• Ramath-mizpeh
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    • RAMATH-MIZPEH

      (Raʹmath-mizʹpeh) [height of Mizpeh (watchtower)].

      One of the cities E of the Jordan given to the tribe of Gad. (Josh. 13:24, 26) Evidently Ramath-mizpeh was near Betonim. One location that has been suggested for Ramath-mizpeh is Khirbet Sar, some nine miles (15 kilometers) N of Heshbon.

  • Ramoth
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    • RAMOTH

      (Raʹmoth) [high places, height].

      1. A Levitical city in the territory of Issachar. (1 Chron. 6:71-73) It is apparently the same as Remeth and Jarmuth (No. 2). (Josh. 19:17, 21; 21:27-29) Ramoth’s situation is sometimes tentatively located at Kokab el-Hawa, on a tableland about seven miles (11 kilometers) N of Beth-shean.

      2. “Ramoth of the south” at 1 Samuel 30:27 apparently refers to the “Baalath-beer, Ramah of the south” mentioned at Joshua 19:1, 8. Its location was evidently in the Negeb.—See BAALATH-BEER.

  • Ramoth-gilead
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    • RAMOTH-GILEAD

      (Raʹmoth-gilʹead) [height of Gilead (witness heap)].

      A strategic city in the territory of Gad E of the Jordan. The city was also called by the shortened form Ramah. (2 Ki. 8:28, 29; 2 Chron. 22:5, 6) It was one of the Levite cities on that side of the river (1 Chron. 6:80), and it was selected as one of the cities of refuge. (Deut. 4:43; Josh. 20:8; 21:38) Solomon appointed a deputy in Ramoth-gilead to care for providing food for the king from cities in Gilead and Bashan.—1 Ki. 4:7, 13.

      When, after the division of the kingdom, Syria made attacks on Israel, Ramoth-gilead played an important part in Israelite history, evidently being sort of a key to the territory E of the Jordan. At some point the Syrians took the city. Despite the promise of Ben-hadad II to return the Israelite cities that had been taken earlier, apparently Ramoth-gilead was not returned. (1 Ki. 20:34) Hence, Ahab of Israel attempted to recover it, with the aid of King Jehoshaphat of Judah. This effort, which Micaiah counseled against, resulted in Ahab’s death.—1 Ki. 22:13-38.

      Ahab’s son Jehoram, along with Ahaziah of Judah, also fought the Syrians at Ramoth-gilead. Second Kings 9:14 says: “Jehoram himself had happened to be keeping guard at Ramoth-gilead . . . because of Hazael the king of Syria.” So it may be that Jehoram had earlier taken the city, and was defending it (not attacking it) when Ahaziah joined him in the fight against Hazael. In the fighting Jehoram was wounded and he retired to Jezreel to recover. At Ramoth-gilead Elisha’s attendant anointed Jehu the military chief to be the next king.—2 Ki. 8:25–9:14; 2 Chron. 22:5-8.

      The exact location of Ramoth-gilead is uncertain. One of many suggested locations is Tell er-Ramith, about thirty miles (48 kilometers) SE of the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee. The name of this tell could have been derived from the name Ramoth-gilead. It is on a hill overlooking a plain, which agrees with the meaning of Ramoth (“height”). The location would have been appropriate for a deputy responsible for Gilead and Bashan.—1 Ki. 4:13.

  • Ransom
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    • RANSOM

      The English words “ransom” and “redemption” come from the same source, the Latin redemptio, referring to “a buying back.” Generally, however, “ransom” (received through the French rançon) has come to carry the thought of liberation, as from slavery or from some obligation or undesirable circumstance. “Redemption” today has more the thought of regaining possession of something.

      The two (originally synonymous) words are used in the translation of a number of Hebrew and Greek terms. In all these terms the inherent similarity lies in the idea of a giving of a price or thing of value to effect the ransom or redemption. The thought of exchange is therefore common in all, as well as that of correspondency, equivalence or substitution. That is, one thing is given for another, satisfying the demands of justice and resulting in a balancing of matters.

      The Hebrew noun koʹpher comes from the verb ka·pharʹ, meaning, basically, “to cover,” as in Noah’s covering the ark with tar. (Gen. 6:14) Ka·pharʹ, however, is used almost entirely to describe the satisfying of justice through the covering or atoning for sins. The noun koʹpher refers to the thing given to accomplish this, the ransom price. (Ps. 65:3; 78:38; 79:8, 9) A covering corresponds to the thing it covers, either in its form (as in a material lid, such as the “cover [khap·poʹreth]” of the ark of the covenant [Ex. 25:17-22]), or in its value (as in a payment to cover the damages caused by an injury).

      As a means for balancing justice and setting matters straight with his people Israel, Jehovah, in the Law covenant, designated various sacrifices and offerings to atone for or cover sins, including those of the priests and Levites (Ex. 29:33-37), or other individuals or of the nation as a whole (Lev. 1:4; 4:20, 26, 31, 35), and to purify the altar and tabernacle, making atonement due to the sins of the people surrounding these. (Lev. 16:16-20) In effect, the life of the animal sacrificed went in place of the life of the sinner, its blood making atonement on God’s altar, that is, to the extent that it could. (Lev. 17:11; compare Hebrews 9:13, 14; 10:1-4.) The “day of atonement [yohm hak-kip·pu·rimʹ]” may just as properly be called the “day of the ransoms.” (Lev. 23:26-28) These sacrifices were required if the nation and its worship were to have and maintain the righteous God’s acceptance and approval.

      Well illustrating the sense of a redeeming exchange is the law regarding the owner of a bull known to gore who allowed it to go loose so that it killed someone. The owner was to be put to death, paying for the life of the slain person with his own life. However, since he did not deliberately or directly kill another, if the judges viewed it proper to impose upon him a “ransom [koʹpher]” instead, then he must pay that redemption price. The sum assessed and paid was viewed as taking the place of his own life and compensating for the life lost. (Ex. 21:28-32; compare Deuteronomy 19:21.) On the other hand, no ransom could be accepted for the deliberate murderer; only his own life could cover the death of the victim. (Num. 35:31-33) Evidently because a census involved lives, at the time such was taken each male over twenty had to have a ransom (koʹpher) of half a shekel given for his soul to Jehovah, the same price applying whether the individual was rich or poor.—Ex. 30:11-16.

      Since any imbalance of justice is displeasing to God, as well as among humans, the ransom or covering could have the additional effect of averting or quelling anger. (Compare Jeremiah 18:23; also Genesis 32:20, where “appease” translates ka·pharʹ.) The husband enraged at the man committing adultery with his wife, however, refuses any “ransom [koʹpher].” (Prov. 6:35) The term may also be used with regard to those who should execute justice but who instead accept a bribe or gift as “hush money [koʹpher]” to cover over the wrongdoing in their sight.—1 Sam. 12:3; Amos 5:12.

      The Hebrew pa·dhahʹ, according to lexicographer Gesenius, has the basic idea “to cut loose,” that is, “to loose or let go” as by payment of a redemption price (pidh·yonʹ; Ex. 21:30). So this term emphasizes the releasing accomplished by the redemption price while ka·pharʹ places stress on the quality or content of the price and its efficacy in balancing the scales of justice. The releasing or redeeming (pa·dhahʹ) may be from slavery (Lev. 19:20; Deut. 7:8), or from other distressing or oppressive conditions (2 Sam. 4:9; Job 6:23; Ps. 55:18), or from death and the grave. (Job 33:28; Ps. 49:15) Frequent reference is made to Jehovah’s redeeming the nation of Israel from Egypt to be his “private property” (Deut. 9:26; Ps. 78:42), and to his redeeming them from Assyrian and Babylonian exile many centuries later. (Isa. 35:10; 51:11; Jer. 31:11, 12; Zech. 10:8-10) Here, too, the redemption involved a price, an exchange. In redeeming Israel from Egypt, Jehovah evidently caused the price to be paid by Egypt. Israel was, in effect, God’s “firstborn” and Jehovah warned Pharaoh that his stubborn refusal to release Israel would cause the life of Pharaoh’s firstborn and the firstborn of all Egypt, human and animals, to be exacted. (Ex. 4:21-23; 11:4-8) Similarly, in return for Cyrus’ overthrow of Babylon and his liberation of the Jews from their exiled state, Jehovah gave “Egypt as a ransom [form of koʹpher] for [his people], Ethiopia and Seba” in their place. The Persian Empire thus later conquered those regions and so ‘national groups were given in place of the Israelites’ souls.’ (Isa. 43:1-4) These exchanges are in harmony with the inspired declaration that the “wicked is [or serves as] a ransom [koʹpher] for the righteous one; and the one dealing treacherously takes the place of the upright ones.”—Prov. 21:18.

      Another Hebrew term associated with redemption is ga·ʼalʹ, and this conveys primarily the thought of reclaiming, recovering or repurchasing. (Jer. 32:7, 8) Its similarity to pa·dhahʹ is seen by its parallel use with that term at Hosea 13:14: “From the hand of Sheol I shall redeem [pa·dhahʹ] them; from death I shall recover [ga·ʼalʹ] them.” (Compare Psalm 69:18.) Ga·ʼalʹ gives emphasis to the right of reclaiming or repurchasing, either by a near kinsman of a person whose property or whose very person needs to be repurchased or reclaimed, or by the original owner or seller himself. A near kinsman, called a go·ʼelʹ, was thus a “repurchaser” (Ruth 2:20; 3:9, 13) or, in cases where a murder was involved, a “blood avenger.”—Num. 35:12.

      The Law provided that in the case of a poor Israelite whose circumstances forced him to sell his hereditary lands, his city house, or even to sell himself into servitude, “a repurchaser closely related to him” or, go·ʼelʹ, had the right to “buy back [ga·ʼalʹ] what his brother sold,” or the seller could do so himself if funds became available to him. (Lev. 25:23-27, 29-34, 47-49; compare Ruth 4:1-15.) If a man should make a vow offering to God of a house or field and then desire to buy it back, he had to pay the valuation placed on the property plus a fifth in addition to that estimated value. (Lev. 27:14-19) However, no exchange could be made for anything “devoted to destruction.”—Lev. 27:28, 29.

      In the case of murder, the murderer was not allowed sanctuary in the appointed cities of refuge, but, after the judicial hearing, was turned over by the judges to the “avenger [go·ʼelʹ] of blood,” a near kinsman of the victim, who then put the murderer to death. Since no “ransom [koʹpher]” was allowed for the murderer and since the near kinsman with right of repurchase could not reclaim or recover the life of his dead relative, he rightfully claimed the life of the one who had taken his relative’s life by murder.—Num. 35:9-32; Deut. 19:1-13.

      Not always a tangible price

      As has been shown, Jehovah “redeemed” (pa·dhahʹ) or ‘reclaimed’ (ga·ʼalʹ) Israel from Egypt. (Ex. 6:6; Isa. 51:10, 11) Later, because the Israelites kept “selling themselves to do what was bad” (2 Ki. 17:16, 17), Jehovah on several occasions ‘sold them into the hands of their enemies.’ (Deut. 32:30; Judg. 2:14; 3:8; 10:7; 1 Sam. 12:9) Their repentance caused him to buy them back or reclaim them out of distress or exile (Ps. 107:2, 3; Isa. 35:9, 10; Mic. 4:10), thereby performing the work of a Go·ʼelʹ, a Repurchaser related to them inasmuch as he had espoused the nation to himself. (Isa. 43:1, 14; 48:20; 49:26; 50:1, 2; 54:5-7) In ‘selling’ them, Jehovah was not paid some material compensation by the pagan nations. The return or income from the ‘sale’ may be something other than such tangible things, as goods or money. For example, the Israelites ‘sold themselves’ in order to receive pleasure from their wrongdoing, even as King Ahab ‘sold himself to do evil’ to gain such pleasure. (1 Ki. 21:20) So, too, though with right motives, Jehovah could ‘sell’ his people for something not tangible, his payment being the satisfaction of his justice and the fulfillment of his purpose to have them corrected and disciplined for their rebellion and disrespect.—Compare Isaiah 48:17, 18.

      God’s ‘repurchasing’ likewise need not involve the payment of something tangible. Aside from the case of Cyrus’ willing liberation of the exiled Israelites, when freeing his people Jehovah paid nothing to the oppressor nations since these had acted without just cause and with malice in enslaving his people. Rather, Jehovah exacted the price from the oppressors themselves, making them pay with their own lives. (Compare Psalm 106:10; Isaiah 41:11-14; 49:26.) His people’s being sold to pagan nations brought them “nothing” from their enslavers in the way of true benefit or relief and Jehovah therefore needed to make no payment to their captors to balance matters out. Instead, he effected the repurchase through the power of “his holy arm.”—Isa. 52:3-10; Ps. 77:14, 15.

      Jehovah’s role of Go·ʼelʹ thus embraced the avenging of wrongs done to his servants and resulted in the sanctifying and vindicating of his own name against those who used Israel’s distress as an excuse to reproach him. (Ps. 78:35; Isa. 59:15-20; 63:3-6, 9) As the Great Kinsman and Redeemer of both the nation and its individuals, he conducted their “legal case” to effect justice.—Ps. 119:153, 154; Jer. 50:33, 34; Lam. 3:58-60; compare Proverbs 23:10, 11.

      Though living before and outside the nation of Israel, Job trusted that some near kinsman with the right of repurchase would come to recover him from his plight, even though such one should come when Job’s disease-wracked body had wasted away to a virtual skeleton. (Job 19:25, 26; compare Psalm 69:18; 103:4.) Following God’s own example, Israel’s king