Memphis

(haven, of the good), a city of ancient Egypt, situated on that western bank of the Nile, about nine miles south of Cairo and five from the great pyramids and the sphinx. It is mentioned by (Isaiah 40:14,19) and Ezekiel, (Ezekiel 30:13,16) under the name of Noph. Though some regard Thebes as the more ancient city, the monuments of Memphis are of higher antiquity than those of Thebus. The city is said to have had a circumference of about 10 miles. The temple of Apis was one of the most noted structures of Memphis. It stood opposite the southern portico of the temple of Ptah; and Psammetichus, who built that gateway, also erected in front of the sanctuary of Apis a magnificent colonnade, supported by colossal statues or Osiride pillars, such as may still be seen at the temple of Medeenet Habou at Thebes. Herod. ii, 153. Through this colonnade the Apis was led with great pomp upon state occasions. At Memphis was the reputed burial-place of Isis; it has also a temple to that "myriad-named" divinity. Memphis had also its Serapeium, which probably stood in the western quarter of the city. The sacred cubit until other symbols used in measuring the rise of the Nile were deposited in the temple of Serapis. The Necropolis, adjacent to Memphis, was on a scale of grandeur corresponding with the city itself. The "city of the pyramids" is a title of Memphis in the hieroglyphics upon the monuments. Memphis long held its place as a capital; and for centuries a Memphite dynasty ruled over all Egypt. Lepsius, Bunsen and Brugsch agree in regarding the third, fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth dynasties of the old empire as Memphite, reaching through a period of about 1000 years. The city's overthrow was distinctly predicted by the Hebrew prophets. (Isaiah 19:13; Jeremiah 46:19) The latest of these predictions was uttered nearly 600 years before Christ, and a half a century before the invasion of Egypt by Cambyses (cir, B.C. 525). Herodotus informs us that Cambyses, engaged at the opposition he encountered at Memphis, committed many outrages upon the city. The city never recovered from the blow inflicted by Cambyses. The rise of Alexandria hastened its decline. The caliph conquerors founded Fostat (old Cairo) upon the opposite bank of the Nile, a few miles north of Memphis, and brought materials from the old city to build their new capital, A.D. 638. At length so complete was the ruin of Memphis that for a long time its very site was lost. Recent explorations have brought to light many of its antiquities.


Memucan

(dignified), one of the seven princes of Persia in the reign of Ahasuerus, who "saw the king's face," and sat first in the kingdom. (Esther 1:14,16,21)


Menahem

(comforter), son of Gadi, who slew the usurper Shallum, and seized the vacant throne of Israel. B.C. 772. His reign, which lasted ten years, is briefly recorded in (2 Kings 15:14-22) He maintained the calf-worship of Jeroboam. The contemporary prophets Hosea and Amos have left a melancholy picture of the ungodliness, demoralization and feebleness of Israel. Menahem reigned B.C. 771-760.


Menan

(called Menna in the Revised Version), one of the ancestors of Joseph in the genealogy of Jesus Christ. (Luke 3:31)


Mene

(numbered), the first word of the mysterious inscription written upon the wall of Belshazzar's palace, in which Daniel read the doom of the king and his dynasty. (Daniel 5:25,26)


Meni

(fate, fortune). (Isaiah 65:11) This word is a proper name, and is also the proper name of an object of idolatrous worship cultivated by the Jews in Babylon.


Menna

In the Revised Version of (Luke 3:31) for Menan.


Meonenim

(enchanters), The plain of, an oak or terebinth. or other great tree. (Judges 9:37) The meaning of Meonenim if interpreted as a Hebrew word, is enchanters or "observers of times," as it is elsewhere rendered (18:10,14) in (Micah 5:12) it is soothsayers.


Meonothai

(my habitations), one of the sons of Othniel, the younger brother of Caleb. (1 Chronicles 4:14)


Mephaath

(splendor height), city of the Reubenites, one of the towns independently an Heshhon, (Joshua 13:18) lying in the district of the Mishor comp. ver. (Joshua 13:17) and Jere 48:21 Authorized Version "plain," which probably answered to the modern Belka . It was one of the cities allotted with their suburbs to the Merarite Levites. (Joshua 21:37; 1 Chronicles 6:79) Its site is uncertain.


Mephibosheth

(exterminating the idol), the name borne by two members of the family of Saul--his son and his grandson.

+ Saul's son by Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, his concubine. (2 Samuel 21:8) He and his brother Armoni were among the seven victims who were surrendered by David to the Gibeonites, and by them crucified to avert a famine from which the country was suffering. + The son of Jonathan, grandson of Saul and nephew of the preceding; called also Merib-baal. (1 Chronicles 8:34) His life seems to have been, from beginning to end, one of trial and discomfort. When his father and grandfather were slain on Gilboa he was an infant but five years old. At this age he met with an accident which deprived him for life of the use of both feet. (2 Samuel 4:4) After this he is found a home with Machir ben-Ammiel a powerful Gadite, who brought him up, and while here was married. Later on David invited him to Jerusalem, and there treated him and his son Micha with the greatest kindness. From this time forward he resided at Jerusalem, of Mephibosheth's behavior during the rebellion of Absalom we possess two accounts--his own, (2 Samuel 13:24-30) and that of Ziba, (2 Samuel 16:1-4) They are naturally at variance with each other. In consequence of the story of Ziba, he was rewarded by the possessions of his master. Mephibosheth's story--which however, he had not the opportunity of telling until several days later, when he met David returning to his kingdom at the western bank of Jordan--was very different from Ziba's. That David did not disbelieve it is shown by his revoking the judgment he had previously given. That he did not entirely reverse his decision, but allowed Ziba to retain possession of half the lands of Mephibosheth, is probably due partly to weariness at the whole transaction, but mainly to the conciliatory frame of mind in which he was at that moment. "Shall there any man be put to death this day?" is the keynote of the whole proceeding.


Merab

(increase), eldest daughter of King Saul. (1 Samuel 14:49) In accordance with the promise which he made before the engagement with Goliath, ch. (1 Samuel 17:25) Saul betrothed Merab to David. ch. (1 Samuel 18:17) Before the marriage Merab's younger sister Michal had displayed her attachment for David, and Merab was then married to Adriel the Meholathite to whom she bore five sons. (2 Samuel 21:8)


Meraiah

(rebellion), a priest in the day of Joiakim. (Nehemiah 12:13)


Meraioth

+ A descendant of Eleazar the son of Aaron and head of a priestly house. (1 Chronicles 6:61; 7:62) It is apparently another Meraioth who comes in between Zadok and Ahitub in the genealogy of Azariah. (1 Chronicles 9:11; Nehemiah 11:11) + The head of one of the houses of priests, which in the time of Joiakim the son of Jeshua was represented by helkai. (Nehemiah 12:15)


Merarath

(bareness), one of the towns of Judah, in the district of the mountains. (Joshua 15:59) The places which occur in company with have been identified at a few miles to the north of Hebron, but Maarath has hitherto eluded observation.


Merari, Merarites

(bitter, unhappy), third son of Levi and head of the third great division of the Levites, the Merarites. (Genesis 46:8,11) At the time of the exodus and the numbering in the wilderness, the Merarites consisted of two families, the Mahlites and the Mushites, Mahli and Mushi being either the two sons of the son and grandson of Merari. (1 Chronicles 6:19,47) Their chief at that time was Zuriel. Their charge was the cords of the tabernacle and the court, and all the tools connected with setting them up. In the division of the land by Joshua, the merarites had twelve cities assigned to them, out of Reuben, Gad and Zebulun. (Joshua 21:7; 34-40; 1 Chronicles 6:63; 77-81) In the days of Hezekiah the Merarites were still flourishing. (2 Chronicles 29:12,15)


Merathaim

(double rebellion), The land of, alluding to the country of the Chaldeans, and to the double captivity which it had inflicted on the nation of Israel. (Jeremiah 50:21)


Mercurius

(herald of the gods), properly Hermes, the Greek deity, whom the Romans identified with their Mercury, the god of commerce and bargains. Hermes was the son of Zeus (Jupiter) and Maia the daughter of Atals, and is constantly represented as the companion of his father in his wandering upon earth. The episode of Baucis and Philemon, Ovid, Metam . viii. 620-724, appears to have formed part of the folk-lore of Asia Minor, and strikingly illustrates the readiness with which the simple people of Lystra recognized in Barnabas and Paul the gods who, according to their wont, had come down in the likeness of men. (Acts 14:11)


Mercury

(Acts 14:12) the translation of the above in the Revised Version.


Mercyseat

(Exodus 25:17; 37:6; Hebrews 9:5) This appears to have been merely the lid of the ark of the covenant, not another surface affixed thereto. (It was a solid plate of gold, 2 1/2 cubits (6 1/3 feet) long by 1 1/2 cubits (2 2/3 feet) wide, representing a kind of throne of God, where he would hear prayer and from which he spoke words of comfort.--ED.) It was that whereon the blood of the yearly atonement was sprinkled by the high priest; and in this relation it is doubtful whether the sense of the word in the Hebrew is based on the material fact of its "covering" the ark, or derived from this notion of its reference to the "covering" (i.e. atonement) of sin.


Mered

(rebellion). This name occurs in a fragmentary genealogy in (1 Chronicles 4:17,18) as that of one of the sons of Ezra. Tradition identifies him with Caleb and Moses.


Meremoth

+ Son of Uriah or Urijah the priest, of the family of Koz or Hakkoz, the head of the seventh course of priests as established by David. In (Ezra 8:33) Meremoth is appointed to weigh and register the gold and silver vessels belonging to the temple. In the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem under Nehemiah we find Meremoth taking an active part. (Nehemiah 3:4) + A layman of the sons of Bani, who had married a foreign wife. (Ezra 10:36) + A priest, or more probably a family of priests, who sealed the covenant with Nehemiah. (Nehemiah 10:5)


Meres

(lofty), one of the seven counsellors of Ahasuerus. (Esther 1:14)


Meribah

(strife, contention). In (Exodus 17:7) we read, "he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah," where the people murmured and the rock was smitten. [For the situation see [860]Rephidim] The name is also given to Kadesh, (Numbers 20:13,24; 27:14; 32:51) (Meribah-kadesh), because there also the people, when in want of water, strove with God.


Meribbaa

(contender against Baal). (1 Chronicles 8:34; 9:40) [See [861]Mephibosheth].


Merodach

(death), (Jeremiah 50:2) identical with the famous Babylonian Bel or Belus, the word being probably at first a mere epithet of the god, which by degrees superseded his proper appellation.


Merodachbaladan

(worshipper of Baal) is mentioned as king of Babylon in the days of Hezekiah both in the second hook of Kings, ch. (2 Kings 20:12) and in Isaiah. ch. (Isaiah 39:1) In the former place he is called Berodach-baladan. The name of Merodach-baladan has been recognized in the Assyrian inscriptions. It appears there were two reigns of this king, the first from B.C. 721 to B.C. 709, when he was deposed; and the second after his recovery of the throne in B.C. 702, which lasted only half a year. There is some doubt as to the time at which he went his ambassadors to Hezekiah, for the purpose of inquiring as to the astronomical marvel of which Judea had been the scene, (2 Chronicles 32:31) but it appears to have been B.C. 713.


Merom

(high place), The waters of, a lake formed by the river Jordan, about ten miles north of the Sea of Galilee. It is a place memorable in the history of the conquest of Palestine. Here Joshua completely routed the confederacy of the northern chiefs under Jabin. (Joshua 11:5,7) It is a remarkable fact that though by common consent "the waters of Merom" are identified with the lake thorough which the Jordan runs between Banias and the Sea of Galilee--the Bahr el-Huleh of the modern Arabs-- Yet that identity cannot be proved by any ancient record. In form the lake is not far from a triangle, base being at the north and the apex at the south. It measures about three miles in each direction, and eleven feet deep. The water is clear and sweet; it is covered in parts by a broad-leaved plant, and abounds in water-fowl. (The northern part is a dense swamp of papyrus reeds, as large as the lake itself. See "Rob Roy on the Jordan."--ED.)


Meronothithe, The

that is, the native of the place called probably Meronoth, of which, however, no further traces have yet been discovered. The Meronothites are named in the Bible--

+ Jehdeiah, (1 Chronicles 27:30) + Jadon, (Nehemiah 3:7)


Meroz

(refuge), a place, (Judges 5:23) denounced because its inhabitants had refused to take any part in the struggle with Sisera. Meroz must have been in the neighborhood of the Kishon, but its real position is not known. Possibly it was destroyed in the obedience to the curse.


Mesech, Meshech

(drawing out), a son of Japhet, (Genesis 10:2; 1 Chronicles 1:5) and the progenitor of a race frequently noticed in Scripture in connection with Tubal, Magog and other northern nations. They appear as allies of God, (Ezekiel 38:2,3; 39:1) and as supplying the Tyrians with copper and slaves. (Ezekiel 27:13) In (Psalms 120:5) they are noticed as one of the remotest and at the same time rudest nations of the world. Both the name and the associations are in favor of the identification of Meshech with the Moschi, a people on the borders of Colchis and Armenia.


Mesha

+ The name of one of the geographical limits of the Joktanites when they first settled in Arabia. (Genesis 10:30) + The king of Moab who was tributary to Ahab, (2 Kings 3:4) but when Ahab fell at Ramoth-gilead, Mesha refused to pay tribute to his successor, Jehoram. When Jehoram succeeded to the throne of Israel, one of his first acts was to secure the assistance of Jehoshaphat, his father's ally, in reducing the Moabites to their former condition of tributaries. The Moabites were defeated, and the king took refuge in his last stronghold, and defended himself with the energy of despair. With 700 fighting men he made a vigorous attempt to cut his way through the beleaguering army, and when beaten back, he withdrew to the wall of his city, and there, in sight of the allied host, offered his first-born son, his successor in the kingdom, as a burnt offering to Chemosh, the ruthless fire-god of Moab. His bloody sacrifice had so far the desired effect that the besiegers retired from him to their own land. (At Dibon in Moab has lately been discovered the famous Moabite Stone, which contains inscriptions concerning King Mesha and his wars, and which confirms the Bible account.--ED.) + The eldest son of Caleb the son of Hezron by his wife Azubah, as Kimchi conjectures. (1 Chronicles 2:42) + A Benjamite, son of Shabaraim by his wife Hodesh, who bore him in the land of Moab. (1 Chronicles 8:9)


Meshach

(guest of a king), the name given to Mishael, one of the companions of Daniel, who with three others was taught, (Daniel 1:4) and qualified to "stand before" King Nebuchadnezzar, (Daniel 1:5) as his personal attendants and advisers. (Daniel 1:20) But notwithstanding their Chaldeans education, these three young Hebrews were strongly attached to the religion of their fathers; and their refusal to join in the worship of the image on the plain of Dura gave a handle of accusation to the Chaldeans. The rage of the king, the swift sentence of condemnation passed upon the three offenders, their miraculous preservation from the fiery furnace heated seven times hotter than usual, the king's acknowledgement of the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, with their restoration to office, are written in the third chapter of Daniel, and there the history leaves them.


Meshelemiah

(whom Jehovah repays), a Korhite porter or gate-keeper of the house of Jehovah in the reign of David. (1 Chronicles 9:21; 26:1,2,9)


Meshezabeel

+ Ancestor of Meshullam, who assisted Nehemiah in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 3:4) + One of the "heads of the people," probably a family, who sealed the covenant with Nehemiah. (Nehemiah 10:21) + The father of Pethahiah, and descendant of Zerah the son of Judah. (Nehemiah 11:24)


Meshillemith

(recompense), the son of Immer, a priest. (Nehemiah 11:13; 1 Chronicles 9:12)


Meshillemoth

+ An Ephraimite, one of the chiefs of the tribe in the reign of Pekah. (2 Chronicles 28:12) + The same as [862]Meshillemith. (Nehemiah 11:13)


Meshullam

+ Ancestor of Shaphan the scribe. (2 Kings 22:3) + The son of Zerubbabel. (1 Chronicles 3:19) + A Gadite in the reign of Jotham king of Judah. (1 Chronicles 5:13) + A Benjamite, of the sons of Elpaal. (1 Chronicles 8:17) + A Benjamite, father of Sallu. (1 Chronicles 9:7; Nehemiah 11:7) + A Benjamite who lived at Jerusalem after the captivity. (1 Chronicles 9:8) + The same as Shallum, who was high priest probably in the reign of Amon, and father of Hilkiah. (1 Chronicles 9:11; Nehemiah 11:11) + A priest, son of Meshillemith or Meshillemoth the son of Immer, and ancestor of Maasiai or Amashai. (1 Chronicles 9:12) comp. Nehe 11:13 + A Kohathite or a family of Kohathite Levites, in the reign of Josiah. (2 Chronicles 34:12) + One of the "heads" sent by Ezra to Iddo, "the head," to gather together the Levites to join the caravan about to return to Jerusalem. (Ezra 8:16) + A chief man who assisted Ezra in abolishing the marriages which some of the people had contracted with foreign wives. (Ezra 10:15) + One of the descendants of Bani, who had married a foreign wife and put her away. (Ezra 10:29) + (Nehemiah 3:30; 6:18) The son of Berechiah, who assisted in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 3:4) + The son of Besodeiah: he assisted Jehoiada the son of Paseah in restoring the old gate of Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 3:6) + One of those who stood at the left hand of Ezra when he read the law to the people. (Nehemiah 8:4) + A priest or family of priests who sealed the covenant with Nehemiah. (Nehemiah 10:7) + One of the heads of the people who sealed the covenant with Nehemiah. (Nehemiah 10:20) + A priest in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, and representative of the house of Ezra. (Nehemiah 12:13) + Also a priest at the same time as the preceding, and head of the priestly family of Ginnethon. (Nehemiah 12:16) + A family of porters, descendants of Meshullam, (Nehemiah 12:25) who is also called Meshelemiah, (1 Chronicles 26:1) Shelemiah, (1 Chronicles 26:14) and Shallum. (Nehemiah 7:45) + One of the princes of Judah at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 12:33)


Meshullemeth

(friend), the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah, wife of Manasseh king of Judah, and mother of his successor, Amon. (2 Kings 21:19)


Mesobaite, The

a title attached to the name of Jasiel. (1 Chronicles 11:47) It is impossible to pronounce with any certainty to what it refers.


Mesopotamia

(between the rivers), the entire country between the two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. This is a tract nearly 700 miles long and from 20 to 250 miles broad, extending in a southeasterly direction from Telek to Kurnah . The Arabian geographers term it "the Island," a name which is almost literally correct, since a few miles only intervene between the source of the Tigris and the Euphrates at Telek . But the region which bears the name of Mesopotamia, par excellence, both in Scripture and in the classical writers, is the northwestern portion of this tract, or the country between the great bend of the Euphrates, lat. 35 degrees to 37 degrees 30', and the upper Tigris. We first hear of Mesopotamia in Scripture as the country where Nahor and his family settled after quitting Ur of the Chaldees. (Genesis 24:10) Here lived Bethuel and Laban; and hither Abraham sent his servants to fetch Isaac a wife. Ibid. ver. 38. Hither too, a century later, came Jacob on the same errand; and hence he returned with his two wives after an absence of twenty-one years. After this we have no mention of Mesopotamia till the close of the wanderings int he wilderness. (23:4) About half a century later we find, for the first and last time, Mesopotamia the seat of a powerful monarchy. (Judges 3:1) ... Finally, the children of Ammon, having provoked a war with David, "sent a thousand talents of silver to hire them chariots and horsemen out of Mesopotamia, and out of Syria-maachah, and out of Zobah." (1 Chronicles 19:6) According to the Assyrian inscriptions Mesopotamia was inhabited in the early times of the empire, B.C. 1200-1100, by a vast number of petty tribes, each under its own prince, and all quite independent of one another. The Assyrian monarchs contended with these chiefs at great advantage, and by the time of Jehu, B.C. 880, had fully established their dominion over them. On the destruction of the Assyrian empire, Mesopotamia seems to have been divided between the Medes and the Babylonians. The conquests of Cyrus brought it wholly under the Persian yoke; and thus it continued to the time of Alexander. Since 1516 it has formed a part of the Turkish empire. It is full of ruins and mounds of ancient cities, some of which are now throwing much light on the Scripture.


Messiah

(anointed). This word (Mashiach) answers to the word Christ (Christos) in the New Testament, and is applicable in its first sense to any one anointed with the holy oil. The kings of Israel were called anointed, from the mode of their consecration. (1 Samuel 2:10,35; 12:3,5) etc. This word also refers to the expected Prince of the chosen people who was to complete God's purposes for them and to redeem them, and of whose coming the prophets of the old covenant in all time spoke. He was the Messiah, the Anointed, i.e. consecrated as the king and prophet by God's appointment. The word is twice used in the New Testament of Jesus. (John 1:41; 4:25) Authorized Version "Messias." The earliest gleam of the gospel is found in the account of the fall. (Genesis 3:15) the blessings in store for the children of Shem are remarkable indicated int he words of Noah. (Genesis 9:26) Next follows the promise to Abraham. (Genesis 12:2,3) A great step is made in (Genesis 49:10) This is the first case in which the promises distinctly centre in one person. The next passage usually quoted is the prophecy of Balaam. (Numbers 24:17-19) The prophecy of Moses, (18:18) claims attention. Passages in the Psalms are numerous which are applied to the Messiah in the New Testament; such as Psal 2,16,22,40,110. The advance in clearness in this period is great. The name of Anointed, i.e. King, comes in, and the Messiah is to come of the Lineage of David. He is described in his exaltation, with his great kingdom that shall be spiritual rather than temporal. Psal 2,21,40,110. In other places he is seen in suffering and humiliation. Psal 16,22,40. Later on the prophets show the Messiah as a king and ruler of David's house, who should come to reform and restore the Jewish nation and purify the Church, as in Isai 11,40-66 The blessings of the restoration, however, will not be confined to Jews; the heathen are made to share them fully. (Isaiah 2:66) The passage of (Micah 5:2) (comp. Matt 2:6) left no doubt in the mind of the Sanhedrin as to the birthplace of the Messiah. The lineage of David is again alluded to in (Zechariah 12:1-14) The coming of the Forerunner and of the Anointed is clearly revealed in (Malachi 3:1; 4:5,6) The Pharisees and those of the Jews who expected Messiah at all looked for a temporal prince only. The apostles themselves were infected with this opinion till after the resurrection. (Matthew 20:20,21; Luke 24:21; Acts 1:6) Gleams of a purer faith appear in (Luke 2:30; 23:42; John 4:25)


Messias

(anointed), the Greek form of Messiah. (John 1:41; 4:25)


Metals

The Hebrews, in common with other ancient nations, were acquainted with nearly all the metals known to modern metallurgy, whether as the products of their own soil or the results of intercourse with foreigners. One of the earliest geographical definitions is that which describes the country of Havilah as the land which abounded in gold, and the gold of which was good. (Genesis 2:11-12) "Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold," (Genesis 13:2) silver, as will be shown hereafter, being the medium of commerce, while gold existed in the shape of ornaments, during the patriarchal ages. Tin is first mentioned (Numbers 31:22) and lead is used to heighten the imagery of Moses' triumphal song. (Exodus 15:10) Whether the ancient Hebrews were acquainted with steel, properly so called, is uncertain; the words so rendered in the Authorized Version, (2 Samuel 22:35; Job 20:24; Psalms 18:34; Jeremiah 15:12) are in all others passages translated brass, and would be more correctly copper . The "northern iron" of (Jeremiah 15:12) is believed more nearly to correspond to what we call steel [[863]Steel] It is supposed that the Hebrews used the mixture of copper and tin known as bronze. The Hebrews obtained their principal supply from the south of Arabia and the commerce of the Persian Gulf. (Joshua 7:21) The great abundance of gold in early times is indicated by its entering into the composition of all articles of ornament and almost all of domestic use. Among the spoils of the Midianites taken by the Israelites in their bloodless victory when Balaam was slain were earrings and jewels to the amount of 16,750 shekels of gold, (Numbers 31:48-54) equal in value to more than,000. Seventeen hundred shekels of gold (worth more than,000) in nose jewels (Authorized Version "ear-rings") alone were taken by Gideon's army from the slaughtered Midianites. (Judges 8:26) But the amount of treasure accumulated by David from spoils taken in war is so enormous that we are tempted to conclude the numbers exaggerated. Though gold was thus common, silver appears to have been the ordinary medium of commerce. The first commercial transaction of which we possess the details was the purchase of Ephron's field by Abraham for 400 shekels of silver . (Genesis 23:16) The accumulation of wealth in the reign of Solomon was so great that silver was but little esteemed. (1 Kings 10:21,27) Brass, or more properly copper, was a native product of Palestine. (8:9; Job 28:2) It was plentiful in the days of Solomon, and the quantity employed in the temple could not be estimated, it was so great. (1 Kings 7:47) No allusion is found to zinc; but tin was well known. Arms, (2 Samuel 21:16; Job 20:24; Psalms 18:34) and armor, (1 Samuel 17:5,6,38) were made of copper, which was capable of being so wrought as to admit of a keen and hard edge. Iron, like copper, was found in the hills of Palestine. Iron-mines are still worked by the inhabitants of Kefr Hunch, in the sought of the valley of Zaharani .


Methegammah

(bridle of the metropolis), a place which David took from the Philistines, apparently in his last war with them. (2 Samuel 8:1) Ammah may be taken as meaning "mother-city" or "metropolis," comp. (2 Samuel 20:19) and Metheg-he-Ammah "the bridle of the mother-city"--viz. of Gath, the chief town of the Philistines.


Methusael

(man of God), the son of Mehujael, fourth in descent from Cain, and father of Lamech. (Genesis 4:18)


Methuselah

(man of the dart), the son of Enoch, sixth in descent from Seth, and father of Lamech. (Genesis 5:25-27)


Meunim

(habitations). (Nehemiah 7:52) Elsewhere given in Authorized Version as Mehunim and Mehunims.


Mezahab

(waters of gold), the father of Matred and grandfather of Mehetabel, who was wife of Hadar or Hadad, the last-named king of Edom. (Genesis 36:39; 1 Chronicles 1:50)


Miamin

+ A layman of Israel who had married a foreign wife and put her away at the bidding of Ezra. (Ezra 10:25) + A priest or family of priests who went up from Babylon with Zerubbabel. (Nehemiah 12:5)


Mibhar

(choicest), one of David's heroes in the list given in (1 Chronicles 11:38)


Mibsam

+ A son of Ishmael. (Genesis 25:13; 1 Chronicles 1:29) + A son of Simeon. (1 Chronicles 4:25)


Mibzar

(fortress), one of the "dukes" of Edom. (Genesis 36:42; 1 Chronicles 1:53)


Micah

(who is like God?), the same name as Micaiah. [[865]Micaiah]

+ An Israelite whose familiar story is preserved in the 17th and 18th chapters of Judges. Micah is evidently a devout believers in Jehovah, and yet so completely ignorant is he of the law of Jehovah that the mode which he adopts of honoring him is to make a molten and graven image, teraphim or images of domestic gods, and to set up an unauthorized priesthood, first in his own family, (Judges 17:5) and then in the person of a Levite not of the priestly line. ver. (Judges 17:12) A body of 600 Danites break in upon and steal his idols from him. + The sixth in order of the minor prophets. He is called the Morasthite, that is, a native of Moresheth, a small village near Eleutheropolis to the east, where formerly the prophet's tomb was shown, though in the days of Jerome it had been succeeded by a church. Micah exercised the prophetical office during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, giving thus a maximum limit of 59 years, B.C. 756-697, from the accession of Jotham to the death of Hezekiah, and a minimum limit of 16 years, B.C. 742-726, from the death of Jotham to the accession of Hezekiah. He was contemporary with Hosea and Amos during the part of their ministry in Israel, and with Isaiah in Judah. + A descendant of Joel the Reubenite. (1 Chronicles 5:5) + The son of Meribbaal or Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan. (1 Chronicles 8:34,35; 9:40,41) + A Kohathite levite, the eldest son of Uzziel the brother of Amram. (1 Chronicles 23:30) + The father of Abdon, a man of high station in the reign of Josiah. (2 Chronicles 34:20)


Micah, The Book Of

Three sections of this work represent three natural divisions of the prophecy--1, 2; 3-5; 6,7--each commencing with rebukes and threatening and closing with a promise. The first section opens with a magnificent description of the coming of Jehovah to judgment for the sins and idolatries of Israel and Judah, ch. 1:2-4, and the sentence pronounced upon Samaria, vs. 5-9, by the Judge himself. The sentence of captivity is passed upon them. (Micah 2:10) but is followed instantly by a promise of restoration and triumphant return. ch. (Micah 2:12,13) The second section is addressed especially to the princes and heads of the people: their avarice and rapacity are rebuked in strong terms; but the threatening is again succeeded by a promise of restoration. In the last section, chs. 6,7, Jehovah, by a bold poetical figure, is represented as holding a controversy with his people, pleading with them in justification of his conduct toward them and the reasonableness of his requirements. The whole concludes with a triumphal song of joy at the great deliverance, like that from Egypt, which jehovah will achieve, and a full acknowledgment of his mercy and faithfulness of his promises. vs. 16-20. The last verse is reproduced in the song of Zacharias. (Luke 1:72,73) Micah's prophecies are distinct and clear. He it is who says that the Ruler shall spring from Bethlehem. ch. (Luke 5:2) His style has been compared with that of Hosea and Isaiah. His diction is vigorous and forcible, sometimes obscure from the abruptness of its transitions, but varied and rich.


Micaiah

(who is like God?). Micahiah, the son of Imlah, was a prophet of Samaria, who in the last year of the reign of Ahab king of Israel predicted his defeat and death, B.C. 897. (1 Kings 22:1-35; 2 Chronicles 18:1) ...


Micha

+ The son of Mephibosheth. (2 Samuel 9:12) + A Levite who signed the covenant with Nehemiah. (Nehemiah 10:11) + The father of Mattaniah, a Gershonite Levite and descendant of Ashaph. (Nehemiah 11:17,22)


Michael

+ An Asherite, father of Sethur, one of the twelve spies. (Numbers 13:13) + One of the Gadites who settled in the land of Bashan. (1 Chronicles 5:13) + Another Gadite, ancestor of Abihail. (1 Chronicles 5:14) + A Gershionite Levite, ancestor of Asaph. (1 Chronicles 6:40) + One of the five sons of Izrahiah, of the tribe of Issachar. (1 Chronicles 7:3) + A Benjamite of the sons of Beriah. (1 Chronicles 8:16) + One of the captains of the "thousands" of Manasseh who joined David at Ziklag. (1 Chronicles 12:20) + The father or ancestor of Omri, chief of the tribe of Issachar in the reign of David. (1 Chronicles 27:18) + One of the sons of Jehoshaphat who were murdered by their elder brother, Jehoram. (2 Chronicles 21:2,4) + The father or ancestor of Zebadiah, of the sons of Shephatiah. (Ezra 8:8) + "One," or "the first, of the chief princes" or archangels, (Daniel 10:21) as the "prince" of Israel, and in ch. (Daniel 12:1) as "the great prince which standeth" in time conflict "for the children of thy people."


Michah

(who is like God?), eldest son of Uzziel the son of Kohath, (1 Chronicles 24:24,25) elsewhere, (1 Chronicles 23:20) called [866]Micah.


Michaiah

+ Same as [867]Micah 6. (2 Chronicles 34:25) + Same as [868]Micha 3. (1 Chronicles 9:15; Nehemiah 12:35) + One of the priests at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 12:41) + The daughter of Uriel of Gibeah, wife of Rehoboam and mother of Abijah king of Judah. (2 Chronicles 13:2) [[869]Maachah,3] + One of the princes of Jehoshaphat whom he sent to teach the law of Jehovah in the cities of Judah. (2 Chronicles 17:7) + The son of Gemariah. He is only mentioned on one occasion. (Jeremiah 36:11,13,14)


Michal

(who is like God?), the younger of Saul's two daughters, (1 Samuel 14:49) who married David. The price fixed on Michal's hand was no less than the slaughter of a hundred Philistines. David by a brilliant feat doubled the tale of victims, and Michal became his wife. Shortly afterward she saved David from the assassins whom her father had sent to take his life. (1 Samuel 19:11-17) When the rupture between Saul and David had become open and incurable, she was married to another man, Phalti or Phaltiel of Gallim. (1 Samuel 25:44) After the death of her father and brothers at Gilboa, David compelled her new husband to surrender Michal to him. (2 Samuel 3:13-16) How Michal comported herself in the altered circumstances of David's household we are not told; but it is plain from the subsequent occurrences that something had happened to alter the relations of herself and David, for on the day of David's greatest triumph, when he brought the ark of Jehovah to Jerusalem, we are told that "she despised him in her heart." All intercourse between her and David ceased from that date. (2 Samuel 6:20-23) Her name appears, (2 Samuel 21:8) as the mother of five of the grandchildren of Saul.


Michmas Or Michmash

(hidden), a town which is known to us almost solely by its connection with the Philistine war of Saul and Jonathan. (1 Samuel 13:1; 1 Samuel 14:1) ... It has been identified with great probability in a village which still bears the name of Mukhmas, about seven miles north of Jerusalem. The place was thus situated in the very middle of the tribe of Benjamin. In the invasion of Sennacherib in the reign of Hezekiah, it is mentioned by Isaiah. (Isaiah 10:28) After the captivity the man of the place returned. (Ezra 2:27; Nehemiah 7:31) At a later date it became the residence of Jonathan Maccabaeus and the seat of his government. 1 Macc. 9:73. In the time of Eusebius and Jerome it was "a very large village, retaining its ancient name, and lying near Ramah in the district of AElia (Jerusalem), at ten miles distance therefrom." Immediately below the village the great wady spreads out to a considerable width--perhaps half a mile; and its bed is broken up into an intricate mass of hummocks and mounds, two of which, before the torrents of three thousand winters had reduced and rounded their forms, were probably the two "teeth of cliff"--the Bozes and Seneh of Jonathan's adventure.


Michmethah

(hiding-place), a place which formed one of the landmarks of the boundary of the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh on the western side of Jordan. (Joshua 17:7) The position of the place must be somewhere on the east of and not far distant from Shechem.


Michri

(worthy of price), ancestor of Elah, one of the heads of the fathers of Benjamin. (1 Chronicles 9:8)


Michtam

(golden psalm). This word occurs in the titles of six psalms (16,56-60), all of which are ascribed to David. The marginal reading of our Authorized Version is "a golden psalm," while in the Geneva version it is described as "a certain tune." From the position which it occupies in the title we may infer that michtam is a term applied to these psalms to denote their musical character, but beyond this everything is obscure.


Middin

(measures), a city of Judah, (Joshua 15:61) one of the six specified as situated in the district of "the midbar" (Authorized Version "wilderness").


Midian

(strife), a son of Abraham and Keturah, (Genesis 25:2; 1 Chronicles 1:32) progenitor of the Midianites, or Arabians dwelling principally in the desert north of the peninsula of Arabia. Southward they extended along the eastern shore of the Gulf of Eyleh (Sinus AElaniticus); and northward they stretched along the eastern frontier of Palestine. The "land of Midian," the place to which Moses fled after having killed the Egyptian, (Exodus 2:15,21) or the portion of it specially referred to, was probably the peninsula of Sinai. The influence of the Midianties on the Israelites was clearly most evil, and directly tended to lead them from the injunctions of Moses. The events at Shittim occasioned the injunction to vex Midian and smite them. After a lapse of some years, the Midianites appear again as the enemies of the Israelites, oppressing them for seven years, but are finally defeated with great slaughter by Gideon. [[870]Gideon] The Midianites are described as true Arabs, and possessed cattle and flocks and camels as the sand of the seashore for multitude. The spoil taken in the war of both Moses and of Gideon is remarkable. (Numbers 31:22; Judges 8:21,24-26) We have here a wealthy Arab nation, living by plunder, delighting in finery; and, where forays were impossible, carrying ont he traffic southward into Arabia, the land of gold--if not naturally, by trade-- and across to Chaldea, or into the rich plains of Egypt.


Migdalel

(tower of God), one of the fortified towns of the possession of Naphtali, (Joshua 19:38) only, possibly deriving its name from some ancient tower--the "tower of El," or God.


Migdalgad

(tower of Gad), a city of Judah, (Joshua 15:37) in the district of the Shefelah, or maritime lowland.


Migdol

(tower), the name of one of two places on the eastern frontier of Egypt.

+ A Migdol is mentioned int he account of the exodus, (Exodus 14:2; Numbers 33:7,8) near the head of the Red Sea. + A Migdol is spoken of by Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The latter prophet mentions it as a boundary-town, evidently on the eastern border. (Ezekiel 29:10; 30:6) In the prophecy of Jeremiah the Jews in Egypt are spoken of as dwelling at Migdol. (Jeremiah 44:1) It seems plain, from its being spoken of with Memphis, and from Jews dwelling there, that this Midgol was an important town.


Migron

(precipice), a town or a spot in the neighborhood of Gibeah. (1 Samuel 14:23) Migron is also mentioned in Sennacherib's approach to Jerusalem. (Isaiah 10:28)


Mijamin

+ The chief of the sixth of the twenty-four courses of priests established by David. (1 Chronicles 24:9) + A family of priests who signed the covenant with Nehemiah; probably the descendants of the preceding. (Nehemiah 10:7)


Mikloth

+ One of the sons of Jehiel, the father or prince of Gibeon, by his wife Maachah. (1 Chronicles 8:32; 9:37,38) + The leader of the second division of David's army. (1 Chronicles 27:4)


Mikneiah

(possession of Jehovah), one of the Levites of the second rank, gatekeepers of the ark, appointed by David to play in the temple band "with harps upon Sheminith." (1 Chronicles 15:18,21)


Milalai

(eloquent), probably a Gershonite Levite of the sons of Asaph, who assisted at the dedication of the walls of Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 12:36)


Milcah

+ Daughter of Haran and wife of her uncle Nahor, Abraham's brother, to whom she bore eight children. (Genesis 11:29; 22:20,23; 24:15,24,47) + The fourth daughter of Zelophehad. (Numbers 26:33; 27:1; 36:11; Joshua 17:3)


Mile

a Roman measure of length, equal to 1618 English yards--4854 feet, or about nine-tenths of an English mile. It is only once noticed in the Bible, (Matthew 5:41) the usual method of reckoning both in the New Testament and in Josephus being by the stadium. The mile of the Jews is said to have been of two kinds, long or short, dependent on the length of the pace, which varied in different parts, the long pace being double the length of the short one.


Miletus

(Acts 20:15,17) less correctly called MILETUM in (2 Timothy 4:20) It lay on the coast, 36 miles to the south of Ephesus, a day's sail from Trogyllium. (Acts 20:15) Moreover, to those who are sailing from the north it is in the direct line for Cos. The site of Miletus has now receded ten miles from the coast, and even in the apostles' time it must have lost its strictly maritime position. Miletus was far more famous five hundred years before St. Paul's day than it ever became afterward. In early times it was the most flourishing city of the Ionian Greeks. In the natural order of events it was absorbed in the Persian empire. After a brief period of spirited independence, it received a blow from which it never recovered, in the siege conducted by Alexander when on his eastern campaign. But still it held, even through the Roman period, the rank of a second-rate trading town, and Strabo mentions its four harbors. At this time it was politically in the province of Asia, though Caria was the old ethnological name of the district in which it was situated. All that is left now is a small Turkish village called Melas, near the site of the ancient city.


Milk

As an article of diet, milk holds a more important position in eastern countries than with us. It is not a mere adjunct in cookery, or restricted to the use of the young, although it is naturally the characteristic food of childhood, both from its simple and nutritive qualities. (1 Peter 2:2) and particularly as contrasted with meat, (1 Corinthians 3:2; Hebrews 5:12) but beyond this it is regarded as substantial food adapted alike to all ages and classes. Not only the milk of cows, but of sheep, (32:14) of camels, (Genesis 32:15) and of goats, (Proverbs 27:27) was used; that latter appears to have been most highly prized.


Mill

The mills of the ancient Hebrews probably differed but little from those at present in use in the East. These consist of two circular stones, each about eighteen inches or two feet in diameter, the lower of which is fixed, and has its upper surface slightly convex, fitting into a corresponding concavity in the upper stone. In the latter is a hole thorough which the grain passes, immediately above a pivot or shaft which rises from the centre of the lower stone, and about which the upper stone is turned by means of an upright handle fixed near the edge. It is worked by women, sometimes singly and sometimes two together, who are usually seated on the bare ground. (Isaiah 47:1,2) "facing each other; both have hold of the handle by which the upper is turned round on the 'nether' millstone. The one whose right hand is disengaged throws in the grain as occasion requires through the hole in the upper stone. It is not correct to say that one pushes it half round and then the other seizes the handle. This would be slow work, and would give a spasmodic motion to the stone. Both retain their hold, and pull to or push from, as men do with the whip or cross-cut saw. The proverb of our Saviour, (Matthew 24:41) is true to life, for women only grind. I cannot recall an instance in which men were at the mill."--Thomson, "The Land and the Book," c.34. So essential were millstones for daily domestic use that they were forbidden to be taken in pledge. (24:6) There were also larger mills that could only be turned by cattle or asses. Allusion to one of these is made in (Matthew 18:6) With the movable upper millstone of the hand-mill the woman of Thebez broke Abimelech's skull. (Judges 9:53)


Millet

a kind of grain. A number os species are cultivated in the East. When green it is used as fodder, and for bread when ripe. (Ezekiel 4:9) It is probable that both the Sorghum vulgare and that Panicum miliaceum were used, and the Hebrew dochan may denote either of these plants.


Millo

(a rampart, mound) a place in ancient Jerusalem. Both name and place seem to have been already in existence when the city was taken from the Jebusites by David. (2 Samuel 5:9; 1 Chronicles 11:8) Its repair or restoration was one of the great works for which Solomon raised his "levy," (1 Kings 9:15,24; 11:27) and it formed a prominent part of the fortifications by which Hezekiah prepared for the approach of the Assyrians. (2 Chronicles 32:5) The last passage seems to show that "the Milo" was part of the "city of David," that is, of Zion. Comp. (2 Kings 12:20)


Millo, The House Of

+ Apparently a family or clan, mentioned in (Judges 9:6,20) only, in connection with the men or lords of Shechem. + The spot at which King Joash was murdered by his slaves. (2 Kings 12:20)


Mines, Mining

A highly-poetical description given by the author of the book of Job of the operations of mining as known in his day is the only record of the kind which we inherit from the ancient Hebrews. (Job 28:1-11) In the Wady Magharah, "the valley of the cave," are still traces of the Egyptian colony of miners who settled there for the purpose of extracting copper from the freestone rocks, and left their hieroglyphic inscriptions upon the face of the cliff. The ancient furnaces are still to be seen, and on the coast of the Red Sea are found the piers and wharves whence the miners shipped their metal in the harbor of Abu Zelimeh. Three methods were employed for refining gold and silver: (1) by exposing the fused metal to a current of air; (2) by keeping the alloy in a state of fusion and throwing nitre upon it; and (3) by mixing the alloy with lead, exposing the whole to fusion upon a vessel of bone-ashes or earth, and blowing upon it with bellows or other blast. There seems to be reference to the latter in (Psalms 12:6; Jeremiah 6:28-30; Ezekiel 22:18-22) The chief supply of silver in the ancient world appears to have been brought from Spain. The Egyptians evidently possessed the art of working bronze in great perfection at a very early time, and much of the knowledge of metals which the Israelites had must have been acquired during their residence among them. Of tin there appears to have been no trace in Palestine. The hills of Palestine are rich in iron, and the mines are still worked there, though in a very simple, rude manner.


Miniamin

+ A Levite in the reign of Hezekiah. (2 Chronicles 31:15) + The same as Miamin 2 and Mijamin 2. (Nehemiah 12:17) + One of the priests at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 12:41)


Minister

This term is used in the Authorized Version to describe various officials of a religious and civil character. Its meaning, as distinguished from servant, is a voluntary attendant on another. In the Old Testament it is applied (1) to an attendance upon a person of high rank, (Exodus 24:13; Joshua 1:1; 2 Kings 4:43)

(2) to the attaches of a royal court, (1 Kings 10:5; 2 Chronicles 22:8) comp. Psal 104:4 (3) To the priests and Levites. (Ezra 8:17; Nehemiah 10:36; Isaiah 61:6; Ezekiel 44:11; Joel 1:9,13) One term in the New Testament betokens a subordinate public administrator, (Romans 13:6; 15:16; Hebrews 8:2) one who performs certain gratuitous public services. A second term contains the idea of actual and personal attendance upon a superior, as in (Luke 4:20) The minister's duty was to open and close the building, to produce and replace the books employed in the service, and generally to wait on the officiating priest or teacher. A third term, diakonos (from which comes our word deacon), is the one usually employed in relation to the ministry of the gospel: its application is twofold,--in a general sense to indicate ministers of any order, whether superior or inferior, and in a special sense to indicate an order of inferiors ministers. [[872]Deacon]


Minni

(division), (Jeremiah 51:27) already noticed as a portion of Armenia. [[873]Armenia]


Minnith

(distribution), a place on the east of the Jordan, named as the point to which Jephthah's slaughter of the Ammonites extended. (Judges 11:33) The "wheat of Minnith" is mentioned in (Ezekiel 27:17) as being supplied by Judah and Israel to Tyre; but there is nothing to indicate that the same place is intended, and indeed the word is believed by some not to be a proper name.


Minstrel

The Hebrew word in (2 Kings 3:15) properly signifies a player upon a stringed instruments like the harp or kinnor [[874]Harp], whatever its precise character may have been, on which David played before Saul, (1 Samuel 16:16; 18:10; 19:9) and which the harlots of the great cities used to carry with them as they walked, to attract notice. (Isaiah 23:16) The "minstrels" in (Matthew 9:23) were the flute-players who were employed as professional mourners, to whom frequent allusion is made. (2 Chronicles 35:25; Ecclesiastes 12:5; Jeremiah 9:17-20)


Mint

This name occurs only in (Matthew 23:23) and Luke 11:42 As one of those herbs the tithe of which the Jews were most scrupulously exact in paying. The horse mint, M. Sylvestris, and several other species of mint are common in Syria.


Miphkad

(appointed place), The gate, one of the gates of Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 3:31) It was probably not in the wall of Jerusalem proper, but in that of the city of David, or Zion, and somewhere near to the junction of the two on the north side.


Miracles

A miracle may be defined to be a plain and manifest exercise by a man, or by God at the call of a man, of those powers which belong only to the Creator and Lord of nature; and this for the declared object of attesting that a divine mission is given to that man. It is not, therefore, the wonder, the exception to common experience, that constitutes the miracle, as is assumed both in the popular use of the word and by most objectors against miracles. No phenomenon in nature, however unusual, no event in the course of God's providence, however unexpected, is a miracle unless it can be traced to the agency of man (including prayer under the term agency), and unless it be put forth as a proof of divine mission. Prodigies and special providences are not miracles. (A miracle is not a violation of the laws of nature. It is God's acting upon nature in a degree far beyond our powers, but the same king of act as our wills are continually exerting upon nature. We do not in lifting a stone interfere with any law of nature, but exert a higher force among the laws. Prof. Tyndall says that "science does assert that without a disturbance of natural law quite as serious as the stoppage of an eclipse, or the rolling of the St. Lawrence up the falls of Niagara, no act of humiliation, individual or nation, could call one shower from heaven." And yet men by firing cannon during battle can cause a shower: does that cause such a commotion among the laws of nature? The exertion of a will upon the laws does not make a disturbance of natural law; and a miracle is simply the exertion of God's will upon nature.--ED.) Again, the term "nature" suggests to many persons the idea of a great system of things endowed with powers and forces of its own--a sort of machine, set a-going originally by a first cause, but continuing its motions of itself. Hence we are apt to imagine that a change in the motion or operation of any part of it by God would produce the same disturbance of the other parts as such a change would be likely to produce in them if made by us or by any other natural agent. But if the motions and operations of material things be produced really by the divine will, then his choosing to change, for a special purpose, the ordinary motion of one part does not necessarily or probably imply his choosing to change the ordinary motions of other parts in a way not at all requisite for the accomplishment of that special purpose. It is as easy for him to continue the ordinary course of the rest, with the change of one part, as of all the phenomena without any change at all. Thus, though the stoppage of the motion of the earth in the ordinary course of nature would be attended with terrible convulsions, the stoppage of the earth miraculously, for a special purpose to be served by that only, would not of itself be followed by any such consequences. (Indeed, by the action of gravitation it could be stopped, as a stone thrown up is stopped, in less than two minutes, and yet so gently as not to stir the smallest feather or mote on its surface.--ED.) From the same conception of nature as a machine, we are apt to think of interferences with the ordinary course of nature as implying some imperfection in it. But it is manifest that this is a false analogy; for the reason why machines are made is to save us trouble; and, therefore, they are more perfect in proportion as they answer this purpose. But no one can seriously imagine that the universe is a machine for the purpose of saving trouble to the Almighty. Again, when miracles are described as "interferences with the law of nature," this description makes them appear improbable to many minds, from their not sufficiently considering that the laws of nature interfere with one another, and that we cannot get rid of "interferences" upon any hypothesis consistent with experience. The circumstances of the Christian miracles are utterly unlike those of any pretended instances of magical wonders. This difference consists in-- (1) The greatness, number, completeness and publicity of the miracles. (2) In the character of the miracles. They were all beneficial, helpful, instructive, and worthy of God as their author. (3) The natural beneficial tendency of the doctrine they attested. (4) The connection of them with a whole scheme of revelation extending from the origin of the human race to the time of Christ.


Miriam

(rebellion), the sister of Moses, was the eldest of that sacred family; and she first appears, probably as a young girl, watching her infant brother's cradle in the Nile, (Exodus 2:4) and suggesting her mother as a nurse. ver. 7. After the crossing of the Red Sea "Miriam the prophetess" is her acknowledged title. ch. (Exodus 15:20) The prophetic power showed itself in her under the same form as that which it assumed in the days of Samuel and David,--poetry, accompanied with music and processions. ch. (Exodus 15:1-19) She took the lead, with Aaron, in the complaint against Moses for his marriage with a Cushite, (Numbers 12:1,2) and for this was attacked with leprosy. This stroke and its removal, which took place at Hazeroth, form the last public event of Miriam's life. ch. (Numbers 12:1-15) She died toward the close of the wanderings at Kadesh, and was buried there. ch. (Numbers 20:1) (B.C. about 1452.)


Mirma

(fraud), a Benjamite, born in the land of Moab. (1 Chronicles 8:10)


Mirror

(Exodus 38:8; Job 37:18) The Hebrew women on coming out of Egypt probably brought with them mirrors like those which were used by the Egyptians, and were made of a mixed metal, chiefly copper, wrought with admirable skill, and susceptible of a bright lustre. (1 Chronicles 13:12)


Misgab

(height), a place in Moab. (Jeremiah 48:1) It appears to be mentioned also in (Isaiah 25:12) thorough there rendered in the Authorized Version "high fort."


Mishael

+ One of the sons of Uzziel, the uncle of Aaron and Moses. (Exodus 6:22) when Nadab and Abihu were struck dead for offering strange fire, Mishael and his brother Elzaphan, at the command of Moses, removed their bodies from the sanctuary, and buried them without the camp, their loose-fitting tunics serving for winding-sheets. (Leviticus 10:4,5) + One of those who stood at Ezra's left hand when he read the law to the people. (Nehemiah 8:4) [[875]Meshach]


Mishal, Or Misheal

(entreaty), one of the towns in the territory of Asher, (Joshua 19:26) allotted to the Gershonite Levites. ch. (Joshua 21:30)


Misham

(purification), a Benjamite, son of Elpaal and descendant of Shaharaim. (1 Chronicles 8:12)


Mishma

+ A son of Ishmael and brother of Mibsam. (Genesis 25:14; 1 Chronicles 1:30) + A son of Simeon, (1 Chronicles 4:25) brother of Mibsam.


Mishmannah

(fatness), the fourth of the twelve lion-faced Gadites who joined David at Ziklag. (1 Chronicles 12:10)


Mishraites, The

the fourth of the four "families of Kirjath-jearim," i.e. colonies proceeding therefrom and founding towns. (1 Chronicles 2:53)


Mispereth

one of those who returned with Zerubbabel and Jeshua from Babylon. (Nehemiah 7:7)


Misrephothmaim

(the flew of waters), a place in northern Palestine. Dr. Thomson treats Misrephoth-maim as identical with a collection of springs called Ain-Musheirifeh, on the seashore close under the Ras en-Nakhura ; but this has the disadvantage of being very far from Sidon. May it not rather be the place with which we are familiar in the later history as Zarephat, near Sidon?


Mite

a coin current in Palestine in the time of our Lord. (Mark 12:41-44; Luke 21:1-4) It seems in Palestine to have been the smallest piece of money (worth about one-fifth of a cent), being the half of the farthing, which was a coin of very low value. From St. Mark's explanation, "two mites, which make a farthing," ver. 42, it may perhaps be inferred that the farthing was the commoner coin.


Mithcah

(sweetness), the name of an unknown desert encampment of the Israelites. (Numbers 33:28,29)


Mithnite, The

the designation of Joshaphat, one of David's guard in the catalogue of (1 Chronicles 11:43)


Mithredath

+ The treasurer of Cyrus king of Persia, to whom the king gave the vessels of the temple. (Ezra 1:8) + A Persian officer stationed at Samaria. (Ezra 4:7)


Mitre

(something rolled around the head), the turban or headdress of the high priest, made of fine linen cloth, eight yards long, folded around the head. On the front was a gold plate on which was inscribed Holiness to the Lord . (Exodus 28:4,37,39; 39:28,30; Leviticus 8:9)


Mitylene

(mutilated), the chief town of Lesbos, an island of the AEgean Sea, 7 1/2 miles from the opposite point of Asia Minor. The city is situated on the east coast of the island. Mitylene is the intermediate place where St. Paul stopped for the night between Assos and Chios. (Acts 20:14,15) The town itself was celebrated in Roman times for the beauty of its buildings. In St. Paul's day it had the privileges of a free city. (It is now a place of no importance, called Mitelin . It contains about 1100 houses, Greek and Turkish, with narrow and filthy streets.--ED.)


Mixed Multitude

When the Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, the first stage of the exodus from Egypt, there were up with them "a mixed multitude." (Exodus 12:38; Numbers 11:4) They were probably the offspring of marriages contracted between the Israelites and the Egyptians; and the term may also include all those who were not of pure Israelite blood. In Exodus and Numbers it probably denoted the miscellaneous hangers-on of the Hebrew camp, whether they were the issue of spurious marriages with Egyptians or were themselves Egyptians, or belonging to other nations. The same happened on the return from Babylon, and in (Nehemiah 13:3) (comp. vs Nehe 13:23-30) a slight clue is given by which the meaning of the "mixed multitude" may be more definitely ascertained.


Mizar

(small), The hill, a mountain apparently in the northern part of transjordanic Palestine, from which the author of Psalm 42 utters his pathetic appeal. ver. 6. (It is probably a summit of the eastern ridge of Lebanon, not far from Mahanaim, where David lay after escaping from the rebellion of Absalom.--McClintock and Strong.)


Mizpah

and Miz'peh (a watch-tower), the name of several places in Palestine.

+ The earliest of all, in order of the narrative, is the heap of stones piled up by Jacob and Laban, (Genesis 31:48) on Mount Gilead, ver. (Genesis 31:25) to serve both as a witness to the covenant then entered into and as a landmark of the boundary between them. ver. (Genesis 31:52) On this natural watch-tower did the children of Israel assemble for the choice of a leader to resist the children of Ammon. (Judges 10:17) There the fatal meeting took place between Jephthah and his daughter on his return from the war. ch. (Judges 11:34) It seems most probable that the "Mizpeh-gilead" which is mentioned here, and here only, is the same as the "ham-Mizpah" of the other parts of the narrative; and both are probably identical with the Ramath-mizpeh and Ramoth-gilead, so famous in the later history. + A second Mizpeh, on the east of Jordan, was the Mizpeh-moab, where the king of that nation was living when David committed his parents to his care. (1 Samuel 22:3) + A third was "the land of Mizpeh," or more accurately "of Mizpah," the residence of the Hivites who joined the northern confederacy against Israel, headed by Jabin king of Hazor. (Joshua 11:3) No other mention is found of this district in the Bible, unless it be identical with-- + The valley of Mizpeh, to which the discomfited hosts of the same confederacy were chased by Joshua, (Joshua 11:8) perhaps identical with the great country of Coele-Syria. + Mizpeh, a city of Judah, (Joshua 15:38) in the district of the Shefelah or maritime lowland. + Mizpeh, in Joshua and Samuel; elsewhere Mizpah, a "city" of Benjamin, not far from Jerusalem. (Joshua 18:26; 1 Kings 15:22; 2 Chronicles 16:6; Nehemiah 3:7) It was one of the places fortified by Asa against the incursions of the kings of northern Israel, (1 Kings 15:22; 2 Chronicles 16:6; Jeremiah 41:10) and after the destruction of Jerusalem it became the residence of the superintendent appointed by the king of Babylon, (Jeremiah 40:7) etc., and the scene of his murder and of the romantic incidents connected with the name of Ishmael the son of Nethaniah. It was one of the three holy cities which Samuel visited in turn as judge of the people, (1 Samuel 7:6,16) the other two being Bethel and Gilgal. With the conquest of Jerusalem and the establishment there of the ark, the sanctity of Mizpah, or at least its reputation, seems to have declined. From Mizpah the city or the temple was visible. These conditions are satisfied by the position of Scopus, the broad ridge which forms the continuation of the Mount of Olives to the north and cast, from which the traveller gains, like Titus, his first view, and takes his last farewell, of the domes, walls and towers of the holy city.


Mizpar

(number); properly Mispar, the same as [876]Mispereth. (Ezra 2:2)


Mizraim, Or Mizraim

(the two Egypts; red soil), the usual name of Egypt in the Old Testament the dual of Mazor, which is less frequently employed. Mizraim first occurs in the account of the Hamites in (Genesis 10:1) ... In the use of the name Mizraim for Egypt there can be no doubt that the dual indicates the two regions, upper and lower Egypt, into which the country has always been divided by nature as well as by its inhabitants.


Mizzah

(fear), son of Reuel and grandson of Esau. (Genesis 36:13,17; 1 Chronicles 1:37)


Mnason

(remembering) is honorably mentioned in Scripture. (Acts 21:16) It is most likely that his residence at this time was not Caesarea, but Jerusalem. He was a Cyprian by birth, and may have been a friend of Barnabas. (Acts 4:36)


Moab

(of his father), Mo'abites. Moab was the son of the Lot's eldest daughter, the progenitor of the Moabites. Zoar was the cradle of the race of Lot. From this centre the brother tribes spread themselves. The Moabites first inhabited the rich highlands which crown the eastern side of the chasm of the Dead Sea, extending as far north as the mountain of Gilead, from which country they expelled the Emims, the original inhabitants, (2:11) but they themselves were afterward driven southward by the warlike Amorites, who had crossed the Jordan, and were confined to the country south of the river Arnon, which formed their northern boundary. (Numbers 21:13; Judges 11:18) The territory occupied by Moab at the period of its greatest extent, before the invasion of the Amorites, divided itself naturally into three distinct and independent portions:-- (1) The enclosed corner or canton south of the Arnon was the "field of Moab." (Ruth 1:1,2,6) etc. (2) The more open rolling country north of the Arnon, opposite Jericho, and up to the hills of Gilead, was the "land of Moab." (1:5; 32:49) etc. (3) The sunk district in the tropical depths of the Jordan valley. (Numbers 22:1) etc. The Israelites, in entering the promised land, did not pass through the Moabites, (Judges 11:18) but conquered the Amorites, who occupied the country from which the Moabites had been so lately expelled. After the conquest of Canaan the relations of Moab with Israel were of a mixed character, sometimes warlike and sometimes peaceable. With the tribe of Benjamin they had at least one severe struggle, in union with their kindred the Ammonites. (Judges 3:12-30) The story of Ruth, on the other hand, testifies to the existence of a friendly intercourse between Moab and Bethlehem, one of the towns of Judah. By his descent from Ruth, David may be said to have had Moabite blood in his veins. He committed his parents to the protection of the king of Moab, when hard pressed by Saul. (1 Samuel 22:3,4) But here all friendly relations stop forever. The next time the name is mentioned is in the account of David's war, who made the Moabites tributary. (2 Samuel 8:2; 1 Chronicles 18:2) At the disruption of the kingdom Moab seems to have fallen to the northern realm. At the death of Ahab the Moabites refused to pay tribute and asserted their independence, making war upon the kingdom of Judah. (2 Chronicles 22:1) ... As a natural consequence of the late events, Israel, Judah and Edom united in an attack on Moab, resulting in the complete overthrow of the Moabites. Falling back into their own country, they were followed and their cities and farms destroyed. Finally, shut up within the walls of his own capital, the king, Mesha, in the sight of the thousands who covered the sides of that vast amphitheater, killed and burnt his child as a propitiatory sacrifice to the cruel gods of his country. Isaiah, chs. (Isaiah 15,16,25:10-12) predicts the utter annihilation of the Moabites; and they are frequently denounced by the subsequent prophets. For the religion of the Moabites see [878]Chemosh; [879]Molech; [880]Peor. See also Tristram's "Land of Moab." Present condition.--(Noldeke says that the extinction of the Moabites was about A.D. 200, at the time when the Yemen tribes Galib and Gassara entered the eastern districts of the Jordan. Since A.D. 536 the last trace of the name Moab, which lingered in the town of Kir-moab, has given place to Kerak, its modern name. Over the whole region are scattered many ruins of ancient cities; and while the country is almost bare of larger vegetation, it is still a rich pasture-ground, with occasional fields of grain. The land thus gives evidence of its former wealth and power.--ED.)


Moabite Stone, The

In the year 1868 Rev. F. Klein, of the Church Missionary Society at Jerusalem, found at Dhiban (the biblical Dibon), in Moab, a remarkable stone, since called the Moabite Stone. It was lying on the ground, with the inscription uppermost, and measures about 3 feet 9 inches long, 2 feet 4 inches wide and 1 foot 2 inches thick. It is a very heavy, compact black basalt. An impression was made of the main block, and of certain recovered parts broken off by the Arabs. It was broken by the Arabs, but the fragments were purchased by the French government for 32,000 francs, and are in the Louvre in Paris. The engraved face is about the shape of an ordinary gravestone, rounded at the top. On this stone is the record in the Phoenician characters of the wars of Mesha, king of Moab, with Israel. (2 Kings 3:4) It speaks of King Omri and other names of places and persons mentioned in the Bible, and belongs to this exact period of jewish and Moabite history. The names given on the Moabite Stone, engraved by one who knew them in daily life, are, in nearly every case, identical with those found in the Bible itself, and testify to the wonderful integrity with which the Scriptures have been preserved. "The inscription reads like a leaf taken out of a lost book of Chronicles. The expressions are the same; the names of gods, kings and of towns are the same."--(See Rawlinson's "Historical Illustrations;" American Cyclopedia ; and Bibliotheca Sacra, Oct. 20, 1870.--ED.)


Moadiah

(Nehemiah 12:17) Elsewhere Nehe 12:5 Called [881]Maadiah.


Modin

a place not mentioned in either the Old or the New Testament, though rendered immortal by its connection with the history of the Jews in the interval between the two. It was the native city of the Maccabaean family, 1 Macc. 13:25, and as a necessary consequence contained their ancestral sepulchre. ch. 2:70; 9:19; 13:25-30. At Modin the Maccabean armies encamped on the eves of two of their most memorable victories--that of Judas over Antiochus Eupator, 2 Macc. 13:14, and that of Simon over Cendebeus. 1 Macc. 16:4. The only indication of the position of the place to be gathered from the above notices is contained in the last, from which we may infer that it was near "the plain," i.e. the great maritime lowland of Philistia. ver. 5. The description of the monuments seems to imply that the spot was so lofty as to be visible from the sea, and so near that even the details of the sculpture were discernible therefrom. All these conditions, excepting the last, are tolerably fulfilled in either of the two sides called Latran and Kubub .


Moladah

(birth, race), a city of Judah, one of those which lay in the district of "the south." (Joshua 15:26; 19:2) In the latter tribe it remained at any rate till the reign of David, (1 Chronicles 4:28) but by the time of the captivity it seems to have come back into the hands of Judah, by whom it was reinhabited after the captivity. (Nehemiah 11:26) It may be placed at el-Milh, which is about 4 English miles from Tell Arad, 17 or 18 from Hebron, and 9 or 10 due east of Beersheba.


Mole

+ Tinshemeth. (Leviticus 11:30) It is probable that the animals mentioned with the tinshemeth in the above passage denote different kinds of lizards; perhaps, therefore, the chameleon is the animal intended. + Chephor peroth is rendered "moles" in (Isaiah 2:20) (The word means burrowers, hole-diggers, and may designate any of the small animals, as rats and weasels, which burrow among ruins. Many scholars, according to McClintock and Strong's "Cyclopedia," consider that the Greek aspalax is the animal intended by both the words translated mole. It is not the European mole, but is a kind of blind mole-rat, from 8 to 12 inches long, feeding on vegetables, and burrowing like a mole, but on a larger scale. It is very common in Russia, and Hasselquiest says it is abundant on the plains of Sharon in Palestine.--ED.)


Molech

(king). The fire-god Molech was the tutelary deity of the children of Ammon, and essentially identical with the Moabitish Chemosh. Fire-gods appear to have been common to all the Canaanite, Syrian and Arab tribes, who worshipped the destructive element under an outward symbol, with the most inhuman rites. According to Jewish tradition, the image of Molech was of brass, hollow within, and was situated without Jerusalem. "His face was (that) of a calf, and his hands stretched forth like a man who opens his hands to receive (something) of his neighbor. And they kindled it with fire, and the priests took the babe and put it into the hands of Molech, and the babe gave up the ghost." Many instances of human sacrifices are found in ancient writers, which may be compared with the description of the Old Testament of the manner in which Molech was worshipped. Molech was the lord and master of the Ammonites; their country was his possession, (Jeremiah 49:1) as Moab was the heritage of Chemosh; the princes of the land were the princes of Malcham. (Jeremiah 49:3; Amos 1:15) His priests were men of rank, (Jeremiah 49:3) taking precedence of the princes. The priests of Molech, like those of other idols, were called Chemarim. (2 Kings 23:5; Hosea 10:5; Zephaniah 1:4)


Moli

Mahli, the son of Merari. 1 Esdr. 8:47; comp (Ezra 8:18)


Molid

(begetter), the son of Abishur by his wife Abihail, and descendant of Jerahmeel. (1 Chronicles 2:29)


Money

+ Uncointed money.--It is well known that ancient nations that were without a coinage weighed the precious metals, a practice represented on the Egyptian monuments, on which gold and silver are shown to have been kept in the form of rings. We have no evidence of the use of coined money before the return from the Babylonian captivity; but silver was used for money, in quantities determined by weight, at least as early as the time of Abraham; and its earliest mention is in the generic sense of the price paid for a slave. (Genesis 17:13) The 1000 pieces of silver paid by Abimelech to Abraham, (Genesis 20:16) and the 20 pieces of silver for which Joseph was sold to the Ishmaelites, (Genesis 37:28) were probably rings such as we see on the Egyptian monuments in the act of being weighed. In the first recorded transaction of commerce, the cave of Machpelah is purchased by Abraham for 400 shekels of silver. The shekel weight of silver was the unit of value through the whole age of Hebrew history, down to the Babylonian captivity. + Coined money.--After the captivity we have the earliest mention of coined money, in allusion, as might have been expected, to the Persian coinage, the gold daric (Authorized version dram). (Ezra 2:69; 8:27; Nehemiah 7:70,71,72) [[883]Daric] No native Jewish coinage appears to have existed till Antiochus VII. Sidetes granted Simon Maccabaeus the license to coin money, B.C. 140; and it is now generally agreed that the oldest Jewish silver coins belong to this period. They are shekels and half-shekels, of the weight of 220 and 110 grains. With this silver there was associated a copper coinage. The abundant money of Herod the Great, which is of a thoroughly Greek character, and of copper only, seems to have been a continuation of the copper coinage of the Maccabees, with some adaptation to the Roman standard. In the money of the New Testament we see the native copper coinage side by side with the Graeco-Roman copper, silver and gold. (The first coined money mentioned in the Bible refers to the Persian coinage, (1 Chronicles 29:7; Ezra 2:69) and translated dram . It is the Persian daric, a gold coin worth about .50. The coins mentioned by the evangelists, and first those of silver, are the following: The stater, (Matthew 17:24-27) called piece of money, was a Roman coin equal to four drachmas. It was worth 55 to 60 cents, and is of about the same value as the Jewish stater, or coined shekel. The denarius, or Roman penny, as well as the Greek drachma, then of about the same weight, are spoken of as current coins. (Matthew 22:15-21; Luke 20:19-25) They were worth about 15 cents. Of copper coins the farthing and its half, the mite, are spoken of, and these probably formed the chief native currency. (The Roman farthing (quadrans) was a brass coin worth .375 of a cent. The Greek farthing (as or assarion) was worth four Roman farthings, i.e. about one cent and a half. A mite was half a farthing, and therefore was worth about two-tenths of a cent if the half of the Roman farthing, and about 2 cents if the half of the Greek farthing. See table of Jewish weights and measures.--ED.)


Moneychangers

(Matthew 21:12; Mark 11:15; John 2:15) According to (Exodus 30:13-15) every Israelite who had reached or passed the age of twenty must pay into the sacred treasury, whenever the nation was numbered, a half-shekel as an offering to Jehovah. The money-changers whom Christ, for their impiety, avarice and fraudulent dealing, expelled from the temple were the dealers who supplied half-shekels, for such a premium as they might be able to exact, to the Jews from all parts of the world who assembled at Jerusalem during the great festivals, and were required to pay their tribute or ransom money in the Hebrew coin.


Month

From the time of the institution of the Mosaic law downward the religious feasts commencing with the passover depended not simply on the month, but on the moon; the 14th of Abib was coincident with the full moon; and the new moons themselves were the occasions of regular festivals. (Numbers 10:10; 28:11-14) The commencement of the month was generally decided by observation of the new moon. The usual number of months in a year was twelve, as implied in (1 Kings 4:7; 1 Chronicles 27:1-15) but since twelve lunar months would make but 354 1/2 days, the years would be short twelve days of the short twelve days of the true year, and therefore it follows as a matter of course that an additional month must have been inserted about every third year, which would bring the number up to thirteen. No notice, however, is taken of this month in the Bible. In the modern Jewish calendar the intercalary month is introduced seven times in every nineteen years. The usual method of designating the months was by their numerical order, e.g. "the second month," (Genesis 7:11) "the fourth month," (2 Kings 25:3) and this was generally retained even when the names were given, e.g. "in the month Zif, which is the second month." (1 Kings 6:1) The names of the months belong to two distinct periods. In the first place we have those peculiar to the period of Jewish independence, of which four only, even including Abib, which we hardly regard as a proper name are mentioned, viz.: Abib, in which the passover fell, (Exodus 13:4; 23:15; 34:18; 16:1) and which was established as the first month in commemoration of the exodus, (Exodus 12:2) Zif, the second month, (1 Kings 6:1,37) Bul, the eighth, (1 Kings 6:38) and Ethanim, the seventh. (1 Kings 6:38) and Ethanim, the seventh. (1 Kings 8:2) In the second place we have the names which prevailed subsequent to the Babylonish captivity; of these the following seven appear in the Bible: Nisan, the first, in which the passover was held, (Nehemiah 2:1; Esther 3:7) Sivan, the third (Esther 8:9) Bar. 1:8; Elul, the sixth, (Nehemiah 6:15) 1 Macc. 14:27; Chisleu, the ninth, (Nehemiah 1:1; Zechariah 7:1) 1 Macc. 1:54; Tebeth, the tenth, (Esther 2:16) Sebat, the eleventh, (Zechariah 1:7) 1 Macc. 16:14; and Adar, the twelfth. (Esther 3:7; 8:1) 2 Macc. 15:36. The names of the remaining five occur int he Talmud and other works; they were, Iyar, the second, Targum; (2 Chronicles 30:2) Tammuz, the fourth; Ab, the fifth; Tisri, the seventh; and Marcheshvan, the eighth. The name of the intercalary month was Ve-adar, i.e. the additional Adar. The identification of the jewish months with our own cannot be effected with precision on account of the variations that must inevitably exist between the lunar and the solar month. Nisan (or Abib) answers to March; Zif or Iyar to May; Sivan to June; Tammuz to July; Ab to August; Elul to September; Ethanim or Tisri to October; Bul or Marcheshvan to November; Chisleu to December; Tebeth to January; Sebat to February; and Adar to March.


Moon

The moon held an important place in the kingdom of nature, as known to the Hebrews. Conjointly with the sun, it was appointed "for signs and for seasons, and for days and years;" though in this respect it exercised a more important influence, if by the "seasons" we understand the great religious festivals of the Jews, as is particularly stated in (Psalms 104:19) and more at length in Ecclus 43:6,7. The worship of the moon prevailed extensively among the nations of the East, and under a variety of aspects. It was one of the only two deities which commanded the reverence of all the Egyptians. The worship of the heavenly bodies is referred to in (Job 31:26,27) and Moses directly warns the Jews against it. (4:19) In the figurative language of Scripture, the moon is frequently noticed as presaging events of the greatest importance through the temporary or permanent withdrawal of its light. (Isaiah 13:10; Joel 2:31; Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24)


Morasthite, The

that is, the native of a place named Moresheth. It occurs twice-- (Jeremiah 26:18; Micah 1:1)--each time as the description of the prophet Micah.


Mordecai

(little man, or worshipper or Mars), the deliverer, under divine Providence, of the Jews from the destruction plotted against them by Haman the chief minister of Xerxes; the institutor of the feast of Purim. The incidents of his history are too well known to need to be dwelt upon. [[884]Esther, Book Of] Three things are predicated of Mordecai in the book of Esther: (1) That he lived in Shushan; (2) That his name was Mordecai, son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish the Benjamite who was taken captive with Jehoiachin; (3) That he brought up Esther.


Moreh

+ The plain or plains (or, as it should rather be rendered, the oak or oaks) of Moreh. The oak of Moreh was the first recorded halting-place of Abram after his entrance into the land of Canaan. (Genesis 12:6) It was at the "place of Shechem," ch. (Genesis 12:6) close to the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim. (11:30) + The hill of Moreh, at the foot of which the Midianites and Amalekites were encamped before Gideon's attack upon them. (Judges 7:1) It lay in the valley of Jezreel, rather on the north side of the valley, and north also of the eminence on which Gideon's little band of heroes was clustered. These conditions are most accurately fulfilled if we assume Jebel ed-Duhy, the "Little Hermon" of the modern travellers, 1815 feet above the Mediterranean, to be Moreh, the Ain-Jalood to be the spring of Harod, and Gideon's position to have been on the northeast slope of Jebel Fukua (Mount Gilboa), between the village of Nuris and the last-mentioned spring.


Moreshethgath

(possession of Gath), a place named by the prophet Micah. (Micah 1:14) The prophet was himself a native of a place called Moresheth.


Moriah

+ The land of Moriah--On "one of the mountains" in this district took place the sacrifice of Isaac. (Genesis 22:2) Its position is doubtful, some thinking it to be Mount MOriah, others that Moreh, near Shechem, is meant. [See [885]Mount, [886]Mount, Mountain MORIAH] + Mount Moriah .--The elevation on which Solomon built the temple, where God appeared to David "in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." it is the Eastern eminence of Jerusalem, separated from Mount Zion by the Tyropoeon valley. The tope was levelled by Solomon, and immense walls were built around it from the base to enlarge the level surface for the temple area. A tradition which first appears in a definite shape in Josephus, and is now almost universally accepted, asserts that the "Mount Moriah" of the Chronicles is identical with the "mountain" in "the land of Moriah" of Genesis, and that the spot on which Jehovah appeared to David, and on which the temple was built, was the very spot of the sacrifice of Isaac. (Smith, Stanley and Grove are, however, inclined to doubt this tradition.)


Mortar

(Genesis 11:3; Exodus 1:14; Leviticus 14:42,45; Isaiah 41:25; Ezekiel 13:10,11,14,15; 22:28; Nehemiah 3:14) The various compacting substances used in Oriental buildings appear to be--

+ Bitumen, as in the Babylonian structures; + Common mud or moistened clay; + A very firm cement compounded of sand, ashes and lime, in the proportions respectively of 1,2,3, well pounded, sometimes mixed and sometimes coated with oil, so as to form a surface almost impenetrable to wet or the weather. In Assyrian and also Egyptian brick buildings, stubble or straw, as hair or wool among ourselves, was added to increase the tenacity.

"a wide-mouthed vessel in form of an inverted bell, in which substances are pounded or bruised with a pestle."--Webster. The simplest and probably most ancient method of preparing corn for food was by pounding it between two stones. The Israelites in the desert appear to have possessed mortars and handmills among their necessary domestic utensils. When the manna fell they gathered it, and either ground it in the mill or pounded it in the mortar till it was fit for use. (Numbers 11:8) So in the present day stone mortars are used by the Arabs to pound wheat for their national dish kibby . Another word occurring in (Proverbs 27:22) probably denotes a mortar of a larger kind in which corn was pounded: "Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him." Corn may be separated from its husk and all its good properties preserved by such an operation, but the fool's folly is so essential a part of himself that no analogous process can remove it from him. Such seems the natural interpretation of this remarkable proverb. The language is intentionally exaggerated, and there is no necessity for supposing an allusion to a mode of punishment by which criminals were put to death by being pounded in a mortar. A custom of this king existed among the Turks, but there is no distinct trace of it among the Hebrews. Such, however, is supposed to be the reference in the proverb by Mr. Roberts, who illustrates it from his Indian experience.


Moserah

(bonds), (10:6) apparently the same as Moseroth, (Numbers 33:30) its plural form, the name of a place near Mount Hor.


Moses

(Heb. Mosheh, "drawn," i.e. from the water; in the Coptic it means "saved from the water"), the legislator of the Jewish people, and in a certain sense the founder of the Jewish religion. The immediate pedigree of Moses is as follows: Levi was the father of: Gershon-- Kohath-- Merari Kohath was the father of: Amram = Jochebed Amram = Jochebed was the father of: Hur = Miriam-- Aaron = Elisheba-- Moses = Zipporah Aaron = Elisheba was the father of: Nadab-- Abihu-- Eleazar-- Ithamar Eleazar was the father of: Phineas Moses = Zipporah was the father of: Gershom-- Eliezer Gershom was the father of: Jonathan The history of Moses naturally divides itself into three periods of 40 years each. Moses was born at Goshen, In Egypt, B.C. 1571. The story of his birth is thoroughly Egyptian in its scene. His mother made extraordinary efforts for his preservation from the general destruction of the male children of Israel. For three months the child was concealed in the house. Then his mother placed him in a small boat or basket of papyrus, closed against the water by bitumen. This was placed among the aquatic vegetation by the side of one of the canals of the Nile. The sister lingered to watch her brother's fate. The Egyptian princess, who, tradition says, was a childless wife, came down to bathe in the sacred river. Her attendant slaves followed her. She saw the basket in the flags, and despatched divers, who brought it. It was opened, and the cry of the child moved the princess to compassion. She determined to rear it as her own. The sister was at hand to recommend a Hebrew nurse, the child's own mother. here was the first part of Moses' training,--a training at home in the true religion, in faith in God, in the promises to his nation, in the life of a saint,--a training which he never forgot, even amid the splendors and gilded sin of Pharaoh's court. The child was adopted by the princess. From this time for many years Moses must be considered as an Egyptian. In the Pentateuch this period is a blank, but in the New Testament he is represented as "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," and as "mighty in words and deeds." (Acts 7:22) this was the second part of Moses' training. The second period of Moses' life began when he was forty years old. Seeing the sufferings of his people, Moses determined to go to them as their helper, and made his great life-choice, "choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." (Hebrews 11:25,26) Seeing an Israelite suffering the bastinado from an Egyptian, and thinking that they were alone, he slew the Egyptian, and buried the corpse in the sand. But the people soon showed themselves unfitted as yet to obtain their freedom, nor was Moses yet fitted to be their leader. He was compelled to leave Egypt when the slaying of the Egyptian became known, and he fled to the land of Midian, in the southern and southeastern part of the Sinai peninsula. There was a famous well ("the well,") (Exodus 2:15) surrounded by tanks for the watering of the flocks of the Bedouin herdsmen. By this well the fugitive seated himself and watched the gathering of the sheep. There were the Arabian shepherds, and there were also seven maidens, whom the shepherds rudely drove away from the water. The chivalrous spirit which had already broken forth in behalf of his oppressed countrymen broke forth again in behalf of the distressed maidens. They returned unusually soon to their father, Jethro, and told him of their adventure. Moses, who up to this time had been "an Egyptian," (Exodus 2:19) now became for a time an Arabian. He married Zipporah, daughter of his host, to whom he also became the slave and shepherd. (Exodus 2:21; 3:1) Here for forty years Moses communed with God and with nature, escaping from the false ideas taught him in Egypt, and sifting out the truths that were there. This was the third process of his training for his work; and from this training he learned infinitely more than from Egypt. Stanely well says, after enumerating what the Israelites derived from Egypt, that the contrast was always greater than the likeness. This process was completed when God met him on Horeb, appearing in a burning bush, and, communicating with him, appointed him to be the leader and deliverer of his people. Now begins the third period of forty years in Moses' life. He meets Aaron, his next younger brother, whom God permitted to be the spokesman, and together they return to Goshen in Egypt. From this time the history of Moses is the history of Israel for the next forty years. Aaron spoke and acted for Moses, and was the permanent inheritor of the sacred staff of power. But Moses was the inspiring soul behind. he is incontestably the chief personage of the history, in a sense in which no one else is described before or since. He was led into a closer communion with the invisible world than was vouchsafed to any other in the Old Testament. There are two main characters in which he appears--as a leader and as a prophet. (1) As a leader, his life divides itself into the three epochs--the march to Sinai; the march from Sinai to Kadesh; and the conquest of the transjordanic kingdoms. On approaching Palestine the office of the leader becomes blended with that of the general or the conqueror. By Moses the spies were sent to explore the country. Against his advice took place the first disastrous battle at hormah. To his guidance is ascribed the circuitous route by which the nation approached Palestine from the east, and to his generalship the two successful campaigns in which Sihon and Og were defeated. The narrative is told so briefly that we are in danger of forgetting that at this last stage of his life Moses must have been as much a conqueror and victorious soldier as was Joshua. (2) His character as a prophet is, from the nature of the case, more distinctly brought out. He is the first as he is the greatest example of a prophet in the Old Testament. His brother and sister were both endowed with prophetic gifts. The seventy elders, and Eldad and Medad also, all "prophesied." (Numbers 11:25-27) But Moses rose high above all these. With him the divine revelations were made "mouth to mouth." (Numbers 12:8) Of the special modes of this more direct communication, four great examples are given, corresponding to four critical epochs in his historical career. (a) The appearance of the divine presence in the flaming acacia tree. (Exodus 3:2-6) (b) In the giving of the law from Mount Sinai, the outward form of the revelation was a thick darkness as of a thunder-cloud, out of which proceeded a voice. (Exodus 19:19; 20:21) on two occasions he is described as having penetrated within the darkness. (Exodus 24:18; 34:28) (c) It was nearly at the close of these communications in the mountains of Sinai that an especial revelation of God was made to him personally. (Exodus 33:21,22; 34:5,6,7) God passed before him. (d) The fourth mode of divine manifestation was that which is described as beginning at this juncture, and which was maintained with more or less continuity through the rest of his career. (Exodus 33:7) It was the communication with God in the tabernacle from out the pillar of cloud and fire. There is another form of Moses' prophetic gift, viz., the poetical form of composition which characterizes the Jewish prophecy generally. These poetical utterances are--

+ "The song which Moses and the children of Israel sung" (after the passage of the Red Sea). (Exodus 15:1-19) + A fragment of the war-song against Amalek. (Exodus 17:16) + A fragment of lyrical burst of indignation. (Exodus 32:18) + The fragments of war-songs, probably from either him or his immediate prophetic followers, in (Numbers 21:14,15,27-30) preserved in the "book of the wars of Jehovah," (Numbers 21:14) and the address to the well. ch. (Numbers 21:14) and the address to the well. ch. (Numbers 21:16,17,18) + The song of Moses, (32:1-43) setting forth the greatness and the failings of Israel. + The blessing of Moses on the tribes, (33:1-29) + The 90th Psalm, "A prayer of Moses, the man of God." The title, like all the titles of the psalms, is of doubtful authority, and the psalm has often been referred to a later author. Character .--The prophetic office of Moses can only be fully considered in connection with his whole character and appearance. (Hosea 12:13) He was in a sense peculiar to himself the founder and representative of his people; and in accordance with this complete identification of himself with his nation is the only strong personal trait which we are able to gather from his history. (Numbers 12:3) The word "meek" is hardly an adequate reading of the Hebrew term, which should be rather "much enduring." It represents what we should now designate by the word "disinterested." All that is told of him indicates a withdrawal of himself, a preference of the cause of his nation to his own interests, which makes him the most complete example of Jewish patriotism. (He was especially a man of prayer and of faith, of wisdom, courage and patience.) In exact conformity with his life is the account of his end. The book of Deuteronomy describes, and is, the long last farewell of the prophet to his people. This takes place on the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year of the wanderings, in the plains of Moab. (1:3,5) Moses is described as 120 years of age, but with his sight and his freshness of strength unabated. (34:7) Joshua is appointed his successor. The law is written out and ordered to be deposited in the ark. ch. 31. The song and the blessing of the tribes conclude the farewell. chs. 32,33. And then comes the mysterious close. He is told that he is to see the good land beyond the Jordan, but not to possess it himself. He ascends the mount of Pisgah and stands on Nebo, one of its summits, and surveys the four great masses of Palestine west of the Jordan, so far as it can be discerned from that height. The view has passes into a proverb for all nations. "So Moses the servant of Jehovah died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of Jehovah. And he buried him in a 'ravine' in the land of Moab, 'before' Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day... And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days." (34:5,6,8) This is all that is said in the sacred record. (This burial was thus hidden probably-- (1) To preserve his grave from idolatrous worship or superstitious reverence; and (2) Because it may be that God did not intend to leave his body to corruption, but to prepare it, as he did the body of Elijah, so that Moses could in his spiritual body meet Christ, together with Elijah, on the mount of transfiguration.) Moses is spoken of as a likeness of Christ; and as this is a point of view which has been almost lost in the Church, compared with the more familiar comparisons of Christ to Adam, David, Joshua, and yet has as firm a basis in fact as any of them, it may be well to draw it out in detail.

(1) Moses is, as it would seem, the only character of the Old Testament to whom Christ expressly likens himself: "Moses wrote of me." (John 5:46) It suggests three main points of likeness: (a) Christ was, like Moses, the great prophet of the people--the last, as Moses was the first. (b) Christ, like Moses, is a lawgiver: "Him shall ye hear." (c) Christ, like Moses, was a prophet out of the midst of the nation, "from their brethren." As Moses was the entire representative of his people, feeling for them more than for himself, absorbed in their interests, hopes and fears, so, with reverence be it said, was Christ. (2) In (Hebrews 3:1-19; 12:24-29; Acts 7:37) Christ is described, though more obscurely, as the Moses of the new dispensation--as the apostle or messenger or mediator of God to the people--as the controller and leader of the flock or household of God. (3) The details of their lives are sometimes, though not often, compared. (Acts 7:24-28; 35) In (Jude 1:9) is an allusion to an altercation between Michael and Satan over the body of Moses. It probably refers to a lost apocryphal book, mentioned by Origen, called the "Ascension" or "Assumption of Moses." Respecting the books of Moses, see [887]Pentateuch, The.


Moth

By the Hebrew word we are certainly to understand some species of clothes-moth (tinea). Reference to the destructive habits of the clothes-moth is made in (Job 4:19; 13:28; Psalms 39:11) etc. (The moth is a well-known insect which in its caterpillar state is very destructive to woollen clothing, furs, etc. The egg of the moth, being deposited on the fur or cloth, produces a very small shining insect, which immediately forms a house for itself by cuttings from the cloth. It east away the nap, and finally ruins the fabric. There are more than 1500 species of moths.--McClintock and Strong's Cyclopedia.)