Ralston, Samuel, D.D., a Presbyterian minister, was born in the county of Donegal, Ireland, in 1756; studied at the University of Glasgow; and, after en- tering the ministry, emigrated to this country in the spring of 1794. After itinerating about two years in Eastern Pennsylvania, he went West, and in 1796 be- came pastor of the united congregations of Mingo Creek and Williamsport (now Monongahela City), where he remained for the rest of his life, being pastor of the latter branch thirty-five years, and of the former forty years. In 1822 he was made D.D. by Washington Col- lege, Pa., and died in Washington County, Pa., Sept. 25, 1851. As a preacher, he was eminently didactic and distinctive, clear, copious, and profound in the exposi- tion and defence of truth. His published works are mostly of a controversial character; among them we find — The Curry-comb (1805): — a work on baptism, comprising a review of Campbell's debate with Walker, and letters in reply to his attack upon this review : — A Brief Examination of the Principal Prophecies of Dan- iel and John: — A Defence of Evangelical Psalmody. — Sprague, Annals, iv, 146.
Ram (Heb. id. D1, high), the name of three men in Scripture.
1. (Sept. 'Apap,v. r.'Appdv and 'Opdfi; Vulg. .4 raw.) The son of Hezron and father of Amminadab, B.C. cir. 1780. He was born in Egypt after Jacob's migration there, as his name is not mentioned in Gen. xlvi, 4. He first appears in Ruth iv, 19. The genealogy in 1 Chron. ii, 9, 10 adds no further information concerning him, except that he was the second son of Hezron, Jer- ahmeel being the first-born (ver. 25). He appears in the New Test, only in the two lists of the ancestry of Christ (Matt, i, 3, 4; Luke iii, 33), where he is called Aram.
2. (Sept. 'P«jU, v. r. "Pav, 'Apdfj. ; Vulg. Ram.) The first-born of Jerahmeel, and therefore nephew of the preceding (1 Chron. ii, 25, 27). B.C. post 1780. He had three sons — Maaz, Jamin, and Eker.
3. (Sept.'Pa/i, v. r. 'Apdfi : Vulg. Ram.) Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, is described as "of the kin- dred of Ram" (Job xxxii, 2). Rashi's note on the pas- sage is curious : " ' of the family of Ram,' Abraham ; for it is said, ' the greatest man among the Anakim' (Josh, xiv) ; this [is] Abraham." Ewald identifies Bam with Aram, mentioned in Gen. xxii, 21 in connection with Huz and Buz (Gesch. i, 414). Elihu would thus be a collateral descendant of Abraham, and this may have suggested the extraordinary explanation given by Rashi. — Smith. See Aiiam.
Ram (^X, dyil ; Kpwg). As this animal, fat- tened, was a favorite article of food (Gen. xxxi, 38; Ezek. xxxix, 18), it was considered, when offered as sacrifice, of higher value than sheep and lambs (Gen. xv, 9, Numb, xv, 5, 6; xxiii, 1 sq. ; xxviii, 11 sq., 28 sq. ; Mic. vi, 7), and the legal ritual gave exact direc- tions on the sacrifice of them. The rams were some- times burnt-offerings (Lev. viii. 18, 21; ix, 2; xvi, 3; xxix, is ; Numb, vii, 15; Psa. lxvi, 15; Isa. i, 11 ; Ezek. xlv, 23, etc.). sometimes thank-offerings (Lev. ix, 4, 18; Numb, vi, 14, 17; vii, 17; xxviii, 11. etc.), sometimes trespass -offerings (Lev. v, 15, 18, 25; vi, 6; comp. Lev. xix, 21 ; Numb, v, 8 ; Ezra x, 19, etc.). The ram, too, appears not only in public and private offerings in general, but especially in the purifying sacrifices of the
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Nazarite (Xuml>. vi, 14) and the sacrifices of Priestly Consecration. It was nol used as a sin-offering. Jn 2 Chron. xxix. 21 only th seven h -gt >ats belong to the sin-offering, as ver. 23 shows; the rams, with the other animals, forming the burnt-offering. The use ol the ram as thank- ami trespass-offering is pointed out in Exod. xxix, 22 i comp. Lev. viii. 16; ix. 19; Isa. xxxiv. 6). The Greeks and Romans used rams for sacrifice only Exceptionally; yet comp. Pliny, H.N. xxxiv. 19, 1!". In Egypl this was more frequent (Wilkinson, v, 191 sq.) : only in the Thebais it was prohibited, save at i animal festival of Ammon (Herod, ii. 42). On the symbolic Use of the ram in Daniel to signify the Persian empire, see Cattle, No. II; and on the Bat- ii ring-ram, see 8. v. The use of ram's skins for cover- ing is alluded to in Exod. xxv, 5; xxvi, l J ; xxxvi, 19; xxxix,:;t. and is still eommon in Palestine, where they are also "dyed red" (Exod. xxv. 5) for the use of the shoemakers (Thomson, Land and Book, i, 139). — Winer. .See Mil i.r.
Ram, Battering (13; Sept, Ptkooramc, x«P«?i Vulg. aries). This instrument of ancienl siege opera- tions is twice mentioned in the Old Test (Ezek. iv,2; xxi. 22 | 27]) ; and as both references are to the batter- ing-rams in use among the Assyrians and Babylonians, it will only be necessary to describe those which are known from the monuments to have been employed in their sieges. With regard to the meaning of the He- brew word there is but little doubt. It denotes an en- gine of war which was called a ram, either because it had an iron head shaped like that of a ram, or because, when used for battering down a wall, the movement was like the butting action of a ram.