Ram

Exalted. (1.) The son of Hezron, and one of the ancestors of the royal line (Ruth 4:19). The margin of 1 Chr. 2:9, also Matt. 1:3, 4 and Luke 3:33, have “Aram.”

(2.) One of the sons of Jerahmeel (1 Chr. 2:25, 27).

(3.) A person mentioned in Job 32:2 as founder of a clan to which Elihu belonged. The same as Aram of Gen. 22:21.

(high, exalted).

1. A son of Hezron and the father of Ammin-adab, born in Egypt after Jacob’s migration there. (Ruth 4:19) (B.C. 1706.) In (Matthew 1:3,4) and Luke 3:33 He is called ARAM in the Authorized Version, but RAM in the Revised Version of (Matthew 1:3,4) and ARNI in the Revised Version of (Luke 3:33)

2. The first-born of Jerahmeel, and therefore nephew of the preceding. (1 Chronicles 3:25,27) (B.C. after 1706.)

3. One of the kindred of Elihu. (Job 32:2) Ewald identified this Ram with ARAM in (Genesis 22:21)

[See BATTERING-RAM]

Ram (1)

ram (ram, "high," "exalted"):

(1) An ancestor of David (Ru 4:19 (Arran); Mt 1:3,4 (Aram); in 1Ch 2:9 he is called the "brother," but in 2:25, the "son of Jerahmeel" (compare 2:27). Ram as the son of Hezron appears more likely than Ram the son of Jerahmeel, since, according to the narratives of 1 and 2 Samuel, David cannot have been a Jerahmeelite.

(2) Name of Elihu's family (Job 32:2). It is an open question as to whether Ram should be taken as a purely fictitious name, invented by the author of the Elihu speeches, or whether it is that of some obscure Arab tribe. In Ge 22:21 Aram is a nephew of Buz (compare Elihu the Buzite), and the conjecture was at one time advanced that Ram was a contraction of Aram; but this theory is no longer held to be tenable. The suggestion that the initial "a" (the Hebrew letter, 'aleph) has been changed by a scribal error into "h" (the Hebrew letter, he) is more acceptable. Rashi, the rabbinical commentator, takes the quaint position that Ram is identical with Abraham.

Horace J. Wolf

Ram (2)

ram:

(1) The ordinary word is 'ayil, which is remarkably near to 'ayyal, "deer" (compare Latin caper, capra, "goat," and capreolus, "wild goat" or "roe-buck"; also Greek dorkas, "roe-buck" or "gazelle").

(2) dekhar, literally, "male" (Ezr 6:9,17; 7:17).

(3) kar, "battering ram" (Eze 4:2; 21:22); elsewhere "lamb" (De 32:14, etc.).

(4) `attudh, properly "he-goat" ("ram," Ge 31:10,12 the King James Version).

See SHEEP.