Ramah
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(height)—the name of several places and cities. (1) (Josh. 18:25; Matt. 2:18; Jer. 31:15) a city of Benjamin near the border of Ephraim and on the road north from Jerusalem. The source associates it with the Ramah between which and Bethel Deborah judged Israel beneath her palm (Judg. 4:4–5), and notes that the Levite returning from Bethlehem passed along this route (Judg. 19:1, 10–21). Isaiah and Hosea mention it (Isa. 10:29; Hos. 5:8). Jeremiah was released there while other captives were gathered by Nebuzaradan for deportation to Babylon (Jer. 40:1).
In portraying Judah’s desolation, Jeremiah wrote: “A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not” (Jer. 31:15). Matthew applies these words typologically to Herod’s slaughter of the infants of Bethlehem (Matt. 2:16–18). The source identifies the place with er-Ram, a poor village with ruins on a hill north of Jerusalem.