Smith's Bible Dictionary

Meronothite The — Molid

Meronothite The

Meron’othite, The, that is, the native of a place called probably Meronoth, of which, however, no further traces have yet been discovered. Two Meronothites are named in the Bible—

1. Jehdeiah, 1 Chronicles 27:30; 1 Chronicles 2. Jadon. Nehemiah 3:7.

Meroz

Me’roz (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 obedience to the curse.

Mesech Meshech

Me’sech, Me’shech (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 Gog, Ezekiel 38:2, Ezekiel 38:3; Ezekiel 39:1, and as supplying the Tyrians with copper and slaves. Ezekiel 27:13. In Psalm 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

Me’sha (freedom).

1. The name of one of the geographical limits of the Joktanites when they first settled in Arabia. Genesis 10:30.

2. 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.)

3. The eldest son of Caleb the son of Hezron by his wife Azubah, as Kimchi conjectures. 1 Chronicles 2:42.

4. A Benjamite, son of Shaharaim by his wife Hodesh, who bore him in the land of Moab. 1 Chronicles 8:9.

Meshach

Me’shach (guest of a king), the name given to Mishael, one of the companions of Daniel, who with three others was chosen from among the captives to be 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 Chaldean 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 acknowledgment 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

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

Meshezabe-el

Meshez’abe-el (delivered by God).

1. Ancestor of Meshullam, who assisted Nehemiah in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. Nehemiah 3:4.

2. One of the “heads of the people,” probably a family, who sealed the covenant with Nehemiah. Nehemiah 10:21.

3. The father of Pethahiah, and descendant of Zerah the son of Judah. Nehemiah 11:24.

Meshillemith

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

Meshillemoth

Meshil’lemoth (recompense).

1. An Ephraimite, one of the chiefs of the tribe in the reign of Pekah. 2 Chronicles 28:12.

2. The same as MESHILLEMITH. Nehemiah 11:13.

Meshullam

Meshul’lam (friend).

1. Ancestor of Shaphan the scribe. 2 Kings 22:3.

2. The son of Zerubbabel. 1 Chronicles 3:19.

3. A Gadite in the reign of Jotham king of Judah. 1 Chronicles 5:13.

4. A Benjamite, of the sons of Elpaal. 1 Chronicles 8:17.

5. A Benjamite, father of Sallu. 1 Chronicles 9:7; Nehemiah 11:7.

6. A Benjamite who lived at Jerusalem after the captivity. 1 Chronicles 9:8.

7. 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.

8. A priest, son of Meshillemith or Meshillemoth the son of Immer, and ancestor of Maasiai or Amashai. 1 Chronicles 9:12; comp. Nehemiah 11:13.

9. A Kohathite or a family of Kohathite Levites, in the reign of Josiah. 2 Chronicles 34:12.

10. 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.

11. A chief man who assisted Ezra in abolishing the marriages which some of the people had contracted with foreign wives. Ezra 10:15.

12. One of the descendants of Bani, who had married a foreign wife and put her away. Ezra 10:29.

13. Nehemiah 3:30; Nehemiah 6:18. The son of Berechiah, who assisted in rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. Nehemiah 3:4.

14. The son of Besodeiah: he assisted Jehoiada the son of Paseah in restoring the old gate of Jerusalem. Nehemiah 3:6.

15. One of those who stood at the left hand of Ezra when he read the law to the people. Nehemiah 8:4.

16. A priest or family of priests who sealed the covenant with Nehemiah. Nehemiah 10:7.

17. One of the heads of the people who sealed the covenant with Nehemiah. Nehemiah 10:20.

18. A priest in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, and representative of the house of Ezra. Nehemiah 12:13.

19. Also a priest at the same time as the preceding, and head of the priestly family of Ginnethon. Nehemiah 12:16.

20. 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.

21. One of the princes of Judah at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem. Nehemiah 12:33.

Meshullemeth

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

Mesoba-ite The

Mes’oba-ite, 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

Mesopota’mia (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° to 37°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. Genesis 24:38. 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 in the wilderness. Deuteronomy 23:4. About half a century later we find, for the first and last time, Mesopotamia the seat of a powerful monarchy. Judges 3. 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

Messi’ah (anointed). This word (Mashiach) answers to the word Christ (Ξπριστ́ος) 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, 1 Samuel 2:35; 1 Samuel 12:3, 1 Samuel 12:5, 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; John 4:25; DAV “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 remarkably indicated in the words of Noah. Genesis 9:26. Next follows the promise to Abraham. Genesis 12:2, Genesis 12:3. 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, Deuteronomy 18:18, claims attention. Passages in the Psalms are numerous which are applied to the Messiah in the New Testament; such as Psalm 2, Psalm 16, Psalm 22, Psalm 40, Psalm 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. Psalm 2, Psalm 21, Psalm 40, Psalm 110. In other places he is seen in suffering and humiliation. Psalm 16, Psalm 22, Psalm 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 Isaiah 11, Isaiah 40-66. The blessings of the restoration, however, will not be confined to Jews; the heathen are made to share them fully. Isaiah 2, Isaiah 66. The passage of Micah 5:2 (comp. Matthew 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 12:10-14. The coming of the Forerunner and of the Anointed as clearly revealed in Malachi 3:1; Malachi 4:5, Malachi 4:6. 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, Matthew 20:21; Luke 24:21; Acts 1:6. Gleams of a purer faith appear in Luke 2:30; Luke 23:42; John 4:25.

Messias

Messi’as (anointedz), the Greek form of Messiah. John 1:41; John 4:25.

Metals

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, Genesis 2:12. “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 DAV, 2 Samuel 22:35; Job 20:24; Psalm 18:34; Jeremiah 15:12, are in all other 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. [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 $150,000. Seventeen hundred shekels of gold (worth more than $15,000) in nose jewels (DAV “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, 1 Kings 10:27. Brass, or more properly copper, was a native product of Palestine. Deuteronomy 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; Psalm 18:34, and armor, 1 Samuel 17:5, 1 Samuel 17:6, 1 Samuel 17:38, 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 Huneh, in the south of the valley of Zaharâni.

Metheg-ammah

Me’theg-am’mah (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-ha-Ammah “the bridle of the mother-city”—viz. of Gath, the chief town of the Philistines.

Methusael

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

Methuselah

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

Meunim

Meu’nim (habitations). Nehemiah 7:52. Elsewhere given in DAV as Mehunim and Mehunims.

Meuzal

Meu’zal. Ezekiel 27:19, marg. [UZAL.]

Mezahab

Mez’ahab (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

Mi’amin (from the right hand).

1. A layman of Israel who had married a foreign wife and put her away at the bidding of Ezra. Ezra 10:25.

2. A priest or family of priests who went up from Babylon with Zerubbabel. Nehemiah 12:5.

Mibhar

Mib’har (choicest), one of David’s heroes in the list given in 1 Chronicles 11:38.

Mibsam

Mib’sam (sweet odor).

1. A son of Ishmael. Genesis 25:13; 1 Chronicles 1:29.

2. A son of Simeon. 1 Chronicles 4:25.

Mibzar

Mib’zar (fortress), one of the “dukes” of Edom. Genesis 36:42; 1 Chronicles 1:53.

Micah

Mi’cah (who is like God?), the same name as Micaiah. [MICAIAH.]

1. An Israelite whose familiar story is preserved in the Judges 17th and Judges 18th chapters of Judges. Micah is evidently a devout believer 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.

2. 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.

3. A descendant of Joel the Reubenite. 1 Chronicles 5:5.

4. The son of Meribbaal or Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan. 1 Chronicles 8:34, 1 Chronicles 8:35; 1 Chronicles 9:40, 1 Chronicles 9:41.

5. A Kohathite Levite, the eldest son of Uzziel the brother of Amram. 1 Chronicles 23:20.

6. The father of Abdon, a man of high station in the reign of Josiah. 2 Chronicles 34:20.

Micah The book of

Mi’cah, 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. Micah 1:2-4, and the sentence pronounced upon Samaria, vs. Micah 1:5-9, 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 2:13. 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. Micah 6, Micah 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 to his promises. vs. Micah 7:16-20. The last verse is reproduced in the song of Zacharias. Luke 1:72, Luke 1:73. Micah’s prophecies are distinct and clear. He it is who says that the Ruler shall spring from Bethlehem. ch. Micah 5:2. His style has been compared with that of Hosea dn Isaiah. His diction is vigorous and forcible, sometimes obscure from the abruptness of its transitions, but varied and rich.

Micaiah

Mica’iah (who is like God?). Micaiah, 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.

Micha

Mi’cha (who is like God?).

1. The son of Mephibosheth. 2 Samuel 9:12.

2. A Levite who signed the covenant with Nehemiah. Nehemiah 10:11.

3. The father of Mattaniah, a Gershonite Levite and descendant of Asaph. Nehemiah 11:17, Nehemiah 11:22.

Michael

Mi’chael (who is like God?).

1. An Asherite, father of Sethur, one of the twelve spies. Numbers 13:13.

2. One of the Gadites who settled in the land of Bashan. 1 Chronicles 5:13.

3. Another Gadite, ancestor of Abihail. 1 Chronicles 5:14.

4. A Gershonite Levite, ancestor of Asaph. 1 Chronicles 6:40.

5. One of the five sons of Izrahiah, of the tribe of Issachar. 1 Chronicles 7:3.

6. A Benjamite of the sons of Beriah. 1 Chronicles 8:16.

7. One of the captains of the “thousands” of Manasseh who joined David at Ziklag. 1 Chronicles 12:20.

8. The father or ancestor of Omri, chief of the tribe of Issachar in the reign of David. 1 Chronicles 27:18.

9. One of the sons of Jehoshaphat who were murdered by their elder brother, Jehoram. 2 Chronicles 21:2, 2 Chronicles 21:4.

10. The father or ancestor of Zebadiah, of the sons of Shephatiah. Ezra 8:8.

11. “One,” or “the first, of the chief princes” or archangels, Daniel 10:13; comp. Jude 9, described in Daniel 10:21 as the “prince” of Israel, and in ch. Daniel 12:1 as “the great prince which standeth” in time of conflict “for the children of thy people.”

Michah

Mi’chah (who is like God?), eldest son of Uzziel the son of Kohath, 1 Chronicles 24:24, 1 Chronicles 24:25; elsewhere, 1 Chronicles 23:20, called MICAH.

Michaiah

Micha’iah (who is like God?).

1. Same as MICAH 6. 2 Chronicles 34:20.

2. Same as MICHA 3. 1 Chronicles 9:15; Nehemiah 12:35.

3. One of the priests at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem. Nehemiah 12:41.

4. The daughter of Uriel of Gibeah, wife of Rehoboam and mother of Abijah king of Judah. 2 Chronicles 13:2. [MAACHAH, 3.]

5. One of the princes of Jehoshaphat whom he sent to teach the law of Jehovah in the cities of Judah. 2 Chronicles 17:7.

6. The son of Gemariah. He is only mentioned on one occasion. Jeremiah 36:11, Jeremiah 36:13, Jeremiah 36:14.

Michal

Mi’chal (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

Mich’mas, or Mich’mash (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 Samuel 14. 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 men of the place returned. Ezra 2:27; Nehemiah 7:31. At a later date it became the residence of Jonathan Maccabæus and the seat of his government. 1 Maccabees 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 Ælia (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 Bozez and Sench of Jonathan’s adventure.

Michmethah

Mich’methah (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

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

Michtam

Michtam (golden psalm). This word occurs in the titles of six psalms (Psalm 16, Psalm 56-60), all of which are ascribed to David. The marginal reading of our DAV 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

Mid’din (measures), a city of Judah, Joshua 15:61, one of the six specified as situated in the district of “the midbar” (DAV “wilderness”).

Midian

Mid’ian (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 Ælaniticus): 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, Exodus 2:21, or the portion of it specially referred to, was probably the peninsula of Sinai. The influence of the Midianites 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. [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, Judges 8:24-26. We have here a wealthy Arab nation, living by plunder, delighting in finery; and, where forays were impossible, carrying on the traffic southward into Arabia, the land of gold—if not naturally, by trade—and across to Chaldea, or into the rich plains of Egypt.

Migdal-el

Mig’dal-el (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.

Migdal-gad

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

Migdol

Mig’dol (tower), the name of one or two places on the eastern frontier of Egypt.

1. A Migdol is mentioned in the account of the exodus, Exodus 14:2; Numbers 33:7, Numbers 33:8, near the head of the Red Sea.

2. 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; Ezekiel 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 Migdol was an important town.

Migron

Mig’ron (precipice), a town or a spot in the neighborhood of Gibeah. 1 Samuel 14:2. Migron is also mentioned in Sennacherib’s approach to Jerusalem. Isaiah 10:28.

Mijamin

Mij’amin (from the right hand).

1. The chief of the sixth of the twenty-four courses of priests established by David. 1 Chronicles 24:9.

2. A family of priests who signed the covenant with Nehemiah; probably the descendants of the preceding. Nehemiah 10:7.

Mikloth

Mik’loth (staves).

1. One of the sons of Jehiel, the father or prince of Gibeon, by his wife Maachah. 1 Chronicles 8:32; 1 Chronicles 9:37, 1 Chronicles 9:38.

2. The leader of the second division of David’s army. 1 Chronicles 27:4.

Mikneiah

Mikne’iah (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, 1 Chronicles 15:21.

Milalai

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

Milcah

Mil’cah (queen or counsel).

1. Daughter of Haran and wife of her uncle Nahor, Abraham’s brother, to whom she bore eight children. Genesis 11:29; Genesis 22:20, Genesis 22:23; Genesis 24:15, Genesis 24:24, Genesis 24:47.

2. The fourth daughter of Zelophehad. Numbers 26:33; Numbers 27:1; Numbers 36:11; Joshua 17:3.

Milcom

Mil’com (great king). [MOLECH.]

Mile

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

Mile’tus, Acts 20:15, Acts 20:17, 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.

Miletus.

Milk

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, Deuteronomy 32:14, of camels, Genesis 32:15, and of goats, Proverbs 27:27, was used; the latter appears to have been most highly prized.

Mill

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 through 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, Isaiah 47:2, “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. Deuteronomy 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.

Eastern Women Grinding at the Mill.

Millet

Millet, a kind of grain. A number of 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 the Panicum miliaceum were used, and the Hebrew dôchan may denote either of these plants.

Millet.

Millo

Mil’lo (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, 1 Kings 9:24; 1 Kings 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 Millo” was part of the “city of David,” that is, of Zion. Comp. 2 Kings 12:20.

Millo The house of

Mil’lo, The house of.

1. Apparently a family or clan, mentioned in Judges 9:6, Judges 9:20 only, in connection with the men or lords of Shechem.

2. The spot at which King Joash was murdered by his slaves. 2 Kings 12:20.

Mines Mining

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 Maghârah, “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 Psalm 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

Mini’amin (from the right hand).

1. A Levite in the reign of Hezekiah. 2 Chronicles 31:15.

2. The same as Miamin 2 and Mijamin 2. Nehemiah 12:17.

3. One of the priests at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem. Nehemiah 12:41.

Minister

Minister. This term is used in the DAV 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 attachıs of a royal court, 1 Kings 10:5; 2 Chronicles 22:8; comp. Psalm 104:4; (3) to the priests and Levites. Ezra 8:17; Nehemiah 10:36; Isaiah 61:6; Ezekiel 44:11; Joel 1:9, Joel 1:13. One term in the New Testament betokens a subordinate public administrator, Romans 13:6; Romans 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 inferior ministers. [DEACON.]

Minni

Min’ni (division), Jeremiah 51:27; already noticed as a portion of Armenia. [ARMENIA.]

Minnith

Min’nith (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

Minstrel. The Hebrew word in 2 Kings 3:15 properly signifies a player upon a stringed instrument like the harp or kinnor [HARP], whatever its precise character may have been, on which David played before Saul, 1 Samuel 16:16; 1 Samuel 18:10; 1 Samuel 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

Mint. This name occurs only in Matthew 23:23 and Luke 11:42, as one of those herbs and 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.

Mint.

Miphkad

Miph’kad (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

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 kind 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 national, 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 is 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 laws 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. 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

Mir’iam (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. Exodus 2:7. 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, Numbers 12:2, 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

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

Mirror

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 Corinthians 13:12.

Misgab

Mis’gab (height), a place in Moab. Jeremiah 48:1. It appears to be mentioned also in Isaiah 25:12, though there rendered in the DAV “high fort.”

Mishael

Mish’ael (who is what God is?).

1. 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, Leviticus 10:5.

2. One of those who stood at Ezra’s left hand when he read the law to the people. Nehemiah 8:4. [MESHACH.]

Mishal

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

Misham

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

Mishma

Mish’ma (a hearing).

1. A son of Ishmael and brother of Mibsam. Genesis 25:14; 1 Chronicles 1:30.

2. A son of Simeon, 1 Chronicles 4:25, brother of Mibsam.

Mishmannah

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

Mishraites The

Mish’raites, The, the fourth of the four “families of Kirjath-jearim,” i.e., colonies proceeding therefrom and founding towns. 1 Chronicles 2:53.

Mispereth

Mis’pereth, one of those who returned with Zerubbabel and Jeshua from Babylon. Nehemiah 7:7.

Misrephoth-maim

Mis’rephoth-ma’im (the flow 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

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. Mark 12:42, it may perhaps be inferred that the farthing was the commoner coin.

Mithcah

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

Mithnite The

Mith’nite, The, the designation of Joshaphat, one of David’s guard in the catalogue of 1 Chronicles 11:43.

Mithredath

Mith’redath (given by Mithra).

1. The treasurer of Cyrus king of Persia, to whom the king gave the vessels of the temple. Ezra 1:8.

2. A Persian officer stationed at Samaria. Ezra 4:7.

Mitre

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, Exodus 28:37, Exodus 28:39; Exodus 39:28, Exodus 39:30; Leviticus 8:9.

Mitre.

Mitylene

Mityle’ne (mutilated), the chief town of Lesbos, an island of the Ægean Sea, 7½ 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, Acts 20:15. 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

Mixed multitude. When the Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, the first stage of the exodus from Egypt, there went 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. Nehemiah 13:23-30) a slight clue is given by which the meaning of the “mixed multitude” may be more definitely ascertained.

Mizar

Mi’zar (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. Psalm 42:6. (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

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

1. 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 than 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.

2. A second Mizpeh, on the east on 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.

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—

4. 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 Cœle-Syria.

5. Mizpeh, a city of Judah, Joshua 15:38, in the district of the Shefelah or maritime lowland.

6. 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, 1 Samuel 7:16, 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 east, 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

Miz’par (number); properly Mispar, the same as MISPERETH. Ezra 2:2.

Mizpeh

Miz’peh. [MIZPAH.]

Mizra-im

Miz’ra-im, or Mizra’im (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. 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

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

Mnason

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

Moab

Mo’ab (of his father), Mo’abites. Moab was the son of 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, Deuteronomy 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 rnon, 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, Ruth 1:2, Ruth 1:6, 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.” Deuteronomy 1:5; Deuteronomy 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, 1 Samuel 22:4. 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. 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 amphitheatre, killed and burnt his child as a propitiatory sacrifice to the cruel gods of his country. Isaiah, chs. Isaiah 15, Isaiah 16, Isaiah 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 CHEMOSH; MOLECH; PEOR. See also Tristram’s “Land of Moab.” Present condition.—(Nöldeke 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.)

Mountains of Moab.

Moabite Stone The

Mo’abite 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 Phœnician 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.)

The Moabite Stone. (From a Photograph.)

Modin

Mo’din, 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 Maccabæan family, 1 Maccabees 13:25, and as a necessary consequence contained their ancestral sepulchre. ch. 1 Maccabees 2:70; 1 Maccabees 9:19; 1 Maccabees 13:25-30. At Modin the Maccabæan armies encamped on the eves of two of their most memorable victories—that of Judas over Antiochus Eupator, 2 Maccabees 13:14, and that of Simon over Cendebeus. 1 Maccabees 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. 1 Maccabees 16:5. The description of the monument 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 sites called Latrûn and Kubâb.

Mo-adiah

Mo-adi’ah. Nehemiah 12:17. Elsewhere (Nehemiah 12:5) called MAADIAH.

Moladah

Mol’adah (birth, race), a city of Judah, one of those which lay in the district of “the south.” Joshua 15:26; Joshua 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

Mole.

1. 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.

2. Chephôr pêrôth 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 Hasselquist says it is abundant on the plains of Sharon in Palestine.—Ed.)

Molech

Mo’lech (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 in 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

Mo’li. Mahli, the son of Merari. 1 Esdras 8:47; comp. Ezra 8:18.

Molid

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