EPHRAIM. – A city near the desert where Jesus withdrew with His disciples after the miracle of the raising of Lazarus (Jn 11:54). It is generally identified with Ophrah (Jos 18:23), with Ephraim near Baal-hazor, where at the time of the sheep-shearing Absalom held a feast (2 Sam 13:23), with Ephron occupied by Abijah (2 Chr 13:19), with Aferem, the chief town of a district in Samaria in 145 B.C. (1 Macc 11:24), later occupied by Vespasian. The various morphological alterations are explained as an Aramaic or Hellenistic development of the name Ophrah (Hebrew ‘Ophrah).
The mosaic map of Madaba, in agreement with the distances provided by the Onomasticon of Eusebius (29:4), inscribes above Bethel—Rammon—Ephron or Ephraim, where the Lord came—designating it in the present-day Christian village of et-Tajjibeh, 7 km northeast of Bethel (Bejini) and 2 km north of Rammon (Rammun), a position dominating the Jordan valley and from which the view extends over the desert of Judah as far as Thecua and the Dead Sea. Since the ancient name ‘Afrah was considered inauspicious because of its assonance with ‘ifrit’ (evil spirit), it was changed to et-Tajjibeh al-ism (of good name).
On the summit of the village are visible the remains of a medieval castle, and to the southeast on a small hill the ruins of a 6th-century basilica rebuilt in the time of the Crusaders.