Rumah

RUMAH (rū'ma, Heb. rûmâh, tall place). The home of Pedaiah, whose daughter, Zebudah, bore Jehoiakim to Josiah of Judah. It is probably Arumah of Judg.9.41, Dumah in Josh.15.52 LXX.

The home of Zebidah, the mother of Jehoiakim, and/or her father, Pedaiah (2 Kings 23:36). The site has been variously located. Some suggest that it is identical with Dumah, one of the towns in the mountains of Judah, near Hebron (Josh 15:52), not far distant from Libnah, the native town of another of Josiah’s wives. Although the “D” and “R” are easily confused in all stages of the Heb. text, the suggestion is unlikely because the LXX deriving from a historically distinct text type also reads “R.” Others suggest that it is to be identified with Arumah, a place mentioned in Judges 9:41 in the vicinity of Shechem. This suggestion finds support in a parallel passage from Josephus which mentions Abouma, no doubt a scribal error for Arumah (Antiquities, X, v. 2). But Josephus also implies there is a Rumah in Galilee (Wars, II, vii, 21). Probably this town, modern Khirbet er-Rameh in Sahl el-Baṭṭof, near Rimmon in Galilee is in view. In the Annals of Tiglath-pileser III it is called Arumah (ANET, 283). If this location in Galilee is correct, the notice that one of Josiah’s wives, and/or her father came from here is of interest because it shows that the dense Israelite population was not removed completely by Tiglath-pileser III when he conquered this area and deported its occupants (cf. Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible [1967], 349f.).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915)

To this place belonged Pedaiah whose daughter Zebudah (the Revised Version (British and American) "Zebidah") entered the harem of Josiah, king of Judah, and became the mother of Jehoiakim (2Ki 23:36). Josephus (Ant., X, v, 2) calls the place Abouma, but this is an obvious clerical error for Arouma. This suggests a possible identification with Arumah (Jud 9:41), which lay not far from Shechem. Another possible identification is with the Rumah mentioned by Josephus (BJ, III, vii, 21) in Galilee (compare Neubauer, Geog. du Talmud, 203), which may be identical with the modern Khirbet Rumeh, about 3 miles North of Seffuriyeh. Some, however, would identify Rumah with Dumah of Jos 15:52, where the substitution of "r" for "d" is supported by the Septuagint (Rheuma), possibly represented by the modern Domeh, about 13 miles Southeast of Beit Jibrin. This of course was in the territory of Judah, and no question of jus connubium is involved, such as might arise in the case of a Galilean site.