Ramoth-gilead

From BibleWiki

Meaning: heights of Gilead

One of the cities of refuge, in the east-Jordan district, in the tribe of Gad; apportioned to the Levites (Josh 20:8, xxi. 38; Deut 4:43; 1Chr 6:80). When Solomon divided the country into districts, Ramoth-gilead was made the center of one of them and the seat of a governor (1 Kg 4:13). In the Syrian wars Benhadad captured it from the Israelites as an important frontier post, and Ahab was killed in an attempt to recapture it (1 Kg 22:3 et seq.). His son Joram succeeded in taking it (2Kg 8:28 et seq.), and had returned to Jezreel to recover from his wounds when Jehu was proclaimed king in Ramoth-gilead (2Kg 9:1 et seq.). The subsequent history of the city is unknown, but probably it soon fell again into the hands of the Syrians. According to the "Onomasticon" of Eusebius, Ramoth was fifteen Roman miles west of Philadelphia, a localization which seems to indicate the present Al-Salṭ, about 10 kilometers south of the Jabbok, and which has, therefore, frequently been identified with Ramoth-gilead. Al-Salṭ, however, was the ancient Gedor, and Ramoth-gilead can hardly have been so far south. The city for whose possession the Syrians and Israelites were continually fighting lay near the frontier, and consequently in the northern part of the east-Jordan district. The reference in 1 Kg 4:13 also points to a site in the north. As the governor of Ramoth-gilead ruled over the districtof Argob in Bashan, he can not have had his capital south of Jabbok. There were, moreover, two other governors farther south, so that Al-Ramtah, 11 kilometers southeast of Dar'at, and Raimun, west of Jerash, have been proposed as the site of the city. It is also frequently identified with Mizpeh-gilead, since a Ramath-mizpeh is mentioned in Josh 13:26; but this identification is doubtful. See Mizpah.

a city of refuge on the east of Jordan; called "Ramoth in Gilead" (Deut 4:43; Josh 20:8; 21:38). Here Ahab, who joined Jehoshaphat in an endeavour to rescue it from the hands of the king of Syria, was mortally wounded (1 Kg 22:1-36). A similar attempt was afterwards made by Ahaziah and Joram, when the latter was wounded (2Kg 8:28). In this city Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, was anointed by one of the sons of the prophets (9:1, 4).

It has with probability been identified with Reimun, on the northern slope of the Jabbok, about 5 miles west of Jerash or Gerasa, one of the cities of Decapolis. Others identify it with Gerosh, about 25 miles north-east of es-Salt, with which also many have identified it. (See Ramath-Mizpeh.)

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