Ram

The name Ram belongs to three different men in the Hebrew scriptures, and the same English word names a male sheep that figures in tabernacle construction, in Daniel's apocalyptic vision, and in the sacrificial system. The genealogical Ram of greatest weight stands in the line that runs from Judah through David to the Messiah; a second Ram heads a parallel branch through Hezron's firstborn, Jerahmeel; a third Ram gives his name to the family from which Elihu the Buzite comes in the book of Job. The animal called by the same name supplies one of the layered coverings of the tabernacle and stands as the symbol of the Medo-Persian empire in Daniel.

Ram, son of Hezron, in the line of Judah

Ram is named in three Old Testament genealogies as the son of Hezron and the father of Amminadab. The book of Ruth places him in the bridge between the patriarchs and David: "and Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amminadab," (Ru 4:19). The Chronicler gives the same line in fuller form, listing Ram alongside his brothers and then continuing the descent: "The sons also of Hezron, who were born to him: Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai. And Ram begot Amminadab, and Amminadab begot Nahshon, prince of the sons of Judah" (1Ch 2:9-10).

The Matthean genealogy of Jesus carries the same line forward into the New Testament: "and Judah begot Perez and Zerah from Tamar; and Perez begot Hezron; and Hezron begot Ram; and Ram begot Amminadab; and Amminadab begot Nahshon; and Nahshon begot Salmon" (Mt 1:3-4). UPDV preserves the Hebrew form Ram here rather than the Greek transliteration "Aram" found in some English translations of Matthew, so the Old and New Testament witnesses to this name read in agreement.

Luke's genealogy (Lu 3:33) covers the same generations between Amminadab and Hezron but, in the UPDV text, the corresponding name does not appear: the line reads "the [son] of Amminadab, the [son] of Admin, the [son] of Arni, the [son] of Hezron, the [son] of Perez, the [son] of Judah." UPDV's Luke follows a Greek text in which the names "Admin" and "Arni" stand where Matthew has "Ram," so for this UPDV reader the witness to Ram in the messianic line comes from Ruth, 1 Chronicles, and Matthew rather than from Luke.

Ram, firstborn of Jerahmeel

A second man named Ram appears one column over in the same Chronicles register, in the household of Hezron's other son: "And the sons of Jerahmeel the firstborn of Hezron were Ram the firstborn, and Bunah, and Oren, and Ozem, Ahijah" (1Ch 2:25). This Ram is Jerahmeel's firstborn — and so a nephew of the Ram in the Davidic line above. His own sons are named a few verses later: "And the sons of Ram the firstborn of Jerahmeel were Maaz, and Jamin, and Eker" (1Ch 2:27). The Chronicler keeps the two Rams adjacent in the text but does not confuse them; the firstborn-of-Jerahmeel branch runs parallel to, not through, the Davidic line.

The family of Ram in Job

A third Ram is named only obliquely, as the ancestor of a clan: "Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified his soul rather than God" (Job 32:2). Nothing is said of this Ram beyond that his descendants formed a recognized family among the Buzites. The note is genealogical bookkeeping, not narrative — it locates Elihu in a particular kin group as he steps into the dialogue with Job.

Rams' skins on the tabernacle

The same English word names the male of the flock, and the animal first enters scripture's center of worship as one of the protective coverings of the tent of meeting. Yahweh's instructions to Moses on the mountain prescribe a layered roof: "And you will make a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of sealskins above" (Ex 26:14). When the work is finished and the tabernacle's components are presented to Moses, the inventory accounts for the same layer: "and the covering of rams' skins dyed red, and the covering of sealskins, and the veil of the screen" (Ex 39:34). The dyed-red rams' skins are listed once as a divine specification and once as a finished article.

The two-horned ram of Daniel's vision

In Daniel 8 a ram appears as the symbol-bearer of an empire. The prophet sees the animal standing by the river: "Then I lifted up my eyes, and looked, and saw there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last" (Da 8:3). The interpretation is given inside the same chapter: "The ram which you saw, that had the two horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia" (Da 8:20). The two horns of unequal height — the second outgrowing the first — answer to the joining of Media and Persia under the latter's dominance.

In sacrifice and in trumpets

The animal recurs in two further uses — as a sacrificial victim, and as the source of the curving horn fashioned into a trumpet — but the references for those uses are routed to the Offerings and Trumpets entries respectively, where they sit among the larger inventories of sacrificial animals and ritual instruments. The ram itself recurs in those scopes; the verses are cataloged there.