The lake is triangular in form, about 4 1/2 miles in length
by 3 1/2 at its greatest breadth. Its surface is 7 feet
above that of the Mediterranean. It is surrounded by a
morass, which is thickly covered with canes and papyrus
reeds, which are impenetrable. Macgregor with his canoe,
the Rob Roy, was the first that ever, in modern times,
sailed on its waters.
(2.) Heb. meysh'a, "deliverance," the eldest
son of Caleb (1 Chr. 2:42), and brother of Jerahmeel.
(3.) Heb. id, a king of Moab, the son of Chemosh-Gad, a man
of great wealth in flocks and herds (2 Kings 3:4). After
the death of Ahab at Ramoth-Gilead, Mesha shook off the
yoke of Israel; but on the ascension of Jehoram to the
throne of Israel, that king sought the help of Jehoshaphat
in an attempt to reduce the Moabites again to their former
condition. The united armies of the two kings came
unexpectedly on the army of the Moabites, and gained over
them an easy victory. The whole land was devastated by the
conquering armies, and Mesha sought refuge in his last
stronghold, Kir-harasheth (q.v.). Reduced to despair, he
ascended the wall of the city, and there, in the sight of
the allied armies, offered his first-born son a sacrifice
to Chemosh, the fire-god of the Moabites. This fearful
spectacle filled the beholders with horror, and they
retired from before the besieged city, and recrossed the
Jordan laden with spoil (2 Kings 3:25-27).
The exploits of Mesha are recorded in the Phoenician
inscription on a block of black basalt found at Dibon, in
Moab, usually called the "Moabite stone" (q.v.).
The first great promise (Gen. 3:15) contains in it the germ
of all the prophecies recorded in the Old Testament
regarding the coming of the Messiah and the great work he
was to accomplish on earth. The prophecies became more
definite and fuller as the ages rolled on; the light shone
more and more unto the perfect day. Different periods of
prophetic revelation have been pointed out, (1) the
patriarchal; (2) the Mosaic; (3) the period of David; (4)
the period of prophetism, i.e., of those prophets whose
works form a part of the Old Testament canon. The
expectations of the Jews were thus kept alive from
generation to generation, till the "fulness of the
times," when Messiah came, "made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the
law." In him all these ancient prophecies have their
fulfilment. Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, the great
Deliverer who was to come. (Comp. Matt. 26:54; Mark 9:12;
Luke 18:31; 22:37; John 5:39; Acts 2; 16:31; 26:22, 23.)
(2.) The son of Merib-baal (Mephibosheth), 1 Chr. 8:34, 35.
(3.) The first in rank of the priests of the family of
Kohathites (1 Chr. 23:20).
(4.) A descendant of Joel the Reubenite (1 Chr. 5:5).
(5.) "The Morasthite," so called to distinguish
him from Micaiah, the son of Imlah (1 Kings 22:8). He was a
prophet of Judah, a contemporary of Isaiah (Micah 1:1), a
native of Moresheth of Gath (1:14, 15). Very little is
known of the circumstances of his life (comp. Jer. 26:18,
19).
The book consists of three sections, each commencing with a
rebuke, "Hear ye," etc., and closing with a
promise, (1) ch. 1; 2; (2) ch. 3-5, especially addressed to
the princes and heads of the people; (3) ch. 6-7, in which
Jehovah is represented as holding a controversy with his
people: the whole concluding with a song of triumph at the
great deliverance which the Lord will achieve for his
people. The closing verse is quoted in the song of
Zacharias (Luke 1:72, 73). The prediction regarding the
place "where Christ should be born," one of the
most remarkable Messianic prophecies (Micah 5:2), is quoted
in Matt. 2:6.
There are the following references to this book in the New
Testament:
5:2, with Matt. 2:6; John 7:42. 7:6, with Matt.
10:21,35,36. 7:20, with Luke 1:72,73.
(2.) One of those sent out by Jehoshaphat to instruct the
people in the law (2 Chr. 17:7).
(3.) 2 Kings 22:12.
(4.) The son of Gemariah. He reported to the king's
officers Jeremiah's prediction, which he had heard
Baruch read (Jer. 36:11, 13) from his father Gemariah's
chamber in the temple.
This was the scene of a great battle fought between the
army of Saul and the Philistines, who were utterly routed
and pursued for some 16 miles towards Philistia as far as
the valley of Aijalon. "The freedom of Benjamin
secured at Michmash led through long years of conflict to
the freedom of all its kindred tribes." The power of
Benjamin and its king now steadily increased. A new spirit
and a new hope were now at work in Israel.
Some two hundred and fifty years after this the Midianites
had regained their ancient power, and in confederation with
the Amalekites and the "children of the east"
they made war against their old enemies the Israelites,
whom for seven years they oppressed and held in subjection.
They were at length assailed by Gideon in that
ever-memorable battle in the great plain of Esdraelon, and
utterly destroyed (Judg. 6:1-ch. 7). Frequent allusions are
afterwards made to this great victory (Ps. 83:10, 12; Isa.
9:4; 10:6). They now wholly pass away from the page of
history both sacred and profane.
(2.) A place mentioned in the passage of the Red Sea (Ex.
14:2; Num. 33:7, 8). It is probably to be identified with
Bir Suweis, about 2 miles from Suez.
(2.) Heb. hem'ah, always rendered "butter" in
the Authorized Version. It means "butter," but
also more frequently "cream," or perhaps, as some
think, "curdled milk," such as that which Abraham
set before the angels (Gen. 18:8), and which Jael gave to
Sisera (Judg. 5:25). In this state milk was used by
travellers (2 Sam. 17:29). If kept long enough, it acquired
a slightly intoxicating or soporific power.
This Hebrew word is also sometimes used for milk in general
(Deut. 32:14; Job 20:17).
(2.) Heb. pelah (Ezra 7:24), a "minister" of
religion. Here used of that class of sanctuary servants
called "Solomon's servants" in Ezra 2:55-58
and Neh. 7:57-60.
(3.) Greek leitourgos, a subordinate public administrator,
and in this sense applied to magistrates (Rom. 13:6). It is
applied also to our Lord (Heb. 8:2), and to Paul in
relation to Christ (Rom. 15:16).
(4.) Greek hyperetes (literally, "under-rower"),
a personal attendant on a superior, thus of the person who
waited on the officiating priest in the synagogue (Luke
4:20). It is applied also to John Mark, the attendant on
Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:5).
(5.) Greek diaconos, usually a subordinate officer or
assistant employed in relation to the ministry of the
gospel, as to Paul and Apollos (1 Cor. 3:5), Tychicus (Eph.
6:21), Epaphras (Col. 1:7), Timothy (1 Thess. 3:2), and
also to Christ (Rom. 15:8).
"The suspension or violation of the laws of nature
involved in miracles is nothing more than is constantly
taking place around us. One force counteracts another:
vital force keeps the chemical laws of matter in abeyance;
and muscular force can control the action of physical
force. When a man raises a weight from the ground, the law
of gravity is neither suspended nor violated, but
counteracted by a stronger force. The same is true as to
the walking of Christ on the water and the swimming of iron
at the command of the prophet. The simple and grand truth
that the universe is not under the exclusive control of
physical forces, but that everywhere and always there is
above, separate from and superior to all else, an infinite
personal will, not superseding, but directing and
controlling all physical causes, acting with or without
them." God ordinarily effects his purpose through the
agency of second causes; but he has the power also of
effecting his purpose immediately and without the
intervention of second causes, i.e., of invading the fixed
order, and thus of working miracles. Thus we affirm the
possibility of miracles, the possibility of a higher hand
intervening to control or reverse nature's ordinary
movements.
In the New Testament these four Greek words are principally
used to designate miracles: (1.) Semeion, a
"sign", i.e., an evidence of a divine commission;
an attestation of a divine message (Matt. 12:38, 39; 16:1,
4; Mark 8:11; Luke 11:16; 23:8; John 2:11, 18, 23; Acts
6:8, etc.); a token of the presence and working of God; the
seal of a higher power.
(2.) Terata, "wonders;" wonder-causing events;
portents; producing astonishment in the beholder (Acts
2:19).
(3.) Dunameis, "might works;" works of superhuman
power (Acts 2:22; Rom. 15:19; 2 Thess. 2:9); of a new and
higher power.
(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.)
(2.) One of the three Hebrew youths who were trained with
Daniel in Babylon (Dan. 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.).
(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 (Judg. 10:17; 11:11, 34).
It may be the same as Ramoth-Gilead (Josh. 20:8), but it is
more likely that it is identical with the foregoing, the
Mizpeh of Gen. 31:23, 25, 48, 49.
(3.) Another place in Gilead, at the foot of Mount Hermon,
inhabited by Hivites (Josh. 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 Sam. 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 (Josh. 18:26; Judg. 20:1, 3; 21:1, 5; 1 Sam.
7:5-16). It has been supposed to be the same as Nob (1 Sam.
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.
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 Sam. 7:7-12).
(2.) Used to denote the people of Moab (Num. 22:3-14; Judg.
3:30; 2 Sam. 8:2; Jer. 48:11, 13).
(3.) The land of Moab (Jer. 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 (Num.
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 (Num. 22:1; 26:63;
Josh. 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 (Num.
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" (Deut. 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."
On their journey the Israelites did not pass through Moab,
but through the "wilderness" to the east (Deut.
2:8; Judg. 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 ¯T0003427; OG
¯T0002771). The Moabites were alarmed, and their king,
Balak, sought aid from the Midianites (Num. 22:2-4). It was
while they were here that the visit of Balaam (q.v.) to
Balak took place.
After the Conquest, the Moabites maintained hostile
relations with the Israelites, and frequently harassed them
in war (Judg. 3:12-30; 1 Sam. 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 Sam. 8:2; 23:20; 1
Chr. 18:2), from whom he took great spoil (2 Sam. 8:2, 11,
12; 1 Chr. 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
¯T0002505), 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 Chr.
5:25, 26). Between the time of Isaiah and the commencement
of the Babylonian captivity we have very seldom any
reference to Moab (Jer. 25:21; 27:3; 40:11; Zeph. 2:8-10).
After the Return, it was Sanballat, a Moabite, who took
chief part in seeking to prevent the rebuilding of
Jerusalem (Neh. 2:19; 4:1; 6:1).
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.
The Heb. holed (Lev. 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 Isa. 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."
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; Neh. 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.
"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.
The great brilliance of the moon in Eastern countries led
to its being early an object of idolatrous worship (Deut.
4:19; 17:3; Job 31:26), a form of idolatry against which
the Jews were warned (Deut. 4:19; 17:3). They, however,
fell into this idolatry, and offered incense (2 Kings 23:5;
Jer. 8:2), and also cakes of honey, to the moon (Jer. 7:18;
44:17-19, 25).
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.).
Mortar for pulverizing (Prov. 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 (Num.
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.