Arimathea in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

(Matthew 27:57). The birthplace or abode of the rich man Joseph, who, by Pilate's leave, which he "boldly" craved, casting away the "fear" which had previously kept him from open discipleship (Mark 15:43; John 19:38), buried our Lord's body in his own "new tomb" at Jerusalem. Arimathea, a "city of the Jews" (Luke's vague expression for the Gentiles, to whom no more precise information seemed needful: Luke 23:51) is possibly identical with Ramah, Samuel's birthplace, called Armathaim in the Septuagint (1 Samuel 1:1; 1 Samuel 1:19); but many associate it with Ramleh, on the road from Jaffa to Jerusalem.