- RAMOTH heights. A Levitical city in the tribe of Issachar (1 Samuel
30:27; 1 Chronicles 6:73), the same as Jarmuth (Joshua 21:29) and Remeth
(q.v.), 19:21. - RAMOTH-GILEAD heights of Gilead, a city of refuge on the east of
Jordan; called “Ramoth in Gilead” (Deuteronomy 4:43; Joshua 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 Kings
22:1-36). A similar attempt was afterwards made by Ahaziah and Joram,
when the latter was wounded (2 Kings 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.)
- RANGES (1.) Leviticus 11:35. Probably a cooking furnace for two or
more pots, as the Hebrew word here is in the dual number; or perhaps a
fire-place fitted to receive a pair of ovens.
(2.) 2 Kings 11:8. A Hebrew word is here used different from the
preceding, meaning “ranks of soldiers.” The Levites were appointed to
guard the king’s person within the temple (2 Chronicles 23:7), while the
soldiers were his guard in the court, and in going from the temple to the
palace. The soldiers are here commanded to slay any one who should break
through the “ranks” (as rendered in the R.V.) to come near the king. In 2
Kings 11:15 the expression, “Have her forth without the ranges,” is in the
Revised Version, “Have her forth between the ranks;” i.e., Jehoiada orders
that Athaliah should be kept surrounded by his own guards, and at the
same time conveyed beyond the precincts of the temple.
- RANSOM the price or payment made for our redemption, as when it is
said that the Son of man “gave his life a ransom for many” (Matthew
20:28; comp. Acts 20:28; Romans 3:23, 24; 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20;
Galatians 3:13; 4:4, 5: Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; 1 Timothy 2:6;
Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 1:18, 19. In all these passages the same idea is
expressed). This word is derived from the Fr. rancon; Lat. redemptio. The
debt is represented not as cancelled but as fully paid. The slave or captive
is not liberated by a mere gratuitous favour, but a ransom price has been