Ra'math-miz'peh (Heb. Ramath' ham-Mits- peh', f!31J"2n t"2^, high -place of the watch-tower; Sept. 'Apafiio? Kara rryv ~Maaar\(pu, v.r.'Pa/iioS Kara
T))v Maa<f>d ; Vulg. Ramath Masphe). In defining the boundaries of the tribe of Gad, Joshua states that Moses gave them inheritance . . . : "from Heshbon unto Ramath-mizpeh, and Betonim" (Josh, xiii, 2G). This place is nowhere else mentioned ; and it appears to have constituted one of the landmarks on the north- ern border of the tribe, which ran from the banks of the Jabbok, in the parallel of Jerash, to the southern end of the Sea of Galilee. It was in this region Jacob and Laban hail their remarkable interview and entered into the covenant. The place where they vowed to each other was marked by a heap of stones, and called both Galeed and Mizpah (Gen. xxxi, 48, 4'.>). This would seem to suggest the identity of the Mizpah of Jacob and Ramath-Mizpeh. See Gad; Jegaii-Sahadutha. There was a Mizpeh in Gilead, on the north-east border of Gad, and close to the territory of the Ammonites. In later times the latter became the great gathering- place of Israel east of the Jordan. See Ramoth- gilead. It apparently was the same as Ramath-miz- peh. In the books of Maccabees it probably appears in the garb of Maspha (1 Mace, v, 35), but no informa- tion is afforded us in either Old Test, or Apocrypha as to its position. The lists of places in the districts north of es-Salt, collected by Dr. Eli Smith, and given by Dr. Robinson (Bill. Res. 1st ed. App. to vol. iii), con- tain several names which may retain a trace of Ramath, viz. Rumeimtn (1G7 b), Reimun (1GG a), Rumruma (105 a) ; but the situation of these places is not accurately known.
Ra'math-ne'geb, or Ramath of the South (Heb. Ramath' Ke'geb, 255 Hp1! ; Sept. BaptS Kara \if3a, v. r. 'lafiiS Kara \ij3a ; Vulg. Ramath contra auslralem plagam), a place apparently on the extreme southern border of Simeon. In this form it is only mentioned in Josh, xix, 8; and, from the peculiarity of the construction, there being no copulative, it would seem to be only another name for Baalath-beer, as suggested by Reland (Pala-st. p. 9G4), and interpreted by Kcil (ad loc); yet the Sept. makes the places distinct. Re this as it may, Negeb is manifestly the name of a district, and not a general term, signifying "south." See Negeb. Ramah is not mentioned in the list of Judah (comp. Josh, xv, 21-32), nor in that of Simeon in 1 Chron. iv, 28-33; nor is it mentioned by Eusebius and Jerome. Van de Velde {Memoir, p. 342) takes it as identical with Ramath-lehi, which he finds at Tell el-Lekiyeh ; but this appears to be so far south as to be out of the circle of Samson's adventures, and, at any rate, must wait for further evidence.
In 1 Sam. xxx, 27, South Ramoth (jM~flia*l, in the plural; Sept. 'Papa vurov, v. r. 'PafiaS votov ; Vulg. Ramoth ad meridiem) is mentioned as one of the cities to which David sent portions of the spoils of the Amalekites. Doubtless, it is the same place called by Joshua Ramath-negeb. The name should be written Ramoth -negeb. The site is unknown, and the region where it stood is, in a great measure, unex- plored.
Ramatha'im - zo'phim ( Heb. with the art. ha-Ramatha'gim Tsophim', D^SIiJ C*""C~il. the tiro heights, watchers; Sept. 'AppaSaip 2i0a, v. r. 'Appa- Saip 2w0('/t, making the art. n part of the word; Vulg. Ramathaim Sopkim), the birthplace of the proph- et Samuel (1 Sam. i, 19), his own permanent and offi- cial residence (vii, 17 ; viii, 4), and the place of his sep- ulture (xxv, 1). It was in Mount Ephraim (i, 1). It had apparently attached to it a place called Naioth, at which the "company" (or "school," as it is called in modern times) of the sons of the prophets was main- tained (xix, 18, etc.; xx, 1); and it had also in its neighborhood (probably between it and Gibeah of Saul) a great well, known as the well of Has-Sechu (xix, 22). See Sechu. This is all we know of it with any degree of certainty.
i;amathadi-zophdi
896
RAMATHAIM-ZOPHIM
Ramathaim, if interpret* 1 aa a Hebrew word, is dual
" the double eminence." I lis may point to a pecu- liarity in ilic shape or nature of the place, or may be an instance of the tendency, familiar to all students, which exists in language to force an archaic or foreign name into an intelligible form. Ii is given in its com- plete shape in the Hebrew text and A. V. but once (1 Sam. i. i . Elsewhere (i, 19 ; ii. 11 : vii. 17; viii. 1 : xv, 34 ; xvi, 13; xix. liS, 19, 22, ■_'.;: xx. 1 : xxv. 1 ; xxviii. in the shorter form of Ramah (q. v.). The Sept., however (in both MSS.), gives ii throughout as Armathaim, and inserts ii in i. :i after the words ''his city," where ii is wanting in the Hebrew and A. V. Gesenius questions the identity of Ramathaim-zophim and Ramah (Thesaurus, p. L275); but a comparison of l Sam. i. I with \<r. 19 shows without doubi that the same place is referred to. It is implied by Josephus, and affirmed by Eusebius and .lerome in the Onomas- ticon ("Armathem Seipha"); nor would it ever have been questioned had there not been other Ramahs men- tioned in the sacred history. Of the force of " Zophim" no feasible explanation has been given. It was an an- cient name on the east of .Ionian (Numb.xxiii, 14), and there, as here, was attached to an eminence. In the Targum of Jonathan, Ramathaim-zophim is rendered •■ Ramatha of the scholars of the prophets;" but this is evidently a late interpretation, arrived at by regarding the prophets as watchmen (the root of zophim, also that of mizpt h. having the force of looking out afar), coupled with the fact that at Naioth in Kamah there was a school of prophets. The most natural explanation ap- pears to be that Zuph, one of Samuel's ancestors, had migrated from his home in Ephratah (I Sam. i, 1 ; 1 » Ihron. pi, 35), and settled in a district to which he gave his own name, and which was afterwards called the land of Zuph (1 Sam. ix, 5). Ramah, or Ramathaim, was the chief town of this district, and was hence called R&vaathaim-Zopkim, that is, "Ramah of the Zuphites" (set Robinson, Bib. Res. ii, 7). See Zophim.