PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
A Dictionary of the Bible — Volume 3
James Hastings · 1,187,003 words · 1191 reading sections
Section 421
MEDIATOR, MEDIATION 313 Jehovah to Israel and the representative of the people before God. David officiates in priestly apparel,—‘ girded with a linen ephod,’ offering burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and blessin the people in the name of Jehovah (2S 6.18), mediating POSE between God and the people appears in the …
997 wordsSECTION 422Section 422
riests perform a multitude of services for the benefit of the community; but the chief of these is sacrificing, and it is at the altar that they appear most conepiounmly as mediators between God and man. The old custom of private sacrific- ing by individuals is now entirely abandoned, and all sacrifices must be prese…
984 wordsSECTION 423Section 423
MEDIATOR, MEDIATION torial power is developed. The prophet may have been trained in one of the brotherhoods of the ‘sons of the prophets,’ in which case he corre- sponds to the second class of the Greek prophets ; but he may have been called without any such preparation, and quite apart from professional associations,…
1,084 wordsSECTION 424Section 424
ook of Enoch, a ah B, pp. 312-317). In all this we have only the kingly rank and influence. There is no indication of the priestly sacrifice of mediation. In the Synoptic Gospels we have accounts of the realization of the essential elements of these expec- tations, though with a complete conversion of them into spirit…
909 wordsSECTION 425Section 425
the p; is not to teach any specific doctrine con- aac mediatorial τοῖς and therefore must MEDIATOR, MEDIATION not be pressed as though that were its aim. Still He could not have spoken these words without meaning that some suoh work was to be accomplished by Him. (2) The expression ‘give his life’ (dodva τὴν ψυχὴν αὐ…
1,157 wordsSECTION 426Section 426
Ὁ. The teaching in the Fourth Gospel. — This introduces both aspects of our Lord’s mediatorial work more clearly than the Synopties, but here it is not so easy to discriminate between Christ’s original teaching and the form in which it is cast πὶ the writer. Jesus comes claiming Divine Son- ship and union with His Fath…
956 wordsSECTION 427Section 427
MEDIATOR, MEDIATION MEDIATOR, MEDIAT\ON 31¢ on the mediatorial work of Christ to His death. The Resurrection is also for our benefit; our Lord was both ‘delivered for our trespasses’ and ‘raised for our justification’ (Ro 435). In His risen life He is ‘ the first-fruits of them that are asleep’ (1 Co 15”). Lastly, Hi…
949 wordsSECTION 428Section 428
. 296). This use of the word is parallel to St. aul’s in Gal 3°. ®, where the apostle applies it to Moses as the agent through whom the covenant of the law was introduced. In both cases we have only the descending mediation, the mediator repre- senting and executing God’s will among men, But though the author does not…
1,098 wordsSECTION 429Section 429
MEDIATOR, MEDIATION shall enter and who shall leave the region of the dead. He sits on the throne with God (331 7!7 125), and will be the assessor of God in the judgment (6-17), In all these respects God acts through Him. On the other hand, we see in Christ the Godward aspect of mediation in which He repre- sents us t…
927 wordsSECTION 430Section 430
MEDICINE.—Compared with other countries in the same latitude, Palestine is, and probably was in Bible days, a fairly healthy land. It has few sluggish streams, and most of its valleys are wind- swept; except in some few localities malarious diseases are not very rife, and owing to its want of harbours, and consequently…
935 wordsSECTION 431Section 431
In early Egypt also the physicians were priests, and Papyrus Ebers gives several formule to be used as prayers while compounding medicaments (for later Egyptian physicians see Herod. ii. 84). The Hebrew priests had charge of certain branches of public health, e.g. leprosy, but it was to the pro- phets that those requir…
1,021 wordsSECTION 432Section 432
Visitation of the sick, although not enjoined in the Mosaic books, is urged as a duty in the Talmud (Shabbath 127B), and several paragraphs in the Shulhan Aruch (Jére De'ah 3351t.) are devoted to this subject. Several cases are excepted, such as ophthalmic or abdominal diseases, and headache, as these may be aggravated…
1,099 wordsSECTION 433Section 433
In Mt 14 τοὺς κακῶς ἔχοντας is used for ‘those that were sick’; and in Ro 15! ἀσθενήματα means weaknesses or infirmities of conscience, as in Aristotle (de Gener. Animal. i. 18, where it is used as the parallel of ἀρρωστήμα). Some sicknesses, such as leprosy, rendered the patients unclean, and caused their exclusion f…
920 wordsSECTION 434Section 434
Following these in the Dt passage MT has 273 nereb, ‘sword’; but probably we should read 375 (as in margin of AV, RV) = ‘drought,’ either a disease attended with dryness, or else simply drought of the earth. The latter is more prob- able, as it is followed by the words shiddaphén and yérakén, tr. here as in Am 4° and H…
938 wordsSECTION 435Section 435
The bubonic plague has been from time im- memorial the periodic scourge of Bible lands. It is mentioned in the oldest medical literature (Hippoc. Aph. iv. 52, Epid. iii. 55). Ruffus mentions a visitation of plague in Syria about B.C. 300; and the dreadful epidemic in the reign of Justinian, about A.D. 544, is graphical…
1,008 wordsSECTION 436Section 436
Digestive and other disorders from intemperance are graphically enumerated in Pr 23%; interjec- tional cries of distress, accident, redness of eyes, strange visions, bitings as sharp as those of the serpent. In Is 191} the drunkard is represented as staggering or falling in his vomit; in Is 288 the defile all that they…
949 wordsSECTION 437Section 437
‘A broken heart’ is mentioned 11 times in Scripture, but always in its metaphorical sense of repentance and sorrow for sin. The condition literally expressed by the term has acquired a special interest on account of Dr. Stroud’s hypo- thesis that rupture of the heart was the condition to which our Lord’s death was due …
910 wordsSECTION 438Section 438
MEDICINE MEDICINE 327 serum on or into the brain. When in the disturbed condition of brain which followed his drunken bout the churl was excited to passion by the story of his wife’s pouerosiiy: some vessel probably gave Ἵ way in his brain, and he became comatose (ν. 7 ‘as a stone’), lingering in that state for t…
1,150 wordsSECTION 439Section 439
Epilepsy is mentioned in Mt 17° (RV) as the cause of the convulsive seizures of the boy described there and in Lk 938, The account of the fit, begin- ning with a cry, followed by his falling down and becoming convulsed, foaming at the mouth, grind- ing his teeth, bruising himself sorely, sometimes falling into the fire…
1,126 wordsSECTION 440Section 440
A few references to surgical disease and accident occur in the Bible. Among primitive peoples, as a rule, surgery preceded medicine, as the conditions of their life expose the body to violence. The following are cases of surgical disease :— The woman bound by the spirit of antieralty and unable to lift herself (Lk 13"…
1,003 wordsSECTION 441Section 441
Scuryy (RV), scab (AV) (Dt 28% 293 σᾶγαν) is the ψώρα ἀγρία of LXX, scabies of the Vulgate. In Ly 21” it is called ‘scurvy’ in AV. This disease has nothing to do with the true scurvy, but is also an itchy disease in which a thick crust forms on the skin; it is most rebellious to treat- ment, and technically known as f…
1,121 wordsSECTION 442Section 442
Poisonous serpents are mentioned in Nu 21°, Dt 32%, Job 20% 16, Is 118 1429 595, Jer 817, Mt 37 124 238, Mk 1618, Lk 37 10, Ac 28%6. The fiery serpents of the plague in the wilderness are not called flying: that word is imported into their description from Is 14” and 30°, There are several poisonous serpents in the Des…
901 wordsSECTION 443Section 443
Apparently but two forms of blindness were recognized : (1) that due to the prevalent ophthal- mia. It is a highly infectious disease, and is aggravated by sand, sun-glare, and dirt, so that it almost always leaves the organs damaged, and often renders them useless, causing opacity of the cornea or closure of the pupil…
900 wordsSECTION 444Section 444
The cases of Sarah, Manoah’s wife, Hannah, the Shunammite, and Elisabeth, are instances of unipare at alate period. Barrenness was regarded as a divine judgment (Gn 2018 30°), and was a cause of much unhappiness (Gn 80), Pr 3016), for the re- moval of which the forked root of the mandrake was used as a charm (Gn 3018).…
934 wordsSECTION 445Section 445
There are very few references to methods of treatment in the Bible. External applications, such as bathing or washing (2 K 5!) ; diet (Lk 8°) ; the application of saliva (Jn 9°; see Maimon. on Shabb, 21); anointing with oil (Ja 5); binding of sores and mollifying them with ointment (Is 1°); pouring in oil and wine (Lk …
1,001 wordsSECTION 446Section 446
In domestic sanitation the covering with earth of excreta and of blood are prescribed, and the expansion of these rules in the Mishna (Baba Kamma) forbids dung-heaps, and gardens requir- ing manure within the city, and intramural inter- ments. The fires of the valley of Hinnom perhaps consumed the city offal (but see R…
912 wordsSECTION 447Section 447
ressed His followers (2 Co 10', 1 P 2%). ‘The ord’s servant’ must possess the same apes (2Ti 2™!. ; cf. what is said of Moses in Nu 12°, that he was meek [}y] above all men upon earth). Row justly calls attention to the fact that Christianity transfers supremacy from the stronger to the milder virtues (Bampton Lect. p…
937 wordsSECTION 448Section 448
MEHIR reached the south side of M. (R&P, 1st ser. ii. 35- 7). The town is noticed in the ‘Travels of an Egyptian,’ apparently in connexion with the Jordan (ἐδ. ii. 112); but Max Miiller has shown (Asien τι. Europa, 195) that Jordan is probably an error for Kishon. M. is also mentioned in the cuneiform inscriptions. At…
971 wordsSECTION 449Section 449
MEHUMAN (jp72).—One of the seven eunuchs in attendance upon king Ahasuerus (Est 1”, LXX ‘Audv). The name has been explained from the Persian Mehhum-van, ‘belonging to the great Hum’ (cf. Berth.-Ryss.); the former has perhaps been y y assimilated to the Aram. SQ.,0180 =/faithful. H. A. WHITE. ME-JARKON (j\pv17 °p).—…
1,155 wordsSECTION 450Section 450
To Malta, then, the apostle and his fellow- voyagers quite indisputably came. At night the watch were convinced that ‘land was getting near’ (προσάγειν ---προσαχεῖν is an attempt to replace a curious phrase by an explanatory one, Ac 2752). As the soundings confirmed this, they threw anchors out from the stern (to avoid…
917 wordsSECTION 451Section 451
Venetian map soon after Three points require final consideration : (1) The title and position of ‘Publius.’ If Malta was by this time enfranchized, the πρῶτος may have been a semi-official position corresponding to that of the princeps alain at Pisz (see Woolsey, quoted by Hackett, in loc.). Otherwise he might be the …
1,089 wordsSECTION 452Section 452
MELZAR (13529 Dn 1" 18), —The LXX (᾿Αβιεσδρί), Theodotion (‘Auedod or ‘Auepodp), the Vulg. (Mala- sar), all regard it as a proper name, and have been followed in this by our AV and other modern versions, This is now universally admitted to be a mistake. The article precedes the noun, and the two together must be render…
1,002 wordsSECTION 453Section 453
referred omega in the religious texts of the ΡΥ Υ ἘΕΣ was Ha(t)-ka-ptah, ‘the abode (or temple) of the likeness of god Ptah,’ whence the designation of all Egypt as Al-yu-rros, L-gy-pt, seems to have arisen. Memphis was one of the most ancient cities of Egypt, at least near it was the earliest residence of those Phara…
918 wordsSECTION 454Section 454
MENAHEM 339 fully ae toa for splendid buildings. Yet M. con- tinued to the most populous city, and became again the residence of the Pharaohs until the end ot Egypt’s independence (525 B.c.), although it was frequently ravaged by war, e.g. when the Ethio- pian conqueror P(i)'ankhi (about 750) took it by storm. It expe…
1,112 wordsSECTION 455Section 455
It was in the short and troubled reign of Menahem that the Assyrian invader first set foot in the Holy Land. ‘There came against the land Pul the king of Assyria’ (2 Καὶ 151). Schrader (COT? i. 222, 230) has shown that this Pul, the Πῶρος of the Ptolemaic Canon, and Tiglath-pileser 111. of the cuneiform records, are id…
985 wordsSECTION 456Section 456
Daniel’s interpretation and application of the words occupy vv.***8, where it 1s noticeable that the readings differ slightly from those given in v.™. Méné appears only once, and the singular pérés is substituted for the plural parsin. The texts of Theodotion and Jerome bring v.* into agreement with νν. 35. 38. in the …
968 wordsSECTION 457Section 457
oods, for which the buyers offer a price. The interpretation given in νν. 35:38 would in either case err in assigning a separate application to each of the words of a formula which as a whole was a symbolical description of the occasion. If the inscription given in Dn 5 be historical, it is probable that some euhemeri…
1,142 wordsSECTION 458Section 458
MENNA (Mevvd, Tisch. Treg. WH; Maivdvy TR, hence AV Menan).—An ancestor of Jesus, Lk 3%. MENUHAH (a9339).—In Jg 208 ‘They enclosed the Benjamites . . . (372777 AMID menthah hidri- khuht)’; AV ‘trode them down with ease’ (AVm ‘from Menuchah’), RV ‘trode them down (RVm ‘overtook them’) at their resting-place’ (RVm ‘at …
943 wordsSECTION 459Section 459
*See Gray, Heb. Proper Names, p. 200, n.8, and Kittel (in SBOT) on 1 Ch 8%, who both hold that 5y3 "5 (‘man or hero of Baal’) is the original form, Kittel offering as an alternative rendering ‘ my lord is Baal’ (cf. C7Si. 111). On the other hand, Nestle (Eigennamen, p. 1901.) adopts the form >y> 3D. The change of "1D i…
920 wordsSECTION 460Section 460
MERAIOTH (niq>).—1. Son of Ahitub and father of Zadok, 1 Ch 9" (B Μαρμώθ, A Μαριώθ), Neh 114 (AB Μαριώθ). 2. A Levite, or a Levitical family name, 1 Ch 6% [Heb. 5°-] © [Heb. 57], Ezr 7°. In the first two of these passages B has Μαρειήλ, A Mapas? and Mepawé, in the third B has Μαρερώθ, A Μαραιώθ. This Meraioth is called…
987 wordsSECTION 461Section 461
Shaks. Merch. 9 Venice, Il. i. 134—‘ Were he out of Venice, I can make what merchandise I will.’ Merchantman is in AV simply ‘ merchant,’ Gn 37%, 1 K 10%, Mt 1395. Latimer, Sermons, p. 500, says, ‘The craftsman or merchantman teacheth his prentice to lie, and to utter his wares with lying and forswearing.’ J. HASYINGS…
977 wordsSECTION 462Section 462
2. oom rahdmim, lit. ‘bowels,’ so fig. ‘ tender affection,’ ‘compassion’ ; LXX ἔλεος, οἰκτιρμοί, ete. ; Vulg. misericordia(@), miseratio, ete. ; also trans- lated in EV ‘compassion.’ The adj. on rahtim is rendered: LXX οἰκτίρμων, ete. ; vale! misericors, ete. ; EV ‘ merciful,’ ‘full of compassion.’ Corre- sponding tran…
916 wordsSECTION 463Section 463
A fuller expression is #7 n37 Ὁ in Nu 27, Dt 32°), LXX and Vulg. render as in Nu 208, RV has ‘ waters of Meribah of Kadesh,’ while AV has ‘ Meribah in Kadesh’ in Nu and ‘ Meribah-kadesh’ in Dt. Besides these passages in which reference is made by name to the waters which flowed from the rock when smitten by Moses, many…
926 wordsSECTION 464Section 464
MERIBBAAL view of the relation between God and His people is represented: ‘whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah.’ The word prove is the same word as that rendered tempt, and occurs in Gn 22! (‘God did tempt [RV ee Abraham’). The same thought is found in Ex 155 (‘the…
1,006 wordsSECTION 465Section 465
M. afterwards recovered his freedom, and in B.C. 702, after the death of Sargon, he returned to Babylon, and reigned there a second time for about six months; though the Annalistic Tablet seems to imply that this M. was not identical with the Kalda jigatte (as it calls him ‘an Assyrian soldier’). any rate, the usurper …
909 wordsSECTION 466Section 466
MEROM, THE WATERS OF the river, confining its waters to its bed’ (Le Strange, Pal. under the Moslems, 68). The floor of the valley northward is one vast morass, varying in breadth from 2 to 3 miles, From the chief source of the Jordan at Tell el-Kddi to the lake, a distance of 11 miles, there is a fall of 498 ft. Towa…
1,014 wordsSECTION 467Section 467
There is but one site in the neighbourhood with any reminiscence of the ancient name to which these conditions could apply. This is e/-Murussus, about 5 miles N.W. of Beisdn, and 9 miles Εἰ. of Jezreel, on the northern slopes of the vale which runs down from Esdraelon to the Jordan, between Little Hermon and Gilboa. Bu…
945 wordsSECTION 468Section 468
800 MESHACH the ranks of the besiegers. But utterly ἜΝ in ull this he went to the top of the wall, and, in view of the armies of Judah, Israel, and Edom, propitiated the wrath of Chemosh by offering up as a burnt-offering his firstborn, the heir-apparent to the throne. drew, leaving Mesha master of the situation, tho…
1,009 wordsSECTION 469Section 469
en identified with Commagene; and Alzi with Anzitene, mentioned by Ptolemy (v. 13. 18) as a district between the sources of the Tigris and Euphrates. Tiglath-pileser went out to meet them, traversed a region called Kashuyara, and defeated them with great slaughter. They are next mentioned in an inscription of king Assh…
900 wordsSECTION 470Section 470
mother of Amon (2 K 9119). (Haruz) and her birthplace (Jotbah) are both given. Similarly in the case of ail the queen- mothers who follow, but of none who precede, Meshullemeth. If the formula ‘daughter of X from (the locality) Z’ is due to a preference of the compiler, it may be an indication of the farthest point of…
1,118 wordsSECTION 471Section 471
It will be our aim in this art. (i.) to trace the origin and growth of the Messianic beliefs of the Jews, and then more briefly (ii.) to mark the character and extent of the change which these beliefs underwent in the Christian Church, and its results as to the interpretation of OT prophecy. i. JEWISH MESSIANIC BELIEF…
1,002 wordsSECTION 472Section 472
At Dn 9% we possibly have the word used in that which has come to be its distinctive sense. If so, it is the earliest instance of this. In the next oldest works which have to be noticed, as probabiy giving indications of the expectation of the Messiah, the title is not used ; but this is explicable from the oracular, …
1,088 wordsSECTION 473Section 473
(d) The evidence so far considered brings us down approximately to the middle of the last cent. B.C. Zhe Gospels are our next important source of information. They supply us with a lifelike picture of Jewish beliefs in Palestine at the time of our Lord’s ministry. We gather that the ex- 354 MESSIAH MESSIAH pectation…
923 wordsSECTION 474Section 474
eriod when the expectation of a king of David’s ine does not seem to have flourished, religious hope was fixed upon the rise of a true prophet (1 Mac 14"; cf. 4 and 977). Among the Jews of the time of our Lord’s ministry the return of one of the famous prophets of old (Mk 857: and parallels, Mk 6"), or the coming of on…
947 wordsSECTION 475Section 475
We may observe, in taking leave of this sub- ject, that before the historical realization in Jesus hrist, and apart from belief in Him, it must have been extremely difficult to combine the idea of suffering with the conception of the promised king derived from the representations of OT prophecy generally. It can have …
919 wordsSECTION 476Section 476
One work there is, apparently Jewish, which is an exception in Jewish literature in regard to more than oneof the points which we have been discussing —the Enochie Book of Parables, to which reference has been made, but the consideration of which was deferred. The present is a suitable opportunity for making a few rema…
913 wordsSECTION 477Section 477
Two comings of the Messiah, first in humiliation, then in glory, were now distinguished, and this distinction became a characteristic article of the Christian faith ; for the withdrawal from the earth of one who had not in any way discharged the office of Messiah, though destined to do so hereafter, according to the Je…
914 wordsSECTION 478Section 478
VY. The word occurs also in Pref. to AV, ‘neither is it the plain-dealing Merchant that is unwilling to have the weights or the meteyard brought in place, but he that useth deceit.’ Coverdale has the similar forms ‘meteline’ (Jos 17°: 44) and ‘ meterod’ (Ezk 40* ° 415), J. HASTINGS. METHEG-AMMAH.—AV and RVm in 2S 8! …
982 wordsSECTION 479Section 479
MICA (x>>). —1. Son of Merib-baal (Mephi- bosheth), 2S 9% (B Μειχά, A Μιχα), called in 1 Ch 8.31. 9% Micah (n>). See MICAH, No. 2. 2. Son of Zichri, 1 Ch 9% (B Mexa, A Μιχά), Neh 117 (B Maxd, A Μιχά), where he is called son of Zabdi, v. (B Μειχά, A Miyé)=Micaiah (5:92) of Neh 1935, See MICAIAH, No. 7. 3. One of those w…
1,001 wordsSECTION 480Section 480
MICAH MICAH 359 Laish, which they took without difficulty; and in a new town built on the site of the old the set up a temple of their own in charge of Micah’s Levite, who thus became the ancestor of the Danite priesthood. How long this priesthood lasted is not known. The note of time (18*) is of little help. If ‘th…
977 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical reference work (1898–1905); OCR text from Internet Archive. Historical scholarship and terminology reflect its era; OCR may contain errors. Verify quotations and current scholarly claims independently.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.