M
Milcom – Mtphkad
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Milcom
The national deity of Ammon. Solomon established a sanctuary for him on the Mount of Olives, which seems to have continued till it was destroyed by Josiah (, . ). In , , , and Malcam (‘their king’) is probably an incorrect vocalization of Milcom. The name is from the common Semitic root malk, melek (‘king’ or ‘prince’), probably with an inflectional termination. The traditional identification of Milcom with Molech is based only upon , a verse which is probably corrupt. See Molech. W. M. Nesbit.
Mildew
Mildew (v^aqSn, , , 2 Ch &>, , ) is a disease of grain due to various fungi: it is produced by damp, and is in the above passages associated with shidddphBn, ‘blasting,’ the opposite condition produced by excessive drought.
E. W. G. Mastebman.
Mile
See Weiohts and Measuhes.
Miletus
The southernmost of the twelve colonies forming the Ionian confederacy of Asia Minor. It lay on the S. coast of the Latonian Gulf, which penetrated Carta S. of the peninsula of Mycale, and received the waters of the Maeander. The silt of this river filled up the gulf, and Miletus is now 5 miles from the sea, while the former island of Lade, which helped to make its harbour. Is now a hill rising in the alluvial plain.
Two visits of St. Paul to Miletus are mentioned. The first () took place when he was returning to Jerusalem at the end of the Third Missionary Journey. He stayed long enough to send for the elders of Ephesus, and give them the farewell charge recorded in . This probably needed two days. The second visit is mentioned in ‘Trophimus I left at Miletus sick.’ This must have been between St. Paul’s first and second imprisonment at Rome. In neither case are we told of any attempt to found a church at Miletus. Miletus was already unimportant by comparison with Ephesus, ‘which now received the trade of the Maander valley, and shared with Smyrna the trade that came along the great road through the centre of Asia Minor. Ephesus was recognized by the Romans as the southern capital of the province of Asia. Formerly Miletus had led Ionia. Its trade was mainly in wool, and it had founded numerous colonies on the Black Sea and Propontis (Sinope, Trapezus, Abydos, Cyzicus), besides Naueratis in Egypt. It had led the Ionian revolt, the fate of which was determined by the battle of Lade and the capture of Miletus, b.c. 494. It had defended itself on behalf of the Persian power against Alexander in b.c. 334. Its ruins are now called Palatia. They seem to include few Christian remains, but Miletus was a bishopric, and from the Sth cent, an archbishopric.
A. E. HlLLAHD.
Mile
Milk was at all times an important article of diet among the Hebrews, and by ben-Sira is rightly assigned a prominent place among the principal things necessary for man’s life (Sirach 39:26). It was supplied by the females of the ‘herd’ and of the ‘flock,’ the latter term including both sheep and goats (, where render ‘sour milk [diem’ah] of the herd, and milk [chSlab’] of the flock’), probably also by the milch camels (). At the present day goats’ milk is preferred to every other.
In Bible times, as now, milk slightly soured or fermented was a favourite beverage. The modern Bedouin prepares this sour milk, or leben, as it is called, by pouring the fresh milk into a skin (ct. ‘she opened the milk-skin (EV’ a bottle of milk’), and gave him drink’), to the sides of which clots of sour milk from a previous milking still adhere. The skin is shaken for a little, when the process of fermentation speedily commences, and the milk is served ‘with that now gathered sourness which they think the more refreshing’ (Doughty, Arabia Deserta, I. 263). Such was the refreshment with which Jael supplied Sisera. ‘He asked water, she gave him milk; she brought him sour milk (cftem’Sft) in a lordly dish’ (. where EV has ‘butter,’ but one does not drink butter; cf. cited above).
In several OT passages, however, this word, chem’Sh, does evidently signify butter, as in ‘the churning(Ut. as RVm’ pressing’) of milk bringeth forth butter.’ So RV, ‘his mouth was smooth as butter,’ where ‘sour milk’ is clearly out of place. The former passage suggests the procedure of the Arab housewife whom Doughty describes (op. cit. ii. 67) as ‘rocking her blown-up milk-skin upon her knees till the butter came; they find it in a clot at the mouth of the skin.’ Butter cannot be kept sweet under the climatic conditions of Palestine, but must be boiled, producing the samn or clarified butter universally prized throughout the East.
Cheese is mentioned three times in our AV (, , )) in each case the original has a different word. The clearest case is the last cited; the text of , on the other hand, is admittedly in disorder, and we should perhaps read, by a slight change of consonants, ‘dried curds’ ; these, when rubbed down and mixed with water, yield a refreshing drink much esteemed at the present day. From the Mishna we learn that rennet and the acid juices of various trees and plants were used to curdle () milk. After being drained of the whey — ‘the water of milk’ — the curds were salted, shaped into round discs, and dried in the sun. The Tyropoeon valley in Jerusalem received its name, ‘the valley of the cheesemakers,’ from the industry there carried on.
There has been much discussion of late as to the origin of the popular expression ‘flowing with milk and honey,’ so frequently used in OT to describe Palestine as an ideal land abounding in the necessaries and delicacies of life. Many recent scholars demur to the traditional view that this is expressed by the words "milk and honey,’ on the principle of the part for the whole, and favour a more recondite origin in a forgotten Palestinian mythology. This explanation would bring the phrase in question into line with the equally familiar ‘nectar and ambrosia’ of Greek mythology.
Even more obscure is the significance of the thrice-repeated command: ‘Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk’ ( ). Opinion is still divided as to whether we have here a piece of purely humanitarian — some would say sentimental — legislation, or the prohibition of a magical rite incompatible with the religion of J". For the latest exposition of this view, see J. G. Frazer, ‘Folk-lore in the OT,’ in Anthropological Essays, etc. (1907), 151 H. A. R. S. Kennedt.
Millo
A place near Shechem (the name of wtiich would be better rendered Beth-millo, without translating the first element [‘house of Millo,’ AV and RV]), quite unlcnown, the inhabitants of which were associated in the coronation of Abimelech (, ). Joash was slain at a ‘Beth-millo, on the way that goeth down to Silla’ (). Whether this be the same place, or whether (perhaps more likely) it was somewhere near Jerusalem, and (if so) where or what it may have been, are questions to which no answer can be given. On the ‘Millo’ of . etc., see Jerusalem, II, § 2. R. A. S. Macauster. VSISMA’SS. — The name of a S. W. Arabian people dwelling north of the Sabseans (Sheba), who in the 9th and 8th cents. B.C. became a powerful nation with a dominion stretching north to the peninsula of Sinai. It is supposed by recent scholars that they are meant by the Me’unim or (better) Me’ inim, who are named in as dwelling in the Negeb, in along with Arabians, and in (by correction) along with the Ammonites. In all these passages the LXX understand Minaeans. J. F. M’Curdy.
Mind
See Psychology.
Miniabiin
1. A Levite (). 2. = Mijamin of . . 3. A priest who toolc part in the ceremony of the dedication of the walls ().
Minish
The mod. form is ‘diminish.’ ‘Minish’ occurs in AV in . . and RV introduces it at . ; but Amer. RV prefers ‘diminish’ everywhere.
Minister
The word ‘minister* comes from the Lat. mOTis«er=‘servant,’ and generally it may be said that wherever it is found in the Bible, whether in OT or in NT, its original meaning is its primary one, service being the idea it is specially meant to convey.
1. In OT it is used (corresponding to the same Heb. word in each case) of Joshua as the personal attendant of Moses (. ). of the servants in the court of Solomon (). of angels and the elemental forces of nature as the messengers and agents of the Divine will ( ; cf. , ). but, above all, of the priests and Levites as the servants of Jehovah in Tabernacle and Temple (. . . and constantly). The secular uses of the Heb. word, standing side by side with the sacred, show that it was not in itself a priestly term. Ministry was not necessarily a priestly thing, though priesthood was one form of ministry.
2. In NT several Gr. words are tr. ‘minister,’ three cf which call for notice. (1) hypSreles is found in , . . In two of these cases RV has properly substituted ‘attendant’ for ‘minister’ to avoid misconception. The ‘minister’ () to whom Jesus handed the roll in the synagogue at Nazareth was the hazzan, corresponding to the English verger or Scotch beadle. John Mark () was the minister of Barnabas and Saul in the same sense as Joshua was of Moses, — he was their attendant and assistant. In the other cases hyperetSs is used of the minister of Christ or of the word in a sense that is hardly distinguishable from that of diakonos as under.
(2) leitourgos. — In classical Gr. this word with its cognates is applied to one who renders special services to the commonwealth, without any suggestion of a priestly ministry. But in the LXX it was regularly applied, especially in its verbal form, to the ritual ministry of priests and Levites in the sanctuary, and so by NT times had come to connote the idea of a priestly function. What we have to notice, however, is that no NT writer uses it so as to suggest the discharge of special priestly functions on the part of an official Christian ministry. Either the reference is to the old Jewish ritual (, ). or the word is employed in a sense that is purely figurative (. ) ; or, again, is applied to a ministration of Christian charity (. , ) or of prayer (; cf. ). from which all ideas of priestly ritual are clearly absent.
(3) dialconoa. — Even more significant than the uses to which leitourgos and its cognates are put in the NT is the fact that they are used so seldom, and that diakonos and diakonia are found instead when the ideas of minister and ministry are to be expressed. This corresponds with the other fact that the priesthood of a selected class has been superseded by a universal Christian priesthood, and that a ministry of lowliness and serviceableness (which diakonos specially implies) has taken the place of the old ministry of exclusive privilege and ritual performance, diakonia is the distinctive Christian word for ‘ministry,’ and diakonos for ‘minister.’ But these nouns and the related verb are used in the NT with a wide range of application. The personal services rendered to Jesus by Martha, Mary, and other women (. . ). and to St. Paul by Timothy, Erastus, and Onesimus (. Philem ‘‘), are described as forms of ministry. The man who serves and follows Christ is His niinister (;’ my diakonos’ is the expression in the original); and the minister of Christ will not fail to minister also to the brethren (. ). But while every true Christian is a minister of Christ and of the brethren, there is a ministry of particular service out of which there gradually emerges the idea of a special Christian ministry. We may find the roots of the idea in our Lord’s words to His disciples, ‘Whosoever would become great among you shall be your minister, . . . even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many’ ( ff.). The minister at first was one who was distinguished from others by his larger services. He did not hold an office, but discharged a function. There were differences of function, indeed, and, above all, the distinction between those who were ministers of the word (. . , ) and those who ministered by gracious deed ( ff.). But whatever might be the ‘diversities of ministrations’ (). the word diakonos covered them all. At a later stage, when differences of function have begun to harden into distinctions of office, the name diakonos is specially appropriated to the deacon (wh. see) as distinguished from the presbyter or bishop (. ). But diakonos still continues to be used in its wider sense, for Timothy, who was much more than a deacon, is exhorted to be ‘a good minister (diakonos) of Jesus Christ’ (1 Ti #). See following article.
J. C. Lambebt. MINISTRY.— The foregoing art. has sufficiently dealt with the general idea of ministry, but something remains to be said more particularly of the foreshadowings and beginnings of an official Christian ministry as these are found in the NT. The earliest historical datum is the distinction drawn by the Twelve between the ‘diakonia of the word’ and the ‘diakonia of tables’ (, ) — a distinction that constantly reappears in the writings of St. Paul (e.g. . ). though by and by the latter of these two ministries widens out so as to Include many other matters besides the care of the poor. These two forms may be broadly distinguished as a general and prophetic ministry on the one hand, a local and practical on the other.
1. General and prophetic— ff. shows that from the first the Twelve recognized that they were Divinely called to be ministers of the word, i.e. preachers of the gospel; and St. Paul repeatedly affirms the same thing regarding himself ( . . ). But it was not the Apostles only who discharged this high spiritual function. Besides Apostles, a word which is used in a wider as well as a narrower sense (see , ; cf. Didache, xi. 4 ff.), the Church had also prophets and evangelists and teachers, all of them, in somewhat different ways no doubt, fulfilling this same task of proclaiming the word (, . ; for prophets, see also IS^^ ; for evangelists, . ; for teachers, , . ). and moving about from place to place in order to do so. That the prophetic ministry inits various forms was a ministry of function and not of stated office, is shown by the fact that the same person might be at once apostle, prophet, and teacher (cf. . . ).
2. Local andpractical.— Of this the Seven of Jerusalem furnish the earliest examples. Their special duties, when we first meet them, are restricted to the care of the poor, and in particular to the charge of the ‘daily ministration.’ But, as the local Churches grew In size and Church life became more complex, other needs arose. There was the need of government and discipline, of pastoral counsel and comfort, of stated instruction by regular teachers as well as of occasional visits from wandering apostles and prophets. In the ‘helps’ and ‘governments’ of we have a reference to some of these needs. And by and by we find that to meet the necessities of the situation the local ministry has blossomed out into two separate forms, (o) First there is the presbyter or elder, otherwise known as the bishop or overseer (for the substantial identity between the presbyter and the bishop, see art. Bishop), whose duties are to feed the flock and help the weak (Ac 20 X p ), to visit and pray for the sick (), to rule and teach (, ). (6) Next there are the deacon, and his companion the deaconess (, 1 Ti ). whose duties are not clearly defined, but the description of whose qualifications suggests that their work lay largely in visitation from house to house and ministration to the poor (). The local ministry, it thus appears, came to discharge some of the functions that had originally belonged to the general ministry of Apostles and prophets. The latter, however, was still recognized to be the higher of the two. St. Paul sunmaons the presbyter-bishops of the Church in Ephesus to meet him at Miletus, and addresses them in a tone of high spiritual authority (). And even in the Didache, wtiich belongs probably toTabout the end of the 1st cent., we find that when a wandering prophet visits a Church and is recognized as a true prophet, precedence is given him over the resident bishops and deacons (Did. x. 7, xiii. 3). See, further. Apostle, Bishop, Deacon, Evangelist, Laying on of Hands, Prophet in NT. J. C. Lambert.
Minni
A people named in along with the Armenians (‘Ararat’) and Scythians (‘Ashkenaz’) as coming assailants of Babylon. They are the Mannai of the Assyrian inscriptions, who dwelt between the lakes Van and Urmia. J. F. M’ Curdy.
MDfNITH marks the direction in which Jephthah pursued the defeated Ammonites from Aroer (), i.e. " Aroer which is in front of Rabbah’ (). The site has not been recovered. That indicated in the Onomasticon, 4 miles from Heshbou on the way to Philadelphia, seems too far to the south. The place appears to have been famous for the high quality of its wheat (, cf. ). It must be added that in both passages there are strong reasons for suspecting the correctness of the text. W. Ewing.
Mint
Mint (Gr. hMyosmon, , ). One of the trifles which were tithed; primarily, perhaps, peppermint (Mentha piperita), but including also allied plants, such as the horse mint (Af. sylvestris), which grows wild all over Palestine. E. W. G. Mastebman.
Mtphkad
A gate somewhere near the northern end of the East wall of Jerusalem, as may be deduced from the one reference to it ( AV ‘the gate Miphkad,’ RV ‘the gate of Hammiphkad’) describing its restoration after the Exile. Many attempts have been made to identify it more exactly; but as the course of this part of Nehemiah’s wall has not been revealed by excavation, and consequently the positions of its gates are not known with certainty, such attempts are mere guesswork. See the note on the gates in art. Jerusalem, II, § 4. R. A. S. Macalister.
James Hastings (ed.), with John A. Selbie and John C. Lambert, Dictionary of the Bible (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1909). Public domain. Scan of Cornell University Library’s copy from the Internet Archive; text from its OCR, with the Bible references read again from the page images.