mis-ref-ohth' mah'-yim, burning of waters), understood by the Greek translators "as a proper name, though the rabbins and some Christian commentators render it in different ways, such as salt pits, smelting huts, or glass huts" (K. and D., Com.). It is mentioned (Josh. 11:8) as a place between Zidon and the valley of Mizpeh, whither Joshua pursued the allied Canaanites after the defeat of Jabin (comp. 13:6), probably a collection of springs, called Ain Mesherfi, near the northern border of Canaan, opposite Mount Lebanon.

MIST (Heb. 7, ade, Gen. 2:6), a rising vapor, fog, or cloud, which again distills upon the ground (Job 36:27).

MITE, a very small coin. See METROLOGY, IV. MITH'CAH (Heb. 2, mith-kawʼ, sweetness), the twenty-ninth station of the Israelites in the desert, mentioned between Tarah and Hashmonah (Num. 33:28, 29), perhaps at the intersection of Wady el-Ghamr and Wady el-Jerafeh (McC. and S., Cyc., s. v.).

MITH'NITE (Heb. 2, mith-nee"), the designation of Joshaphat, one of David's guard in the catalogue of 1 Chron. 11:43.

MITH'REDATH (Heb. 7, mith-redawth', given by Mithras).

1. The treasurer of Cyrus, king of Persia, to whom the king gave the vessels of the temple, to be by him transferred to the hands of Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah (Ezra 1:8), B. C. 556.

2. A Persian officer, stationed in Samaria, who joined in writing a letter to Artaxerxes in opposition to the Jews (Ezra 4:7), B. C. 522.

MITER, the rendering of two Hebrew words: 1. Mits-neh'-feth (, tiara, Exod. 28:4, 37, 39; 29:6, etc.), the turban or headdress of the high priest.

2. Tsaw-neef' (7, headdress, Zech. 3:5 only), elsewhere rendered “diadem” (Job 29:14), "hood" (Isa. 3:23). See PRIEST, DRESS OF.

MITYLE'NE (Gr. Mervλipn, mit-oo-lay'-nay), the chief city on the island of Lesbos, in the Egean Sea, between Chios and Assos, famous for riches and literary character, and had the privi. leges of a free city. Sappho, Alcæus, Pittacus, and Theophrastus were natives of Mitylene. Paul touched there overnight (Acts 20:14, 15). The name was given to the entire island. It is now called Metelin, and is under Turkish rule. See PAUL.

MIXED MARRIAGES, i. e., between Jews and Gentiles, were strictly prohibited by the Mosaic law. See MARRIAGE, 2 (1).

MIXED MULTITUDE (Heb., ay'-reb, mixture). With the Israelites who journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, the first stage of the Exodus

MIZPAH

from Egypt, there went up (Exod. 12:38)** a mixed multitude," who have not hitherto been identified. During their residence in Egypt marriages were naturally contracted between the Israelites and the This hybrid race is evidently alluded to by Rashi and Aben Ezra, and is most probably that to which reference is made in Exodus. That

natives.

the mixed multitude" is a general term, includ ing all those who were not of pure Israelite blood, is evident; more than this cannot be positively asserted. In Exodus and Numbers it probably denoted the miscellaneous hangers-on of the Hebrew camp, whether they were the issue of spurious marriages with Egyptians, or were themselves Egyptians or belonging to other nations. The same happened on the return from Babylon, and in Neh. 13.3 (comp. 10:28) a slight clew is given by which the meaning of the "mixed mul titude may be more definitely ascertained. cording to Deut. 29:10 they seem to have occu pied a very low position among the Israelites, and to have furnished them with hewers of wood and drawers of water. See MINGLED PEOPLE.

Ac

MIZPAH (Heb. 2, mits-paw', watch feminine tower), or MIZ’PEH (EX, mits-peh', of above), the name of several places.

1. The heap of stones raised by Jacob as a witness of the covenant made by him and Laban (Gen. 31:49). Laban called it, in the language of Aram, Jegarsahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed, in the language of Canaan. Both names have the same meaning, "the cairn of testimony." Jacob and Laban made a covenant not to pass beyond Mizpah to the hurt of the other. The place was in Gilead, east of Jordan, and in later times was known from afar by its mizpah, or "watch tower," whose garrison kept watch upon the Aramæan tribes of the Hauran.

2. Another place east of Jordan, called Mizpah of Gilead (A. V. 'Mizpeh "), where JEPHTHAH (q. v.) lived (Judg. 11:34), and where the Israelites assembled under him against the Ammonites (10:17; 11:11). It is probably the same with the Ramath-Mizpeh of Gad (Josh. 13:26).

3. "The land of Mizpeh" (Josh. 11:3) was a district in Gilead inhabited by Hivites, "the country below Hasbeya, between Nahr Hashbany on the east, and Merj Ayun on the west, with the village of Mutelleh or Mtelleh, at present inhab ited by Druses, which stands upon a hill more than two hundred feet high, and from which there is a splendid prospect over the Huleh basin. is from this that it has derived its name (see Robinson, Bib. Res., p. 272).

It

4. A city of Benjamin, named in the list of the allotment between Beeroth and Chephirah, and in apparent proximity to Ramah and Gibeon (Josh. 18:26, A. V. Mizpeh "). Its connection with the two last-named towns is also implied in the later history (1 Kings 15:22; 2 Chron. 16:6; Neh. 3:7). It was one of the places fortified by Asa against the incursions of the kings of northern Israel (1 Kings 15:22; 2 Chron. 16:6; Jer. 41:9); and after the destruction of Jerusalem it became the residence of the superintendent appointed by the king of Babylon (Jer. 40:7, etc.), and was inhabited after the captivity (Neh. 3:7, 15, 19). Dr.

,(22:1 .Num עַרְבוֹת מוֹאָב)

"the sunk" district in the tropical depths of the Jordan valley. Before the arrival of Israel, Sihon, king of the Amorites, had taken from the former king of Moab," very possibly Zippor, the father of Balak (Num. 22:2), all the land "even unto Arnon" (Num. 21:26). Thus Moab was penned up in the closely

fenced "field of Moab " above mentioned.

Coming up from Egypt the Israelites approached Moab through the desert "facing Moab," outside the bordering circle of hills on the southeast. They were forbidden to molest the Moabites in the enjoyment of the land which they had taken from the Emim (Deut. 2:9-11). They therefore applied for permission to pass through the territory of Moab, and being refused, they went round its borders.

And perhaps the tradition in Targum (PseudoJonathan on Num. 22:4) that up to this time Moab and Midian had been one nation, with kings alternately taken from Midian and Moab, and that Balak was a Midianite, may have at its foundation a real fact.

The result of the conference was that the two nations united in sending for Balaam. If we are right in understanding Mic. 6:5-7 as a quotation from Balaam it would almost seem that Balak in his desperation contemplated a sacrifice like that made by a later king of Moab (2 Kings 3:26), and that he was restrained by Balaam in words of remarkable depth and truth which have been compared with those of our Lord (Matt. 9:13; 12:7; comp. Hos. 6:6).

2. Moab and Israel. (1) Refuses passage. From Deut. 2:29 it would appear at first sight that both Moab and Edom granted the request of Israel to be allowed to pass through their territory, while Num. 20:18-21 and Deut. 23:4 seem to show that both Moab and Edom utterly refused. But more careful reading removes the difficulty and gives us a clear idea of the whole transaction. Israel's request in Num. 20:17 is to be allowed to cross the territory of Edom by the royal highway, This the martial Edomites refused, with a display of force, standing on their national dignity and declining to show any hospitality for relationship's sake. From Jephthah's statement in Judg. 11:17 it appears that the more timorous Moabites took the same course. But it nowhere appears that they showed any further signs of hostility. Indeed Jephthah (Judg. 11:25, 26) makes the special point that Moab did not fight against Israel while they were neighbors for three hundred years. Deut. 23:4, 7 makes no complaint of hostility on the part of either Edom or Moab, but only of want of hospitality on the part of Moab and Ammon, and the hiring of Balaam to curse Israel. There is not the slightest hint that either nation made any attempt to hinder the Israelites from passing along the edge of its territory, trading with the people as they are said to have done in Deut. 2:29. For in "Thou shalt not pass by me" in Num. 20:18, "by" must be taken in the sense of "by way of " ("via"). The Hebrew is, and the R. V. has "Thou shalt not pass through me." So far from being hostile, the Moabites were only too friendly, sending their daughters to cultivate friendly relations with the Israelites, and then to entice them to their idolatrous services. For in Num. 25:2" they called " is feminine (7), referring to the daughters. Thus the conduct of Moab and Edom stood in strong contrast with the

"It is remarkable that Moses should have taken his view of the promised land from a Moabite sanctuary, and been buried in the land of Moab. It is singular, too, that his resting place is marked in the Hebrew records only by its proximity to the sanctuary of that deity to whom in his lifetime he had been such an enemy" (Smith). "He buried him in a yalley of Moab over against Beth-Peor," i. e., the abode of Baal-Peor (Deut. 34:6; comp. Psa. 106:28).

(2) Exclusion of Moab. The exclusion of Moabites (and Ammonites) from the congregation of the Lord to the tenth generation was not on account of any active hostility, but, as is expressly said (Deut. 23:4), on account of their want of bospitality and of the hiring of Balaam, and we may well believe that the ingenuity which made the daughters of Moab the means of enticing the Israelites into drawing the curse upon themselves, made the exclusion of Moab more rigorous. The principal share in the transaction seems, however, to have belonged to MIDIAN (q. v.). Indeed Moab is named in connection with the affair only in Num. 25:1. See MARRIAGES, 2 (1).

The defeat of Midian in the field of Moab by the Edomite Hadad is sometimes understood to refer to a war between Moab and Midian; but it

looks rather like a defeat of the allied Midianites and Moabites by Edom. This accords well with what is otherwise known of the martial character of Edom and the unwarlike disposition of Moab and Midian (see above, and also MIDIAN, especially No. 5).

(3) Time of judges. After the conquest Moab once oppressed Israel for eighteen years; but as if recognizing the general unmilitary character of Moab, the text significantly says, "The Lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab, against Israel,... and he gathered unto him the children of Ammon and Amalek, and went out and smote Israel," etc. (Judg. 3:12, 13).

(4) Time of the kingdom. Of Saul we read simply that he fought against Moab (1 Sam. 14:47). But the early relations of Moab and Israel seem on the whole to have been friendly, as shown by the Book of Ruth. Ruth brought a Moabite element into the line of David, and hence, on the human side, into the ancestry of our Saviour. Thus David, when pressed by Saul, intrusted his father and mother to the keeping of the king of Moab. But twenty years or more afterward, from some cause unknown to us, he treated the Moabites with great rigor (2 Sam. 8:2), and their spoil, with that of other nations, went to swell the treasure amassed for the temple. The Moabites became tributary; and when we again hear of them they are acting for Solomon the same part which they had acted for the Israelites in Balaam's time, sending their daughters to lead him astray.

In the days of Ahab they still paid a tribute which shows both the severity of Israel's yoke and the resources of the country (2 Kings 3:4, 5). On the death of Ahab they revolted. According to the chronology of our English Bible (2 Chron. 20:1, sq.), their first step was to collect an army of Moabites, Ammonites, and others, including Edomites (vers. 10, 23), and attack Judah, then ruled by Jehoshaphat. Judah met them with prayer and praise. By divine interposition, dissension broke out in the camp of the invaders, the Moabites and Ammonites first slaughtering the Edomites and then each other, so that nothing was left for Israel but to gather the spoil.

The consequence was a counter-invasion of Moab by Israel, eager to humble and perhaps regain a revolted province; Judah, ready to strike down a dangerous enemy, and Edom, mindful of the trap into which he had been led. This sequence of events shows how Edom came to act with Israel and Judah for once, and it explains the otherwise unaccountable and inexcusable severity with which Moab was treated when the victory was won. The story is told in 2 Kings 3:6-27.

Moab for a time must have been greatly reduced in power, so that nearly sixty years later we find predatory bands of Moabites as of Arabs (2 Kings 13:20). But later, in the days of Isaiah, about the time of the death of Ahaz, "Moab has regained all and more than all of his former prosperity, and has besides extended himself over the district which he originally occupied in the youth of the nation, and which was left vacant by the removal of Reuben to Assyria" by Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings 18:11; 1 Chron. 5:26).

3. Prophecies. Isaiah, in his "Burden of Moab" (chaps. 15, 16; comp. 25:10), predicts, in high-wrought poetic lamentation, the fall of Moab from his high estate, and his reduction to a small and feeble remnant (16:14). Jeremiah, in his fortyeighth chapter, one hundred and forty years later (600 B. C.) echoes the lament of the older prophet, whose prophecy he had no doubt read, and gives Moab a gleam of hope at the last (Jer. 48:47). These prophecies refer naturally to injuries to be inflicted by Assyria and Babylon. But they are especially interesting from their allusions, which show clearly the condition of Moab. "The nation appears in them as high-spirited, wealthy, populous, and even to a certain extent civilized, enjoying a wide reputation and popularity. . . . In his cities we discern a 'great multitude of people,' living in 'glory,' and in the enjoyment of great 'treasure.' Outside the towns lie the 'plen

tiful fields,' luxuriant as the renowned Carmelthe vineyards and gardens of 'summer fruits;' the harvest is being reaped and the 'hay stored in abundance,' the land resounds with the clamor of the vintagers. These characteristics contrast very favorably with any traits recorded of Ammon, Edom, Midian, Amalek, the Philistines or the Canaanite tribes." Since the descriptions of Isaiah and Jeremiah agree, they seem to represent the nation as permanently flourishing.

In Josiah's time Zephaniah threatens Moab and Ammon with vengeance for their reviling words against Israel, but mentions no act of hostility. In 2 Kings 24:2 we find marauding bands of Moabites and Ammonites along with Syrians and Chaldees harassing Judah in the time of Jehoiakim.

Jeremiah (27:3) warned Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon as he warned Judah, not to resist Nebuchadnezzar, into whose hand God had deliv ered those countries for the time, but to serve him and remain in their lands. It is to be presumed that they profited by his advice, since it appears from Jer. 40:11 that these countries had been a refuge to many of the Jews when the storm finally broke.

4. After the Captivity. Sanballat, who in Nehemiah's time was associated with Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arabian against the Jews (Neh. 2:10, 19, etc.), was a Horonite. If this name is derived from Horonaim, Sanballat was a Moabite, as he is quite often regarded. If from Beth-horon, he was probably a Samaritan. See HORONITE.

In Judith, shortly after the captivity (4:3), Moab and Ammon occupy their ancient seats. The Maccabees do not mention Moab or any towns south of the Arnon. In the time of Josephus (Ant., i, 11, § 5) the Moabites were "even still a great nation." The name remained to the time of Eusebius (A. D. about 380), and at the time of the Council of Jerusalem, A. D. 536, it formed the see of a bishop, under the name of CharakMoba (Smith).

5. Language and Worship. The language of Moab was merely "transjordanic Hebrew" (Gesenius, Heb. Gr., § 49, iv, p. 125), differing from biblical Hebrew only in some comparatively trifling details.