Those scriptural allusions which tend to indicate the position of Ramathaim-Zophim are the follow ing ; and they are our only trustworthy guides. The statements of Eusebius and later writers can have little weight ; and indeed it appears that all knowledge of the city was lost before their time.
(a.) In I Sam. i. x we read : There was a certain man of Ramathaim-Zophim, of Mount Ephraim.' From this it would appear at first sight that Ramathaim was situated in the district called Mount Ephraim. The construction of the Hebrew, however, does not make this quite certain. The phrase D+Inti inn wroirrin might possibly mean, not that Ramathaim was in Mount Ephraim (which would be expressed rather by 1711), but that Elkanah was in some way of Mount Ephraim (the Hebrew is "MD), though residing in Ramathaim. The statement of the sacred writer, therefore, does not form an insuperable objection to a theory that would locate Ramathaim beyond the bounds of Mount Ephraim. And be sides, the extent of the region called Mount Eph raim is nowhere defined. It may mean that section of mountain allotted to the tribe of Ephraim, or it may have extended so as to include part, or even the whole of Benjamin. It could scarcely have embraced any portion of Judah, since the two tribes were rivals for sovereignty. The allusions to Mount Ephraim in t Sam. ix. 4 ; Josh. xvii. 15 ; Judg. xvii. 1 ; appear to confine the name to the territory of the tribe.
(b.) Ramah would appear to have been at some considerable distance from the residence of Saul at Gibeah ; such at least is the conclusion one would naturally draw from the following passages : I Sam. xv. 34, 35 ; xix. 18-23.
(c.) It is generally supposed that the first inter view between Saul and Samuel took place at Ramah. This is not directly stated. Dr. Robin son admits that it is not, and says that 'the answer of the maidens (a Sam. ix. II, 12) would perhaps rather imply that Samuel had just arrived, possibly on one of his yearly circuits, in which he judged Israel in various cities' (Bib. Res., ii. to). Mr. Grove argues that the interview could not have taken place in Ramathaim, because the place of the interview was near the sepulchre of Rachel close to Bethlehem, while Mount Ephraim did not extend farther south than Jerusalem (Smith's Diet, of the Bible, iL 999). This assumes that
Ramathaim-Zophim was in Mount Ephraim, which is not certain. It cannot be questioned that, apart from all theories, the whole course of the narrative leaves the impression that Samuel was in his own house in Ramah when Saul visited him. He was there when the Lord informed him, apparently on the preceding day (cf. I Sam. viii. 4, 22 ; ix. 15, 16), of his intention to appoint a king. The words of Saul's servant, too, convey the same im pression : When they were come to the land of Zuph, Saul said, Let us return ;' but the servant said, Behold now, there is in this city a man of God . . . let us go thither' (ix. 5, 6). This would scarcely apply to a place in which Samuel was but a casual visitor. And it ought not to be forgotten that the interview took place in the land of Zuph. Samuel's ancestor, as has been seen, was called Zuph, and his city was Ramathaim.Zophim. The Hebrew words are identical (plea is the plural form of DV). It is granted that all this is not conclusive. It is impossible to say with absolute certainty that the interview took place at Ramah. But if it did, it is clear that Neby Samwil cannot occupy the site of that city. The place of the in terview could not have been within the tribe of Benjamin, because (a) the Lord, in foretelling to Samuel the coming of Saul, said, To-morrow, about this time, I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin' (a Sam. ix. 16) ; and (b) Saul when in search of the asses passed through Mount Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalisha ; then through the land of Shalim ; and he passed through the land of the Benjamites' (ver. 6). Then they came 'to the land of Zuph.' The land of Zuph was consequently south of Benjamin. So in returning home (apparently to Gibeah) from the place of the interview, Saul's way led past Rachel's tomb, the site of which is well known near Bethlehem. The city where the interview took place, therefore, must have stood somewhere to the south or south-west of Bethlehem.
This seems to be all that can be said upon the subject. To attempt greater definiteness would be only to put theories in the place of facts.—J. L. P.