Arumah or Rumah, a city mentioned in connection with Abimelech's reign and as the hometown of King Jehoiakim's mother.
Also known as Rumah
Arumah, also known as Rumah, is a city mentioned twice in the Bible in different contexts. In Judges 9:41, Arumah is associated with Abimelech, the son of Gideon, who ruled as a king over Israel for three years. After Abimelech's conflict with the people of Shechem, he lived in Arumah, possibly using it as a base of operations or a place of refuge.
The city is mentioned again in 2Ki.23.36, where it is identified as the hometown of Zebidah, the mother of King Jehoiakim of Judah. Jehoiakim, who reigned in the early 6th century BC, was a vassal of Egypt and later Babylon. The mention of Rumah as his mother's place of origin suggests that the city may have been located in the northern kingdom of Israel or in the region of Samaria.
The exact location of Arumah or Rumah is uncertain, but some scholars propose that it could be identified with Khirbet el-Ormah, a site about 6 miles (10 km) southeast of Shechem. However, this identification remains tentative.
The biblical references to Arumah or Rumah, though brief, provide glimpses into the political and familial connections of significant figures in Israel's history, such as Abimelech and King Jehoiakim. The city's association with these individuals suggests its relative importance during their respective times.
Approximate location: 32.155, 35.318 · view on a map · on the Bible atlas
(height), a place apparently in the neighborhood of Shechem, at which Abimelech resided. (Judges 9:41)
ARU'MAH (height), a place near Shechem, where Abimelech lived. Jud 9:41. Perhaps el-Armah, 5 miles southeast of Nablous.
ARU'MAH (height), a place near Shechem, where Abimelech lived. Jud 9:41. Perhaps el-Armah, 5 miles southeast of Nablous.
Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.
2 verses in 2 books · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H0725
Abimelech stayed in Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers out of Shechem.
Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His motherʼs name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah.
Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.