The city is first mentioned in , near Gibeah of Benjamin. In the
Book of Judges, a Levite came traveling to
Gibeah, with Ramah just ahead ().
Ramathaim-zophim is the town () that was home to
Samuel's mother
Hannah and his father
Elkanah, from which they journeyed to the sanctuary at
Shiloh, where Hannah prayed to God to end her barrenness and give her a child (). Ramah is mentioned in in reference to a meeting place during
Samuel's rule. Ramah was later fortified by
Baasha, king of the
northern kingdom, in order to control access to Jerusalem (; ).
Asa, king of the
southern kingdom of Judah, employed
Ben-Hadad I, the Syrian king, successfully to attack Baasha at home and draw his forces away from this city (). The biblical account states that the fortifications were later dismantled by decree of King Asa and the materials used to fortify Judah's defenses at nearby
Geba and
Mizpah (; ). When Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians, those taken captive were assembled in Ramah before being
moved to
Babylon (
Jeremiah 40:1).
Jeremiah said: :
A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more (
Jeremiah 31:15 NIV). Rachel – the ancestress of the three tribes,
Ephraim,
Manasseh, and Benjamin – had so desired children that she considered herself dead without them (). Jeremiah said that she was figuratively weeping because of the loss of the people killed or taken in captivity. And since she was the mother of Benjamin, it would fit because those in Ramah were Benjamites. In the
New Testament, Ramah is mentioned in the
Gospel of Matthew (
2:18), where it is stated that Jeremiah's prophecy about Rachel received "a second accomplishment" in the
slaughter of boy children carried out when
Herod was king: :
Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: :
A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more. ==See also==