Meshach – Miracles

Meshach

(guest of a king), the name given to Mishael, one of the companions of Daniel, who with three others was taught, (Daniel 1:4) and qualified to "stand before" King Nebuchadnezzar, (Daniel 1:5) as his personal attendants and advisers. (Daniel 1:20) But notwithstanding their Chaldeans education, these three young Hebrews were strongly attached to the religion of their fathers; and their refusal to join in the worship of the image on the plain of Dura gave a handle of accusation to the Chaldeans. The rage of the king, the swift sentence of condemnation passed upon the three offenders, their miraculous preservation from the fiery furnace heated seven times hotter than usual, the king’s acknowledgement of the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, with their restoration to office, are written in the third chapter of Daniel, and there the history leaves them.

Meshelemiah

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

Meshezabeel

(delivered by God).

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

2. One of the "heads of the people," probably a family, who sealed the covenant with Nehemiah. (Nehemiah 10:21)

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

Meshillemith

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

Meshillemoth

(recompense).

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

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

Meshullam

(friend).

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. The same as Shallum, who was high priest probably in the reign of Amon, and father of Hilkiah. (1 Chronicles 9:11; Nehemiah 11:11)

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

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

10. One of the "heads" sent by Ezra to Iddo, "the head," to gather together the Levites to join the caravan about to return to Jerusalem. (Ezra 8:16)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

20. A family of porters, descendants of Meshullam, (Nehemiah 12:25) who is also called Meshelemiah, (1 Chronicles 26:1) Shelemiah, (1 Chronicles 26:14) and Shallum. (Nehemiah 7:45)

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

Meshullemeth

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

Mesobaite, The

a title attached to the name of Jasiel. (1 Chronicles 11:47) It is impossible to pronounce with any certainty to what it refers.

Mesopotamia

(between the rivers), the entire country between the two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. This is a tract nearly 700 miles long and from 20 to 250 miles broad, extending in a southeasterly direction from Telek to Kurnah . The Arabian geographers term it "the Island," a name which is almost literally correct, since a few miles only intervene between the source of the Tigris and the Euphrates at Telek . But the region which bears the name of Mesopotamia, par excellence , both in Scripture and in the classical writers, is the northwestern portion of this tract, or the country between the great bend of the Euphrates, lat. 35 degrees to 37 degrees 30’, and the upper Tigris. We first hear of Mesopotamia in Scripture as the country where Nahor and his family settled after quitting Ur of the Chaldees. (Genesis 24:10) Here lived Bethuel and Laban; and hither Abraham sent his servants to fetch Isaac a wife. Ibid. ver. 38. Hither too, a century later, came Jacob on the same errand; and hence he returned with his two wives after an absence of twenty-one years. After this we have no mention of Mesopotamia till the close of the wanderings int he wilderness. (23:4) About half a century later we find, for the first and last time, Mesopotamia the seat of a powerful monarchy. (Judges 3:1) ... Finally, the children of Ammon, having provoked a war with David, "sent a thousand talents of silver to hire them chariots and horsemen out of Mesopotamia, and out of Syria-maachah, and out of Zobah." (1 Chronicles 19:6) According to the Assyrian inscriptions Mesopotamia was inhabited in the early times of the empire, B.C. 1200-1100, by a vast number of petty tribes, each under its own prince, and all quite independent of one another. The Assyrian monarchs contended with these chiefs at great advantage, and by the time of Jehu, B.C. 880, had fully established their dominion over them. On the destruction of the Assyrian empire, Mesopotamia seems to have been divided between the Medes and the Babylonians. The conquests of Cyrus brought it wholly under the Persian yoke; and thus it continued to the time of Alexander. Since 1516 it has formed a part of the Turkish empire. It is full of ruins and mounds of ancient cities, some of which are now throwing much light on the Scripture.

Messiah

(anointed). This word (Mashiach) answers to the word Christ (Christos) in the New Testament, and is applicable in its first sense to any one anointed with the holy oil. The kings of Israel were called anointed , from the mode of their consecration. (1 Samuel 2:10,35; 12:3,5) etc. This word also refers to the expected Prince of the chosen people who was to complete God’s purposes for them and to redeem them, and of whose coming the prophets of the old covenant in all time spoke. He was the Messiah, the Anointed, i.e. consecrated as the king and prophet by God’s appointment. The word is twice used in the New Testament of Jesus. (John 1:41; 4:25) Authorized Version "Messias." The earliest gleam of the gospel is found in the account of the fall. (Genesis 3:15) the blessings in store for the children of Shem are remarkable indicated int he words of Noah. (Genesis 9:26) Next follows the promise to Abraham. (Genesis 12:2,3) A great step is made in (Genesis 49:10) This is the first case in which the promises distinctly centre in one person. The next passage usually quoted is the prophecy of Balaam. (Numbers 24:17-19) The prophecy of Moses, (18:18) claims attention. Passages in the Psalms are numerous which are applied to the Messiah in the New Testament; such as Psal 2,16,22,40,110. The advance in clearness in this period is great. The name of Anointed, i.e. King, comes in, and the Messiah is to come of the Lineage of David. He is described in his exaltation, with his great kingdom that shall be spiritual rather than temporal. Psal 2,21,40,110. In other places he is seen in suffering and humiliation. Psal 16,22,40. Later on the prophets show the Messiah as a king and ruler of David’s house, who should come to reform and restore the Jewish nation and purify the Church, as in Isai 11,40-66 The blessings of the restoration, however, will not be confined to Jews; the heathen are made to share them fully. (Isaiah 2:66) The passage of (Micah 5:2) (comp. Matt 2:6) left no doubt in the mind of the Sanhedrin as to the birthplace of the Messiah. The lineage of David is again alluded to in (Zechariah 12:1-14) The coming of the Forerunner and of the Anointed is clearly revealed in (Malachi 3:1; 4:5,6) The Pharisees and those of the Jews who expected Messiah at all looked for a temporal prince only. The apostles themselves were infected with this opinion till after the resurrection. (Matthew 20:20,21; Luke 24:21; Acts 1:6) Gleams of a purer faith appear in (Luke 2:30; 23:42; John 4:25)

Messias

(anointed), the Greek form of Messiah. (John 1:41; 4:25)

Metals

The Hebrews, in common with other ancient nations, were acquainted with nearly all the metals known to modern metallurgy, whether as the products of their own soil or the results of intercourse with foreigners. One of the earliest geographical definitions is that which describes the country of Havilah as the land which abounded in gold , and the gold of which was good. (Genesis 2:11-12) "Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold," (Genesis 13:2) silver, as will be shown hereafter, being the medium of commerce, while gold existed in the shape of ornaments, during the patriarchal ages. Tin is first mentioned (Numbers 31:22) and lead is used to heighten the imagery of Moses’ triumphal song. (Exodus 15:10) Whether the ancient Hebrews were acquainted with steel , properly so called, is uncertain; the words so rendered in the Authorized Version, (2 Samuel 22:35; Job 20:24; Psalms 18:34; Jeremiah 15:12) are in all others passages translated brass , and would be more correctly copper . The "northern iron" of (Jeremiah 15:12) is believed more nearly to correspond to what we call steel [STEEL] It is supposed that the Hebrews used the mixture of copper and tin known as bronze. The Hebrews obtained their principal supply from the south of Arabia and the commerce of the Persian Gulf. (Joshua 7:21) The great abundance of gold in early times is indicated by its entering into the composition of all articles of ornament and almost all of domestic use. Among the spoils of the Midianites taken by the Israelites in their bloodless victory when Balaam was slain were earrings and jewels to the amount of 16,750 shekels of gold, (Numbers 31:48-54) equal in value to more than ,000. Seventeen hundred shekels of gold (worth more than ,000) in nose jewels (Authorized Version "ear-rings") alone were taken by Gideon’s army from the slaughtered Midianites. (Judges 8:26) But the amount of treasure accumulated by David from spoils taken in war is so enormous that we are tempted to conclude the numbers exaggerated. Though gold was thus common, silver appears to have been the ordinary medium of commerce. The first commercial transaction of which we possess the details was the purchase of Ephron’s field by Abraham for 400 shekels of silver . (Genesis 23:16) The accumulation of wealth in the reign of Solomon was so great that silver was but little esteemed. (1 Kings 10:21,27) Brass, or more properly copper, was a native product of Palestine. (8:9; Job 28:2) It was plentiful in the days of Solomon, and the quantity employed in the temple could not be estimated, it was so great. (1 Kings 7:47) No allusion is found to zinc; but tin was well known. Arms, (2 Samuel 21:16; Job 20:24; Psalms 18:34) and armor, (1 Samuel 17:5,6,38) were made of copper, which was capable of being so wrought as to admit of a keen and hard edge. Iron, like copper, was found in the hills of Palestine. Iron-mines are still worked by the inhabitants of Kefr Hunch , in the sought of the valley of Zaharani .

Methegammah

(bridle of the metropolis), a place which David took from the Philistines, apparently in his last war with them. (2 Samuel 8:1) Ammah may be taken as meaning "mother-city" or "metropolis," comp. (2 Samuel 20:19) and Metheg-he-Ammah "the bridle of the mother-city" --viz. of Gath, the chief town of the Philistines.

Methusael

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

Methuselah

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

Meunim

(habitations). (Nehemiah 7:52) Elsewhere given in Authorized Version as Mehunim and Mehunims.

Meuzai

(Ezekiel 27:19) marg. [UZAL]

Mezahab

(waters of gold), the father of Matred and grandfather of Mehetabel, who was wife of Hadar or Hadad, the last-named king of Edom. (Genesis 36:39; 1 Chronicles 1:50)

Miamin

(from the right hand).

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

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

Mibhar

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

Mibsam

(sweet odor).

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

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

Mibzar

(fortress), one of the "dukes" of Edom. (Genesis 36:42; 1 Chronicles 1:53)

Micah

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

1. An Israelite whose familiar story is preserved in the 17th and 18th chapters of Judges. Micah is evidently a devout believers in Jehovah, and yet so completely ignorant is he of the law of Jehovah that the mode which he adopts of honoring him is to make a molten and graven image, teraphim or images of domestic gods, and to set up an unauthorized priesthood, first in his own family, (Judges 17:5) and then in the person of a Levite not of the priestly line. ver. (Judges 17:12) A body of 600 Danites break in upon and steal his idols from him.

2. The sixth in order of the minor prophets. He is called the Morasthite, that is, a native of Moresheth, a small village near Eleutheropolis to the east, where formerly the prophet’s tomb was shown, though in the days of Jerome it had been succeeded by a church. Micah exercised the prophetical office during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, giving thus a maximum limit of 59 years, B.C. 756-697, from the accession of Jotham to the death of Hezekiah, and a minimum limit of 16 years, B.C. 742-726, from the death of Jotham to the accession of Hezekiah. He was contemporary with Hosea and Amos during the part of their ministry in Israel, and with Isaiah in Judah.

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

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

5. A Kohathite levite, the eldest son of Uzziel the brother of Amram. (1 Chronicles 23:30)

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

Micah, The Book Of

Three sections of this work represent three natural divisions of the prophecy --1, 2; 3-5; 6,7 --each commencing with rebukes and threatening and closing with a promise. The first section opens with a magnificent description of the coming of Jehovah to judgment for the sins and idolatries of Israel and Judah, ch. 1:2-4, and the sentence pronounced upon Samaria, vs. 5-9, by the Judge himself. The sentence of captivity is passed upon them. (Micah 2:10) but is followed instantly by a promise of restoration and triumphant return. ch. (Micah 2:12,13) The second section is addressed especially to the princes and heads of the people: their avarice and rapacity are rebuked in strong terms; but the threatening is again succeeded by a promise of restoration. In the last section, chs. 6,7, Jehovah, by a bold poetical figure, is represented as holding a controversy with his people, pleading with them in justification of his conduct toward them and the reasonableness of his requirements. The whole concludes with a triumphal song of joy at the great deliverance, like that from Egypt, which jehovah will achieve, and a full acknowledgment of his mercy and faithfulness of his promises. vs. 16-20. The last verse is reproduced in the song of Zacharias. (Luke 1:72,73) Micah’s prophecies are distinct and clear. He it is who says that the Ruler shall spring from Bethlehem. ch. (Luke 5:2) His style has been compared with that of Hosea and Isaiah. His diction is vigorous and forcible, sometimes obscure from the abruptness of its transitions, but varied and rich.

Micaiah

(who is like God?). Micahiah, the son of Imlah, was a prophet of Samaria, who in the last year of the reign of Ahab king of Israel predicted his defeat and death, B.C. 897. (1 Kings 22:1-35; 2 Chronicles 18:1) ...

Micha

(who is like God?).

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

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

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

Michael

(who is like God?).

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

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

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

4. A Gershionite Levite, ancestor of Asaph. (1 Chronicles 6:40)

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

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

7. One of the captains of the "thousands" of Manasseh who joined David at Ziklag. (1 Chronicles 12:20)

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

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

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

11. "One," or "the first, of the chief princes" or archangels, (Daniel 10:21) as the "prince" of Israel, and in ch. (Daniel 12:1) as "the great prince which standeth" in time conflict "for the children of thy people."

Michah

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

Michaiah

(who is like God?).

1. Same as MICAH 6. (2 Chronicles 34:25)

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

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

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

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

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

Michal

(who is like God?), the younger of Saul’s two daughters, (1 Samuel 14:49) who married David. The price fixed on Michal’s hand was no less than the slaughter of a hundred Philistines. David by a brilliant feat doubled the tale of victims, and Michal became his wife. Shortly afterward she saved David from the assassins whom her father had sent to take his life. (1 Samuel 19:11-17) When the rupture between Saul and David had become open and incurable, she was married to another man, Phalti or Phaltiel of Gallim. (1 Samuel 25:44) After the death of her father and brothers at Gilboa, David compelled her new husband to surrender Michal to him. (2 Samuel 3:13-16) How Michal comported herself in the altered circumstances of David’s household we are not told; but it is plain from the subsequent occurrences that something had happened to alter the relations of herself and David, for on the day of David’s greatest triumph, when he brought the ark of Jehovah to Jerusalem, we are told that "she despised him in her heart." All intercourse between her and David ceased from that date. (2 Samuel 6:20-23) Her name appears, (2 Samuel 21:8) as the mother of five of the grandchildren of Saul.

Michmas Or Michmash

(hidden), a town which is known to us almost solely by its connection with the Philistine war of Saul and Jonathan. (1 Samuel 13:1; 1 Samuel 14:1) ... It has been identified with great probability in a village which still bears the name of Mukhmas , about seven miles north of Jerusalem. The place was thus situated in the very middle of the tribe of Benjamin. In the invasion of Sennacherib in the reign of Hezekiah, it is mentioned by Isaiah. (Isaiah 10:28) After the captivity the man of the place returned. (Ezra 2:27; Nehemiah 7;31) At a later date it became the residence of Jonathan Maccabaeus and the seat of his government. 1 Macc. 9:73. In the time of Eusebius and Jerome it was "a very large village, retaining its ancient name, and lying near Ramah in the district of AElia (Jerusalem), at ten miles distance therefrom." Immediately below the village the great wady spreads out to a considerable width --perhaps half a mile; and its bed is broken up into an intricate mass of hummocks and mounds, two of which, before the torrents of three thousand winters had reduced and rounded their forms, were probably the two "teeth of cliff" --the Bozes and Seneh of Jonathan’s adventure.

Michmethah

(hiding-place), a place which formed one of the landmarks of the boundary of the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh on the western side of Jordan. (Joshua 17:7) The position of the place must be somewhere on the east of and not far distant from Shechem.

Michri

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

Michtam

(golden psalm). This word occurs in the titles of six psalms (16,56-60), all of which are ascribed to David. The marginal reading of our Authorized Version is "a golden psalm," while in the Geneva version it is described as "a certain tune." From the position which it occupies in the title we may infer that michtam is a term applied to these psalms to denote their musical character, but beyond this everything is obscure.

Middin

(measures), a city of Judah, (Joshua 15:61) one of the six specified as situated in the district of "the midbar" (Authorized Version "wilderness").

Midian

(strife), a son of Abraham and Keturah, (Genesis 25:2; 1 Chronicles 1:32) progenitor of the Midianites, or Arabians dwelling principally in the desert north of the peninsula of Arabia. Southward they extended along the eastern shore of the Gulf of Eyleh (Sinus AElaniticus); and northward they stretched along the eastern frontier of Palestine. The "land of Midian," the place to which Moses fled after having killed the Egyptian, (Exodus 2:15,21) or the portion of it specially referred to, was probably the peninsula of Sinai. The influence of the Midianties on the Israelites was clearly most evil, and directly tended to lead them from the injunctions of Moses. The events at Shittim occasioned the injunction to vex Midian and smite them. After a lapse of some years, the Midianites appear again as the enemies of the Israelites, oppressing them for seven years, but are finally defeated with great slaughter by Gideon. [GIDEON] The Midianites are described as true Arabs, and possessed cattle and flocks and camels as the sand of the seashore for multitude. The spoil taken in the war of both Moses and of Gideon is remarkable. (Numbers 31:22; Judges 8:21,24-26) We have here a wealthy Arab nation, living by plunder, delighting in finery; and, where forays were impossible, carrying ont he traffic southward into Arabia, the land of gold --if not naturally, by trade-- and across to Chaldea, or into the rich plains of Egypt.

Migdalel

(tower of God), one of the fortified towns of the possession of Naphtali, (Joshua 19:38) only, possibly deriving its name from some ancient tower --the "tower of El," or God.

Migdalgad

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

Migdol

(tower), the name of one of two places on the eastern frontier of Egypt.

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

2. A Migdol is spoken of by Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The latter prophet mentions it as a boundary-town, evidently on the eastern border. (Ezekiel 29:10; 30:6) In the prophecy of Jeremiah the Jews in Egypt are spoken of as dwelling at Migdol. (Jeremiah 44:1) It seems plain, from its being spoken of with Memphis, and from Jews dwelling there, that this Midgol was an important town.

Migron

(precipice), a town or a spot in the neighborhood of Gibeah. (1 Samuel 14:23) Migron is also mentioned in Sennacherib’s approach to Jerusalem. (Isaiah 10:28)

Mijamin

(from the right hand).

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

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

Mikloth

(staves).

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

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

Mikneiah

(possession of Jehovah), one of the Levites of the second rank, gatekeepers of the ark, appointed by David to play in the temple band "with harps upon Sheminith." (1 Chronicles 15:18,21)

Milalai

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

Milcah

(queen or counsel).

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

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

Milcom

(great king). [MOLECH]

Mile

a Roman measure of length, equal to 1618 English yards --4854 feet, or about nine-tenths of an English mile. It is only once noticed in the Bible, (Matthew 5:41) the usual method of reckoning both in the New Testament and in Josephus being by the stadium. The mile of the Jews is said to have been of two kinds, long or short, dependent on the length of the pace, which varied in different parts, the long pace being double the length of the short one.

Miletus

(Acts 20:15,17) less correctly called MILETUM in (2 Timothy 4:20) It lay on the coast, 36 miles to the south of Ephesus, a day’s sail from Trogyllium. (Acts 20:15) Moreover, to those who are sailing from the north it is in the direct line for Cos. The site of Miletus has now receded ten miles from the coast, and even in the apostles’ time it must have lost its strictly maritime position. Miletus was far more famous five hundred years before St. Paul’s day than it ever became afterward. In early times it was the most flourishing city of the Ionian Greeks. In the natural order of events it was absorbed in the Persian empire. After a brief period of spirited independence, it received a blow from which it never recovered, in the siege conducted by Alexander when on his eastern campaign. But still it held, even through the Roman period, the rank of a second-rate trading town, and Strabo mentions its four harbors. At this time it was politically in the province of Asia, though Caria was the old ethnological name of the district in which it was situated. All that is left now is a small Turkish village called Melas , near the site of the ancient city.

Milk

As an article of diet, milk holds a more important position in eastern countries than with us. It is not a mere adjunct in cookery, or restricted to the use of the young, although it is naturally the characteristic food of childhood, both from its simple and nutritive qualities. (1 Peter 2:2) and particularly as contrasted with meat, (1 Corinthians 3:2; Hebrews 5:12) but beyond this it is regarded as substantial food adapted alike to all ages and classes. Not only the milk of cows, but of sheep, (32:14) of camels, (Genesis 32:15) and of goats, (Proverbs 27:27) was used; that latter appears to have been most highly prized.

Mill

The mills of the ancient Hebrews probably differed but little from those at present in use in the East. These consist of two circular stones, each about eighteen inches or two feet in diameter, the lower of which is fixed, and has its upper surface slightly convex, fitting into a corresponding concavity in the upper stone. In the latter is a hole thorough which the grain passes, immediately above a pivot or shaft which rises from the centre of the lower stone, and about which the upper stone is turned by means of an upright handle fixed near the edge. It is worked by women, sometimes singly and sometimes two together, who are usually seated on the bare ground. (Isaiah 47:1,2) "facing each other; both have hold of the handle by which the upper is turned round on the ’nether’ millstone. The one whose right hand is disengaged throws in the grain as occasion requires through the hole in the upper stone. It is not correct to say that one pushes it half round and then the other seizes the handle. This would be slow work, and would give a spasmodic motion to the stone. Both retain their hold, and pull to or push from , as men do with the whip or cross-cut saw. The proverb of our Saviour, (Matthew 24:41) is true to life, for women only grind. I cannot recall an instance in which men were at the mill." --Thomson, "The Land and the Book," c.34. So essential were millstones for daily domestic use that they were forbidden to be taken in pledge. (24:6) There were also larger mills that could only be turned by cattle or asses. Allusion to one of these is made in (Matthew 18:6) With the movable upper millstone of the hand-mill the woman of Thebez broke Abimelech’s skull. (Judges 9:53)

Millet

a kind of grain. A number os species are cultivated in the East. When green it is used as fodder, and for bread when ripe. (Ezekiel 4:9) It is probable that both the Sorghum vulgare and that Panicum miliaceum were used, and the Hebrew dochan may denote either of these plants.

Millo

(a rampart, mound) a place in ancient Jerusalem. Both name and place seem to have been already in existence when the city was taken from the Jebusites by David. (2 Samuel 5:9; 1 Chronicles 11:8) Its repair or restoration was one of the great works for which Solomon raised his "levy," (1 Kings 9:15,24; 11:27) and it formed a prominent part of the fortifications by which Hezekiah prepared for the approach of the Assyrians. (2 Chronicles 32:5) The last passage seems to show that "the Milo" was part of the "city of David," that is, of Zion. Comp. (2 Kings 12:20)

Millo, The House Of

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

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

Mines, Mining

A highly-poetical description given by the author of the book of Job of the operations of mining as known in his day is the only record of the kind which we inherit from the ancient Hebrews. (Job 28:1-11) In the Wady Magharah, "the valley of the cave," are still traces of the Egyptian colony of miners who settled there for the purpose of extracting copper from the freestone rocks, and left their hieroglyphic inscriptions upon the face of the cliff. The ancient furnaces are still to be seen, and on the coast of the Red Sea are found the piers and wharves whence the miners shipped their metal in the harbor of Abu Zelimeh. Three methods were employed for refining gold and silver: (1) by exposing the fused metal to a current of air; (2) by keeping the alloy in a state of fusion and throwing nitre upon it; and (3) by mixing the alloy with lead, exposing the whole to fusion upon a vessel of bone-ashes or earth, and blowing upon it with bellows or other blast. There seems to be reference to the latter in (Psalms 12:6; Jeremiah 6:28-30; Ezekiel 22:18-22) The chief supply of silver in the ancient world appears to have been brought from Spain. The Egyptians evidently possessed the art of working bronze in great perfection at a very early time, and much of the knowledge of metals which the Israelites had must have been acquired during their residence among them. Of tin there appears to have been no trace in Palestine. The hills of Palestine are rich in iron, and the mines are still worked there, though in a very simple, rude manner.

Miniamin

(from the right hand).

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

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

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

Minister

This term is used in the Authorized Version to describe various officials of a religious and civil character. Its meaning, as distinguished from servant, is a voluntary attendant on another. In the Old Testament it is applied (1) to an attendance upon a person of high rank, (Exodus 24:13; Joshua 1:1; 2 Kings 4:43) (2) to the attaches of a royal court, (1 Kings 10:5; 2 Chronicles 22:8) comp. Psal 104:4 (3) To the priests and Levites. (Ezra 8:17; Nehemiah 10:36; Isaiah 61:6; Ezekiel 44:11; Joel 1:9,13) One term in the New Testament betokens a subordinate public administrator, (Romans 13:6; 15:16; Hebrews 8:2) one who performs certain gratuitous public services. A second term contains the idea of actual and personal attendance upon a superior, as in (Luke 4:20) The minister’s duty was to open and close the building, to produce and replace the books employed in the service, and generally to wait on the officiating priest or teacher. A third term, diakonos (from which comes our word deacon), is the one usually employed in relation to the ministry of the gospel: its application is twofold, --in a general sense to indicate ministers of any order, whether superior or inferior, and in a special sense to indicate an order of inferiors ministers. [DEACON]

Minni

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

Minnith

(distribution), a place on the east of the Jordan, named as the point to which Jephthah’s slaughter of the Ammonites extended. (Judges 11:33) The "wheat of Minnith" is mentioned in (Ezekiel 27:17) as being supplied by Judah and Israel to Tyre; but there is nothing to indicate that the same place is intended, and indeed the word is believed by some not to be a proper name.

Minstrel

The Hebrew word in (2 Kings 3:15) properly signifies a player upon a stringed instruments like the harp or kinnor [HARP], whatever its precise character may have been, on which David played before Saul, (1 Samuel 16:16; 18:10; 19:9) and which the harlots of the great cities used to carry with them as they walked, to attract notice. (Isaiah 23:16) The "minstrels" in (Matthew 9:23) were the flute-players who were employed as professional mourners, to whom frequent allusion is made. (2 Chronicles 35:25; Ecclesiastes 12:5; Jeremiah 9:17-20)

Mint

This name occurs only in (Matthew 23:23) and Luke 11:42 As one of those herbs the tithe of which the Jews were most scrupulously exact in paying. The horse mint, M. Sylvestris , and several other species of mint are common in Syria.

Miphkad

(appointed place), The gate, one of the gates of Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 3:31) It was probably not in the wall of Jerusalem proper, but in that of the city of David, or Zion, and somewhere near to the junction of the two on the north side.

Miracles

A miracle may be defined to be a plain and manifest exercise by a man, or by God at the call of a man, of those powers which belong only to the Creator and Lord of nature; and this for the declared object of attesting that a divine mission is given to that man. It is not, therefore, the wonder , the exception to common experience, that constitutes the miracle , as is assumed both in the popular use of the word and by most objectors against miracles. No phenomenon in nature, however unusual, no event in the course of God’s providence, however unexpected, is a miracle unless it can be traced to the agency of man (including prayer under the term agency), and unless it be put forth as a proof of divine mission. Prodigies and special providences are not miracles. (A miracle is not a violation of the laws of nature. It is God’s acting upon nature in a degree far beyond our powers, but the same king of act as our wills are continually exerting upon nature. We do not in lifting a stone interfere with any law of nature, but exert a higher force among the laws. Prof. Tyndall says that "science does assert that without a disturbance of natural law quite as serious as the stoppage of an eclipse, or the rolling of the St. Lawrence up the falls of Niagara, no act of humiliation, individual or nation, could call one shower from heaven." And yet men by firing cannon during battle can cause a shower: does that cause such a commotion among the laws of nature? The exertion of a will upon the laws does not make a disturbance of natural law; and a miracle is simply the exertion of God’s will upon nature. --ED.) Again, the term "nature" suggests to many persons the idea of a great system of things endowed with powers and forces of its own --a sort of machine, set a-going originally by a first cause, but continuing its motions of itself. Hence we are apt to imagine that a change in the motion or operation of any part of it by God would produce the same disturbance of the other parts as such a change would be likely to produce in them if made by us or by any other natural agent. But if the motions and operations of material things be produced really by the divine will, then his choosing to change, for a special purpose, the ordinary motion of one part does not necessarily or probably imply his choosing to change the ordinary motions of other parts in a way not at all requisite for the accomplishment of that special purpose. It is as easy for him to continue the ordinary course of the rest, with the change of one part, as of all the phenomena without any change at all. Thus, though the stoppage of the motion of the earth in the ordinary course of nature would be attended with terrible convulsions, the stoppage of the earth miraculously , for a special purpose to be served by that only , would not of itself be followed by any such consequences. (Indeed, by the action of gravitation it could be stopped, as a stone thrown up is stopped, in less than two minutes, and yet so gently as not to stir the smallest feather or mote on its surface. --ED.) From the same conception of nature as a machine, we are apt to think of interferences with the ordinary course of nature as implying some imperfection in it. But it is manifest that this is a false analogy; for the reason why machines are made is to save us trouble; and, therefore, they are more perfect in proportion as they answer this purpose. But no one can seriously imagine that the universe is a machine for the purpose of saving trouble to the Almighty. Again, when miracles are described as "interferences with the law of nature," this description makes them appear improbable to many minds, from their not sufficiently considering that the laws of nature interfere with one another, and that we cannot get rid of "interferences" upon any hypothesis consistent with experience. The circumstances of the Christian miracles are utterly unlike those of any pretended instances of magical wonders. This difference consists in -- (1) The greatness, number, completeness and publicity of the miracles. (2) In the character of the miracles. They were all beneficial, helpful, instructive, and worthy of God as their author. (3) The natural beneficial tendency of the doctrine they attested. (4) The connection of them with a whole scheme of revelation extending from the origin of the human race to the time of Christ.