of a lofty hill.
4. On Asher’s boundary between Tyre and Sidon; a Rama is still three miles E. of Tyre.
5. Ramoth Gilead (2Ki 8:29; 2Ch 22:6).
6. Re-occupied by Benjamin on the return from Babylon (Neh 11:33). Identified by Grove with Ramleh.
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Rama
rama (, Rhama): the King James Version; Greek form of RAMAH (which see) (Mat 2:18).
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Rama
[Ra’ma]
The place where Rachel was said to be ‘weeping for her children.’ The prophecy is in the N.T. applied to the occasion of the massacre of the infants by Herod. Mat 2:18. The same as RAMAH No. 1.
Fuente: Concise Bible Dictionary
Rama
See Ramah, 1
Ramah, 1
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Rama
Ra’ma. Mat 2:15 referring to Jer 31:15. It is the Greek form of Ramah. See Ramah.