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Table of
Contents Maacah
(oppression).
+ The mother of Absalom; also called [826]Maachah. (2 Samuel
3:3)
+ Maacah, or (in (1 Chronicles 19:6,7)) Maachah, a small
kingdom in close proximity to Palestine which appears to have
lain outside Argob, (3:14) and Bashun. (Joshua 12:5) The
Ammonite war was the only occasion on which the Maacathites
came into contact with Israel when their king assisted the
Ammonites against Joab with a force which he led himself. (2
Samuel 10:6,8; 1 Chronicles 19:7)
Maachah
(oppression).
+ The daughter of Nahor by his concubine Beumah. (Genesis
22:24)
+ The father of Achish who was king of Gath at the beginning of
Solomon's reign. (1 Kings 2:39)
+ The daughter, or more probably granddaughter, of Absalom
named after his mother; the third and favorite wife of
Rehoboam, and mother of Abijah. (1 Kings 15:22; 2 Chronicles
11:20-22) The mother of Abijah is elsewhere called "Michaiah
the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah." (2 Chronicles 13:2) During
the reign of her grandson Asa she occupied at the court of
Judah the high position of "king's mother," comp. (1 Kings
15:13) but when he came of age she was removed because of her
idolatrous habits. (2 Chronicles 15:16)
+ The concubine of Caleb the son of Hezron. (1 Chronicles 2:48)
+ The daughter of Talmai king of Geshur, and mother of Absalom
(1 Chronicles 3:2) also called Maacah in Authorized Version
of (2 Samuel 3:3)
+ The wife of Machir the Manassite. (1 Chronicles 7:15,16)
+ The wife of Jehiel, father or founder of Gibeon. (1
Chronicles 8:20; 9:35)
+ The father of Hanan, one of the heroes of David body-guard.
(2 Chronicles 11:43)
+ A Simeonite, father of Sephatiah, prince of his tribe in the
reign of David. (1 Chronicles 27:16)
Maachathi
(oppression) and Maach'athites, The, two words which denote the
inhabitants of the small kingdom of Maachah. (3:14; Joshua
12:5; 13:11,13); (2 Samuel 23:34; 2 Kings 25:23; Jeremiah 40:8)
Maadai, Or Maadai
(ornament of Jehovah), one of the sons of Kani, who had married
a foreign wife. (Ezra 10:34)
Maadiah
one of the priests who returned with Zerubbabel, (Nehemiah
12:5) elsewhere (ver. (Nehemiah 12:17)) called [827]Moadiah.
Maai
(compassionate), one of the Bene-Asaph who took part in the
solemn musical service by which the wall of Jerusalem was
dedicated. (Nehemiah 12:36)
Maalehacrabbim
(ascent of scorpions), the full form of the name given as
[828]Akrabbim in (Joshua 15:3) [[829]Akrabbim]
Maaseiah
(work of the Lord), the name of four persons who had married
foreign wives. In the time of Ezra,
+ A descendant of Jeshua the priest. (Ezra 10:18)
+ A priest, of the sons of Harim. (Ezra 10:21)
+ A priest, of the sons of Pashur. (Ezra 10:22)
+ One of the laymen, a descendant of Pahath-moab. (Ezra 10:30)
+ The father of Azariah. (Nehemiah 3:23)
+ One of those who stood on the right hand of Ezra when he read
the law to the people. (Nehemiah 8:4)
+ A Levite who assisted on the same occasion. (Nehemiah 8:7)
+ One of the heads of the people whose descendants signed the
covenant with Nehemiah. (Nehemiah 10:25)
+ Son of Baruch the descendant of Pharez the son of Judah,
(Nehemiah 11:5)
+ A Benjamite, ancestor of Sallu. (Nehemiah 11:7)
+ Two priests of this name are mentioned, (Nehemiah 12:41,42)
as taking part in the musical service which accompanied the
dedication of the wall of Jerusalem under Ezra. One of them
is probably the same as No. 6.
+ Father of Zephaniah, who was a priest in the reign of
Zedekiah. (Jeremiah 21:1; 29:25; 37:3)
+ Father of Zedekiah the false prophet. (Jeremiah 29:21)
+ One of the Levites of the second rank, appointed by David to
sound "with psaltries on Alamoth." (1 Chronicles 15:18,20)
+ The son of Adaiah, and one of the captains of hundreds in the
reign of Joash king of Judah. (2 Chronicles 23:1)
+ An officer of high rank in the reign of Uzziah. (2 Chronicles
26:11) He was probably a Levite, comp: (1 Chronicles 23:4)
and engaged in a semi-military capacity.
+ The "king's son," killed by Zichri the Ephraimitish hero in
the invasion of Judah by Pekah king of Israel, during the
reign of Ahaz. (2 Chronicles 28:7)
+ The governor of Jerusalem in the reign of Josiah. (2
Chronicles 34:8)
+ The son of Shallum, a Levite of high rank in the reign of
Jehoiakim. (Jeremiah 35:4) comp, 1Chr 9:19
+ A priest; ancestor of Baruch and Seraiah, the sons of Neriah.
(Jeremiah 32:12; 51:59)
Maasiai
(work of the Lord), a priest who after the return from Babylon
dwelt in Jerusalem. (1 Chronicles 9:12)
Maath
(small), son of Mattathias in the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
(Luke 3:26)
Maaziah
(consolation of Jehovah).
+ One of the priests who signed the covenant with Nehemiah.
(Nehemiah 10:8)
+ A priest in the reign of David, head of the twenty-fourth
course. (1 Chronicles 24:18)
Macaerus
a castle of the Herods on the southern border of their Perean
dominions, nine miles east of the northern end of the Dead Sea.
Here John the Baptist was imprisoned, and here was held the
feast where Herodias, at whose request John was beheaded,
danced before the king.
Maccabees
(a hammer), The. This title, which was originally the surname
of Judas, one of the sons of Mattathias, was afterward extended
to the heroic family of which he was one of the noblest
representatives. Asmonaeans or Hasmonaeans is the Proper name
of the family, which is derived from Cashmon, great grandfather
of Mattathias. The Maccabees were a family of Jews who resisted
the authority of Antiochus Epiphanes king of Syria and his
successors who had usurped authority over the Jews, conquered
Jerusalem, and strove to introduce idolatrous worship. The
standard of independence was first raised by Mattathias, a
priest of the course of Joiarih. He seems, however, to have
been already advanced in years when the rising was made, and he
did not long survive the fatigues of active service. He died
B.C. 166, having named Judas--apparently his third son--as his
successor in directing the war of independence. After gaining
several victories over the other generals of Antiochus, Judas
was able to occupy Jerusalem except the "tower," and purified
the temple exactly three years after its profanation. Nicanor
was defeated, first at Capharsalama, and again in a decisive
battle at Adasa B.C. 161, where he was slain. This victory was
the greatest of Judas' successes, and practically decided the
question of Jewish independence; but shortly after Judas fell
at Eleasa, fighting at desperate odds against the invaders.
After the death of Judas, Jonathan his brother succeeded to the
command, and later assumed the high-priestly office. He died
B.C. 144, and was succeeded by Simon the last remaining brother
of the Maccabaean family, who died B.C. 135. The efforts of
both brothers were crowned with success. On the death of Simon,
Johannes Hyrcanus, one of his sons, at once assumed the
government, B.C. 135, and met with a peaceful death B.C. 105.
His eldest son, Aristobulus I., who succeeded him B.C. 105-101,
was the first who assumed the kingly title, though Simon had
enjoyed the fullness of the kingly power. Alexander Jannaeus
was the next successor B.C. 104-78. Aristobulus II. and
Hyrcanus III. engaged in a civil war On the death of their
mother, Alexandra, B.C. 78-69, resulting in the dethronement of
Aristobulus II., B.C. 69-69, and the succession of Hyrcanus
under Roman rule but without his kingly title, B.C. 63-40. From
B.C. 40 to B.C. 37 Antigonus, a son of Aristobulus II., ruled,
and with his two grandchildren, Aristobulus and Mariurnne, the
Asmonaean dynasty ended.
Maccabees, Books Of
Four books which bear the common title of "Maccabees" are found
in some MSS. of the LXX. Two of these were included in the
early current Latin versions of the Bible, and thence passed
into the Vulgate. As forming part of the Vulgate they were
received as canonical by the Council of Trent, and retained
among the Apocrypha by the reformed churches. The two other
books obtained no such wide circulation and have only a
secondary connection with the Maccabaean history.
+ THE FIRST BOOK OF MACCABEES contains a history of the
patriotic struggle of the Jews in resisting the oppressions
of the Syrian kings, from the first resistance of Mattathias
to the settled sovereignty and death of Simon, a period of
thirty-three years--B.C. 168-135. The great subject of the
book begins with the enumeration of the Maccabaean family,
ch, 2:1-5, which is followed by an account of the part which
the aged Mattathias took in rousing and guiding the spirit of
his countrymen. ch. 2:6-70. The remainder of the narrative is
occupied with the exploits of Mattathias' five sons. The
great marks of trustworthiness are everywhere conspicuous.
Victory and failure end despondency are, on the whole,
chronicled with the same candor. There is no attempt to bring
into open display the working of Providence. The testimony of
antiquity leaves no doubt that the book was first written in
Hebrew. Its whole structure points to Palestine as the place
of its composition. There is, however, considerable doubt as
to its date. Perhaps we may place it between B.C. 120-100.
The date and person of the Greek translator are wholly
undetermined.
+ THE SECOND BOOK OF MACCABEES.--The history of the second book
of Maccabees begins some years earlier than that of the first
book. and closes with the victory of Judas Maccabaeus over
Nicanor. It thus embraces a period of twenty years, from B.C.
180 to B.C. 161. The writer himself distinctly indicates the
source of his narrative--the five books of Jason of Cyrene,
ch. 2:23, of which he designed to furnish a short and
agreeable epitome for the benefit of those who would be
deterred from studying the larger work. Of Jason himself
nothing more is known than may be gleaned from this mention
of him. The second book of Maccabcees is not nearly so
trustworthy as the first. In the second book the groundwork
of facts is true, but the dress in which the facts are
presented is due in part at least to the narrator. The latter
half of the book, chs. 8-15, is to be regarded as a series of
special incidents from the life of Judas, illustrating the
providential interference of God in behalf of his people,
true in substance, but embellished in form.
+ THE THIRD BOOK OF MACCABEES contains the history of events
which preceded the great Maccabaean struggle beginning with
B.C. 217.
+ THE FOURTH BOOK OF MACCABEES contains a rhetorical narrative
of the martyrdom of Eleazar and of the "Maccabaean family,"
following in the main the same outline as 2 Macc.
Macedonia
(extended land), a large and celebrated country lying north of
Greece, the first part of Europe which received the gospel
directly from St. Paul, and an important scene of his
subsequent missionary labors and those of his companions. It
was bounded by the range of Haemus or the Balkan northward, by
the chain of Pindus westward, by the Cambunian hills southward,
by which it is separated from Thessaly, an is divided on the
east from Thrace by a less definite mountain boundary running
southward from Haemus. Of the space thus enclosed, two of the
most remarkable physical features are two great plains, one
watered by the Axius, which comes to the sea, at the Thermaic
Gulf, not far from Thessalonica; the other by the Strymon,
which after passing near Philippi, flows out below Amphipolis.
Between the mouths of these two rivers a remarkable peninsula
projects, dividing itself into three points, on the farthest of
which Mount Athos rises nearly into the region of perpetual
snow. Across the neck of this peninsula St. Paul travelled more
than once with his companions. This general sketch sufficiently
describes the Macedonia which was ruled over by Philip and
Alexander and which the Romans conquered from Perseas. At first
the conquered country was divided by Aemilius Paulus into four
districts, but afterward was made one province and centralized
under the jurisdiction of a proconsul, who resided at
Thessalonica. The character of the Christians of Macedonia is
set before us in Scripture in a very favorable light. The
candor of the Bereans is highly commented, (Acts 17:11) the
Thessalonians were evidently objects of St. Paul's peculiar
affection, (1 Thessalonians 2:8,17-20; 3:10) and the
Philippians, besides their general freedom from blame, are
noted as remarkable for their liberality and self-denial.
(Philemon 4:10; 14-19) see 2Cor 9:2; 11:9
Machbanai
(bond of the Lord), one of the lion-faced warriors of Gad, who
joined the fortunes of David when living in retreat at Ziklag.
(1 Chronicles 12:13)
Machbenah
(bond). Sheva, the father of Machbena, is named in the
genealogical list of Judah as the offspring of Manchah, the
concubine of Caleb ben-Hezron. (1 Chronicles 2:49)
Machi
(decrease), the father of Geuel the Gadite, who went with Caleb
and Joshua to spy out the land of Canaan. (Numbers 13:15)
Machir
(sold).
+ The eldest son, (Joshua 17:1) of the patriarch Manasseh by an
Aramite or Syrian concubine. (1 Chronicles 7:14) At the time
of the conquest the family of Machir had become very
powerful, and a large part of the country on the east of
Jordan was subdued by them. (Numbers 32:39; 3:15)
+ The son of Ammiel, a powerful sheikh of one of the
transjordanic tribes, who rendered essential service to the
cause of Saul and of David successively. (2 Samuel 9:4,5;
17:27-29)
Machirites, The
the descendants of Machir the father of Gilead. (Numbers 26:29)
Machnadebai
(what is like the liberal?), one of the sons of Bani who put
away his foreign wife at Ezra's command. (Ezra 10:40)
Machpelah
(double, or a portion). [[830]Hebron]
Madai
(middle land), (Genesis 10:2) is usually called the third son
of Japhet, and the progenitor of the Medes; but probably all
that is intended is that the Medes, as well as the Gomerites,
Greeks, Tabareni, Moschi, etc., descended from Japhet.
Madian
(Acts 7:29) [[831]Midian]
Madmannah
(dunghill), one of the towns in the south district of Judah.
(Joshua 15:31) In the time of Eusebius and Jerome it was called
Menois, and was not far from Gaza. The first stage southward
from Gaza is now el-Minyay, which is perhaps the modern
representative of Menois, and therefore of Madmannah.
Madmen
(dunghill), a place in Moab, threatened with destruction in the
pronunciations of Jeremiah. (Jeremiah 48:2)
Madmenah
(dunghill), one of the, Benjamite villages north of Jerusalem
the inhabitants of which were frightened away by the approach
of Sennacherib along the northern road. (Isaiah 10:31)
Madness
In Scripture "madness" is recognized as a derangement
proceeding either from weakness and misdirection of intellect
or from ungovernable violence of passion. In one passage alone,
(John 10:20) is madness expressly connected with demoniacal
possession by the Jews in their cavil against our Lord; in none
is it referred to any physical causes.
Madon
(strife) one of the principal cities of Canaan before the
conquest, probably in the north. Its king joined Jabin and his
confederates in their attempt against Joshua at the waters of
Xierom, and like the rest was killed. (Joshua 11:1; 12:19)
Magadan
(a tower). (The name given in the Revised Version of (Matthew
15:39) for Magdala. It is probably another name for the same
place, or it was a village so near it that the shore where
Christ landed may have belonged to either village.--ED.)
Magbish
(congregating), a proper name in (Ezra 2:30) but whether of a
man or of a place is doubtful; probably the latter, as all the
names from (Ezra 2:20) to 34, except Elam and Harim, are names
of places.
Magdala
(a tower). The chief MSS. and versions exhibit the name as
[832]Magadan, as in the Revised Version. Into the limits of
Magadan Christ came by boat, over the Lake of Gennesareth after
his miracle of feeding the four thousand on the Mountain of the
eastern side, (Matthew 15:39) and from thence he returned in
the same boat to the opposite shore. In the parallel narrative
of St. Mark, ch. (Mark 8:10) we find the "parts of Dalmanutha,"
on the western edge of the Lake of Gennesareth. The Magdala,
which conferred her name on "Mary the Magdalene one of the
numerous migdols, i.e. towers, which stood in Palestine, was
probably the place of that name which is mentioned in the
Jerusalem Talmud as near Tiberias, and this again is as
probably the modern el-Mejdel, a miserable little Muslim
village, of twenty huts on the water's edge at the southeast
corner of the plain of Gennesareth. It is now the only
inhabited place on this plain.
Magdiel
(prince of God), one of the "dukes" of Edom, descended from
Esau. (Genesis 36:43; 1 Chronicles 1:54)
Magi
(Authorized Version wise men).
+ In the Hebrew text of the Old Testament the word occurs but
twice, and then only incidentally. (Jeremiah 29:3,13)
"Originally they were a class of priests among the Persians
and Medes who formed the king's privy council, and cultivated
as trology, medicine and occult natural science. They are
frequently referred to by ancient authors. Afterward the term
was applied to all eastern philosophers."--Schaff's Popular
Commentary. They appear in Herodotus' history of Astyages as
interpreters of dreams, i. 120; but as they appear in
Jeremiah among the retinue of the Chaldean king, we must
suppose Nebuchadnezzar's conquests led him to gather round
him the wise men and religious teachers of the nations which
he subdued, and that thus the sacred tribe of the Medes rose
under his rule to favor and power. The Magi took their places
among "the astrologers and star gazers and monthly
prognosticators." It is with such men that, we have to think
of Daniel and his fellow exiles as associated. The office
which Daniel accepted (Daniel 5:11) was probably
rab-mag--chief of the Magi.
+ The word presented itself to the Greeks as connected with a
foreign system of divination and it soon became a byword for
the worst form of imposture. This is the predominant meaning
of the word as it appears in the New Testament. (Acts 8:9;
13:8)
+ In one memorable instance, however, the word retains its
better meaning. In the Gospel of St. Matthew, ch. (Matthew
2:1-12) the Magi appear as "wise men"--properly Magians--who
were guided by a star from "the east" to Jerusalem, where
they suddenly appeared in the days of Herod the Great,
inquiring for the new-born king of the Jews, whom they had
come to worship. As to the country from which they came,
opinions vary greatly; but their following the guidance of a
star seems to point to the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates,
where astronomy was Cultivated by the Chaldeans. [See
[833]Star Of The Wise Men OF THE [834]East] (Why should the
new star lead these wise men to look for a king of the Jews?
(1) These wise men from Persia were the most like the Jews,
in religion, of all nations in the world. They believed in
one God, they had no idols, they worshipped light as the best
symbol of God. (2) The general expectation of such a king.
"The Magi," says) Ellicott, "express the feeling which the
Roman historians Tacitus and Suetonius tell us sixty or
seventy years later had been for a long time very widely
diffused. Everywhere throughout the East men were looking for
the advent of a great king who was to rise from among the
Jews. It had fermented in the minds of men, heathen as well
as Jews, and would have led them to welcome Jesus as the
Christ had he come in accordance with their expectation."
Virgil, who lived a little before this, owns that a child
from heaven was looked for, who should restore the golden age
and take away sin. (3) This expectation arose largely from
the dispersion of the Jews among all nations, carrying with
them the hope and the promise of a divine Redeemer. Isai 9,
11; Dani 7 (4) Daniel himself was a prince and chief among
this very class of wise men. His prophecies: were made known
to them; and the calculations by which he pointed to the very
time when Christ should be born became, through the book of
Daniel, a part of their ancient literature.--ED.) According
to a late tradition, the Magi are represented as three kings,
named Gaspar, Melchior and Belthazar, who take their place
among the objects of Christian reverence, and are honored as
the patron saints of travellers.
Magic, Magicians
Magic is "the science or practice of evoking spirits, or
educing the occult powers of nature to produce effects
apparently supernatural." It formed an essential element in
many ancient religions, especially among the Persians,
Chaldeans and Egyptians. The Hebrews had no magic of their own.
It was so strictly forbidden by the law that it could never
afterward have had any: recognized existence, save in times of
general heresy or apostasy and the same was doubtless the case
in the patriarchal ages. The magical practices which obtained
among the Hebrews were therefore borrowed from the nations
around. From the first entrance into the land of promise until
the destruction of Jerusalem we have constant glimpses of magic
practiced in secret, or resorted to not alone by the common but
also as the great. It is a distinctive characteristic of the
Bible that from first to last it warrants no such trust or
dread. Laban attached great value to, and was in the habit of
consulting, images. (Genesis 31:30,32) During the plagues in
Egypt the magicians appear. (Exodus 7:11; 8:18,19) Balaam also
practiced magic. (Numbers 22:7) Saul consulted the witch of
Endor. An examination of the various notices of magic in the
Bible gives this general result: They do not, act far as can be
understood, once state positively that any but illusive results
were produced by magical rites. (Even the magicians of Egypt
could imitate the plagues sent through Moses only so long as
they had previous notice and time to prepare. The time Moses
sent the plague unannounced the magicians failed; they "did so
with their enchantments," but in vain. So in the case of the
witch of Endor. Samuel appearance was apparently unexpected by
her; he did not come through the enchantments.--Ed.) The
Scriptures therefore afford no evidence that man can gain
supernatural powers to use at his will. This consequence goes
some way toward showing that we may conclude that there is no
such thing se real magic; for although it is dangerous to
reason on negative evidence, yet in a case of this kind it is
especially strong. [[835]Divination]
Magog
(region of Gog). In (Genesis 10:2) Magog appears as the second
son of Japheth; in (Ezekiel 38:2; 39:1,6) it appears as a
country or people of which Gog was the prince. The notices of
Magog would lead us to fix a northern locality: it is expressly
stated by Ezekiel that "he was to come up from the sides of the
north," (Ezekiel 39:2) from a country adjacent to that of
Togarmah or Armenia, ch. 58:6 and not far from "the isles" or
maritime regions of Europe. ch. (Ezekiel 39:6) The people of
Magog further appear as having a force of cavalry, (Ezekiel
38:16) and as armed with the bow. ch. (Ezekiel 39:3) From the
above data, may conclude that Magog represents the important
race of the Scythians.
Magormissabib
(terror on every side), the name giver. by Jeremiah to Pashur
the priest when he smote him and put him in the stocks for
prophesying against the idolatry of Jerusalem. (Jeremiah 20:3)
Magpiash
(moth-killer) one of the heads of the people who signed the
covenant with Nehemiah. (Nehemiah 10:20) The same as
[836]Magbish in (Ezra 2:30)
Mahalah
(disease), one of the three children of Hammoleketh the sister
of Gilead. (1 Chronicles 7:18)
Mahalaleel
(praise of God).
+ The fourth in descent from Adam, according to the Sethite
genealogy, and son of Cainan. (Genesis 6:12,13,15-17; 1
Chronicles 1:2; Luke 3:37) Revised Version.
+ A descendant of Perez or Pharez the son of Judah. (Nehemiah
11:4)
Mahalath
the title of p, 53, and Mahalath-leannoth, the title of Ps. 88.
The meaning of these words is uncertain. The conjecture is that
mahalath is a guitar, and that leannoth has reference to the
character of the psalm, and might be rendered "to humble or
afflict," in which sense the root occurs in ver. 7.
(stringed instrument) one of the eighteen wives of King
Rehoboam, apparently his first. (2 Chronicles 11:18) only. She
was her husband's cousin, being the daughter of King David's
son Jerimoth.
(stringed instrument), the daughter of Ishmael, and one of the
wives of Esau. (Genesis 28:9)
Mahali
(sick), Mah'li, the son of Merari. (Exodus 6:19)
Mahanaim
a town on the east of the Jordan. The name signifies two hosts
or two camps,and was given to it by Jacob, because he there met
"the angels of God." (Genesis 32:1,2) We next meet with it in
the records of the conquest. (Joshua 13:26,30) It was within
the territory of Gad, (Joshua 21:38,39) and therefore on the
south side of the torrent Jabbok. The town with its "suburbs"
was allotted to the service of the Merarite Levites. (Joshua
21:39; 1 Chronicles 6:80) Mahanaim had become in the time of
the monarchy a place of mark. (2 Samuel 2:8,12) David took
refuge there when driven out of the western part of his kingdom
by Absalom. (2 Samuel 17:24; 1 Kings 2:8) Mahanaim was the seat
of one of Solomon's commissariat officers. (1 Kings 4:14) and
it is alluded to in the song which bears his name. ch. (Song of
Solomon 6:13) There is a place called Mahneh among the villages
of the part of Jordan, through its exact position is not
certain.
Mahanehdan
(camp of Dan), spoken of as "behind Kirjath-jearim," (Judges
18:12) and as between Zorah and Eshtaol." ch. (Judges 13:25)
Maharai
(impetuous), (2 Samuel 23:28; 1 Chronicles 11:30; 27:13) an
inhabitant of Netophah in the tribe of Judah, and one of
David's captains.
Mahath
(grabbing).
+ A Zohathite of the house of Korah. (1 Chronicles 6:35)
+ Also a Kohathite, in the reign of Hezekiah. (2 Chronicles
29:12; 31:13)
Mahavite, The
the designation of Eliel, one of the warriors of King David's
guard, whose name is preserved in the catalogue of (1
Chronicles 11:46) only.
Mahazioth
(visions). One of the fourteen sons of Heman the Kohathite. (1
Chronicles 25:4,30)
Mahershalalhashbaz
(i.e. hasten-booty speedspoil), whose name was given by divine
direction to indicate that Damascus and Samaria were soon to be
plundered by the king of Assyria. (Jeremiah 8:14)
Mahlah
(disease), the eldest of the five daughters of Zelophehad the
grandson of Manasseh. (Numbers 27:1-11)
Mahli
(sick).
+ Son of Merari, the son of Levi and ancestor of the family of
the Mahlites. (Numbers 3:20; 1 Chronicles 6:19,29; 24:26)
+ Bon of Mushi and grandson of Merari. (1 Chronicles 6:47;
23:23; 24:30)
Mahlon
(sick) the first husband of Ruth; son of Eiimelech and Naomi.
(Ruth 1:2,5; 4:9,10) comp. 1Sam 17:12
Mahol
(dancing), the father of the four men most famous for wisdom
next to Solomon himself. (1 Kings 4:31; 1 Chronicles 2:6)
Makaz
(end), a place, apparently a town, named once only-- (1 Kings
4:9)--in the: specification of the jurisdiction of Solomon a
commissariat officer, Ben-Dekar. Makaz has not been discovered.
Makheloth
(place of assemblies), a place mentioned only in (Numbers
33:26) as that of a desert encampment of the Israelites.
Makkedah
(place of shepherds), a place memorable in the annals of the
conquest of Canaan as the scene of the execution by Joshua of
the five confederate kings, (Joshua 10:10-50) who had hidden
themselves in a cave at this place. (It was a royal city of the
Canaanites, in the plains of Judah. Conder identifies it with
the modern el-Moghar, 25 miles northwest of Jerusalem, where
are two caves large enough to contain five men each. Schaff
says that "one cave has, curiously enough, five loculi rudely
scooped in its side, and an enthusiast might contend that this
was the very place of sepulchre of the five kings."-ED.)
Maktesh
(a mortar or deep hollow), a place evidently in Jerusalem, the
inhabitants of which are denounced by Zephaniah. (Zephaniah
1:11) Ewald conjectures that it was the Phoenician quarter" of
the city.
Malchishua
(king of help), one of the sons of King Saul. (1 Samuel 14:49;
31:2; 1 Chronicles 8:33; 9:39)
Malchus
(king or kingdom), the name of the servant of the high priest
whose right ear Peter cut off at the time of the Saviour's
apprehension in the garden. (Matthew 26:51; Mark 14:17; Luke
22:49,51; John 18:10)
Maleleel, Or Mahalaleel
the son of Cainan. (Genesis 5:12) marg.; Luke 3:37
Mallothi
(my fullness), a Kohathite, one of the fourteen sons of Heman
the singer. (1 Chronicles 25:4,26)
Mallows
(Job 30:4)
Malluch
(counsellor).
+ A Levite of the family of Merari, and ancestor of Ethan the
singer (1 Chronicles 6:44)
+ One of the sons of Bani. (Ezra 10:29) and
+ One of the descendants of Harim, (Ezra 10:32) who had married
foreign wives.
+ A priest or family of priests. (Nehemiah 10:4) and
+ One of the heads of the people who signed the covenant with
Nehemiah. (Nehemiah 10:27)
+ One of the families of priests who returned with Zerubbabel,
(Nehemiah 12:2) probably the same as No. 4.
Mamaias
apparently the same with [837]Shemaiah in (Ezra 8:16)
Mammon
(riches) (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:9) a word which often occurs in
the Chaldee Terguma of Onkelos and later writers, and in the
Syriac version, and which signifies "riches." It is used in St.
Matthew as a personification of riches.
Mamre
(strength, fatness) an ancient Amorite, who with his brothers,
Eshcol and Aner, was in alliance with Abram, (Genesis 14:13,51)
and under the shade of whose oak grove the patriarch dwelt in
the interval between his residence at Bethel and at Beersheba.
ch. (Genesis 13:18; 18:1) In the subsequent chapters Mamre is a
mere local appellation. ch, (Genesis 23:17,19; 25:9; 49:30;
50:13)
Man
Four Hebrew terms are rendered "man" in the Authorized Version:
+ Adam, the name of the man created in the image of God. It
appears to be derived from adam, "he or it was red or ruddy,"
like Edom. This was the generic term for the human race.
+ Ish, "man," as distinguished from woman, husband.
+ Geber, "a man," from gabar, "to be strong," generally with
reference to his strength.
+ Methim, "men," always masculine. Perhaps it may be derived
from the root muth, "he died."
Manaen
(comforter) is mentioned in (Acts 13:1) as one of the teachers
and prophets in the church at Antioch at the time of the
appointment of Saul and Barnabas as missionaries to the
heathen. He is said to have been brought up with Herod Antipas.
He was probably his foster-brother.
Manahath
(rest) one of the sons of Shobal, and descendant of Seir the
Horite. (Genesis 36:23; 1 Chronicles 1:40)
(rest), a place named in (1 Chronicles 8:6) only in connection
with the genealogies of the tribe of Benjamin.
Manahetbites
(inhabitants of Mannahath), The. "Half the Manahethites" are
named in the genealogies of Judah as descended from Shobal, the
father of Kirjath-jearim (1 Chronicles 2:52) and half from
Salma, the founder of Bethlehem. ver. 54.
Manasseh
(forgetting).
+ The thirteenth king of Judah, son of Hezekiah, (2 Kings 21:1)
ascended the throne at the age of twelve, and reigned 55
years, from B.C. 608 to 642. His accession was the signal for
an entire change in the religious administration of the
kingdom. Idolatry was again established to such an extent
that every faith was tolerated but the old faith of Israel.
The Babylonian alliance which the king formed against Assyria
resulted in his being made prisoner and carried off to
Babylon in the twenty-second year of his reign, according to
a Jewish tradition. There his eyes were opened and he
repented, and his prayer was heard and the Lord delivered
him, (2 Chronicles 33:12,13) and he returned after some
uncertain interval of time to Jerusalem. The altar of the
Lord was again restored, and peace offerings and thank
offerings were sacrificed to Jehovah. (2 Chronicles 38:15,16)
But beyond this the reformation did not go. On his death,
B.C. 642, he was buried as Ahaz had been, not with the burial
of a king, in the sepulchres of the house of David, but in
the garden of Uzza, (2 Kings 21:26) and long afterward, in
suite of his repentance, the Jews held his name in
abhorrence.
+ One of the descendants of Pahathmoab, who in the days of Ezra
had married a foreign wife. (Ezra 10:30)
+ One of the laymen, of the family of Hashum who put away his
foreign wife at Ezra command. (Ezra 10:33)
(forgetting), the eldest son of Joseph, (Genesis 41:51; 46:20)
born 1715-10 B.C. Both he and Ephraim were born before the
commencement of the famine. He was placed after his younger
brother, Ephraim, by his grandfather Jacob, when he adopted
them into his own family, and made them heads of tribes.
Whether the elder of the two sons was inferior in form or
promise to the younger, or whether there was any external
reason to justify the preference of Jacob, we are not told. In
the division of the promised land half of the tribe of Manasseh
settled east of the Jordan in the district embracing the hills
of Gilead with their inaccessible heights and impassable
ravines, and the almost impregnable tract of Argob. (Joshua
13:29-33) Here they throve exceedingly, pushing their way
northward over the rich plains of Jaulan and Jedur to the foot
of Mount Hermon. (1 Chronicles 5:23) But they gradually
assimilated themselves with the old inhabitants of the country,
and on them descended the punishment which was ordained to he
the inevitable consequence of such misdoing. They, first of all
Israel, were carried away by Pul and Tiglath-pileser, and
settled in the Assyrian territories. (1 Chronicles 5:25,26) The
other half tribe settled to the west of the Jordan, north of
Ephraim. (Joshua 17:1) ... For further particulars see
[838]Ephraim, [839]Ephraim.
Manasses
+ Manasseh, king of Judah. (Matthew 1:10)
+ Manasseh the son of Joseph. (Revelation 7:6)
Manassites, The
that is, the members of the tribe of Manasseh. (4:43; Judges
12:4; 2 Kings 10:33)
Mandrakes
(Heb. dudraim) are mentioned in (Genesis 30:14,16) and in Song
7:13 The mandrake, Atropa mandragora, is closely allied to the
well-known deadly nightshade, A. bellndonna, and to the tomato,
and belongs to the order Solanaceae, or potato family. It grows
in Palestine and Mesopotamia. (It grows low, like lettuce,
which its leaves somewhat resemble, except that they are of a
dark green. The flowers are purple,and the root is usually
forked. Its fruit when ripe (early in May) is about the size of
a small apple, 24 inches in diameter, ruddy or yellow and of a
most agreeable odor (to Orientals more than to Europeans) and
an equally agreeable taste. The Arabs call it "devil's apple,"
from its power to excite voluptuousness. Dr. Richardson
("Lectures on Alcohol," 1881) tried some experiments with wine
made of the root of mandrake, and found it narcotic, causing
sleep, so that the ancients used it as an anaesthetic. Used in
small quantities like opium, it excites the nerves, and is a
stimulant.--ED.)
Maneh
(a portion (by weight)). [[840]Weights And Measures AND
[841]Measures]
Manger
This word occurs only in (Luke 2:7,12,16) in connection with
the birth of Christ. It means a crib or feeding trough; but
according to Schleusner its real signification in the New
Testament is the open court-yard attached to the inn or khan,
in which the cattle would be shut at night, and where the
poorer travellers might unpack their animals and take up their
lodging, when they mere either by want of means excluded from
the house.
Manna
(what is this?) (Heb. man). The most important passages of the
Old Testament on this topic are the following: (Exodus
16:14-36; Numbers 11:7-9; 11:5,16; Joshua 5:12; Psalms 78:24;
25) From these passages we learn that the manna came every
morning except the Sabbath, in the form of a small round seed
resembling the hear frost that it must be gathered early,
before the sun became so hot as to melt it; that it must be
gathered every day except the Sabbath; that the attempt to lay
aside for a succeeding day, except on the clay immediately
preceding the Sabbath, failed by the substance becoming wormy
and offensive; that it was prepared for food by grinding and
baking; that its taste was like fresh oil, and like wafers made
with honey, equally agreeable to all palates; that the whole
nation, of at least 2,000,000, subsisted upon it for forty
years; that it suddenly ceased when they first got the new corn
of the land of Canaan; and that it was always regarded as a
miraculous gift directly from God, and not as a product of
nature. The natural products of the Arabian deserts and other
Oriental regions which bear the name of manna have not the
qualities or uses ascribed to the manna of Scripture. The
latter substance was undoubtedly wholly miraculous, and not in
any respect a product of nature, though its name may have come
from its resemblance to the natural manna The substance now
called manna in the Arabian desert through which the Israelites
passed is collected in the month of June from the tarfa or
tamarisk shrub (Tamarix gallica). According to Burckhardt it
drops from the thorns on the sticks and leaves with which the
ground is covered, and must be gathered early in the day or it
will be melted by the sun. The Arabs cleanse and boil it,
strain it through a cloth and put it in leathern bottles; and
in this way it can be kept uninjured for several years. They
use it like honey or butter with their unleavened bread, but
never make it into cakes or eat it by itself. The whole
harvest, which amounts to only five or six hundred pounds, is
consumed by the Bedouins, "who," says Schaff consider it the
greatest dainty their country affords." The manna of European
commerce conies mostly from Calabria and Sicily. It's gathered
during the months of June and July from some species of ash
(Ornus europaea and O. rotundifolia), from which it drops in
consequence of a puncture by an insect resembling the locust,
but distinguished from it by having a sting under its body. The
substance is fluid at night and resembles the dew but in the
morning it begins to harden.
Manoah
(rest), the father of Samson; a Danite, native of the town of
Zorah. (Judges 13:2) (B.C. 1161) [[842]Samson]
Manslayer
one who kills another unintentionally, and is thus
distinguished from a murderer, who kills with malice
aforethought. The cases of manslaughter mentioned in Scripture
appear to be a sufficient indication of the intention of the
lawgiver.
+ Death by a blow in a sudden quarrel. (Numbers 35:22)
+ Death by a stone or missile thrown at random. Ibid. (Numbers
35:22,23)
+ By the blade of an axe flying from its handle. (19:5) In all
these and the like cases the manslayer was allowed to retire
to a city of refuge. A thief overtaken at night in the act of
stealing might lawfully be put to death, but if the sun had
risen the killing him was to be regarded as murder. (Exodus
22:2,8)
Mantle
the word employed in the Authorized Version to translate no
less than four Hebrew terms, entirely distinct and independent
in both derivation and meaning.
+ (Judges 4:18) the garment with which Jael covered Sisera.
+ Rendered "mantle" in (1 Samuel 15:27; 28:14; Ezra 9:3,5) etc.
This word is in other passages of the Authorized Version
rendered "coat," "cloak" and "robe."
+ (Isaiah 3:22) only. Apparently some article of a lady's
dress.
+ (1 Kings 19:13,19; 2 Kings 2:8,13,14) The sole garment of the
prophet Elijah. It was probably of sheepskin, such as is worn
by the modern dervishes.
Maoch
(oppression) the father of Achish king of Gath, with whom David
took refuge. (1 Samuel 27:2)
Maon
(habitation), one of the cities of the tribe of Judah, in the
district of the mountains. (Joshua 15:55) Its interest for us
lies in its connection with David. (1 Samuel 23:24,25) The name
of Maon still exists in Main, a lofty conical hill, south of
and about seven miles distant from Hebron.
Maonites, The
a people mentioned in one of the addresses of Jehovah to the
repentant Israelites, (Judges 10:12) elsewhere in the
Authorized Version called Mehunim.
Mara
(sad, bitter), the name which Naomi adopted in the exclamation
forced from her by the recognition of her fellow citizens at
Bethlehem. (Ruth 1:20)
Marah
(bitterness), a place which lay in the wilderness of Shur or
Etham, three days journey distant, (Exodus 15:23; Numbers 33:8)
from the place at which the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, and
where was a spring of bitter water, sweetened subsequently by
the casting in of a tree which "the Lord showed" to Moses.
Howarah, distant 16 1/2 hours (47 miles) from Ayoun Mousa, the
Israelites' first encampment, has been by many identified with
it, apparently because it is the bitterest water in the
neighborhood.
Maralah
(trembling) one of the land marks on the boundary of the tribe
of Zebulun. (Joshua 19:11)
Maranatha
an Aramaic or Syriac expression used by St. Paul at the
conclusion of his first Epistle to the Corinthians, ch. (1
Corinthians 16:22) signifying "our Lord cometh."
Marble
The Hebrew shesh, the generic term for marble, may probably be
taken to mean almost any shining stone. The so-called marble of
Solomon's architectural works may thus have been limestone.
There can be no doubt that Herod both in the temple and
elsewhere employed Parian or other marble. The marble pillars
and tesserae of various colors of the palace at Susa came
doubtless from Persia. (Esther 1:8)
Marcheshvan
[[843]Month]
Marcus
the evangelist Mark. (Colossians 4:10); Phle 1:24; 1Pet 5:13
[[844]Mark]
Mareshah, Or Mareshah
(crest of a hill), one of the cities of Judah in the low
country. (Joshua 15:44) It was one of the cities fortified and
garrisoned by Rehoboam after the rupture with the northern
kingdom. (2 Chronicles 11:8) Near it was fought the great
battle between Asa and Zerah. (2 Chronicles 14:9-12) It is
mentioned once or twice in the history of the Maccabaean war of
independence. 2 Macc. 12:35. About 110 B.C. it was taken from
the Idumaeans by John Hyrcanus. It was in ruins in the fourth
century, when Eusebius and Jerome describe it as in the second
mile from Eleutheropolis. South-southwest of Beitjibrin--in all
probability Eleutheropolis-and it little over a Roman mile
therefrom is a site called Marash, which is possibly the
representative of the ancient Mareshah.
Mark
one of the evangelists, and probable author of the Gospel
bearing his name. (Marcus was his Latin surname. His Jewish
name was John, which is the same as Johanan (the grace of God).
We can almost trace the steps whereby the former became his
prevalent name in the Church. "John, whose surname was Mark" in
(Acts 12:12,25; 15:37) becomes "John" alone in (Acts 13:5,13)
"Mark" in (Acts 15:39) and thenceforward there is no change.
(Colossians 4:10); Phlm 1:24; 2Tim 4:11 The evangelist was the
son of a certain Mary, a Jewish matron of some position who
dwelt in Jerusalem, (Acts 12:12) and was probably born of a
Hellenistic family in that city. Of his father we know nothing;
but we do know that the future evangelist was cousin of
Barnabas of Cyprus, the great friend of St. Paul. His mother
would seem to have been intimately acquainted with St. Peter,
and it was to her house, as to a familiar home, that the
apostle repaired, A.D. 44, after his deliverance from prison
(Acts 12:12) This fact accounts for St. Mark's intimate
acquaintance with that apostle, to whom also he probably owed
his conversion, for St. Peter calls him his son. (1 Peter 5:13)
We hear Of him for the first time in Acts 15:25 where we find
him accompanying and Barnabas on their return from Jerusalem to
Antioch, A.D. 45. He next comes before us on the occasion of
the earliest missionary journey of the same apostles, A.D. 48,
when he joined them as their "minister." (Acts 13:8) With them
he visited Cyprus; but at Perga in Pamphylia, (Acts 13:13) when
they were about to enter upon the more arduous part of their
mission, he left them, and, for some unexplained reason,
returned to Jerusalem to his mother and his home.
Notwithstanding this, we find him at Paul's side during that
apostle's first imprisonment at Rome, A.D. 61-63, and he Is
acknowledged by him as one of his few fellow laborers who had
been a "comfort" to him during the weary hours of his
imprisonment. (Colossians 4:10,11); Phle 1:24 We next have
traces of him in (1 Peter 5:13) "The church that is in Babylon
... saluteth you, and so doth Marcus my son." From this we
infer that he joined his spiritual father, the great friend of
his mother, at Babylon, then and for same hundred years
afterward one of the chief seats of Jewish culture. From
Babylon he would seem to have returned to Asia Minor; for
during his second imprisonment A.D. 68 St. Paul, writing to
Timothy charges him to bring Mark with him to me, on the ground
that he was "profitable to him For the ministry." (2 Timothy
4:11) From this point we gain no further information from the
New Testament respecting the evangelist. It is most probable,
however that he did join the apostle at Rome whither also St.
Peter would seem to have proceeded, and suffered martyrdom with
St. Paul. After the death of these two great pillars of the
Church; ecclesiastical tradition affirms that St. Mark visited
Egypt, founded the church of Alexandria, and died by
martyrdom.--Condensed from Cambridge Bible for Schools.--ED.)
Mark, Gospel Of
+ By whom written.--The author of this Gospel has been
universally believed to be Mark or Marcus, designated in
(Acts 12:12,25; 15:37) as John Mark, and in ch. 5,13 as John.
+ When is was written.--Upon this point nothing absolutely
certain can be affirmed, and the Gospel itself affords us no
information. The most direct testimony is that of Irenaeus,
who says it was after the death of the apostles Peter and
Paul. We may conclude, therefore, that this Gospel was not
written before A.D. 63. Again we may as certainly conclude
that it was not written after the destruction of Jerusalem,
for it is not likely that he would have omitted to record so
remarkable a fulfillment of our Lord's predictions. Hence
A.D. 63-70 becomes our limit, but nearer than this we cannot
go.--Farrar.
+ Where it was written .--As to the place, the weight of
testimony is uniformly in favor of the belief that the Gospel
was written and published at Rome. In this Clement, Eusebius,
Jerome, Epiphanius, all agree. Chrysostom, indeed, asserts
that it was published at Alexandria; but his statement
receives no confirmation, as otherwise it could not fail to
have done, from any Alexandrine writer.--Farrar.
+ In what language.--As to the language in which it was
written, there never has been any reasonable doubt that it
was written in Greek.
+ Sources of information .--Mark was not one of the twelve; and
there is no reason to believe that he was an eye and ear
witness of the events which he has recorded but an almost
unanimous testimony of the early fathers indicates Peter as
the source of his information. The most important of these
testimonies is that of Papias, who says, "He, the Presbyter
(John), said, Mark, being the Interpreter of Peter, wrote
exactly whatever he remembered but he did not write in order
the things which were spoken or done by Christ. For he was
neither a hearer nor a follower of the Lord, but, as I said,
afterward followed Peter, who made his discourses to suit
what was required, without the view of giving a connected
digest of the discourses of our Lord. Mark, therefore, made
no mistakes when he wrote down circumstances as he
recollected them; for he was very careful of one thing, to
omit nothing of what he heard, and to say nothing false in
what he related." Thus Papias writes of Mark. This testimony
is confirmed by other witnesses.--Abbott.
+ For whom it was written.--The traditional statement is that
it was intended primarily for Gentiles, and especially for
those at Rome. A review of the Gospel itself confirms this
view.
+ Characteristics .-- (1) Mark's Gospel is occupied almost
entirely with the ministry in Galilee and the events of the
passion week. It is the shortest of the four Gospels, and
contains almost no incident or teaching which is not
contained in one of the other two synoptists; but (2) it is
by far the most vivid and dramatic in its narratives, and
their pictorial character indicates not only that they were
derived from an eye and ear witness, but also from one who
possessed the observation and the graphic artistic power of a
natural orator such as Peter emphatically was. (3) One
peculiarity strikes us the moment we open it,--the absence of
any genealogy of our Lord. This is the key to much that
follows. It is not the design of the evangelist to present
our Lord to us, like St. Matthew as the Messiah, "the son of
David and Abraham," ch. 1:1, or, like St. Luke, as the
universal Redeemer, "the son of Adam, which was the son of
God." ch. 3:38. (4) His design is to present him to us as the
incarnate and wonder-working Son of God, living and acting
among men; to portray him in the fullness of his living
energy.--Cambridge Bible for Schools.
Market Of Appius
(Acts 28:15) In the Revised Version for Appii Forum of the
Authorized Version, which see.
Marketplaces
(Matthew 20:3; Mark 12:38; Luke 7:35; Acts 16:19) (any open
place of public resort in cities or towns where public trials
and assemblies were held and goods were exposed for sale. "The
market-places or bazaars of the East were, and are at this day,
the constant resort of unoccupied people, the idle, the
news-mongers."--Hackett s Ill. S.S.--ED.)
Maroth
(bitterness), one of the towns of the western lowland of Judah.
(Micah 1:12)
Marriage
+ Its origin and history .--The institution of marriage dates
from the time of man's original creation. (Genesis 2:18-25)
From (Genesis 2:24) we may evolve the following principles:
(1) The unity of man and wife, as implied in her being formed
out of man. (2) The indissolubleness of the marriage bond,
except on; the strongest grounds, Comp. (Matthew 19:9) (3)
Monogamy, as the original law of marriage (4) The social
equality of man and wife. (5) The subordination of the wife
to the husband. (1 Corinthians 11:8,9; 1 Timothy 2:13) (6)
The respective duties of man and wife. In the patriarchal age
polygamy prevailed, (Genesis 16:4; 25:1,8; 28:9; 29:23,26; 1
Chronicles 7:14) but to a great extent divested of the
degradation which in modern times attaches to that practice.
Divorce also prevailed in the patriarchal age, though but one
instance of it is recorded. (Genesis 21:14) The Mosaic law
discouraged polygamy, restricted divorce, and aimed to
enforce purity of life. It was the best civil law possible at
the time, and sought to bring the people up to the pure
standard of the moral law. In the Post-Babylonian period
monogamy appears to have become more prevalent than at any
previous time. The practice of polygamy nevertheless still
existed; Herod the Great had no less than nine wives at one
time. The abuse of divorce continued unabated. Our Lord and
his apostles re-established the integrity and sanctity of the
marriage bond by the following measures: (a) By the
confirmation of the original charter of marriage as the basis
on which all regulations were to be framed. (Matthew 19:4,5)
(b) By the restriction of divorce to the case of fornication,
and the prohibition of remarriage in all persons divorced on
improper grounds. (Matthew 5:32; 19:9; Romans 7:3; 1
Corinthians 7:10,11) (c) By the enforcement of moral purity
generally (Hebrews 13:4) etc., and especial formal
condemnation of fornication. (Acts 15:20)
+ The conditions of legal marriage .--In the Hebrew
commonwealth marriage was prohibited (a) between an Israelite
and a non-Israelite. There were three grades of prohibition:
total in regard to the Canaanites on either side; total on
the side of the males in regard to the Ammonites and
Moabites; and temporary on the side of the males in regard to
the Edomites and Egyptians, marriages with females in the two
latter instances being regarded as legal. The progeny of
illegal marriages between Israelites and non-Israelites was
described as "bastard." (23:2) (b) between an Israelite and
one of his own community. The regulations relative to
marriage between Israelites and Israelites were based on
considerations of relationship. The most important passage
relating to these is contained in (Leviticus 18:6-18) wherein
we have in the first place a general prohibition against
marriage between a man and the "flesh of his flesh," and in
the second place special prohibitions against marriage with a
mother, stepmother, sister or half-sister, whether "born at
home or abroad," granddaughter, aunt, whether by
consanguinity on either side or by marriage on the father's
side, daughter in-law, brother's wife, stepdaughter, wife's
mother, stepgranddaughter, or wife's sister during the
lifetime of the wife. An exception is subsequently made,
(26:5-9) in favor of marriage with a brother's wife in the
event of his having died childless. The law which regulates
this has been named the "levirate," from the Latin levir,
"brother-in-law."
+ The modes by which marriage was effected .--The choice of the
bride devolved not on the bridegroom himself, but on his
relations or on a friend deputed by the bridegroom for this
purpose. The consent of the maiden was sometimes asked
(Genesis 24:58) but this appears to have been subordinate to
the previous consent of the father and the adult brothers.
(Genesis 24:51; 34:11) Occasionally the whole business of
selecting the wife was left in the hands of a friend. The
selection of the bride was followed by the espousal, which
was a formal proceeding undertaken by a friend or legal
representative on the part of the bridegroom and by the
parents on the part of the bride; it was confirmed by oaths,
and accompanied with presents to the bride. The act of
betrothal was celebrated by a feast, and among the more
modern Jews it is the custom in some parts for the bride.
groom to place a ring on the bride's finger. The ring was
regarded among the Hebrews as a token of fidelity (Genesis
41:42) and of adoption into a family. (Luke 15:25) Between
the betrothal sad the marriage so interval elapsed, varying
from a few days in the patriarchal age, (Genesis 24:55) to a
full year for virgins and a month for widows in later times.
During this period the bride-elect lived with her friends,
and all communication between herself and her future husband
was carried on through the medium of a friend deputed for the
purpose, termed the "friend of the bridegroom." (John 3:29)
She was now virtually regarded as the wife of her future
husband; hence faithlessness on her part was punishable with
death, (22:23,24) the husband having, however, the option of
"putting her away." (24:1; Matthew 1:19) The essence of the
marriage ceremony consisted in the removal of the bride from
her father's house to that of the bridegroom or his father.
The bridegroom prepared himself for the occasion by putting
on a festive dress, and especially by placing on his head a
handsome nuptial turban. (Psalms 45:8; Song of Solomon
4:10,11) The bride was veiled. Her robes were white,
(Revelation 19:8) and sometimes embroidered with gold thread,
(Psalms 45:13,14) and covered with perfumes! (Psalms 45:8)
she was further decked out with jewels. (Isaiah 49:18; 61:10;
Revelation 21:2) When the fixed hour arrived, which was,
generally late in the evening, the bridegroom set forth from
his house, attended by his groomsmen (Authorized Version
"companions," (Judges 14:11) "children of the bride-chamber,"
(Matthew 9:15) preceded by a band of musicians or singers,
(Genesis 31:27; Jeremiah 7:34; 16:9) and accompanied by
persons hearing flambeaux, (Jeremiah 25:10) 2 Esdr. 10:2;
(Matthew 25:7; Revelation 18:23) and took the bride with the
friends to his own house. At the house a feast was prepared,
to which all the friends and neighbors were invited, (Genesis
29:22; Matthew 22:1-10; Luke 14:8; John 2:2) and the
festivities were protracted for seven or even fourteen days.
(Judges 14:12; Job 8:19) The guests were provided by the host
with fitting robes, (Matthew 22:11) and the feast was
enlivened with riddles, (Judges 14:12) and other amusements.
The last act in the ceremonial was the conducting of the
bride to the bridal chamber, (Judges 15:1; Joel 2:16) where a
canopy was prepared. (Psalms 19:5; Joel 2:16) The bride was
still completely veiled, so that the deception practiced on
Jacob, (Genesis 29:23) was not difficult. A newly married man
was exempt from military service, or from any public business
which might draw him away from his home, for the space of a
year, (24:5) a similar privilege was granted to him who was
'betrothed. (20:7)
+ The social and domestic conditions of married life .--The
wife must have exercised an important influence in her own
home. She appears to have taken her part in family affairs,
and even to have enjoyed a considerable amount of
independence. (Judges 4:18; 1 Samuel 25:14; 2 Kings 4:8) etc.
In the New Testament the mutual relations of husband and wife
are a subject of frequent exhortation. (Ephesians 5:22,33;
Colossians 3:18,19; Titus 2:4,5; 1 Peter 3:1-7) The duties of
the wife in the Hebrew household were multifarious; in
addition to the general superintendence of the domestic
arrangements, such as cooking, from which even women of rank
were not exempt. (Genesis 18:8; 2 Samuel 13:5) and the
distribution of food at meal times, (Proverbs 31:13) the
manufacture of the clothing and of the various fabrics
required in her home devolved upon her, (Proverbs
31:13,21,22) and if she were a model of activity and skill,
she produced a surplus of fine linen shirts and girdles,
which she sold and so, like a well-freighted merchant ship,
brought in wealth to her husband from afar. (Proverbs
31:14,24) The legal rights of the wife are noticed in (Exodus
21:10) under the three heads of food, raiment, and duty of
marriage or conjugal right.
+ The allegorical and typical allusions to marriage have
exclusive reference to one object, viz., to exhibit the
spiritual relationship between God and his people. In the Old
Testament (Isaiah 54:5; Jeremiah 3:14; Hosea 2:19) In the New
Testament the image of the bridegroom is transferred from
Jehovah to Christ, (Matthew 9:15; John 3:29) and that of the
bride to the Church, (2 Corinthians 11:2; Revelation 19:7;
21:2,9)
Mars Hill
the hill of Mars or Ares, better known by the name of
Areopagus, of which hill of Mars or Ares is a translation. The
Areopagus was a rocky height in Athens, opposite the western
end of the Acropolis. It rises gradually from the northern end,
and terminates abruptly on the south, over against the
Acropolis, at which point it is about fifty or sixty feet above
the valley. The spot is memorable as the place of meeting of
the Council of Areopagus. This body existed as a criminal
tribunal before the time of Solon, and was the most ancient and
venerable of all the Athenian courts. It consisted of all
persons who had held the office of archon, and who were members
of the council for life unless expelled for misconduct. Before
the time of Solon the court tried only cases of willful murder,
wounding, poison, and arson: but he gave it extensive powers of
a censorial and political nature. The council continued to
exist even under the Roman emperors. Its meetings were held on
the southeastern summit of the rock. The Areopagus possesses
peculiar interest to the Christian as the spot from which St.
Paul delivered his memorable address to the men of Athens.
(Acts 17:22-31) St. Paul "disputed daily" in the "market" or
agora, (Acts 17:17) which was situated south of the Areopagus
in the valley lying between this and the hills of the
Acropolis, the Pnyx and the Museum. Attracting more and more
attention, "certain philosophers of the Epicureans and Stoics"
brought him up from the valley, probably by the stone steps, to
the Areopagus above, that they might listen to him more
conveniently.
Marsena
(worthy), one of the seven of Persia, "wise men which knew the
times," which saw the king's face and sat first in the kingdom.
(Esther 1:14)
Martha
(a lady), the sister of Lazarus and Mary. [[845]Lazarus] The
facts recorded in Luke 10 and John 11 indicate a character
devout after the customary Jewish type of devotion, sharing in
Messianic hopes and accepting Jesus as the Christ. When she
first comes before us, (Luke 10:38) her spirit is "cumbered
with much serving," is "careful and troubled about many
things." Her love, though imperfect in its form, is yet
recognized as true, and she has the distinction of being one
whom Jesus loved. (John 11:5) Her position is obviously that of
the elder sister the head and manager of the household. In the
supper at Bethany (John 12:2) the old character shows itself
still, but it has been freed from evil. She is no longer
"cumbered," no longer impatient. Activity has been calmed by
trust.
Mary
a Roman Christian who is greeted by St. Paul in his Epistle to
the Romans, ch. (Romans 16:6) as having toiled hard for him.
(a tear) of Cle'ophas. So in Authorized Version, but accurately
"of Clopas," i.e. the wife of Clopas (or Alphaeus). She is
brought before us for the first time on the day of the
crucifixion, standing by the cross. (John 19:25) In the evening
of the same day we find her sitting desolate at the tomb with
Mary Magdalene, (Matthew 27:61; Mark 15:47) and at the dawn of
Easter morning she was again there with sweet spices, which she
had prepared on the Friday night, (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1;
Luke 23:56) and was one of those who had "a vision of angels,
which said that he was alive." (Luke 24:23) She had four sons
and at least three daughters. The names of the daughters are
unknown to us; those of the sons are, James, Joses, Jude and
Simon, two of whom became enrolled among the twelve apostles
[[846]James The Less], and a third [[847]Simon] may have
succeeded his brother ill charge of the church of Jerusalem. By
many she is thought to have been the sister of the Virgin Mary.
Mary Magdalene
Different explanations have been given of this name; but the
most natural is that she came from the town of Magdala. She
appears before us for the first time in (Luke 8:2) among the
women who "ministered unto him of their substance." All appear
to have occupied a position of comparative wealth. With all the
chief motive was that of gratitude for their deliverance from
"evil spirits and infirmities." Of Mary it is said specially
that "seven devils went out of her," and the number indicates a
possession of more than ordinary malignity. She was present
during the closing hours of the agony on the cross. (John
19:25) She remained by the cross till all was over, and waited
till the body was taken down and placed in the garden sepulchre
of Joseph of Arimathaea, (Matthew 27:61; Mark 15:47; Luke
23:55) when she, with Salome and Mary the mother of James,
"bought sweet spices that they might come and anoint" the body.
(Mark 16:1) The next morning accordingly. in the earliest dawn,
(Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2) they came with Mary the mother of
James to the sepulchre. Mary Magdalene had been to the tomb and
had found it empty, and had seen the "vision of angels."
(Matthew 28:5; Mark 16:6) To her first of all Jesus appeared
after his resurrection. (John 20:14,15) Mary Magdalene has
become the type of a class of repentant sinners; but there is
no authority for identifying her with the "sinner" who anointed
the feet of Jesus in (Luke 7:36-50) neither is there any
authority for the supposition that Mary Magdalene is the same
as the sister of Lazarus. Neither of these theories has the
slightest foundation in fact.
Mary The Virgin
the mother of our Lord. There is no person perhaps in sacred or
profane history around whom so many legends have been grouped a
the Virgin Mary; and there are few whose authentic history is
more concise. She was, like Joseph, of the tribe of Judah and
of the lineage of David. (Psalms 132:11; Luke 1:32; Romans 1:3)
She had a sister, named, like herself, (John 19:25) and she was
connected by marriage, (Luke 1:36) with Elizabeth, who was of
the tribe of Levi and of the lineage of Aaron. This is all that
we know of her antecedents. She was betrothed to Joseph of
Nazareth; but before her marriage she became with child by the
Holy Ghost, and became the mother of Jesus Christ, the Saviour
of the world. Her history at this time, her residence at
Bethlehem, flight to Egypt, and return to her early home st
Nazareth, are well known. Four times only does she appear after
the commencement of Christ's ministry. These four occasions
are--
+ The marriage at Cana in Galilee took place in the three
months which intervened between the baptism of Christ and the
passover of the year 27. Mary was present, and witnessed the
first miracle performed by Christ, when he turned the water
into wine. She had probably become a widow before this time.
+ Capernaum, (John 2:12) and Nazareth, (Matthew 4:13; 13:54;
Mark 6:1) appear to have been the residence of Mary for a
considerable period. The next time that she is brought before
us we find her at Capernaum, where she, with other relatives,
had gone to inquire about the strange stories they had heard
of her son Jesus. They sought an audience with our Lord,
which was not granted, as he refused to admit any authority
on the part of his relatives, or any privilege on account of
their relationship.
+ The next scene in Mary's life brings us to the foot of the
cross. With almost his last words Christ commended his mother
to the care of him who had borne the name of the disciple
whom Jesus loved: "Woman, behold thy son." And front that
hour St. John assures us that he took her to his own abode.
So far as Mary is portrayed to us in Scripture, she is, as we
should have expected the most tender, the most faithful
humble, patient and loving of women, but a woman still.
+ In the days succeeding the ascension of Christ Mary met with
the disciples in the upper room, (Acts 1:14) waiting for the
coming of the Holy Spirit with power.
Mary, Mother Of Mark
(Colossians 4:10) was sister to Barnabas. (Acts 4:36; 12:15)
She was among the earliest disciples, and lived at Jerusalem.
She gave up her house to be used as one of the chief places of
meeting. The fact that Peter went to that house on his release
from prison indicates that there was some special intimacy,
(Acts 12:12) between them. (There is a tradition that the place
of meeting of the disciples, and hence Mary's house, was on the
upper slope of Zion, and that it was here that the Holy Ghost
came upon the disciples with tongues of flame on the day of
Pentecost.--ED.)
Mary, Sister Of Lazarus
She and her sister Martha appear in (Luke 10:40) as receiving
Christ in their house. Mary sat listening eagerly for every
word that fell from the divine Teacher. She had chosen that
good part, the "one thing needful." The same character shows
itself in the history of (John 11:1) ... Her grief was deeper,
but less active. Her first thought, when she saw the Teacher in
whose power and love she that trusted, was one of complaint.
But the great joy and love which her brother's return to life
called up in her poured themselves out in larger measure than
had been seen before. The treasured alabaster box of ointment
was brought forth at the final feast of Bethany. (John 12:3)
Maschil
(song of wisdom), the title of thirteen Psalms
32,45,44,45,52-55,74,78,68,69,142 Ewald regards (Psalms 47:7)
(Authorized Version, "sing ye praises with understanding; "
Heb. maschil) as the key to the meaning of maschil, which in
his opinion is a musical term denoting a melody requiring great
skill in its execution.
Mash
(drawn out), one of the sons of Aram. (Genesis 10:23) In (1
Chronicles 1:17) the name appears as Meshech. The name Mash is
probably represented by the Mons Masius of classical writers, a
range which forms the northern boundary of Mesopotamia, between
the Tigris and Euphrates.
Mashal
(entreaty), the same as Misheal or Mishal. (1 Chronicles 6:74)
Massa
(burden), a son of Ishmael. (Genesis 26:14; 1 Chronicles 1:30)
His descendants were not improbably the Masani, placed by
Ptolemy in the east of Arabia, near the borders of Babylonia.
Massah
(temptation), a name given to the spot, also called Meribah,
where the Israelites tempted Jehovah. (Exodus 16:7; Psalms
95:8,9; Hebrews 3:8)
Massrekah
(vineyard of noble vines), an ancient place, the native spot of
Samiah, one of the old king of the Edomites. (Genesis 36:36; 1
Chronicles 1:47)
Mathusala
= [848]Methuselah, the son of Enoch. (Luke 3:37)
Matithiah
(gift of God).
+ A Levite who presided over the offerings made in the pans. (1
Chronicles 9:31) comp. Levi 6:20 (Levi 6:12) etc.
+ One of the Levites appointed by David to minister before the
ark in the musical service, (1 Chronicles 16:5) "with harps
upon Sheminith," comp. (1 Chronicles 16:21) to lead the
choir. (1 Chronicles 15:18,21; 26:3,21)
+ One of the family of Nebo who had married a foreign wife, in
the days of Ezra. (Ezra 10:43)
+ Probably a priest, who stood at the right hand of Ezra when
he read the law to the people. (Ezra 8:4)
Matred
(pushing forward) daughter of Mezahab and mother of Mehetabel,
who was wife of Hadar or Hadad of Pau, king of Edom. (Genesis
36:39; 1 Chronicles 1:50)
Matri
(rain of Jehovah), a family of the tribe of Benjamin, to which
Saul the King of Israel belonged. (1 Samuel 10:21)
Mattan
(a gift).
+ The priest of Baal slain before his altars in the idol temple
at Jerusalem. (2 Kings 11:18; 2 Chronicles 23:17) He probably
accompanied Athalia from Samaria.
+ The father of Shephatiah. (Jeremiah 38:1)
Mattanah
(gift of Jehovah), a station the latter part of the wandering
of the Israelites. (Numbers 21:18,19) It was probably situated
to the southeast of the Dead Sea.
Mattaniah
(gift of Jehovah).
+ The original name of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was
changed when Nebuchadnezzar placed him on the throne. (2
Kings 24:17)
+ A Levite singer of the sons of Asaph. (1 Chronicles 9:15) He
was leader of the temple choir after its restoration,
(Nehemiah 11:17; 12:8) in the time of Nehemiah, and took part
in the musical service which accompanied the dedication of
the wall of Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 12:25,35)
+ A descendant of Asaph, and ancestor of Jahaziel the Levite,
in the reign of Jehoshaphat. (2 Chronicles 20:14)
+ One of the sons of Elam. (Ezra 10:26)
+ One of the sons of Zattu. (Ezra 10:27)
+ A descendant of Pahath-moab, (Ezra 10:30) and
+ One of the sons of Bani. (Ezra 10:37) who all put away their
foreign wives at Ezra's command.
+ A Levite, father of Zaccur and ancestor of Hanan the
under-treasurer who had charge of the offerings for the
Levites in the time of Nehemiah. (Nehemiah 13:13)
+ One of the fourteen sons of Heman, whose office it was to
blow the horns in the temple service appointed by David. (1
Chronicles 25:4,16)
+ A descendant of Asaph the Levite minstrel, who assisted in
the purification of the temple in the reign of Hezekiah. (2
Chronicles 29:13)
Mattathah
(gift of Jehovah), probably a contraction of Mattathiah.
+ Son of Nathan and grandson of David, in the genealogy of
Christ. (Luke 3:31) (B.C. after 1014.)
+ An Israelite, son of Hashun, who divorced his Gentile wife
after the return from Babylon. (Ezekiel 10:33) (B.C. 458.)
Mattathias
(gift of Jehovah), the Greek form of Mattathiah.
+ Son of Amos, in the genealogy of Christ. (Luke 3:25) (B.C.
after 406.)
+ Son of Semei. (Luke 3:26)
+ The father of the Maccabees. (B.C. 168 and previous.)
Mattenai
(gift of Jehovah), a contraction of Mattaniah.
+ Two Israelites who divorced their Gentile wives after the
return from the Babylonish captivity. (Ezra 10:33,37) (B.C.
469.)
+ A priest, son of Joiarib, in the time of Joiakim. (Nehemiah
12:19) (B.C. after 536.)
Matthan
(gift), grandfather of Joseph the husband of the Virgin Mary.
(Matthew 1:15)
Matthat
(gift of God), a form of the name Matthan.
+ son of Levi, in the genealogy of Christ. (Luke 3:20) (B.C.
after 623.)
+ Grandfather of the Virgin Mary. (Luke 3:21)
Matthew
(gift of Jehovah). (A contraction, as is also Matthias, of
Mattathias. His original name was Levi, and his name Matthew
was probably adopted as his new apostolic name was a Jew. His
father's name was Alphaeus. His home was at Capernaum His
business was the collection of dues and customs from persons
and goods crossing the Sea of Galilee, or passing along the
great Damascus road which ran along the shore between
Bethsaida, Julius and Capernaum. Christ called him from this
work to he his disciple. He appears to have been a man of
wealth, for he made a great feast in his own house, perhaps in
order to introduce his former companions and friends to Jesus.
His business would tend to give him a knowledge of human
nature, and accurate business habits, and of how to make a way
to the hearts of many publicans and sinners not otherwise
easily reached. He is mentioned by name, after the resurrection
of Christ, only in (Acts 1:15) but he must have lived many
years as an apostle, since he was the author of the Gospel of
Matthew which was written at least twenty years later. There is
reason to believe that he remained for fifteen years at
Jerusalem, after which he went as missionary to the Persians,
Parthians and Medes. There is a legend that he died a martyr in
Ethiopia.--ED.)
Matthew, Gospel Of
+ Its authorship .--That this Gospel was written by the apostle
Matthew there is no reason to doubt. Seventeen independent
witnesses of the first four centuries attest its genuineness.
+ Its original language .--The testimony of the early Church is
unanimous that Matthew wrote originally in the Hebrew
language. On the otherhand doubt is thrown over this opinion,
both statements of by an examination of the fathers and by a
consideration of peculiar forms of language employed in the
Gospel itself. The question is unsettled, the best scholars
not agreeing in their Judgment concerning it. If there was a
Hebrew original, it disappeared at a very early age. The
Greek Gospel which we now possess was it is almost certain,
written in Matthew's lifetime; and it is not at all
improbable that he wrote the Gospel in both the Greek and
Hebrew languages.--Lyman Abbolt. It is almost certain that
our Lord spoke in Greek with foreigners, but with his
disciples and the Jewish people in Aramaic (a form of
language closely allied to the Hebrew).--Schaff. The Jewish
historian Josephus furnishes an illustration of the fate of
the Hebrew original of Matthew. Josephus himself informs us
that he, wrote his great work "The History of the Jewish
Wars," originally in Hebrew, his native tongue, for the
benefit of his own nation, and he afterward translated it
into Greek. No notices of the Hebrew original now
survive.--Professor D.S. Gregory.
+ The date .-- The testimony of the early Church is unanimous
that Matthew wrote first of the early Church is among the
evangelists. Irenieus relates that Matthew wrote his Gospel
while Peter and Paul were preaching, and founding the Church
at Rome, after A.D. 61. It was published before the
destruction of Jerusalem, A.D. 50.--Alford. We would place
our present Gospel between A.D. 60 and 66. If there was an
original Hebrew Gospel, an earlier date belongs to
it--Ellicott.
+ Its object .-- This Gospel was probably written in Palestine
for Jewish Christians. It is an historical proof that Jesus
is the Messiah. Matthew is the Gospel for the Jew. It is the
Gospel of Jesus, the Messiah of the prophets. This Gospel
takes the life of Jesus as it was lived on earth, and his
character as it actually appeared, and places them alongside
the life and character of the Messiah as sketched in the
prophets, the historic by the side of the Prophetic, that the
two may appear in their marvellous unity and in their perfect
identity.--Professor Gregory.
Matthias
(gift of God), the apostle elected to fill the place of the
traitor Judas. (Acts 1:26) All beyond this that we know of him
for certainty is that he had been a constant attendant upon the
Lord Jesus during the whole course of his ministry; for such
was declared by St. Peter to be the necessary qualification of
one who was to be a witness of the resurrection. It is said
that he preached the gospel and suffered martyrdom in Ethiopia.
Mattock
(Isaiah 7:25) The tool used in Arabia for loosening the ground,
described by Neibuhr, answers generally to our mattock or
grubbing-axe, i.e. a single-headed pickaxe. The ancient
Egyptian hoe was of wood, and answered for hoe, spade and pick.
Maul
(i.e. a hammer), a sort of battleaxe or hammer, used as an
implement of war. (25:18)
Mauzzim
(fortresses). The marginal note to the Authorized Version of
(Daniel 11:38) "the god of forces," gives as the equivalent of
the last word "Mauzzim, or gods protectors, or munitions."
There can be little doubt that mauzzim is to be taken in its
literal sense of "fortresses," just as in (Daniel 11:19,39)
"the god of fortresses" being then the deity who presided over
strongholds. The opinion of Gesenius is that "the god of
fortresses" was Jupiter Capitolinus, for whom Antiochus built a
temple at Antioch. Liv. xli. 20.
Mazzaroth
(the twelve signs). The margin of the Authorized Version of
(Job 38:32) gives Mazzaroth as the name of the twelve signs of
the zodiac.
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Table of
Contents Meadow
+ In (Genesis 41:2,18) meadow appears to be an Egyptian term
meaning some kind of flag or waterplant, as its use in (Job
8:11) (Authorized Version "flag") seems to show.
+ In (Judges 20:33) the sense of the Hebrew word translated
meadow is doubly uncertain. The most plausible interpretation
is that of the Peshito-Syriac, which by a slight difference
in the vowel-points makes the word mearah, "the cave."
Meah
(a hundred), The tower of, one of the towers of the wall of
Jerusalem when rebuilt by Nehemiah, (Nehemiah 3:1; 12:39)
appears to have been situated somewhere at the northeast part
of the city, outside of the walls of Zion.
Meals
Our information on the subject of meals is but scanty. The
early Hebrews do not seem to have given special names to their
several meals, for the terms rendered "dine" and "dinner" in
the Authorized Version ((Genesis 43:16; Proverbs 15:17)) are in
reality general expressions, which might more correctly be
rendered "eat" and "portion of food." In the New Testament
"dinner" and "supper," (Luke 14:12; John 21:12) are more
properly "breakfast" and "dinner." There is some uncertainty as
to the hours at which meals were taken; the Egyptians
undoubtedly took their principal mean at noon, (Genesis 43:16)
laborers took a light meal at that time. (Ruth 2:14) comp. ver.
Ruth 2:17 The Jews rather followed the custom that prevails
among the Bedouins, and made their principal meal after sunset,
and a lighter meal at about 9 or 10 A.M. The old Hebrews were
in the habit of sitting . (Genesis 27:19; Judges 19:6; 1 Samuel
20:5,24; 1 Kings 13:20) The table was in this case but slightly
elevated above the ground, as is still the case in Egypt. As
luxury increased, the practice of sitting was exchanged for
that of reclining was the universal custom. As several guests
reclined on the same couch, each overlapped his neighbor, as it
were, and rested his head on or near the breast of the one who
lay behind him; he was then said to "lean on the bosom" of his
neighbor. (John 13:23; 21:20) The ordinary arrangement of the
couches was in three sides of a square, the fourth being left
open for the servants to bring up the dishes. Some doubt
attends the question whether the females took their meals along
with the males. Before commencing the meal the guests washed
their hands. This custom was founded on natural decorum: not
only was the hand the substitute for our knife and for, but the
hands of all the guests were dipped into one and the same dish.
Another preliminary step was the grace or blessing, of which we
have but one instance in the Old Testament-- (1 Samuel
9:13)--and more than one pronounced by our Lord himself in the
new Testament--Matt 15:36; Luke 9:16; John 6:11 The mode of
taking the food differed in no material point from the modern
usages of the East. Generally there was a single dish, into
which each guest dipped his hand. (Matthew 26:23) Occasionally
separate portions were served out to each. (Genesis 43:34; Ruth
2:14; 1 Samuel 1:4) A piece of bread was held between the thumb
and two fingers of the right hand, and was dipped either into a
bowl of melted grease (in which case it was termed "a sop,")
(John 13:26) or into the dish of meat, whence a piece was
conveyed to the mouth between the layers of bread. At the
conclusion of the meal, grace was again said in conformity with
(8:10) and the hands were again washed. On state occasions more
ceremony was used, and the meal was enlivened in various ways.
A sumptuous repast was prepared; the guests were previously
invited, (Esther 5:8; Matthew 22:3) and on the day of the feast
a second invitation was issued to those that were bidden.
(Esther 6:14; Proverbs 9:3; Matthew 22:4) The visitors were
received with a kiss, (Luke 7:45) water was furnished for them
to wash their feet with, (Luke 7:44) the head, the beard, the
feet, and sometimes the clothes, were perfumed with ointment,
(Psalms 23:5; John 12:3) on special occasions robes were
provided, (Matthew 22:11) and the head was decorated with
wreaths. (Isaiah 28:1) The regulation of the feast was under
the superintendence of a special officer, (John 2:8)
(Authorized Version "governor of the feast"), whose business it
was to taste the food and the liquors before they were placed
on the table, and to settle about the toasts and amusements; he
was generally one of the guests, Ecclus. 32:1,2, and might
therefore take part in the conversation. The places of the
guests were settled according to their respective rand,
(Genesis 43:33; Mark 12:39) portions of food were placed before
each, (1 Samuel 1:4) the most honored guests receiving either
larger, (Genesis 43:34) or more choice, (1 Samuel 9:24)
portions than the rest. The meal was enlivened with music,
singing and dancing, (2 Samuel 19:35) or with riddles, (Judges
14:12) and amid these entertainments the festival was prolonged
for several days. (Esther 1:3,4)
Mearah
(a cave), a place named in (Joshua 13:4) only. The word means
in Hebrew a cave, and it is commonly assumed that the reference
is to some remarkable cavern in the neighborhood of Zidon.
Measures
[[849]Weights And Measures AND MEASURES]
Meat
It does not appear that the word "meat" is used in any one
instance in the Authorized Version of either the Old or New
Testament in the sense which it now almost exclusively bears of
animal food. The latter is denoted uniformly by "flesh." The
word "meat," when our English version was made, meant food in
general; or if any particular kind was designated, it referred
to meal, flour or grain. The only real and inconvenient
ambiguity caused by the change which has taken place in the
meaning of the word is in the case of the "meat offering."
[[850]Meat Offering OFFERING]
Meat Offering
The law or ceremonial of the meat offering is described in
(Leviticus 2:1) ... and Levi 6:14-23 It was to be composed of
fine flour, seasoned with salt and mixed with oil and
frankincense, but without leaven; and it was generally
accompanied by a drink offering of wine. A portion of it,
including all the frankincense, was to be burnt on the altar as
"a memorial;" the rest belonged to the priest; but the meat
offerings offered by the priests themselves were to be wholly
burnt. Its meaning appears to be exactly expressed in the words
of David. (1 Chronicles 29:10-14) It will be seen that this
meaning involves neither of the main ideas of sacrifices--the
atonement for sin and self-dedication to God. It takes them for
granted, and is based on them. Rather it expresses gratitude
and love to God as the giver of all. Accordingly the meat
offering, properly so called, seems always to have been a
subsidiary offering, needing to be introduced by the sin
offering which represented the one idea, and to have formed an
appendage to the burnt offering, which represented the other.
The unbloody offerings offered alone did not properly belong to
the regular meat offerings; they were usually substitutes for
other offerings. Comp. (Leviticus 5:11; Numbers 5:15)
[[851]Meat]
Mebunnai
(building of Jehovah). In this form appears, In one passage
only--2Sam 23:27--The name of one of David's guard, who is
elsewhere called [852]Sibbechai, (2 Samuel 21:18; 1 Chronicles
20:4) or [853]Sibbecai, (1 Chronicles 11:29; 27:11) in the
Authorized Version.
Mecherathite, The
that is, the native or inhabitant of a place called Mecherah.
(1 Chronicles 11:36) In the parallel list of (2 Samuel 23:1)
... the name appears, with other variations, as "the
Maachathite." ver. (2 Samuel 23:34)
Medad
(love). [[854]Eldad AND MEDAD]
Medan
(contention), a son of Abraham and Keturah. (Genesis 23:5; 1
Chronicles 1:42)
Medeba
(water of rest), a town on the eastern side of Jordan, first
alluded to in (Numbers 21:30) Here it seems to denote the limit
of the territory of Heshbon. It next occurs in the enumeration
of the country divided among the transjordanic tribes, (Joshua
13:9) as giving its name to a district of level downs called
"the Mishor of Medeba" or "the Mishor on Medeba." At the time
of the conquest Medeba belonged to the Amorites, apparently one
of the towns taken from Moab by them. In the time of Ahaz
Medeba was a sanctuary of Moab. (Isaiah 15:2) It has retained
its name down, our own times, and lies four miles southeast of
Heshbon, on it rounded but rocky hill.
Medes, Media
(middle land). Media lay northwest of Persia proper, south and
southwest of the Caspian Sea, east of Armenia and Assyria, west
and northwest of the great salt desert of Iran. Its greatest
length was from north to south, and in this direction it
extended from the 32d to the 40th parallel, a distance of 550
miles. In width it reached front about long. 45 degrees to 53
degrees; but its average breadth was not more than from 250 to
300 miles. The division of Media commonly recognized by the
Greeks and Romans was that into Media Magna and Media
Atropatene.
+ Media Atropatene corresponded nearly to the modern Azerbijan,
being the tract situated between the Caspian and the
mountains which run north from Zagros.
+ Media Magna lay south and east of Atropatene. It contained
great part of Kurdistan and Luristan, with all Ardelan and
Arak Ajemi . It is indicative of the division that there were
two Ecbatanas, respectively the capitals of the two
districts. The Medes were a nation of very high antiquity; we
find a notice of them in the primitive Babylonian history of
Berosus, who says that the Medes conquered Babylon at a very
remote period (cir. B.C. 2458), and that eight Median
monarchs reigned there consecutively, over a space of 224
years. The deepest obscurity hangs, however, over the whole
history of the Medes from the time of their bearing sway in
Babylonia, B.C. 2458-2234, to their first appearance in the
cuneiform inscriptions among the enemies of Assyria, about
B.C. 880. Near the middle of the seventh century B.C. the
Median kingdom was consolidated, and became formidable to its
neighbors; but previous to this time it was not under the
dominion of a single powerful monarch, but was ruled by a
vast number of petty chieftains. Cyaxares, the third Median
monarch, took Nineveh and conquered Assyria B.C. 625. The
limits of the Median empire cannot be definitely fixed. From
north to south it was certainly confined between the Persian
Gulf and the Euphrates on the one side, the Black and Caspian
Seas on the other. From east to west it had, however, a wide
expansion, since it reached from the Halys at least as far as
the Caspian Gates, and possible farther. It was separated
from Babylonia either by the Tigris or more probably by a
line running about halfway between that river and the
Euphrates. Its greatest length may be reckoned at 1500 miles
from northwest to southeast, and its average breadth at 400
or 450 miles. Its area would thus be about 600,000 square
miles, or somewhat greater than that of modern Persia. Of all
the ancient Oriental monarchies the Median was the shortest
in duration. It was overthrown by the Persians under Cyrus,
B.C. 558, who captured its king, Astyages. The treatment of
the Medes by the victorious Persians was not that of an
ordinary conquered nation. Medes were appointed to stations
of high honor and importance under Cyrus and his successors.
The two nations seem blended into one, and we often find
reference to this kingdom as that of the "Medes and
Persians." (Daniel 5:28; 6:8,12,15) The references to the
Medes in the canonical Scriptures are not very numerous, but
they are striking. We first hear of certain "cities of the
Medes," in which the captive Israelites were placed by "the
king of Assyria" on the destruction of Samaria, B.C. 721 (2
Kings 17:6; 18:12) Soon afterward Isaiah prophesies the part
which the Medes shall take in the destruction of Babylon,
(Isaiah 13:17; 21:2) which is again still more distinctly
declared by Jeremiah, (Jeremiah 51:11,28) who sufficiently
indicates the independence of Media in his day. ch. (Jeremiah
25:25) Daniel relates the fact of the Medo-Persia conquest,
(Daniel 5:25,31) giving an account of the reign of Darius the
Mede, who appears to have been made viceroy by Cyrus. (Daniel
6:1-58) In Ezra we have a mention of Achmetha (Ecbatana),
"the palace in the province of the Medes," where the decree
of Cyrus was found, (Ezra 6:2-5)--a notice which accords with
the known facts that the Median capital was the seat of
government under Cyrus, but a royal residence only, and not
the seat of government, under Darius Hystaspis. Finally, in
Esther the high rank of Media under the Persian kings, yet at
the same time its subordinate position, is marked by the
frequent composition of the two names in phrases of honor,
the precedence being in every ease assigned to the Persians.
Median, The
Darius, "the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes,"
(Daniel 9:1) or "the Mede," ch. (Daniel 11:1) is thus denoted
in (Daniel 5:31)
Medicine
Egypt was the earliest home of medical and other skill for the
region of the Mediterranean basin, and every Egyptian mummy of
the more expensive and elaborate sort involved a process of
anatomy. Still we have no trace of any philosophical or
rational system of Egyptian origin; still medicine in Egypt was
a mere art or profession. Compared with the wild countries
around them, however, the Egyptians must have seemed
incalculably advanced. Representations of early Egyptian
surgery apparently occur on some of the monuments of
Beni-Hassan. Those who have assisted at the opening of a mummy
have noticed that the teeth exhibited a dentistry not inferior
in execution to the work of the best modern experts. This
confirms the statement of Herodotus that every part of the body
was studied by a distinct practitioner. The reputation of
Egypt's practitioners in historical times was such that both
Cyrus and Darius sent to that country for physicians or
surgeons. Of midwifery we have a distinct notice, (Exodus 1:1)
and of women as its Practitioners, which fact may also be
verified from the scriptures. The scrupulous attention paid to
the dead was favorable to the health of the living. The
practice of physic was not among the Jews a privilege of the
priesthood. Any one might practice it, and this publicity must
have kept it pure. Rank and honor are said to be the portion of
the physician, and his office to be from the Lord. Ecclus.
38:1,3,12. To bring down the subject to the period of the New
Testament, St. Luke, "the beloved physician," who practiced at
Antioch whilst the body was his care, could hardly have failed
to be convenient with all the leading opinions current down to
his own time. Among special diseases named in the Old Testament
is ophthalmia, (Genesis 29:17) which is perhaps more common in
Syria and Egypt than anywhere else in the world; especially in
the fig season, the juice of the newly-ripe fruit having the
power of giving it. It may occasion partial or total blindness.
(2 Kings 6:18) The "burning boil," (Leviticus 13:23) is merely
marked by the notion of an effect resembling that of fire, like
our "carbuncle." The diseases rendered "scab" and "scurvy" in
(Leviticus 21:20; 22:22; 28:27) may be almost any skin disease.
Some of these may be said to approach the type of leprosy. The
"botch (shechin) of Egypt," (28:27) is so vague a term as to
yield a most uncertain sense. In (28:35) is mentioned a disease
attacking the "knees and legs," consisting in a "sore botch
which cannot be healed," but extended, in the sequel of the
verse, from the "sole of the foot to the top of the head." The
Elephantiasis gracorum is what now passes under the name of
"leprosy;" the lepers, e.g., of the: huts near the Zion gate of
modern Jerusalem are elephantissiacs. [[855]Leper, Leprosy] The
disease of King Antiochus, 2 Macc. 9:5-10, etc., was that of a
boil breeding worms. The case of the widow's son restored by
Elisha, (2 Kings 4:19) was probably one of sunstroke. The palsy
meets us in the New Testament only, and in features too
familiar to need special remark. palsy, gangrene and cancer
were common in all the countries familiar to the scriptural
writers, and neither differs from the modern disease of the
same name. Mention is also made of the bites and stings of
poisonous reptiles. (Numbers 21:6) Among surgical instruments
or pieces of apparatus the following only are alluded to in
Scripture: A cutting instrument, supposed a "sharp stone,"
(Exodus 4:25) the "knife" of (Joshua 5:2) The "awl" of (Exodus
21:6) was probably a surgical instrument. The "roller to bind"
of (Ezekiel 30:21) was for a broken limb, and is still used. A
scraper, for which the "potsherd" of Job was a substitute. (Job
2:8; Exodus 30:23-25) is a prescription in form. An occasional
trace occurs of some chemical knowledge, e.g. the calcination
of the gold by Moses, (Exodus 32:20) the effect of "vinegar
upon natron," (Proverbs 25:20); comp. Jere 2:22 The mention of
"the apothecary," (Exodus 30:35; Ecclesiastes 10:1) and of the
merchant in "powders," (Song of Solomon 3:6) shows that a
distinct and important branch of trade was set up in these
wares, in which, as at a modern druggist's, articles of luxury,
etc., are combined with the remedies of sickness. Among the
most favorite of external remedies has always been the bath.
There were special occasions on which the bath was ceremonially
enjoined. The Pharisees and Essenes aimed at scrupulous
strictness in all such rules. (Matthew 15:2; Mark 7:5; Luke
11:38) River-bathing was common but houses soon began to
include a bathroom. (Leviticus 15:13; 2 Samuel 11:2; 2 Kings
5:10)
Megiddo
(place of crowns) was in a very marked position on the southern
rim of the plain of Esdraelon, on the frontier line of the
territories of the tribes of Issachar and Manasseh, 6 miles
from Mount Carmel and 11 from Nazareth. It commanded one of
those passes from the north into the hill country which were of
such critical importance on various occasions in the history of
Judea. Judith 4:7. The first mention occurs in (Joshua 12:21)
where Megiddo appears as the city of one of the kings whom
Joshua defeated on the west of the Jordan. The song of Deborah
brings the place vividly before us, as the scene of the great
conflict between Sisera and Barak. When Pharaoh-necho came from
Egypt against the king of Assyria, Josiah joined the latter,
and was slain at Megiddo. (2 Kings 23:29; 2 Chronicles
35:22-24) Megiddo is the modern el-Lejjun, which is undoubtedly
the Legio of Eusebius and Jerome. There is a copious stream
flowing down the gorge, and turning some mills before joining
the Kishon. Here are probably the "waters of Megiddo" of
(Judges 5:19)
Mehetabel
(favored of God), the daughter of Matred, and wife of Hadad
king of Edom. (Genesis 36:39)
Mehetableel
(favored of God), another and less correct form of Mehetabel.
The ancestor of Shemaiah the prophet who was hired against
Nehemiah by Tobiah and Sanballat. (Nehemiah 6:10)
Mehida
(famous, noble), a family of Nethinim, the descendants of
Mehida. returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel. (Ezra 2:52;
Nehemiah 7:54)
Mehir
(price), the son of Chelub the brother of Shuah. (1 Chronicles
4:11)
Meholathite, The
a word occurring once only-- (1 Samuel 18:19) It no doubt
denotes that Adriel belonged to a place celled Meholah.
Mehujael
(smitten by God), the son of Irad, and fourth in descent from
Cain. (Genesis 4:18)
Mehuman
(faithful), one of the seven eunuchs of Ahasuerus. (Esther
1:10)
Mehunim
(habitations). (Ezra 2:50) Elsewhere called Mehunims and
Meunim.
Mehunims, The
a people against whom King Uzziah waged a successful war. (2
Chronicles 26:7) The name is the plural of Maon [[856]Maon].
Another notice of the Mehunims in the reign of Hezekiah (cir.
B.C. 726-697) is found in (1 Chronicles 4:41) Here they are
spoken of as it pastoral people, either themselves Hamites or
in alliance with Hamites quiet and peaceable, dwelling in
tents. Here, however, the Authorized Version treats the word as
an ordinary noun and renders it "habitations." The latest
appearance of the name Mehunims in the Bible is in the lists of
those who returned front the captivity with Zerubbabel. (Ezra
2:50) Authorized Version "Mehunim;" (Nehemiah 7:52) Authorized
Version "Meunim."
Mejarkon
(hunters of yellowness) a town in the territory of Dan. (Joshua
19:46) only in the neighborhood of Joppa or Japho.
Mekonah
(foundation), one of the towns which were reinhabited after the
captivity by the men of Judah. (Nehemiah 11:28)
Melatiah
(Jehovah delivers), a Gibeonite who assisted in rebuilding the
wall of Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 3:7)
Melchi
(my king, my counsel).
+ The son of Janna, and ancestor of Joseph in the genealogy of
Jesus Christ. (Luke 3:24)
Melchiah
(Jehovah's king), a priest, the father of Pashur. (Jeremiah
21:1)
Melchisedec
(king of righteousness). (Hebrews 5:1; Hebrews 6:1; Hebrews
7:1) ... [[857]Melchizedek]
Melchishua
A son of Saul. (1 Samuel 14:49; 31:2) Elsewhere correctly given
Malchishua.
Melchizedek
(king of righteousness), king of Salem and priest of the most
high God, who met Abram in the valley of Shaveh, which is the
king's valley, bought out bread and wine, blessed him, and
received tithes from him. (Genesis 14:18-20) The other places
in which Melchizedek is mentioned are (Psalms 110:4) where
Messiah is described as a priest forever, "after the order of
Melchizedek," and (Hebrews 5:1; Hebrews 6:1; Hebrews 7:1) ...
where these two passages of the Old Testament are quoted, and
the typical relation of Melchizedek to our Lord is stated at
great length. There is something surprising and mysterious in
the first appearance of Melchizedek, and in the subsequent
reference to him. Bearing a title which Jews in after ages
would recognize as designating their own sovereign, bearing
gifts which recall to Christians the Lord's Supper, this
Canaanite crosses for a moment the path of Abram, and is
unhesitatingly recognized as a person of higher spiritual rank
than the friend of God. Disappearing as suddenly as he came, he
is lost to the sacred writings for a thousand years. Jewish
tradition pronounces Melchizedek to be a survivor of the
deluge, the patriarch Shem. The way in which he is mentioned in
Genesis would rather lead to the inference that Melchizedek was
of one blood with the children of Ham, among whom he lived,
chief (like the king od Sodom) of a settled Canaanitish tribe.
The "order of Melchizedek," in (Psalms 110:4) is explained to
mean "manner" = likeness in official dignity = a king and
priest. The relation between Melchizedek and Christ as type and
antitype is made in the Epistle to the Hebrews to consist in
the following particulars: Each was a priest, (1) not of the
Levitical tribe; (2) superior to Abraham; (3) whose beginning
and end are unknown; (4) who is not only a priest, but also a
king of righteousness and peace. A fruitful source of
discussion has been found in the site of Salem. [[858]Salem]
Melea
the son of Menan, and ancestor of Joseph in the genealogy of
Jesus Christ. (Luke 3:31)
Melech
the second son of Micah, the son of Merib-baal or Mephibosheth.
(1 Chronicles 8:35; 9:41)
Melicu
the same as [859]Malluch 6. (Nehemiah 12:14) comp. ver. Nehe
12:2
Melita
(honey), the modern Malta. This island lies in the
Mediterranean 60 miles south of Cape Passaro in Sicily, 900
miles from Gibraltar and about 1200 from Jerusalem. It is 17
miles long. by 13 or 10 broad. It is naturally a barren rock,
with no high mountains, but has been rendered fertile by
industry and toil. It is famous for its honey and fruits. It is
now in the hands of the English.--McClintock and Strong. This
island has an illustrious place in Scripture as the scene of
that shipwreck of St. Paul which is described in such minute
detail in the Acts of the Apostle. (Acts 27:1) ... The wreck
probably happened at the place traditionally known as St.Paul's
day, an inlet with a creek two miles deep and one broad. The
question has been set at rest forever by Mr. Smith of Jordan
Hill, in his "Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul," the first
published work in which it was thoroughly investigated from a
sailor's point of view. The objection that there are no vipers
in Malta is overruled by the fact that Mr. Lewin saw such a
serpent there and that there may have been vipers in the wilder
ancient times, even were none found there now. As regards the
condition of the island of Melitu, when St. Paul was there it
was a dependency of the Roman province of Sicily. Its chief
officer (under the governor of Sicily) appears from
inscriptions to have had the title of protos Melitaion, or
Primus Melitensium and this is the very phrase which Luke uses.
(Acts 28:7) Melita, from its position in the Mediterranean and
the excellence of its harbors, has always been important in
both commerce and war. It was a settlement of the Phoenicians
at an early period, and their language in a corrupted form, was
still spoken there in St. Paul's day.
Melons
(Heb. abattichim) are mentioned only in (Numbers 11:5) By the
Hebrew word we are probably to understand both the melon
(Cumcumis melo) and the watermelon (Cucurbita citrullus). The
watermelon, which is now extensively cultivated in all hot
countries, is a fruit not unlike the common melon, but the
leaves are deeply lobed and gashed; the flesh is pink or white,
and contains a large quantity of cold watery juice with out
much flavor; the seeds are black.
Melzar
(steward). The Authorized Version is wrong in regarding melzar
as a proper name; it is rather an official title, (Daniel
1:11,16) the marginal reading, "the steward," is therefore more
correct.
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
(rebellious).
+ 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
(elevations),
+ 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
(freedom).
+ 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
(delivered by God).
+ 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
(recompense).
+ 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
(friend).
+ 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.
Meuzai
(Ezekiel 27:19) marg. [[864]Uzal]
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)
Top
of Page |
Table of
Contents Miamin
(from the right hand).
+ 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
(sweet odor).
+ 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
(who is like God?).
+ 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
(who is like God?).
+ 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
(who is like God?).
+ 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
(from the right hand).
+ 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
(staves).
+ 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
(queen or counsel).
+ 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)
Milcom
(great king). [[871]Molech]
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
(from the right hand).
+ 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
(who is what God is?).
+ 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 hearing).
+ 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
(given by Mithra).
+ 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)
Mizpeh
[[877]Mizpah]
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)
Top
of Page |
Table of
Contents 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)
Top
of Page |
Table of
Contents 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)
Moloch
The same as Molech. [882]Molech
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)
Moon, New
[NEW MOON] NEW MOON - 3185
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
(teacher).
+ 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
(chosen by Jehovah).
+ 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.)
Mother
The superiority of the Hebrew over all contemporaneous systems
of legislation and of morals is strongly shown in the higher
estimation of the mother in the Jewish family, as contrasted
with modern Oriental as well as ancient Oriental and classical
usage. The king's mother, as appears in the case of Bath-sheba,
was treated with special honor. (Exodus 20:12; Leviticus 19:3;
5:16; 21:18,21; 1 Kings 2:29; Proverbs 10:1; 15:20; 17:25;
29:15; 31:1,30)
Mount
(Isaiah 29:3; Jeremiah 6:6) etc. [SIEGE]
Mount, Mountain
The Hebrew word har, like the English "mountain." is employed
for both single eminences more or less isolated, such as Sinai.
Gerizim, Ebal, Zion and Olivet, and for ranges, such as
Lebanon. It is also applied to a mountainous country or
district.
Mountain Of The Amorites
specifically mentioned (1:19,20) comp. Deuteronomy 1:44 It
seems to be the range which rises abruptly from the plateau of
et-Tih, south of Judea, running from a little south of west to
north of east, and of which the extremities are the Jebel Araif
en-Nakah westward and Jebel el-Mukrah eastward, and from which
line the country continues mountainous all the way to Hebron.
Mourning
One marked feature of Oriental mourning is what may be called
its studies publicity and the careful observance of the
prescribed ceremonies. (Genesis 23:2; Job 1:20; 2:12)
+ Among the particular forms observed the following may be
mentioned: (a) Rending the clothes. (Genesis 37:29,34; 44:13)
etc. (b) Dressing in sackcloth. (Genesis 37:34; 2 Samuel
3:31; 21:10) etc. (c) Ashes, dust or earth sprinkled on the
person. (2 Samuel 13:19; 15:32) etc. (d) Black or sad-colored
garments. (2 Samuel 14:2; Jeremiah 8:21) etc. (e) Removal of
ornaments or neglect of person. (21:12,13) etc. (f) Shaving
the head, plucking out the hair of the head or beard.
(Leviticus 10:6; 2 Samuel 19:24) etc. (g) Laying bare some
part of the body. (Isaiah 20:2; 47:2) etc. (h) Fasting or
abstinence in meat and drink. (2 Samuel 1:12; 3:35; 12:16,22)
etc. (i) In the same direction may be mentioned diminution in
offerings to God, and prohibition to partake of sacrificial
food. (Leviticus 7:20; 26:14) (k) Covering the "upper lip,"
i.e. the lower part of the face, and sometimes the head, in
token of silence. (Leviticus 13:45; 2 Samuel 15:30; 19:4) (l)
Cutting the flesh, (Jeremiah 16:6,7; 41:5) beating the body.
(Ezekiel 21:12; Jeremiah 31:19) (m) Employment of persons
hired for the purpose of mourning. (Ecclesiastes 12:5;
Jeremiah 9:17; Amos 5:16; Matthew 9:23) (n) Akin to the
foregoing usage the custom for friends or passers-by to join
in the lamentations of bereaved or afflicted persons.
(Genesis 50:3; Judges 11:40; Job 2:11; 30:25) etc. (o) The
sitting or lying posture in silence indicative of grief.
(Genesis 23:3; Judges 20:26) etc. (p) Mourning feast and cup
of consolation. (Jeremiah 16:7,8)
+ The period of mourning varied. In the case of Jacob it was
seventy days, (Genesis 50:3) of Aaron, (Numbers 20:29) and
Moses, Deuteronomy 34:8 thirty. A further period of seven
days in Jacob's case. (Genesis 50:10) Seven days for Saul,
which may have been an abridged period in the time of
national danger. (1 Samuel 31:13) With the practices above
mentioned, Oriental and other customs, ancient and modern, in
great measure agree. Arab men are silent in grief, but the
women scream, tear their hair, hands and face, and throw
earth or sand on their heads. Both Mohammedans and Christians
in Egypt hire wailing-women, and wail at stated times.
Burckhardt says the women of Atbara in Nubia shave their
heads on the death of their nearest relatives--a custom
prevalent also among several of the peasant tribes of upper
Egypt. He also mentions wailing-women, and a man in distress
besmearing his face with dirt and dust in token of grief. In
the "Arabian Nights" are frequent allusions to similar
practices. It also mentions ten days and forty days as
periods of mourning. Lane, speaking of the modern Egyptians,
says, "After death the women of the family raise cries of
lamentation called welweleh or wilwal, uttering the most
piercing shrieks, and calling upon the name of the deceased,
'Oh, my master! Oh, my resource! Oh, my misfortune! Oh, my
glory!" See (Jeremiah 22:18) The females of the neighborhood
come to join with them in this conclamation: generally, also,
the family send for two or more neddabehs or public
wailing-women. Each brings a tambourine, and beating them
they exclaim, 'Alas for him!' The female relatives, domestics
and friends, with their hair dishevelled and sometimes with
rent clothes, beating their faces, cry in like manner, 'Alas
for him!' These make no alteration in dress, but women, in
some cases, dye their shirts, head-veils and handkerchiefs of
a dark-blue color. They visit the tombs at stated
periods."--Mod. Eg. iii. 152,171,195.
Mouse
(the corn-eater). The name of this animal occurs in (Leviticus
11:29; 1 Samuel 6:4,5; Isaiah 66:17) The Hebrew word is in all
probability generic, and is not intended to denote any
particular species of mouse. The original word denotes a
field-ravager, and may therefore comprehend any destructive
rodent. Tristram found twenty-three species of mice in
Palestine. It is probable that in (1 Samuel 6:5) the expression
"the mice that mar the land" includes and more particularly
refers to the short-tailed field-mice (Arvicola agrestis,
Flem.), which cause great destruction to the corn-lands of
Syria.
Mowing
As the great heat of the climate in Palestine and other
similarly situated countries soon dries up the herbage itself,
hay-making in our sense of the term is not in use. The "king's
mowings," (Amos 7:1) may perhaps refer to some royal right of
early pasturage for the use of the cavalry.
Moza
(fountain).
+ Son of Caleb the son of Hezron. (1 Chronicles 2:46)
+ Son of Zimri and descendant of Saul. (1 Chronicles 8:36,37;
9:42,43)
Mozah
(fountain), one of the cities in the allotment of Benjamin,
(Joshua 18:26) only, named between hae-Cephirah and Rekem.
Top
of Page |
Table of
Contents Muaz
(wrath), son of Ram, the first-born of Jerahmeel. (1 Chronicles
2:27)
Mulbury Trees
(Heb. becaim). Mention of these is made only in (2 Samuel
5:23,24) and 1Chr 14:14 We are quite unable to determine what
kind of tree is denoted by the Hebrew word. Some believe pear
trees are meant; others the aspen or poplar, whose leaves
tremble and rustle with the slightest breeze, even when the
breeze is not otherwise perceptible. It may have been to the
rustling of these leaves that the "going in the tree tops"
refers. (2 Samuel 5:23,24)
Mule
a hybrid animal, the offspring of a horse and an ass. "The mule
is smaller than the horse, and is a remarkably hardy, patient,
obstinate, sure-footed animal, living, ordinarily, twice as
long as a horse."--McClintock and Strong's Cyclopedia. It was
forbidden to the Israelites to breed mules, but sometimes they
imported them. It would appear that only kings and great men
rode on mules. We do not read of mules at all in the New
Testament; perhaps therefore they had ceased to be imported.
Muppim
(serpent), a Benjamite, and one of the fourteen descendants of
Rachael who belonged to the original colony of the sons of
Jacob in Egypt. (Genesis 46:21) (B.C. 1706.) In (Numbers 26:39)
the name is given as [888]Shupham.
Murder
The law of Moses, while it protected the accidental homicide,
defined with additional strictness the crime of murder. It
prohibited compensation or reprieve of the murderer, or his
protection if he took refuge in the refuge city, or even at the
altar of Jehovah. (Exodus 21:12,14; Leviticus 24:17,21; 1 Kings
2:5,6,31) The duty of executing punishment on the murderer is
in the law expressly laid on the "revenger of blood;" but the
question of guilt was to be previously decided by the Levitical
tribunal. In regal times the duty of execution of justice on a
murderer seems to have been assumed to some extent by the
sovereign, as was also the privilege of pardon. (2 Samuel
13:39; 14:7,11; 1 Kings 2:34) It was lawful to kill a burglar
taken at night in the act, but unlawful to do so after sunrise.
(Exodus 22:2,3)
Mushi
(yielding), the son of Merari the son of Kohath. (Exodus 6:19;
Numbers 3:20; 1 Chronicles 6:19,47; 23:21,23; 24:26,30)
Music
+ The most ancient music.--The inventor of musical instruments,
like the first poet and the first forger of metals, was a
Cainite. We learn from (Genesis 4:21) that Jubal the son of
Lamech was "the father of all such as handle the harp and
organ," that is, of all players upon stringed and wind
instruments. The first mentioned of music in the times after
the deluge is in the narrative of Laban's interview with
Jacob, (Genesis 32:27) so that, whatever way it was
preserved, the practice of music existed in the upland
country of Syria, and of the three possible kinds of musical
instruments two were known and employed to accompany the
song. The three kinds are alluded to in (Job 21:12) On the
banks of the Red Sea Moses and the children of Israel sang
their triumphal song of deliverance from the hosts of Egypt;
and Miriam, in celebration of the same event, exercised one
of her functions as a prophetess by leading a procession of
the women of the camp, chanting in chorus the burden of the
song of Moses. The song of Deborah and Barak is cast in a
distinctly metrical form, and was probably intended to be
sung with a musical accompaniment as one of the people's
songs. The simpler impromptu with which the women from the
cities of Israel greeted David after the slaughter of the
Philistines was apparently struck off on the spur of the
moment, under the influence of the wild joy with which they
welcomed their national champion. "the darling of the sons of
Israel." (1 Samuel 18:6,7) Up to this time we meet with
nothing like a systematic cultivation of music among the
Hebrews, but the establishment of the schools of the prophets
appears to have supplied this want. Whatever the students of
these schools may have been taught, music was an essential
part of their practice. Professional musicians soon became
attached to the court.
+ The golden age of Hebrew music . David seems to have gathered
round him "singing men and singing women." (2 Samuel 19:35)
Solomon did the same, (Ecclesiastes 2:8) adding to the luxury
of his court by his patronage of art, and obtaining a
reputation himself as no mean composer. (1 Kings 4:32) But
the temple was the great school of music, and it was
consecrated to its highest service in the worship of Jehovah.
Before, however the elaborate arrangements had been made by
David for the temple choir, there must have been a
considerable body of musicians throughout the country. (2
Samuel 6:5) (David chose 4000 musicians from the 38,000
Levies in his reign, or one in ten of the whole tribe. Of
these musicians 288 were specially trained and skillful. (1
Chronicles 26:6,7) The whole number was divided into 24
courses, each of which would thus consist of a full band of
154 musicians, presided over by a body of 12
specially-trained leaders, under one of the twenty-four sons
of Asaph, Heman or Jeduthun as conductor. The leaders appear
to have played on the cymbals, perhaps to make the time. (1
Chronicles 15:19; 16:5) All these joined in a special chant
which David taught them, and which went by his name. (1
Chronicles 23:5) Women also took part in the temple choir. (1
Chronicles 13:8; 25:5,6) These great choirs answered one to
another in responsive singing; thus the temple music most
have been grand and inspiring beyond anything known before
that time.
+ Character of Hebrew music .--As in all Oriental nations, the
music of the Hebrews was melody rather than harmony, which
latter was then unknown. All old and young, men and maidens,
singers and instruments, appear to have sung one part only in
or in octaves. "The beauty of the music consisted altogether
in the melody;" but this, with so many instruments and
voices, was so charming that "the whole of antiquity is full
of the praises of this music. By its means battles were won,
cities conquered, mutinies quelled, diseases cured."--ED.)
+ Uses of music .--In the private as well as in the religions
life of the Hebrews music held a prominent place. The kings
had their court musicians, (2 Chronicles 35:25; Ecclesiastes
2:8) and in the luxurious times of the later monarchy the
effeminate gallants of Israel amused themselves with devising
musical instruments while their nation was perishing ("as
Nero fiddled while Rome was burning"). But music was also the
legitimate expression of mirth and gladness The bridal
processions as they passed through the streets were
accompanied with music and song. (Jeremiah 7:34) The music of
the banquets was accompanied with song and dancing. (Luke
15:26) The triumphal processions which celebrated victory
were enlivened by minstrels and singers. (Exodus 15:1,20;
Judges 5:1; 11:34) There were also religious songs. (Isaiah
30:29; James 5:13) Love songs are alluded to; in (Psalms
45:1) title, and Isai 5:1 There were also the doleful songs
of the funeral procession, and the wailing chant of the
mourners. The grape-gatherers sang at their work, and the
women sang as they toiled at the mill, and on every occasion
the land of the Hebrews during their national prosperity was
a land of music and melody.
Musical Instruments Of The Hebrews
(There has been great obscurity as to the instruments of music
in use among the Hebrews, but the discoveries on the monuments
of Egypt and Assyria have thrown much light upon the form and
nature of these instruments. I. STRINGED INSTRUMENTS.--
+ The harp or lyre. [See illustration]
+ The psaltery, the name of various large instruments of the
harp kind.
+ The sackbut, a harp-like instrument of four strings and of
triangular form.
+ A kind of lute or guitar (mahalath), in titles to (Psalms
53:1) and Psal 88:1 With a long, flat neck, and a hollow body
of wood whose surface was perforated with holes. There were
three strings, end the whole instrument was three or four
feet long.
+ The gittith, in titles to (Psalms 8:1; 81:1; 84:1) a stringed
instrument, probably found by David st Gath, whence its name.
II. INSTRUMENTS OF PERCUSSION.
+ The timbrel, a form of tambourine, a narrow hoop covered with
a tightened skin, and struck with the hand on the Egyptian
monuments are three kinds--the circular, the square, and
another formed by two squares separated by a bar.
+ The drum (toph). Of this there were many varieties, some of
them resembling modern drums. The Egyptians had along drum,
of wood or copper, 2 1/2 feet long, resembling the tom-tom of
India, and beaten by the hand. Another form was shaped like a
cask with bulging centre, and was made of copper. It was of
the same length as the other, but larger around, and was
beaten with sticks. Another drum was more like our
kettledrum; and one of these, the rabbins say, was placed in
the temple court to the priests to prayer, and could be heard
from Jerusalem to Jericho.
+ Bells (paanton), attached to the high priest's dress, and
rung by striking against the knobs, shaped like pomegranates,
which were hung near them.
+ Cymbals . The earliest cymbals were probably finger cymbals
-small plates of metal fastened to the thumb and middle
finger, and struck together. Afterward there were the large
cymbals, played with both hands.
+ Systra (menaanim), (2 Samuel 6:5) there translated comets.
The systrum was a carved bronze or copper frame, with a
handle, in all from 8 to 18 inches long, with movable rings
and bars. It was shaken with the hand, and the rings and bars
made a piercing metallic sound by striking against the bronze
frame.
+ The triangle (shalishim), (1 Samuel 18:6) a musical
instrument (machol) used for accompanying the dance, and
several times translated dancing. (Psalms 150:3,45) It was a
metallic rim or frame sometimes with a handle and had small
bells attached to it, or bars across on which were strung
metallic rings or plates. It was held in the hand, and was
played by the women at weddings and merry-makings. III. WIND
INSTRUMENTS.--
+ The syrinx, pandean pipe or bagpipe (ugab); translated
"organ" in (Genesis 4:21) Either like the bagpipe, or a
series of pipes from 5 to 23 in number, though usually only
7.
+ The horn,in the form of an animal's horn even when made of
metal but originating in the use of the horns of cattle.
+ The trumpet (shophar) same as horn, 2.
+ The straight trumpet .
+ The flute (halil, meaning "bored through "), a pipe
perforated with holes, originally made from reeds, but
afterward of wood bone, horn or ivory. It was chiefly
consecrated to joy or pleasure.
+ The flute, alluded to in (Daniel 3:6) probably a kind of
double flageolet.
+ The dulcimer, (Daniel 3:5) a kind of bagpipe with two shrill
reeds. The modern dulcimer is a triangular instrument strung
with about 60 brass wires, and played upon with little sticks
or metallic rods. It more resembles the ancient psaltery than
the dulcimer of (Daniel 3:5)--ED.)
Mustard
is mentioned in (Matthew 13:31; 17:20; Mark 4:31; Luke 13:19;
17:6) It is generally agreed that the mustard tree of Scripture
is the black mustard (Sinapis nigru). The objection commonly
made against any sinapis being the plant of the parable is that
the reed grew into "a tree," in which the fowls of the air are
said to come and lodge. As to this objection, it is urged with
great truth that the expression is figurative and Oriental, and
that in a proverbial simile no literal accuracy is to be
expected. It is an error, for which the language of Scripture
is not accountable, to assert that the passage implies that
birds "built their nests" in the tree: the Greek word has no
such meaning; the word merely means "to settle or rest upon"
anything for a longer or shorter time; nor is there any
occasion to suppose that the expression "fowls of the air"
denotes any other than the smaller insessorial kinds--linnets,
finches, etc. Hiller's explanation is probably the correct
one,--that the birds came and settled on the mustard-plant for
the sake of the seed, of which they are very fond. Dr. Thomson
also says he has seen the wild mustard on the rich plain of
Akkar as tall as the horse and the rider. If, then, the wild
plant on the rich plain of Akkar grows as high as a man on
horseback, it might attain to the same or a greater height when
in a cultivated garden. The expression "which is indeed-the
least of all seeds" is in all probability hyperbolical, to
denote a very small seed indeed, as there are many seeds which
are smaller than mustard. The Lord in his popular teaching,"
says Trench ("Notes on Parables", 108), "adhered to the popular
language;" and the mustard-seed was used proverbially to denote
anything very minute; or may mean that it was the smallest of
all garden seeds, which it is in truth.
Muthlabben
"To the chief musician upon Muth-labben" is the title of
(Psalms 9:1) which has given rise to infinite conjecture. It
may be either upon the death (muth) of the fool (labben), as an
anagram on Nabal or as Gesenius, "to be chanted by boys with
virgins' voices," i.e. in the soprano.
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Table of
Contents Myra
an important town in Lycia, on the southwest coast of Asia
Minor, on the river Andriacus, 21 miles from its mouth referred
to in (Acts 27:5) Myra (named Dembra by the Greeks) Is
remarkable still for its remains of various periods of history.
Myrrh
This substance is mentioned in (Exodus 30:23) as one of the
ingredients of the "oil of holy ointment:" in (Esther 2:12) as
one of the substances used in the purification of women; in
(Psalms 45:8; Proverbs 7:17) and in several passages in
Canticles, as a perfume. The Greek occurs in (Matthew 2:11)
among the gifts brought by the wise men to the infant Jesus and
in (Mark 15:23) it is said that "wine mingled with myrrh" was
offered to but refused by, our Lord on the cross. Myrrh was
also used for embalming. See John 19;39 and Herod. ii. 86. The
Balsamodendron myrrha, which produces the myrrh of commerce,
has a wood and bark which emit a strong odor; the gum which
exudes from the bark is at first oily, but becomes hard by
exposure to the air. (This myrrh is in small yellowish or white
globules or tears. The tree is small, with a stunted trunk,
covered with light-gray bark, It is found in Arabia Felix. The
myrrh of (Genesis 37:25) was probably ladalzum, a
highly-fragrant resin and volatile oil used as a cosmetic, and
stimulative as a medicine. It is yielded by the cistus, known
in Europe as the rock rose, a shrub with rose-colored flowers,
growing in Palestine and along the shores of the
Mediterranean.--ED.) For wine mingled with myrrh see [889]Gall.
Myrtle
a plant mentioned in (Nehemiah 8:15; Isaiah 41:19; 55:13;
Zechariah 1:8,10,11) The modern Jews still adorn with myrtle
the booths and sheds at the feast of tabernacles. Formerly, as
we learn from Nehemiah, (Nehemiah 8:15) myrtles grew on the
hills about Jerusalem. "On Olivet." says Dean Stanley, "nothing
is now to be seen but the olive and the fig tree:" on some of
the hills near Jerusalem, however, Hasselquist observed the
myrtle. Dr. Hooker says it is not uncommon in Samaria and
Galilee. The Myrtus communis is the kind denoted by the Hebrew
word. (It is a shrub or low tree sometimes ten feet high, with
green shining leaves, and snow-white flowers bordered with
purple, "which emit a perfume more exquisite than that of the
rose." The seeds of the myrtle, dried before they are ripe,
form our allspice.--ED.)
Mysia
(land of beech trees) (Acts 16:7,8) was the region about the
frontier of the provinces of Asia and Bithynia. The term is
evidently used in an ethnological, not a political, sense.