cheenc03a.pdf

RAPHAH
. .
Ewvld (GercA. 35- note) and Conder (Heth and
Moab, 175 ; Smith's DBlal lllgr) do more justice to
the biblical narratives by fixing the rite of Ramoth-
Gilead at Reimiln, a lofty and ancient site a few miles
W. of Jerarh (Gerara), in the Jebel'AjlUn. The place
war quite open to Aramsan incursions, and could be
reached by chariots up the dley of the Jabhok. Sir
G. Grove (Smith's DHl') 21-3) and MerriU (Eat of
I& lordon. 284f.) urge the claims of J-h itself:
Oliphant too (Land of Gild, nrj) thinks Rnmoth-
Gilead must have been either at or "ear Jerarh.2 This
view is supported by the Arabic Joshua (20s 2138
RHmat al-JaraS). G, A. Smith, however (HG 588) ia
not satisfied with any of there identifications, and thinks
Ramoth-Gilead, being so hotly disrted by A m and
Israel, must have been farther N., near the N. tinlit of
Gilead-the Yarmnk (so G. A. Cooke, ic.). lrbid and
Ramtheh [er~Kemth&], he remarks, are both of then,
fairly strong rites. Er-Rrmthe has been very r-nrly
favoured by Smend (ZATW, 1902, p. 153). who finds
in the name er-Remfh& an echo of an Aramaic form
unm*. .....~
. Buhl combines Ramoth-Gilead with the mod.
Jal'Od, N. of er-Salt (xe GILEAD, 2). and whilst Smend
identifier Ramoth-Gilead with Miepeh-Gilead, Buhl
inclines to distinguish between them.
To get beyond Prot G. A. Smith's acute but vague
coniecture, we must look at the Hebrew of I K.411.
Removing the accretions an the original
'. ('1. text M find it stated that one of Solomon's
~~- . - ~~
oiefecls called Ben-reber inorhins droendr on the
correctness of this rkding) war, over the region of
Argob, and resided in Ramoth-Gilead. Is the latter
circumstance probable? Surely his residence must have
been in Bashan, llnlesr indeed we order to omit the
statement about Argob and kh&, and make Bengebrr
the prefect of the rvcalled Havuotl-Jair, which
Nu. 3219+c places in Gilead.
nm.
' Kwnuth-Gilead,' we ought to read np?, 'the
Ramah of Salhad.' galhad is probably the uue name
of the fortified city on the extreme SE. of Bashan, which
protected that fertile laod from the invasions d the
non~ndr: it is called in MT SALECAH [ g.~.]. The
objections raised to the ather sires certainly do not apply
to Sdhad. Fbr other ruppmed tracer of the name see
GLLEAD. S 8. SVCCOTH. ZELOPHEHAD.
coGected mir nm,~'Ramrth-Sal~d;;~erever ir occurred,
into .pii"0,. ' K~morh-Gilcnd.'
It is prob%ble that no better erplanation can k found
site (f), on the arsumption that the current view
respectinz the Arnrn~ans with whom the
L G. A. Cmke. in Driver, Dl.lli, p rr. ; cp 1. Gnutier, Au
dcld d~/owrdaSi~ (x8g6) 20.
1 Schurnacher(M; Or (if corm,) cp R~PHAIAH 1.1
+
BAPEAEL (hl. 'God hulls' ; the name, how-
IBAl +a ILD: but ibc name luy be corAptcd cg., from
G U ~
a"d the &-me Bern-urwr.
3. Sce Rsrn~u,~,
ever, hw possibly gmwn out of something very different
: see RLPHAEL [Che.] : pa+awA). one of the most
Possibly for ?yi>
s.vmpathetic 6- in Jewish narrative literature, is
introduced to us in the Book of Tobit, where under the
name of &ARIAS (*Yahw& is a help') he ammpanier
Tob~as in his adventurous jovrney and conquers the
demon As~oo&us [p.u] (Tob.3~78. 9r 1l.r). He
is, howver, a disguired visitor from heaven, bring
d l y lone of the scvena angels [archangels] who
presrot the pray- of the saints and enter into the
presence of the glory of the Holy One' (1215). In the
Book of Eooch ( 100~) Rufael (=Rafael) is called 'the
angel of the spirits of men' ; it is his function to (heal
the earth which the angels have defiled.' ar a preliminary
to vhieh he has to plam ATAZEL (9.u.) in confinement.
This view of the elrentid connection between a name
and the person bearing it is thoroughly antique; it has
strongly mloured the story of TOBIT (9.u.). and is
endorsed in the Midrash (Hemidbar mbb, car, 2).
according to which ~ a ~ h is a d to heal the iniquity of
Ephraim (i.e.. the ten tribes). The later Midrash also
represents him as the angel commissioned to put down
the evil spuits thit wxed the sons of Noah with plagues
and richerses after the flmd, and as the instruct07 of
men in the use of simples : he it was who was the
promoter of the ' Boak of Noah,' the earliest treatise
on materia medica (Ronrch, BYC~ der /ubi!&n. 385
su. I. See ANGELS, S 4. note
RILPM (n??). I. AV RAPHA (r Ch. 8 ~~). See
RE~**I*X 14).