Part 25
(4.) Erga, "works;" the works of Him who is "wonderful in working" (John 5:20, 36).
Miracles are seals of a divine mission. The sacred writers appealed to them as proofs that they were messengers of God. Our Lord also appealed to miracles as a conclusive proof of his divine mission (John 5:20, 36; 10:25, 38). Thus, being out of the common course of nature and beyond the power of man, they are fitted to convey the impression of the presence and power of God. Where miracles are there certainly God is. The man, therefore, who works a miracle affords thereby clear proof that he comes with the authority of God; they are his credentials that he is God's messenger. The teacher points to these credentials, and they are a proof that he speaks with the authority of God. He boldly says, "God bears me witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles."
The credibility of miracles is established by the evidence of the senses on the part of those who are witnesses of them, and to all others by the testimony of such witnesses. The witnesses were competent, and their
testimony is trustworthy. Unbelievers, following Hume, deny that any testimony can prove a miracle, because they say miracles are impossible. We have shown that miracles are possible, and surely they can be borne witness to. Surely they are credible when we have abundant and trustworthy evidence of their occurrence. They are credible just as any facts of history well authenticated are credible. Miracles, it is said, are contrary to experience. Of course they are contrary to our experience, but that does not prove that they were contrary to the experience of those who witnessed them. We believe a thousand facts, both of history and of science, that are contrary to our experience, but we believe them on the ground of competent testimony. An atheist or a pantheist must, as a matter of course, deny the possibility of miracles; but to one who believes in a personal God, who in his wisdom may see fit to interfere with the ordinary processes of nature, miracles are not impossible, nor are they incredible. (See LIST OF MIRACLES, Appendix.)
•MIRIAM their rebellion. (1.) The sister of Moses and Aaron (Exodus 2:4-10; 1 Chronicles 6:3). Her name is prominent in the history of the Exodus. She is called "the prophetess" (Exodus 15:20). She took the lead in the song of triumph after the passage of the Red Sea. She died at Kadesh during the second encampment at that place, toward the close of the wanderings in the wilderness, and was buried there (Numbers 20:1). (See AARON; MOSES.)
(2.) 1 Chronicles 4:17, one of the descendants of Judah.
•MISDEEM (Deuteronomy 32:27, R.V.). The Authorized Version reads, "should behave themselves strangely;" i.e., not recognize the truth, misunderstand or mistake the cause of Israel's ruin, which was due to the fact that God had forsaken them on account of their apostasy.
•MISGAB height, a town of Moab, or simply, the height=the citadel, some fortress so called; or perhaps a general name for the highlands of Moab, as some think (Jeremiah 48:1). In Isaiah 25:12, the word is rendered "high fort."
•MISHAEL who is like God! (1.) A Levite; the eldest of the three sons of Uzziel (Exodus 6:22).
(2.) One of the three Hebrew youths who were trained with Daniel in Babylon (Daniel 1:11, 19), and promoted to the rank of Magi. He and his
companions were afterwards cast into the burning fiery furnace for refusing to worship the idol the king had set up, from which they were miraculously delivered (3:13-30). His Chaldean name was Meshach (q.v.).
•MISHAL a city of the tribe of Asher (Joshua 21:30; 1 Chronicles 6:74). It is probably the modern Misalli, on the shore near Carmel.
•MISHAM their cleansing or their beholding, a Benjamite, one of the sons of Elpaal (1 Chronicles 8:12).
•MISHEAL (Joshua 19:26), a town of Asher, probably the same as Mishal.
•MISHMA hearing. (1.) One of the sons of Ishmael (Genesis 25:14), and founder of an Arab tribe.
(2.) A Simeonite (1 Chronicles 4:25, 26).
•MISHMANNAH fatness, one of the Gadite heroes who gathered to David at Ziklag (1 Chronicles 12:10).
•MISREPHOTH-MAIM burning of waters, supposed to be salt-pans, or lime-kilns, or glass-factories, a place to which Joshua pursued a party of Canaanites after the defeat of Jabin (Joshua 11:8). It is identified with the ruin Musheirifeh, at the promontory of en-Nakhurah, some 11 miles north of Acre.
•MITE contraction of minute, from the Latin minutum, the translation of the Greek word lepton, the very smallest bronze of copper coin (Luke 12:59; 21:2). Two mites made one quadrans, i.e., the fourth part of a Roman as, which was in value nearly a halfpenny. (See FARTHING.)
•MITHCAH sweetness, one of the stations of the Israelites in the wilderness (Numbers 33:28, 29).
•MITHREDATH given by Mithra, or dedicated to Mithra, i.e., the sun, the Hebrew form of the Greek name Mithridates. (1.) The "treasurer" of King Cyrus (Ezra 1:8).
(2.) Ezra 4:7, a Persian officer in Samaria.
•MITRE (Hebrews mitsnepheth), something rolled round the head; the turban or head-dress of the high priest (Exodus 28:4, 37, 39; 29:6, etc.). In the Authorized Version of Ezekiel 21:26, this Hebrew word is rendered
"diadem," but in the Revised Version, "mitre." It was a twisted band of fine linen, 8 yards in length, coiled into the form of a cap, and worn on official occasions (Leviticus 8:9; 16:4; Zechariah 3:5). On the front of it was a golden plate with the inscription, "Holiness to the Lord." The mitsnepheth differed from the mitre or head-dress (migba'ah) of the common priest. (See BONNET.)
•MITYLENE the chief city of the island of Lesbos, on its east coast, in the AEgean Sea. Paul, during his third missionary journey, touched at this place on his way from Corinth to Judea (Acts 20:14), and here tarried for a night. It lies between Assos and Chios. It is now under the Turkish rule, and bears the name of Metelin.
•MIXED MULTITUDE (Exodus 12:38), a class who accompanied the Israelites as they journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, the first stage of the Exodus. These were probably miscellaneous hangers-on to the Hebrews, whether Egyptians of the lower orders, or the remains of the Hyksos (see EGYPT; MOSES), as some think. The same thing happened on the return of the Jews from Babylon (Nehemiah 13:3), a "mixed multitude" accompanied them so far.
•MIZAR smallness, a summit on the eastern ridge of Lebanon, near which David lay after escaping from Absalom (Psalm 42:6). It may, perhaps, be the present Jebel Ajlun, thus named, "the little", in contrast with the greater elevation of Lebanon and Hermon.
•MIZPAH or Miz'peh, watch-tower; the look-out. (1.) A place in Gilead, so named by Laban, who overtook Jacob at this spot (Genesis 31:49) on his return to Palestine from Padan-aram. Here Jacob and Laban set up their memorial cairn of stones. It is the same as Ramath-mizpeh (Joshua 13:26).
(2.) A town in Gilead, where Jephthah resided, and where he assumed the command of the Israelites in a time of national danger. Here he made his rash vow; and here his daughter submitted to her mysterious fate (Judges 10:17; 11:11, 34). It may be the same as Ramoth-Gilead (Joshua 20:8), but it is more likely that it is identical with the foregoing, the Mizpeh of Genesis 31:23, 25, 48, 49.
(3.) Another place in Gilead, at the foot of Mount Hermon, inhabited by Hivites (Joshua 11:3, 8). The name in Hebrew here has the article before it,
"the Mizpeh," "the watch-tower." The modern village of Metullah, meaning also "the look-out," probably occupies the site so called.
(4.) A town of Moab to which David removed his parents for safety during his persecution by Saul (1 Samuel 22:3). This was probably the citadel known as Kir-Moab, now Kerak. While David resided here he was visited by the prophet Gad, here mentioned for the first time, who was probably sent by Samuel to bid him leave the land of Moab and betake himself to the land of Judah. He accordingly removed to the forest of Hareth (q.v.), on the edge of the mountain chain of Hebron.
(5.) A city of Benjamin, "the watch-tower", where the people were accustomed to meet in great national emergencies (Joshua 18:26; Judges 20:1, 3; 21:1, 5; 1 Samuel 7:5-16). It has been supposed to be the same as Nob (1 Samuel 21:1; 22:9-19). It was some 4 miles north-west of Jerusalem, and was situated on the loftiest hill in the neighbourhood, some 600 feet above the plain of Gibeon. This village has the modern name of Neby Samwil, i.e., the prophet Samuel, from a tradition that Samuel's tomb is here. (See NOB.)
Samuel inaugurated the reformation that characterized his time by convening a great assembly of all Israel at Mizpeh, now the politico-religious centre of the nation. There, in deep humiliation on account of their sins, they renewed their vows and entered again into covenant with the God of their fathers. It was a period of great religious awakening and of revived national life. The Philistines heard of this assembly, and came up against Israel. The Hebrews charged the Philistine host with great fury, and they were totally routed. Samuel commemorated this signal victory by erecting a memorial-stone, which he called "Ebenezer" (q.v.), saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us" (1 Samuel 7:7-12).
•MIZPAR number, one of the Jews who accompanied Zerubbabel from Babylon (Ezra 2:2); called also Mispereth (Nehemiah 7:7).
•MIZRAIM the dual form of matzor, meaning a "mound" or "fortress," the name of a people descended from Ham (Genesis 10:6, 13; 1 Chronicles 1:8, 11). It was the name generally given by the Hebrews to the land of Egypt (q.v.), and may denote the two Egypts, the Upper and the Lower. The modern Arabic name for Egypt is Muzr.
•MIZZAH despair, one of the four sons of Reuel, the son of Esau (Genesis 36:13, 17).
•MNASON reminding, or remembrancer, a Christian of Jerusalem with whom Paul lodged (Acts 21:16). He was apparently a native of Cyprus, like Barnabas (11:19, 20), and was well known to the Christians of Caesarea (4:36). He was an "old disciple" (R.V., "early disciple"), i.e., he had become a Christian in the beginning of the formation of the Church in Jerusalem.
•MOAB the seed of the father, or, according to others, the desirable land, the eldest son of Lot (Genesis 19:37), of incestuous birth.
(2.) Used to denote the people of Moab (Numbers 22:3-14; Judges 3:30; 2 Samuel 8:2; Jeremiah 48:11, 13).
(3.) The land of Moab (Jeremiah 48:24), called also the "country of Moab" (Ruth 1:2, 6; 2:6), on the east of Jordan and the Dead Sea, and south of the Arnon (Numbers 21:13, 26). In a wider sense it included the whole region that had been occupied by the Amorites. It bears the modern name of Kerak.
In the Plains of Moab, opposite Jericho (Numbers 22:1; 26:63; Joshua 13:32), the children of Israel had their last encampment before they entered the land of Canaan. It was at that time in the possession of the Amorites (Numbers 21:22). "Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah," and "died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 34:5, 6). "Surely if we had nothing else to interest us in the land of Moab, the fact that it was from the top of Pisgah, its noblest height, this mightiest of the prophets looked out with eye undimmed upon the Promised Land; that it was here on Nebo, its loftiest mountain, that he died his solitary death; that it was here, in the valley over against Beth-peor, he found his
mysterious sepulchre, we have enough to enshrine the memory in our hearts."
•MOABITE the designation of a tribe descended from Moab, the son of Lot (Genesis 19:37). From Zoar, the cradle of this tribe, on the south-eastern border of the Dead Sea, they gradually spread over the region on the east of Jordan. Rameses II., the Pharaoh of the Oppression, enumerates Moab (Muab) among his conquests. Shortly before the Exodus, the warlike Amorites crossed the Jordan under Sihon their king and drove the Moabites (Numbers 21:26-30) out of the region between the Arnon and the Jabbok, and occupied it, making Heshbon their capital. They were then confined to the territory to the south of the Arnon.
On their journey the Israelites did not pass through Moab, but through the "wilderness" to the east (Deuteronomy 2:8; Judges 11:18), at length reaching the country to the north of the Arnon. Here they remained for some time till they had conquered Bashan (see SIHON; OG). The Moabites were alarmed, and their king, Balak, sought aid from the Midianites (Numbers 22:2-4). It was while they were here that the visit of Balaam (q.v.) to Balak took place. (See MOSES.)
After the Conquest, the Moabites maintained hostile relations with the Israelites, and frequently harassed them in war (Judges 3:12-30; 1 Samuel 14). The story of Ruth, however, shows the existence of friendly relations between Moab and Bethlehem. By his descent from Ruth, David may be said to have had Moabite blood in his veins. Yet there was war between David and the Moabites (2 Samuel 8:2; 23:20; 1 Chronicles 18:2), from whom he took great spoil (2 Samuel 8:2, 11, 12; 1 Chronicles 11:22; 18:11).
During the one hundred and fifty years which followed the defeat of the Moabites, after the death of Ahab (see MESHA), they regained, apparently, much of their former prosperty. At this time Isaiah (15:1) delivered his "burden of Moab," predicting the coming of judgment on that land (comp. 2 Kings 17:3; 18:9; 1 Chronicles 5:25, 26). Between the time of Isaiah and the commencement of the Babylonian captivity we have very seldom any reference to Moab (Jeremiah 25:21; 27:3; 40:11; Zephaniah 2:8-10).
After the Return, it was Sanballat, a Moabite, who took chief part in seeking to prevent the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:19; 4:1; 6:1).
•MOABITE STONE a basalt stone, bearing an inscription by King Mesha, which was discovered at Dibon by Klein, a German missionary at Jerusalem, in 1868. It was 3 1/2 feet high and 2 in breadth and in thickness, rounded at the top. It consisted of thirty-four lines, written in Hebrew-Phoenician characters. It was set up by Mesha as a record and memorial of his victories. It records (1) Mesha's wars with Omri, (2) his public buildings, and (3) his wars against Horonaim. This inscription in a remarkable degree supplements and corroborates the history of King Mesha recorded in 2 Kings 3:4-27.
With the exception of a very few variations, the Moabite language in which the inscription is written is identical with the Hebrew. The form of the letters here used supplies very important and interesting information regarding the history of the formation of the alphabet, as well as, incidentally, regarding the arts of civilized life of those times in the land of Moab.
This ancient monument, recording the heroic struggles of King Mesha with Omri and Ahab, was erected about B.C. 900. Here "we have the identical slab on which the workmen of the old world carved the history of their own times, and from which the eye of their contemporaries read thousands of years ago the record of events of which they themselves had been the witnesses." It is the oldest inscription written in alphabetic characters, and hence is, apart from its value in the domain of Hebrew antiquities, of great linguistic importance.
•MOLADAH birth, a city in the south of Judah which fell to Simeon (Joshua 15:21-26; 19:2). It has been identified with the modern el-Milh, 10 miles east of Beersheba.
•MOLE Hebrews tinshameth (Leviticus 11:30), probably signifies some species of lizard (rendered in R.V., "chameleon"). In Leviticus 11:18, Deuteronomy 14:16, it is rendered, in Authorized Version, "swan" (R.V., "horned owl").
The Hebrews holed (Leviticus 11:29), rendered "weasel," was probably the mole-rat. The true mole (Talpa Europoea) is not found in Palestine. The mole-rat (Spalax typhlus) "is twice the size of our mole, with no external eyes, and with only faint traces within of the rudimentary organ; no apparent ears, but, like the mole, with great internal organs of hearing; a
strong, bare snout, and with large gnawing teeth; its colour a pale slate; its feet short, and provided with strong nails; its tail only rudimentary."
In Isaiah 2:20, this word is the rendering of two words haphar peroth, which are rendered by Gesenius "into the digging of rats", i.e., rats' holes. But these two Hebrew words ought probably to be combined into one (lahporperoth) and translated "to the moles", i.e., the rat-moles. This animal "lives in underground communities, making large subterranean chambers for its young and for storehouses, with many runs connected with them, and is decidedly partial to the loose debris among ruins and stone-heaps, where it can form its chambers with least trouble."
•MOLOCH king, the name of the national God of the Ammonites, to whom children were sacrificed by fire. He was the consuming and destroying and also at the same time the purifying fire. In Amos 5:26, "your Moloch" of the Authorized Version is "your king" in the Revised Version (comp. Acts 7:43). Solomon (1 Kings 11:7) erected a high place for this idol on the Mount of Olives, and from that time till the days of Josiah his worship continued (2 Kings 23:10, 13). In the days of Jehoahaz it was partially restored, but after the Captivity wholly disappeared. He is also called Molech (Leviticus 18:21; 20:2-5, etc.), Milcom (1 Kings 11:5, 33, etc.), and Malcham (Zephaniah 1:5). This God became Chemosh among the Moabites.
•MONEY Of uncoined money the first notice we have is in the history of Abraham (Genesis 13:2; 20:16; 24:35). Next, this word is used in connection with the purchase of the cave of Machpelah (23:16), and again in connection with Jacob's purchase of a field at Shalem (Genesis 33:18, 19) for "an hundred pieces of money"=an hundred Hebrew kesitahs (q.v.), i.e., probably pieces of money, as is supposed, bearing the figure of a lamb.
The history of Joseph affords evidence of the constant use of money, silver of a fixed weight. This appears also in all the subsequent history of the Jewish people, in all their internal as well as foreign transactions. There were in common use in trade silver pieces of a definite weight, shekels, half-shekels, and quarter-shekels. But these were not properly coins, which are pieces of metal authoritatively issued, and bearing a stamp.
Of the use of coined money we have no early notice among the Hebrews. The first mentioned is of Persian coinage, the daric (Ezra 2:69; Nehemiah
7:70) and the 'adarkon (Ezra 8:27). The daric (q.v.) was a gold piece current in Palestine in the time of Cyrus. As long as the Jews, after the Exile, lived under Persian rule, they used Persian coins. These gave place to Greek coins when Palestine came under the dominion of the Greeks (B.C. 331), the coins consisting of gold, silver, and copper pieces. The usual gold pieces were staters (q.v.), and the silver coins tetradrachms and drachms.
In the year B.C. 140, Antiochus VII. gave permission to Simon the Maccabee to coin Jewish money. Shekels (q.v.) were then coined bearing the figure of the almond rod and the pot of manna.
•MONEY-CHANGER (Matthew 21:12; Mark 11:15; John 2:15). Every Israelite from twenty years and upwards had to pay (Exodus 30:13-15) into the sacred treasury half a shekel every year as an offering to Jehovah, and that in the exact Hebrew half-shekel piece. There was a class of men, who frequented the temple courts, who exchanged at a certain premium foreign moneys for these half-shekels to the Jews who came up to Jerusalem from all parts of the world. (See PASSOVER.) When our Lord drove the traffickers out of the temple, these money-changers fared worst. Their tables were overturned and they themselves were expelled.
•MONTH Among the Egyptians the month of thirty days each was in use long before the time of the Exodus, and formed the basis of their calculations. From the time of the institution of the Mosaic law the month among the Jews was lunar. The cycle of religious feasts depended on the moon. The commencement of a month was determined by the observation of the new moon. The number of months in the year was usually twelve (1 Kings 4:7; 1 Chronicles 27:1-15); but every third year an additional month (ve-Adar) was inserted, so as to make the months coincide with the seasons.
"The Hebrews and Phoenicians had no word for month save 'moon,' and only saved their calendar from becoming vague like that of the Moslems by the interpolation of an additional month. There is no evidence at all that they ever used a true solar year such as the Egyptians possessed. The latter had twelve months of thirty days and five epagomenac or odd days.", Palestine Quarterly, January 1889.
•MOON heb. yareah, from its paleness (Ezra 6:15), and lebanah, the "white" (Cant. 6:10; Isaiah 24:23), was appointed by the Creator to be with the sun "for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years" (Genesis 1:14-16). A lunation was among the Jews the period of a month, and several of their festivals were held on the day of the new moon. It is frequently referred to along with the sun (Joshua 10:12; Psalm 72:5, 7, 17; 89:36, 37; Ecclesiastes 12:2; Isaiah 24:23, etc.), and also by itself (Psalm 8:3; 121:6).
The great brilliance of the moon in Eastern countries led to its being early an object of idolatrous worship (Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:3; Job 31:26), a form of idolatry against which the Jews were warned (Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:3). They, however, fell into this idolatry, and offered incense (2 Kings 23:5; Jeremiah 8:2), and also cakes of honey, to the moon (Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17-19, 25).
•MORDECAI the son of Jair, of the tribe of Benjamin. It has been alleged that he was carried into captivity with Jeconiah, and hence that he must have been at least one hundred and twenty-nine years old in the twelfth year of Ahasuerus (Xerxes). But the words of Esther do not necessarily lead to this conclusion. It was probably Kish of whom it is said (ver. 6) that he "had been carried away with the captivity."
He resided at Susa, the metropolis of Persia. He adopted his cousin Hadassah (Esther), an orphan child, whom he tenderly brought up as his own daughter. When she was brought into the king's harem and made queen in the room of the deposed queen Vashti, he was promoted to some office in the court of Ahasuerus, and was one of those who "sat in the king's gate" (Esther 2:21). While holding this office, he discovered a plot of the eunuchs to put the king to death, which, by his vigilance, was defeated. His services to the king in this matter were duly recorded in the royal chronicles.
Haman (q.v.) the Agagite had been raised to the highest position at court. Mordecai refused to bow down before him; and Haman, being stung to the quick by the conduct of Mordecai, resolved to accomplish his death in a wholesale destruction of the Jewish exiles throughout the Persian empire (Esther 3:8-15). Tidings of this cruel scheme soon reached the ears of Mordecai, who communicated with Queen Esther regarding it, and by her wise and bold intervention the scheme was frustrated. The Jews were
delivered from destruction, Mordecai was raised to a high rank, and Haman was executed on the gallows he had by anticipation erected for Mordecai (6:2-7:10). In memory of the signal deliverance thus wrought for them, the Jews to this day celebrate the feast (9:26-32) of Purim (q.v.).
•MOREH an archer, teacher; fruitful. (1.) A Canaanite probably who inhabited the district south of Shechem, between Mounts Ebal and Gerizim, and gave his name to the "plain" there (Genesis 12:6). Here at this "plain," or rather (R.V.) "oak," of Moreh, Abraham built his first altar in the land of Palestine; and here the Lord appeared unto him. He afterwards left this plain and moved southward, and pitched his tent between Bethel on the west and Hai on the east (Genesis 12:7, 8).
•MOREH, THE HILL OF probably identical with "little Hermon," the modern Jebel ed-Duhy, or perhaps one of the lower spurs of this mountain. It is a gray ridge parallel to Gilboa on the north; and between the two lay the battle-field, the plain of Jezreel (q.v.), where Gideon overthrew the Midianites (Judges 7:1-12).
•MORESHETH-GATH possession of the wine-press, the birthplace of the prophet Micah (1:14), who is called the "Morasthite" (Jeremiah 26:18). This place was probably a suburb of Gath.
•MORIAH the chosen of Jehovah. Some contend that Mount Gerizim is meant, but most probably we are to regard this as one of the hills of Jerusalem. Here Solomon's temple was built, on the spot that had been the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite (2 Samuel 24:24, 25; 2 Chronicles 3:1). It is usually included in Zion, to the north-east of which it lay, and from which it was separated by the Tyropoean valley. This was "the land of Moriah" to which Abraham went to offer up his son Isaac (Genesis 22:2). It has been supposed that the highest point of the temple hill, which is now covered by the Mohammedan Kubbetes-Sakhrah, or "Dome of the Rock," is the actual site of Araunah's threshing-floor. Here also, one thousand years after Abraham, David built an altar and offered sacrifices to God. (See JERUSALEM; NUMBERING THE PEOPLE.)
•MORTAR (Hebrews homer), cement of lime and sand (Genesis 11:3; Exodus 1:14); also potter's clay (Isaiah 41:25; Nah. 3:14). Also Hebrews 'aphar, usually rendered "dust," clay or mud used for cement in building (Leviticus 14:42, 45).
Mortar for pulverizing (Proverbs 27:22) grain or other substances by means of a pestle instead of a mill. Mortars were used in the wilderness for pounding the manna (Numbers 11:8). It is commonly used in Palestine at the present day to pound wheat, from which the Arabs make a favourite dish called kibby.
•MOSERA a bond, one of the stations of the Israelites in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 10:6), at the foot of Mount Hor. (Comp. Numbers 33:37, 38). It has been identified with el-Tayibeh, a small fountain at the bottom of the pass leading to the ascent of Mount Hor.
•MOSEROTH bonds, one of the stations in the wilderness (Numbers 33:30, 31), probably the same as Mosera.
•MOSES drawn (or Egypt. mesu, "son;" hence Rameses, royal son). On the invitation of Pharaoh (Genesis 45:17-25), Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt. This immigration took place probably about 350 years before the birth of Moses. Some centuries before Joseph, Egypt had been conquered by a pastoral Semitic race from Asia, the Hyksos, who brought into cruel subjection the native Egyptians, who were an African race. Jacob and his retinue were accustomed to a shepherd's life, and on their arrival in Egypt were received with favour by the king, who assigned them the "best of the land", the land of Goshen, to dwell in. The Hyksos or "shepherd" king who thus showed favour to Joseph and his family was in all probability the Pharaoh Apopi (or Apopis).
Thus favoured, the Israelites began to "multiply exceedingly" (Genesis 47:27), and extended to the west and south. At length the supremacy of the Hyksos came to an end. The descendants of Jacob were allowed to retain their possession of Goshen undisturbed, but after the death of Joseph their position was not so favourable. The Egyptians began to despise them, and the period of their "affliction" (Genesis 15:13) commenced. They were sorely oppressed. They continued, however, to increase in numbers, and "the land was filled with them" (Exodus 1:7). The native Egyptians regarded them with suspicion, so that they felt all the hardship of a struggle for existence.
In process of time "a king [probably Seti I.] arose who knew not Joseph" (Exodus 1:8). (See PHARAOH.) The circumstances of the country were such that this king thought it necessary to weaken his Israelite subjects by oppressing them, and by degrees reducing their number. They were accordingly made public slaves, and were employed in connection with his numerous buildings, especially in the erection of store-cities, temples, and palaces. The children of Israel were made to serve with rigour. Their lives were made bitter with hard bondage, and "all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour" (Exodus 1:13, 14). But this cruel
oppression had not the result expected of reducing their number. On the contrary, "the more the Egyptians afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew" (Exodus 1:12).
The king next tried, through a compact secretly made with the guild of midwives, to bring about the destruction of all the Hebrew male children that might be born. But the king's wish was not rigorously enforced; the male children were spared by the midwives, so that "the people multiplied" more than ever. Thus baffled, the king issued a public proclamation calling on the people to put to death all the Hebrew male children by casting them into the river (Exodus 1:22). But neither by this edict was the king's purpose effected.
One of the Hebrew households into which this cruel edict of the king brought great alarm was that of Amram, of the family of the Kohathites (Exodus 6:16-20), who with his wife Jochebed and two children, Miriam, a girl of perhaps fifteen years of age, and Aaron, a boy of three years, resided in or near Memphis, the capital city of that time. In this quiet home a male child was born (B.C. 1571). His mother concealed him in the house for three months from the knowledge of the civic authorities. But when the task of concealment became difficult, Jochebed contrived to bring her child under the notice of the daughter of the king by constructing for him an ark of bulrushes, which she laid among the flags which grew on the edge of the river at the spot where the princess was wont to come down and bathe. Her plan was successful. The king's daughter "saw the child; and behold the child wept." The princess (see PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER [1]) sent Miriam, who was standing by, to fetch a nurse. She went and brought the mother of the child, to whom the princess said, "Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages." Thus Jochebed's child, whom the princess called "Moses", i.e., "Saved from the water" (Exodus 2:10), was ultimately restored to her.
As soon as the natural time for weaning the child had come, he was transferred from the humble abode of his father to the royal palace, where he was brought up as the adopted son of the princess, his mother probably accompanying him and caring still for him. He grew up amid all the grandeur and excitement of the Egyptian court, maintaining, however, probably a constant fellowship with his mother, which was of the highest importance as to his religious belief and his interest in his "brethren." His education would doubtless be carefully attended to, and he would enjoy all
the advantages of training both as to his body and his mind. He at length became "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts 7:22). Egypt had then two chief seats of learning, or universities, at one of which, probably that of Heliopolis, his education was completed. Moses, being now about twenty years of age, spent over twenty more before he came into prominence in Bible history. These twenty years were probably spent in military service. There is a tradition recorded by Josephus that he took a lead in the war which was then waged between Egypt and Ethiopia, in which he gained renown as a skilful general, and became "mighty in deeds" (Acts 7:22).
After the termination of the war in Ethiopia, Moses returned to the Egyptian court, where he might reasonably have expected to be loaded with honours and enriched with wealth. But "beneath the smooth current of his life hitherto, a life of alternate luxury at the court and comparative hardness in the camp and in the discharge of his military duties, there had lurked from childhood to youth, and from youth to manhood, a secret discontent, perhaps a secret ambition. Moses, amid all his Egyptian surroundings, had never forgotten, had never wished to forget, that he was a Hebrew." He now resolved to make himself acquainted with the condition of his countrymen, and "went out unto his brethren, and looked upon their burdens" (Exodus 2:11). This tour of inspection revealed to him the cruel oppression and bondage under which they everywhere groaned, and could not fail to press on him the serious consideration of his duty regarding them. The time had arrived for his making common cause with them, that he might thereby help to break their yoke of bondage. He made his choice accordingly (Hebrews 11:25-27), assured that God would bless his resolution for the welfare of his people. He now left the palace of the king and took up his abode, probably in his father's house, as one of the Hebrew people who had for forty years been suffering cruel wrong at the hands of the Egyptians.
He could not remain indifferent to the state of things around him, and going out one day among the people, his indignation was roused against an Egyptian who was maltreating a Hebrew. He rashly lifted up his hand and slew the Egyptian, and hid his body in the sand. Next day he went out again and found two Hebrews striving together. He speedily found that the deed of the previous day was known. It reached the ears of Pharaoh (the "great Rameses," Rameses II.), who "sought to slay Moses" (Exodus
2:15). Moved by fear, Moses fled from Egypt, and betook himself to the land of Midian, the southern part of the peninsula of Sinai, probably by much the same route as that by which, forty years afterwards, he led the Israelites to Sinai. He was providentially led to find a new home with the family of Reuel, where he remained for forty years (Acts 7:30), under training unconsciously for his great life's work.
Suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared to him in the burning bush (Exodus 3), and commissioned him to go down to Egypt and "bring forth the children of Israel" out of bondage. He was at first unwilling to go, but at length he was obedient to the heavenly vision, and left the land of Midian (4:18-26). On the way he was met by Aaron (q.v.) and the elders of Israel (27-31). He and Aaron had a hard task before them; but the Lord was with them (ch. 7-12), and the ransomed host went forth in triumph. (See EXODUS.) After an eventful journey to and fro in the wilderness, we see them at length encamped in the plains of Moab, ready to cross over the Jordan into the Promised Land. There Moses addressed the assembled elders (Deuteronomy 1:1-4; 5:1-26:19; 27:11-30:20), and gives the people his last counsels, and then rehearses the great song (Deuteronomy 32), clothing in fitting words the deep emotions of his heart at such a time, and in review of such a marvellous history as that in which he had acted so conspicious a part. Then, after blessing the tribes (33), he ascends to "the mountain of Nebo (q.v.), to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho" (34:1), and from thence he surveys the land. "Jehovah shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar" (Deuteronomy 34:2-3), the magnificient inheritance of the tribes of whom he had been so long the leader; and there he died, being one hundred and twenty years old, according to the word of the Lord, and was buried by the Lord "in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor" (34:6). The people mourned for him during thirty days.
Thus died "Moses the man of God" (Deuteronomy 33:1; Joshua 14:6). He was distinguished for his meekness and patience and firmness, and "he endured as seeing him who is invisible." "There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders, which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty
hand, and in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel" (Deuteronomy 34:10-12).
The name of Moses occurs frequently in the Psalms and Prophets as the chief of the prophets.
In the New Testament he is referred to as the representative of the law and as a type of Christ (John 1:17; 2 Corinthians 3:13-18; Hebrews 3:5, 6). Moses is the only character in the Old Testament to whom Christ likens himself (John 5:46; comp. Deuteronomy 18:15, 18, 19; Acts 7:37). In Hebrews 3:1-19 this likeness to Moses is set forth in various particulars.
In Jude 1:9 mention is made of a contention between Michael and the devil about the body of Moses. This dispute is supposed to have had reference to the concealment of the body of Moses so as to prevent idolatry.
•MOTE (Gr. karphos, something dry, hence a particle of wood or chaff, etc.). A slight moral defect is likened to a mote (Matthew 7:3-5; Luke 6:41, 42).
•MOTH Hebrews 'ash, from a root meaning "to fall away," as moth-eaten garments fall to pieces (Job 4:19; 13:28; Isaiah 50:9; 51:8; Hos. 5:12).
Gr. ses, thus rendered in Matthew 6:19, 20; Luke 12:33. Allusion is thus made to the destruction of clothing by the larvae of the clothes-moth. This is the only lepidopterous insect referred to in Scripture.
•MOULDY Of the Gibeonites it is said that "all the bread of their provision was dry and mouldy" (Joshua 9:5, 12). The Hebrew word here rendered "mouldy" (nikuddim) is rendered "cracknels" in 1 Kings 14:3, and denotes a kind of crisp cake. The meaning is that the bread of the Gibeonites had become dry and hard, hard as biscuits, and thus was an evidence of the length of the journey they had travelled.
•MOUNT Palestine is a hilly country (Deuteronomy 3:25; 11:11; Ezekiel 34:13). West of Jordan the mountains stretch from Lebanon far down into Galilee, terminating in Carmel. The isolated peak of Tabor rises from the elevated plain of Esdraelon, which, in the south, is shut in by hills spreading over the greater part of Samaria. The mountains of Western and Middle Palestine do not extend to the sea, but gently slope into plains, and toward the Jordan fall down into the Ghor.
East of the Jordan the Anti-Lebanon, stretching south, terminates in the hilly district called Jebel Heish, which reaches down to the Sea of Gennesareth. South of the river Hieromax there is again a succession of hills, which are traversed by wadies running toward the Jordan. These gradually descend to a level at the river Arnon, which was the boundary of the ancient trans-Jordanic territory toward the south.
The composition of the Palestinian hills is limestone, with occasional strata of chalk, and hence the numerous caves, some of large extent, found there.
•MOUNT OF BEATITUDES See SERMON.
•MOUNT OF CORRUPTION (2 Kings 23:13; Vulg., "mount of offence"), the name given to a part of the Mount of Olives, so called because idol temples were there erected in the time of Solomon, temples to the Zidonian Ashtoreth and to the "abominations" of Moab and Ammon.
•MOUNT OF THE AMALEKITES a place near Pirathon (q.v.), in the tribe of Ephraim (Judges 12:15).
•MOUNT OF THE AMORITES the range of hills which rises abruptly in the wilderness of et-Tih ("the wandering"), mentioned Deuteronomy 1:19, 20, "that great and terrible wilderness."
•MOUNT OF THE CONGREGATION only in Isaiah 14:13, a mythic mountain of the Babylonians, regarded by them as the seat of the gods. It
was situated in the far north, and in Babylonian inscriptions is described as a mountain called Im-Kharasak, "the mighty mountain of Bel, whose head reaches heaven, whose root is the holy deep." In their geography they are said to have identified it with mount El-wend, near Ecbatana.
•MOUNT OF THE VALLEY (Joshua 13:19), a district in the east of Jordan, in the territory of Reuben. The "valley" here was probably the Ghor or valley of the Jordan, and hence the "mount" would be the hilly region in the north end of the Dead Sea. (See ZARETH-SHAHAR.)
•MOURN Frequent references are found in Scripture to, (1.) Mourning for the dead. Abraham mourned for Sarah (Genesis 23:2); Jacob for Joseph (37:34, 35); the Egyptians for Jacob (50:3-10); Israel for Aaron (Numbers 20:29), for Moses (Deuteronomy 34:8), and for Samuel (1 Samuel 25:1); David for Abner (2 Samuel 3:31, 35); Mary and Martha for Lazarus (John 11); devout men for Stephen (Acts 8:2), etc.
(2.) For calamities, Job (1:20, 21; 2:8); Israel (Exodus 33:4); the Ninevites (Jonah 3:5); Israel, when defeated by Benjamin (Judges 20:26), etc.
(3.) Penitential mourning, by the Israelites on the day of atonement (Leviticus 23:27; Acts 27:9); under Samuel's ministry (1 Samuel 7:6); predicted in Zechariah (Zechariah 12:10, 11); in many of the psalms (51, etc.).
Mourning was expressed, (1) by weeping (Genesis 35:8, marg.; Luke 7:38, etc.); (2) by loud lamentation (Ruth 1:9; 1 Samuel 6:19; 2 Samuel 3:31); (3) by the disfigurement of the person, as rending the clothes (Genesis 37:29, 34; Matthew 26:65), wearing sackcloth (Genesis 37:34; Psalm 35:13), sprinkling dust or ashes on the person (2 Samuel 13:19; Jeremiah 6:26; Job 2:12), shaving the head and plucking out the hair of the head or beard (Leviticus 10:6; Job 1:20), neglect of the person or the removal of ornaments (Exodus 33:4; Deuteronomy 21:12, 13; 2 Samuel 14:2; 19:24; Matthew 6:16, 17), fasting (2 Samuel 1:12), covering the upper lip (Leviticus 13:45; Micah 3:7), cutting the flesh (Jeremiah 16:6, 7), and sitting in silence (Judges 20:26; 2 Samuel 12:16; 13:31; Job 1:20).
In the later times we find a class of mourners who could be hired to give by their loud lamentation the external tokens of sorrow (2 Chronicles 35:25; Jeremiah 9:17; Matthew 9:23).
The period of mourning for the dead varied. For Jacob it was seventy days (Genesis 50:3); for Aaron (Numbers 20:29) and Moses (Deuteronomy 34:8) thirty days; and for Saul only seven days (1 Samuel 31:13). In 2 Samuel 3:31-35, we have a description of the great mourning for the death of Abner.
•MOUSE Hebrews 'akhbar, "swift digger"), properly the dormouse, the field-mouse (1 Samuel 6:4). In Leviticus 11:29, Isaiah 66:17 this word is used generically, and includes the jerboa (Mus jaculus), rat, hamster (Cricetus), which, though declared to be unclean animals, were eaten by the Arabs, and are still eaten by the Bedouins. It is said that no fewer than twenty-three species of this group ('akhbar=Arab. ferah) of animals inhabit Palestine. God "laid waste" the people of Ashdod by the terrible visitation of field-mice, which are like locusts in their destructive effects (1 Samuel 6:4, 11, 18). Herodotus, the Greek historian, accounts for the destruction of the army of Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:35) by saying that in the night thousands of mice invaded the camp and gnawed through the bow-strings, quivers, and shields, and thus left the Assyrians helpless. (See SENNACHERIB.)
•MOWING (Hebrews gez), rendered in Psalm 72:6 "mown grass." The expression "king's mowings" (Amos 7:1) refers to some royal right of early pasturage, the first crop of grass for the cavalry (comp. 1 Kings 18:5).
•MOZA a going forth. (1.) One of the sons of Caleb (1 Chronicles 2:46).
(2.) The son of Zimri, of the posterity of Saul (1 Chronicles 8:36, 37; 9:42, 43).
•MOZAH an issuing of water, a city of Benjamin (Joshua 18:26).
•MUFFLERS (Isaiah 3:19), veils, light and tremulous. Margin, "spangled ornaments."
•MULBERRY Hebrews bakah, "to weep;" rendered "Baca" (R.V., "weeping") in Psalm 84:6. The plural form of the Hebrew bekaim is rendered "mulberry trees" in 2 Samuel 5:23, 24 and 1 Chronicles 14:14, 15. The tree here alluded to was probably the aspen or trembling poplar. "We know with certainty that the black poplar, the aspen, and the Lombardy poplar grew in Palestine. The aspen, whose long leaf-stalks cause the leaves to tremble with every breath of wind, unites with the willow and
the oak to overshadow the watercourses of the Lebanon, and with the oleander and the acacia to adorn the ravines of Southern Palestine" (Kitto). By "the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees" we are to understand a rustling among the trees like the marching of an army. This was the signal that the Lord himself would lead forth David's army to victory. (See SYCAMINE.)
•MULE (Hebrews pered), so called from the quick step of the animal or its power of carrying loads. It is not probable that the Hebrews bred mules, as this was strictly forbidden in the law (Leviticus 19:19), although their use was not forbidden. We find them in common use even by kings and nobles (2 Samuel 18:9; 1 Kings 1:33; 2 Kings 5:17; Psalm 32:9). They are not mentioned, however, till the time of David, for the word rendered "mules" (R.V. correctly, "hot springs") in Genesis 36:24 (yemim) properly denotes the warm springs of Callirhoe, on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. In David's reign they became very common (2 Samuel 13:29; 1 Kings 10:25).
Mules are not mentioned in the New Testament. Perhaps they had by that time ceased to be used in Palestine.
•MURDER Wilful murder was distinguished from accidental homicide, and was invariably visited with capital punishment (Numbers 35:16, 18, 21, 31; Leviticus 24:17). This law in its principle is founded on the fact of man's having been made in the likeness of God (Genesis 9:5, 6; John 8:44; 1 John 3:12, 15). The Mosiac law prohibited any compensation for murder or the reprieve of the murderer (Exodus 21:12, 14; Deuteronomy 19:11, 13; 2 Samuel 17:25; 20:10). Two witnesses were required in any capital case (Numbers 35:19-30; Deuteronomy 17:6-12). If the murderer could not be discovered, the city nearest the scene of the murder was required to make expiation for the crime committed (Deuteronomy 21:1-9). These offences also were to be punished with death, (1) striking a parent; (2) cursing a parent; (3) kidnapping (Exodus 21:15-17; Deuteronomy 27:16).
•MURMURING of the Hebrews in the wilderness, called forth the displeasure of God, which was only averted by the earnest prayer of Moses (Numbers 11:33, 34; 12; 14:27, 30, 31; 16:3; 21:4-6; Psalm 106:25). Forbidden by Paul (1 Corinthians 10:10).
•MURRAIN Hebrews deber, "destruction," a "great mortality", the fifth plague that fell upon the Egyptians (Exodus 9:3). It was some distemper
that resulted in the sudden and widespread death of the cattle. It was confined to the cattle of the Egyptians that were in the field (9:6).
•MUSHI receding, the second of the two sons of Merari (Exodus 6:19; Numbers 3:20). His sons were called Mushites (Numbers 3:33; 26:58).
•MUSIC Jubal was the inventor of musical instruments (Genesis 4:21). The Hebrews were much given to the cultivation of music. Their whole history and literature afford abundant evidence of this. After the Deluge, the first mention of music is in the account of Laban's interview with Jacob (Genesis 31:27). After their triumphal passage of the Red Sea, Moses and the children of Israel sang their song of deliverance (Exodus 15).
But the period of Samuel, David, and Solomon was the golden age of Hebrew music, as it was of Hebrew poetry. Music was now for the first time systematically cultivated. It was an essential part of training in the schools of the prophets (1 Samuel 10:5; 19:19-24; 2 Kings 3:15; 1 Chronicles 25:6). There now arose also a class of professional singers (2 Samuel 19:35; Ecclesiastes 2:8). The temple, however, was the great school of music. In the conducting of its services large bands of trained singers and players on instruments were constantly employed (2 Samuel 6:5; 1 Chronicles 15; 16; 23;5; 25:1-6).
In private life also music seems to have held an important place among the Hebrews (Ecclesiastes 2:8; Amos 6:4-6; Isaiah 5:11, 12; 24:8, 9; Psalm 137; Jeremiah 48:33; Luke 15:25).
•MUSICIAN, CHIEF (Hebrews menatstseah), the precentor of the Levitical choir or orchestra in the temple, mentioned in the titles of fifty-five psalms, and in Habakkuk 3:19, Revised Version. The first who held this office was Jeduthun (1 Chronicles 16:41), and the office appears to have been hereditary. Heman and Asaph were his two colleagues (2 Chronicles 35:15).
•MUSIC, INSTRUMENTAL Among instruments of music used by the Hebrews a principal place is given to stringed instruments. These were, (1.) The kinnor, the "harp." (2.) The nebel, "a skin bottle," rendered "psaltery." (3.) The sabbeka, or "sackbut," a lute or lyre. (4.) The gittith, occurring in the title of Psalm 8; 8; 84. (5.) Minnim (Psalm 150:4), rendered "stringed instruments;" in Psalm 45:8, in the form minni,
probably the apocopated (i.e., shortened) plural, rendered, Authorized Version, "whereby," and in the Revised Version "stringed instruments." (6.) Machalath, in the titles of Psalm 53 and 88; supposed to be a kind of lute or guitar.
Of wind instruments mention is made of, (1.) The 'ugab (Genesis 4:21; Job 21:12; 30:31), probably the so-called Pan's pipes or syrinx. (2.) The qeren or "horn" (Joshua 6:5; 1 Chronicles 25:5). (3.) The shophar, rendered "trumpet" (Joshua 6:4, 6, 8). The word means "bright," and may have been so called from the clear, shrill sound it emitted. It was often used (Exodus 19:13; Numbers 10:10; Judges 7:16, 18; 1 Samuel 13:3). (4.) The hatsotserah, or straight trumpet (Psalm 98:6; Numbers 10:1-10). This name is supposed by some to be an onomatopoetic word, intended to imitate the pulse-like sound of the trumpet, like the Latin taratantara. Some have identified it with the modern trombone. (5.) The halil, i.e, "bored through," a flute or pipe (1 Samuel 10:5; 1 Kings 1:40; Isaiah 5:12; Jeremiah 48:36) which is still used in Palestine. (6.) The sumponyah, rendered "dulcimer" (Daniel 3:5), probably a sort of bagpipe. (7.) The maskrokith'a (Daniel 3:5), rendered "flute," but its precise nature is unknown.
Of instruments of percussion mention is made of, (1.) The toph, an instrument of the drum kind, rendered "timbrel" (Exodus 15:20; Job 21:12; Psalm 68:25); also "tabret" (Genesis 31:27; Isaiah 24:8; 1 Samuel 10:5). (2.) The paamon, the "bells" on the robe of the high priest (Exodus 28:33; 39:25). (3.) The tseltselim, "cymbals" (2 Samuel 6:5; Psalm 150:5), which are struck together and produce a loud, clanging sound. Metsilloth, "bells" on horses and camels for ornament, and metsiltayim, "cymbals" (1 Chronicles 13:8; Ezra 3:10, etc.). These words are all derived from the same root, tsalal, meaning "to tinkle." (4.) The menaan'im, used only in 2 Samuel 6:5, rendered "cornets" (R.V., "castanets"); in the Vulgate, "sistra," an instrument of agitation. (5.) The shalishim, mentioned only in 1 Samuel 18:6, rendered "instruments of music" (marg. of R.V., "triangles or three-stringed instruments").
The words in Ecclesiastes 2:8, "musical instruments, and that of all sorts," Authorized Version, are in the Revised Version "concubines very many."
•MUSTARD a plant of the genus sinapis, a pod-bearing, shrub-like plant, growing wild, and also cultivated in gardens. The little round seeds were an
emblem of any small insignificant object. It is not mentioned in the Old Testament; and in each of the three instances of its occurrence in the New Testament (Matthew 13:31, 32; Mark 4:31, 32; Luke 13:18, 19) it is spoken of only with reference to the smallness of its seed. The common mustard of Palestine is the Sinapis nigra. This garden herb sometimes grows to a considerable height, so as to be spoken of as "a tree" as compared with garden herbs.
•MUTH-LABBEN occurring only in the title of Psalm 9. Some interpret the words as meaning "on the death of Labben," some unknown person. Others render the word, "on the death of the son;" i.e., of Absalom (2 Samuel 18:33). Others again have taken the word as the name of a musical instrument, or as the name of an air to which the psalm was sung.
•MUZZLE Grain in the East is usually thrashed by the sheaves being spread out on a floor, over which oxen and cattle are driven to and fro, till the grain is trodden out. Moses ordained that the ox was not to be muzzled while thrashing. It was to be allowed to eat both the grain and the straw (Deuteronomy 25:4). (See AGRICULTURE.)
•MYRA one of the chief towns of Lycia, in Asia Minor, about 2 1/2 miles from the coast (Acts 27:5). Here Paul removed from the Adramyttian ship in which he had sailed from Caesarea, and entered into the Alexandrian ship, which was afterwards wrecked at Melita (27:39-44).
•MYRRH Hebrews mor. (1.) First mentioned as a principal ingredient in the holy anointing oil (Exodus 30:23). It formed part of the gifts brought by the wise men from the east, who came to worship the infant Jesus (Matthew 2:11). It was used in embalming (John 19:39), also as a perfume (Esther 2:12; Psalm 45:8; Proverbs 7:17). It was a custom of the Jews to give those who were condemned to death by crucifixion "wine mingled with myrrh" to produce insensibility. This drugged wine was probably partaken of by the two malefactors, but when the Roman soldiers pressed it upon Jesus "he received it not" (Mark 15:23). (See GALL.)
This was the gum or viscid white liquid which flows from a tree resembling the acacia, found in Africa and Arabia, the Balsamodendron myrrha of botanists. The "bundle of myrrh" in Cant. 1:13 is rather a "bag" of myrrh or a scent-bag.
(2.) Another word lot is also translated "myrrh" (Genesis 37:25; 43:11; R.V., marg., "or ladanum"). What was meant by this word is uncertain. It has been thought to be the chestnut, mastich, stacte, balsam, turpentine, pistachio nut, or the lotus. It is probably correctly rendered by the Latin word ladanum, the Arabic ladan, an aromatic juice of a shrub called the Cistus or rock rose, which has the same qualities, though in a slight degree, of opium, whence a decoction of opium is called laudanum. This plant was indigenous to Syria and Arabia.
•MYRTLE (Isaiah 41:19; Nehemiah 8:15; Zechariah 1:8), Hebrew hadas, known in the East by the name as, the Myrtus communis of the botanist. "Although no myrtles are now found on the mount (of Olives), excepting in the gardens, yet they still exist in many of the glens about Jerusalem, where we have often seen its dark shining leaves and white flowers. There are many near Bethlehem and about Hebron, especially near Dewir Dan, the ancient Debir. It also sheds its fragrance on the sides of Carmel and of Tabor, and fringes the clefts of the Leontes in its course through Galilee. We meet with it all through Central Palestine" (Tristram).
•MYSIA a province in the north-west of Asia Minor. On his first voyage to Europe (Acts 16:7, 8) Paul passed through this province and embarked at its chief port Troas.
•MYSTERY the calling of the Gentiles into the Christian Church, so designated (Ephesians 1:9, 10; 3:8-11; Colossians 1:25-27); a truth undiscoverable except by revelation, long hid, now made manifest. The resurrection of the dead (1 Corinthians 15:51), and other doctrines which need to be explained but which cannot be fully understood by finite intelligence (Matthew 13:11; Romans 11:25; 1 Corinthians 13:2); the union between Christ and his people symbolized by the marriage union (Ephesians 5:31, 32; comp. 6:19); the seven stars and the seven candlesticks (Revelation 1:20); and the woman clothed in scarlet (17:7), are also in this sense mysteries. The anti-Christian power working in his day is called by the apostle (2 Thessalonians 2:7) the "mystery of iniquity."
•NAAM pleasantness, one of the three sons of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh (1 Chronicles 4:15).
•NAAMAH the beautiful. (1.) The daughter of Lamech and Zillah (Genesis 4: 22).
(2.) The daughter of the king of Ammon, one of the wives of Solomon, the only one who appears to have borne him a son, viz., Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:21, 31).
(3.) A city in the plain of Judah (Joshua 15:41), supposed by some to be identified with Na'aneh, some 5 miles south-east of Makkedah.
•NAAMAN pleasantness, a Syrian, the commander of the armies of Benhadad II. in the time of Joram, king of Israel. He was afflicted with leprosy; and when the little Hebrew slave-girl that waited on his wife told her of a prophet in Samaria who could cure her master, he obtained a letter from Benhadad and proceeded with it to Joram. The king of Israel suspected in this some evil design against him, and rent his clothes. Elisha the prophet hearing of this, sent for Naaman, and the strange interview which took place is recorded in 2 Kings 5. The narrative contains all that is known of the Syrian commander. He was cured of his leprosy by dipping himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of Elisha. His cure is alluded to by our Lord (Luke 4:27).
•NAAMATHITE the designation of Zophar, one of Job's three friends (Job 2:11; 11:1), so called from some place in Arabia, called Naamah probably.
•NAARAH a girl, the second of Ashur's two wives, of the tribe of Judah (1 Chronicles 4:5, 6).
•NAARAI youthful, a military chief in David's army (1 Chronicles 11:37), called also Paarai (2 Samuel 23:35).
•NAARAN boyish, juvenile, a town in Ephraim between Bethel and Jericho (1 Chronicles 7:28).
•NAARATH girl, a town on the boundary between Ephraim and Benjamin (Joshua 16:7), not far probably from Jericho, to the north (1 Chronicles 7:28).
•NABAL foolish, a descendant of Caleb who dwelt at Maon (1 Samuel 25), the modern Main, 7 miles south-east of Hebron. He was "very great, and he had 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats...but the man was churlish and evil in his doings." During his wanderings David came into that district, and hearing that Nabal was about to shear his sheep, he sent ten of his young men to ask "whatsoever cometh unto thy hand for thy servants." Nabal insultingly resented the demand, saying, "Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse?" (1 Samuel 25:10, 11). One of the shepherds that stood by and saw the reception David's messengers had met with, informed Abigail, Nabal's wife, who at once realized the danger that threatened her household. She forthwith proceeded to the camp of David, bringing with her ample stores of provisions (25:18). She so courteously and persuasively pled her cause that David's anger was appeased, and he said
to her, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which sent thee this day to meet me."
On her return she found her husband incapable from drunkenness of understanding the state of matters, and not till the following day did she explain to him what had happened. He was stunned by a sense of the danger to which his conduct had exposed him. "His heart died within him, and he became as a stone." and about ten days after "the Lord smote Nabal that he died" (1 Samuel 25:37, 38). Not long after David married Abigail (q.v.).
•NABOTH fruits, "the Jezreelite," was the owner of a portion of ground on the eastern slope of the hill of Jezreel (2 Kings 9:25, 26). This small "plat of ground" seems to have been all he possessed. It was a vineyard, and lay "hard by the palace of Ahab" (1 Kings 21:1, 2), who greatly coveted it. Naboth, however, refused on any terms to part with it to the king. He had inherited it from his fathers, and no Israelite could lawfully sell his property (Leviticus 25:23). Jezebel, Ahab's wife, was grievously offended at Naboth's refusal to part with his vineyard. By a crafty and cruel plot she compassed his death. His sons also shared his fate (2 Kings 9:26; 1 Kings 21:19). She then came to Ahab and said, "Arise, take possession of the vineyard; for Naboth is not alive, but dead." Ahab arose and went forth into the garden which had so treacherously and cruelly been acquired, seemingly enjoying his new possession, when, lo, Elijah suddenly appeared before him and pronounced against him a fearful doom (1 Kings 21:17-24). Jehu and Bidcar were with Ahab at this time, and so deeply were the words of Elijah imprinted on Jehu's memory that many years afterwards he refers to them (2 Kings 9:26), and he was the chief instrument in inflicting this sentence on Ahab and Jezebel and all their house (9:30-37). The house of Ahab was extinguished by him. Not one of all his great men and his kinsfolk and his priests did Jehu spare (10:11).
Ahab humbled himself at Elijah's words (1 Kings 21:28, 29), and therefore the prophecy was fulfilled not in his fate but in that of his son Joram (2 Kings 9:25).
The history of Naboth, compared with that of Ahab and Jezebel, furnishes a remarkable illustration of the law of a retributive providence, a law which runs through all history (comp. Psalm 109:17, 18).
•NACHON prepared, the owner of a thrashing-floor near which Uzzah was slain (2 Samuel 6:6); called also Chidon (1 Chronicles 13:9).
•NADAB liberal, generous. (1.) The eldest of Aaron's four sons (Exodus 6:23; Numbers 3:2). He with his brothers and their father were consecrated as priests of Jehovah (Exodus 28:1). He afterwards perished with Abihu for the sin of offering strange fire on the altar of burnt-offering (Leviticus 10:1,2; Numbers 3:4; 26:60).
(2.) The son and successor of Jeroboam, the king of Israel (1 Kings 14:20). While engaged with all Israel in laying siege to Gibbethon, a town of southern Dan (Joshua 19:44), a conspiracy broke out in his army, and he was slain by Baasha (1 Kings 15:25-28), after a reign of two years (B.C. 955-953). The assassination of Nadab was followed by that of his whole house, and thus this great Ephraimite family became extinct (1 Kings 15:29).
(3.) One of the sons of Shammai in the tribe of Judah (1 Chronicles 2:28, 30).
•NAGGE illuminating, one of the ancestors of Christ in the maternal line (Luke 3:25).
•NAHALIEL possession, or valley of God, one of the encampments of the Israelites in the wilderness (Numbers 21:19), on the confines of Moab. This is identified with the ravine of the Zerka M'ain, the ancient Callirhoe, the hot springs on the east of the Jordan, not far from the Dead Sea.
•NAHALLAL pasture, a city in Zebulun on the border of Issachar (Joshua 19:15), the same as Nahalol (Judges 1:30). It was given to the Levites. It has been by some identified with Malul in the plain of Esdraelon, 4 miles from Nazareth.
•NAHARAI snorer, a Berothite, one of David's heroes, and armour-bearer of Joab (1 Chronicles 11:39).
•NAHASH serpent. (1.) King of the Ammonites in the time of Saul. The inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead having been exposed to great danger from Nahash, sent messengers to Gibeah to inform Saul of their extremity. He promptly responded to the call, and gathering together an army he marched against Nahash. "And it came to pass that they which remained were
scattered, so that two of them [the Ammonites] were not left together" (1 Samuel 11:1-11).
(2.) Another king of the Ammonites of the same name is mentioned, who showed kindness to David during his wanderings (2 Samuel 10:2). On his death David sent an embassy of sympathy to Hanun, his son and successor, at Rabbah Ammon, his capital. The grievous insult which was put upon these ambassadors led to a war against the Ammonites, who, with their allies the Syrians, were completely routed in a battle fought at "the entering in of the gate," probably of Medeba (2 Samuel 10:6-14). Again Hadarezer rallied the Syrian host, which was totally destroyed by the Israelite army under Joab in a decisive battle fought at Helam (2 Samuel 10:17), near to Hamath (1 Chronicles 18:3). "So the Syrians feared to help the children of Ammon any more" (2 Samuel 10:19).
(3.) The father of Amasa, who was commander-in-chief of Abasolom's army (2 Samuel 17:25). Jesse's wife had apparently been first married to this man, to whom she bore Abigail and Zeruiah, who were thus David's sisters, but only on the mother's side (1 Chronicles 2:16).
•NAHATH rest. (1.) One of the four sons of Reuel, the son of Esau (Genesis 36:13, 17). (2.) A Kohathite Levite (1 Chronicles 6:26). (3.) A Levite, one of the overseers of the sacred offerings of the temple (2 Chronicles 31:13).
•NAHBI hidden, one of the twelve spies sent out to explore the land of Canaan (Numbers 13:14).
•NAHOR snorting. (1.) The father of Terah, who was the father of Abraham (Genesis 11:22-25; Luke 3:34).
(2.) A son of Terah, and elder brother of Abraham (Genesis 11:26, 27; Joshua 24:2, R.V.). He married Milcah, the daughter of his brother Haran, and remained in the land of his nativity on the east of the river Euphrates at Haran (Genesis 11:27-32). A correspondence was maintained between the family of Abraham in Canaan and the relatives in the old ancestral home at Haran till the time of Jacob. When Jacob fled from Haran all intercourse between the two branches of the family came to an end (Genesis 31:55). His grand-daughter Rebekah became Isaac's wife (24:67).
•NAHSHON sorcerer, the son of Aminadab, and prince of the children of Judah at the time of the first numbering of the tribes in the wilderness
(Exodus 6:23). His sister Elisheba was the wife of Aaron. He died in the wilderness (Numbers 26:64, 65). His name occurs in the Greek form Naasson in the genealogy of Christ (Matt, 1:4; Luke 3:32).
•NAHUM consolation, the seventh of the so-called minor prophets, an Elkoshite. All we know of him is recorded in the book of his prophecies. He was probably a native of Galilee, and after the deportation of the ten tribes took up his residence in Jerusalem. Others think that Elkosh was the name of a place on the east bank of the Tigris, and that Nahum dwelt there.
•NAHUM, BOOK OF Nahum prophesied, according to some, in the beginning of the reign of Ahaz (B.C. 743). Others, however, think that his prophecies are to be referred to the latter half of the reign of Hezekiah (about B.C. 709). This is the more probable opinion, internal evidences leading to that conclusion. Probably the book was written in Jerusalem (soon after B.C. 709), where he witnessed the invasion of Sennacherib and the destruction of his host (2 Kings 19:35).
The subject of this prophecy is the approaching complete and final destruction of Nineveh, the capital of the great and at that time flourishing Assyrian empire. Assur-bani-pal was at the height of his glory. Nineveh was a city of vast extent, and was then the centre of the civilzation and commerce of the world, a "bloody city all full of lies and robbery" (Nah. 3:1), for it had robbed and plundered all the neighbouring nations. It was strongly fortified on every side, bidding defiance to every enemy; yet it was to be utterly destroyed as a punishment for the great wickedness of its inhabitants.
Jonah had already uttered his message of warning, and Nahum was followed by Zephaniah, who also predicted (Zephaniah 2:4-15) the destruction of the city, predictions which were remarkably fulfilled (B.C. 625) when Nineveh was destroyed apparently by fire, and the Assyrian empire came to an end, an event which changed the face of Asia. (See NINEVEH.)
•NAIL for fastening. (1.) Hebrew yathed, "piercing," a peg or nail of any material (Ezekiel 15:3), more especially a tent-peg (Exodus 27:19; 35:18; 38:20), with one of which Jael (q.v.) pierced the temples of Sisera (Judges 4:21, 22). This word is also used metaphorically (Zechariah 10:4) for a prince or counsellor, just as "the battle-bow" represents a warrior.
(2.) Masmer, a "point," the usual word for a nail. The words of the wise are compared to "nails fastened by the masters of assemblies" (Ecclesiastes 12:11, A.V.). The Revised Version reads, "as nails well fastened are the words of the masters," etc. Others (as Plumptre) read, "as nails fastened are the masters of assemblies" (comp. Isaiah 22:23; Ezra 9:8). David prepared nails for the temple (1 Chronicles 22:3; 2 Chronicles 3:9). The nails by which our Lord was fixed to the cross are mentioned (John 20:25; Colossians 2:14).
Nail of the finger (Hebrews tsipporen, "scraping"). To "pare the nails" is in Deuteronomy 21:12 (marg., "make," or "dress," or "suffer to grow") one of the signs of purification, separation from former heathenism (comp. Leviticus 14:8; Numbers 8:7). In Jeremiah 17:1 this word is rendered "point."
•NAIN (from Hebrews nain, "green pastures," "lovely"), the name of a town near the gate of which Jesus raised to life a widow's son (Luke 7:11-17). It is identified with the village called Nein, standing on the north-western slope of Jebel ed-Duhy (=the "hill Moreh" = "Little hermon"), about 4 miles from Tabor and 25 southwest of Capernaum. At the foot of the slope on which it stands is the great plain of Esdraelon.
This was the first miracle of raising the dead our Lord had wrought, and it excited great awe and astonishment among the people.
•NAIOTH dwellings, the name given to the prophetical college established by Samuel near Ramah. It consisted of a cluster of separate dwellings, and hence its name. David took refuge here when he fled from Saul (1 Samuel 19:18, 19, 22, 23), and here he passed a few weeks in peace (comp. Psalm 11). It was probably the common residence of the "sons of the prophets."
•NAKED This word denotes (1) absolute nakedness (Genesis 2:25; Job 1:21; Ecclesiastes 5:15; Micah 1:8; Amos 2:16); (2) being poorly clad (Isaiah 58:7; James 2:15). It denotes also (3) the state of one who has laid aside his loose outer garment (Lat. nudus), and appears clothed only in a
long tunic or under robe worn next the skin (1 Samuel 19:24; Isaiah 47:3; comp. Mark 14:52; John 21:7). It is used figuratively, meaning "being discovered" or "made manifest" (Job 26:6; Hebrews 4:13). In Exodus 32:25 the expression "the people were naked" (A.V.) is more correctly rendered in the Revised Version "the people were broken loose", i.e., had fallen into a state of lawlessness and insubordination. In 2 Chronicles 28:19 the words "he made Judah naked" (A.V.), but Revised Version "he had dealt wantonly in Judah," mean "he had permitted Judah to break loose from all the restraints of religion."
•NAOMI the lovable; my delight, the wife of Elimelech, and mother of Mahlon and Chilion, and mother-in-law of Ruth (1:2, 20, 21; 2:1). Elimelech and his wife left the district of Bethlehem-Judah, and found a new home in the uplands of Moab. In course of time he died, as also his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, who had married women of Moab, and three widows were left mourning the loss of their husbands. Naomi longs to return now to her own land, to Bethlehem. One of her widowed daughters-in-law, Ruth, accompanies her, and is at length married to Boaz (q.v.).