Beit-Nuba near Ramleh has been identified without proof with Nob. Richard Coeur-de-Lion encamped here some twenty-five years after Benjamin's visit. He with the army of the Crusaders passed through Ibelin on his way to Askelon. Cf. Vinsauf's Itinerarium Regis Ricardi.
See an interesting Paper, "Der Pass von Michmas," by Prof. D.G. Dalman, Z.D.P.V., 1904, vol. XXVII, p. 161.
Asher renders
Ramleh, for which there is some justification. Ramleh did not exist in Bible times—it was founded in 716. It prospered to such an extent that it became as large as Jerusalem. It was a good deal damaged by an earthquake in 1033. Ramleh had a large Moslem population, and the Jews there remained comparatively unmolested by the Crusaders. This latter fact accounts for the somewhat large number of Jews residing there. Asher's reading, and that of all the printed editions, is "about three Jews dwell there." This is obviously wrong. Probably the copyist is to blame in taking
to be an abbreviation for