RAMOTH-GILEAD (ra'rnoth- gTl'e-ad), (Het). raw-moth' gil-awd',heights of Gilead), called also Ramoth-mizpeli, or simply Ramoth, a town in Gilead, within the borders of Gad (Josh. xiii:26), which belonged to the Levites (Josh. xxi:38; I Citron. vi:65, 8o). • It was one of the cities of refuge (Dent. iv :43; Josh. xx :8), and one of the towns in which an intendant was stationed by Solomon (i Kings iv :13). It was the last of their conquests which the Syrians held ; and Ahab was killed (1 Kings xxii :1-37 ; 2 Chron. xviii), and fourteen years after his son Joram was wounded (2 Kings viii: 28), in the attempt to recover it. The strength of the place is attested by the length of time the Syrians were enabled to hold it, and by Ahab and Joram having both been solicitous to obtain the aid of the kings of Judah when about to attack it ; these being two of the only three expeditions in which the kings of Judah and Israel ever co operated. It was here also that Jehu was pro claimed and anointed king (2 Kings ix it-6) ; but it is not very clear whether the army was then still before the town, or in actual possession of it. Eusebius (Onomast. s. v.) places Ramoth-gilead on the river Jabbok, fifteen Roman miles west of Philadelphia (Rabbah). At about this distance, west-northwest from Philadelphia, and about eight miles south of the Jabbok, are the ruins of a town, bearing the name of Jelaad, which is merely a different orthography of the Hebrew Gilead (Burckhardt, p. 348). Buckingham is,
however, more disposed to seek the site of Ramoth-gilead in a place now called Ramtha, or Rameza, which is about twenty-three miles north west-north from Philadelphia, and about four miles north of the Jabbok, where he noticed some ruins which he could not examine. Ramoth gilead has been identified by many travelers with Es-Salt, which is situated about 25 miles east of the Jordan and 13 miles south of the Jabbok. It is now the most important and populous place in that district, and is the capital of Belka and the residence of a Turkish governor of the third rank. The place lies 2,74o feet above the level of the sea, has a healthy climate, and a large popu lation, given chiefly to agriculture, among which are 30o to 40o Arab families and a few nominal Christians. There are some ruins of the Roman period, and a castle on the top of a hill. The hills around it bear many traces of ancient rock tombs. Three miles to the northwest is Jebel Iliad, 3,650 feet in height, and said to be the highest eminence in Gilead. Dr. Merrill, how ever, identifies Ramoth-gilcad with Gerosh, about 25 miles northeast of Es-Salt (Schaff, Bib. Dict.)