History Globe
town or village
Ramoth-gilead
- Today Tall er Rumeith
Battles and sieges
- c. 853 BCAhab falls at Ramoth-gilead 1 Kgs 22:29–37
Ahab of Israel and Jehoshaphat of Judah against the Syrians. Ahab, disguised, is struck by a chance arrow and dies at evening; the army disperses. - 841 BCJoram wounded at Ramoth-gilead; Jehu anointed there 2 Kgs 8:28–9:6
Joram of Israel and Ahaziah of Judah against Hazael of Syria. Joram is wounded and goes back to Jezreel to be healed; Jehu is anointed at Ramoth-gilead and rides to Jezreel.
History
Ramoth-gilead, "the heights of Gilead", was a town in northern Gilead, east of the Jordan, near the border between Israel and the Aramaeans of Damascus. Its site is disputed. The name survives at ar-Ramtha, near today's border between Jordan and Syria, a town built on a large Iron Age mound. Others prefer Tell el-Hisn, about 15 km to the southwest, at the edge of the Gilead hills. A long-favoured candidate, where the map point stands, is Tell er-Rumeith, a small mound a few kilometres south of Ramtha. In the fourth century AD Eusebius placed Ramoth fifteen miles west of Philadelphia (Amman), which fits none of these sites; Jerome's Latin version of his book says east.
Paul Lapp excavated Tell er-Rumeith in 1962 and 1967 and found a small Iron Age fort. Its date is debated: some scholars hold that it cannot be older than the early eighth century BC, after the time of Ahab, and that so small a post cannot have been the biblical city.
In the Bible Ramoth in Gilead is a city of refuge for the tribe of Gad, given to the Levites, and the seat of the son of Geber, Solomon's officer over the towns of Jair and the region of Argob in Bashan. Ahab, king of Israel, wished to take it back from the king of Syria and went up against it with Jehoshaphat, king of Judah; struck by an arrow drawn at a venture, he died at evening in his chariot. His son Joram fought there against Hazael of Syria and went back wounded to Jezreel. Then Elisha sent one of the sons of the prophets to Ramoth-gilead to anoint Jehu, captain of the host, king over Israel, and from there Jehu set out on the revolt that ended the house of Ahab. Josephus retells these wars and says that Joram had taken the city by force and left his army there under Jehu.
In the days of Pekah, Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria took Gilead and carried its people captive, about 733–732 BC, and Ramoth-gilead does not appear again in the biblical story. In the fourth century AD Eusebius still knew Ramoth as a village.
Scripture: Deut 4:43; Josh 20:8; Josh 21:38; 1 Kgs 4:13; 1 Kgs 22:3–4; 1 Kgs 22:29; 1 Kgs 22:34–37; 2 Kgs 8:28–29; 2 Kgs 9:1–6; 2 Kgs 9:14; 2 Kgs 10:11; 2 Kgs 15:29
Sources
- Josephus, Antiquities 8.398-399 (Ahab and Ramoth); 9.105-106 (Joram takes the city; Jehu anointed)
- Eusebius, Onomasticon, s.v. Ramoth (C. U. Wolf's translation, no. 772)
- N. L. Lapp (ed.), Tell er-Rumeith: the final report of Paul W. Lapp's excavations of 1962 and 1967 (ASOR, 2015)
- E. A. Knauf, 'Ramot-Gilead', WiBiLex (2009), and 'The Mists of Ramthalon, or: How Ramoth-Gilead Disappeared from the Archaeological Record', Biblische Notizen 110 (2001) 33-36
- P. M. Arnold, 'Ramoth-Gilead', Anchor Bible Dictionary 5 (1992) 620-621
Checked against its sources; not yet read by a historian.
Verses (20)
- 1 Kgs 4:13
- The son of Geber, in Ramoth-gilead; to him pertained the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; to him also pertained the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great cities with walls and brasen bars:
- 1 Kgs 22:3
- And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria?
- 1 Kgs 22:4
- And he said unto Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go with me to battle to Ramoth-gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses.
- 1 Kgs 22:6
- Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.
- 1 Kgs 22:12
- And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the king’s hand.
- 1 Kgs 22:15
- So he came to the king. And the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the king.
- 1 Kgs 22:20
- And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.
- 1 Kgs 22:29
- So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead.
- 2 Kgs 8:28
- And he went with Joram the son of Ahab to the war against Hazael king of Syria in Ramoth-gilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram.
- 2 Kgs 9:1
- And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this box of oil in thine hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead:
- 2 Kgs 9:4
- So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead.
- 2 Kgs 9:14
- So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram had kept Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria.
- 2 Chr 18:2
- And after certain years he went down to Ahab to Samaria. And Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, and for the people that he had with him, and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramoth-gilead.
- 2 Chr 18:3
- And Ahab king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Wilt thou go with me to Ramoth-gilead? And he answered him, I am as thou art, and my people as thy people; and we will be with thee in the war.
- 2 Chr 18:5
- Therefore the king of Israel gathered together of prophets four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for God will deliver it into the king’s hand.
- 2 Chr 18:11
- And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the king.
- 2 Chr 18:14
- And when he was come to the king, the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And he said, Go ye up, and prosper, and they shall be delivered into your hand.
- 2 Chr 18:19
- And the LORD said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one spake saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner.
- 2 Chr 18:28
- So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead.
- 2 Chr 22:5
- He walked also after their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead: and the Syrians smote Joram.
King James Version