In the PEF survey of Western Palestine the present village of el-Mughdr (‘the caves’) was adopted by the surveyors, who found that at this site alone, of all the possible sites for Makkedah
in the Philistine plain, do caves still exist. The following points are in favour of this site. It is
on the northern border-line of Judah immediately south-west of Ekron, opposite to Katrah (Gederoth) and near to Dajtin (Beth-dagon) and Ndaneh (N&‘amah). It is an ancient site, as evidenced b the rock-quarrying and the rock-cut tombs wit. loculi. There are caves of various sizes, in front of which the houses are built, and small caves exist in the cliffs north of the village. It is on the northern side of the valley of Sorek (Wady Surdr), in the lowlands about 4 miles from the sandy dunes bordering on the seashore. It is situated on a sort of promontory stretching into the valley of Sorek, divided into three plateaus ; on the lower of these to the south is the modern village of el- Mughédr, built in front of the caves which are cut out of the sandstone. The city of Makkedah was probably to the north of these caves. The sur- rounding country is very fertile. LiTERATURE.—Robinson, BRP? ii. 251; Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, 210; SWP ii. 412; Dillmann, Jos. ad loc. (leaves the site doubtful). C. WARREN.
MAKTESH (vazen ‘the mortar’ [Pr 2737; ἡ κατα- κεκομμένη ; Aq. els τὸν ὅλμον ; Theod. ἐν τῷ βάθει; Vulg. Pula).—The name of a locality mentioned in Zeph 1" ‘Howl, ye inhabitants of the Maktesh ; for all the people of Canaan (or, the merchant people ; cf. Ezk 17‘, Pr 31*) are undone, all they that were laden with silver are cut off.’ The con- text shows that it was in Jerusalem; it is also evident that it was a locality in which traders SLOT tema in particular, that, as Ewald con- jectured, it was the ‘Phcenician quarter’ of the city. From the meaning of the word,—it is used in Jg 15" of the ‘hollow place’ out of which the Bering of Ha-Koré issued forth,—it may be inferred that it denoted some basin-like hollow or de- pression. The Targ. understands by it the Kidron valley, which, it is true, forms a deep depression on the Εἰ. andS.E. of the city: but it is more probable that some locality within the city itself is intended ;
and it is a plausible suggestion that it was the name of the upper part of the Tyrop@on valley (between the E. and W. hills of Jerusalem). The Maktesh may have been mentioned in particular by Zeph. on account of the omen of the name (Jer, ‘quod scilicet, quomodo frumenta feriente desuper vecte, contunduntur’). S. R. DRIVER.
MALACHI (τεῦ, Madaxlas in the title only).— The last in the Canon of the OT prophets.
i. NAME OF THE Book.—If the title contained in the opening verse be accepted as original, Malachi may be taken as the personal name of the prophet. In that case it is Sagres, under- aR | as a contraction of 72x72 Malachiyah, and as meaning ‘the messenger of J”.’ This translation, however, presents difliculty,* and the word as a personal name does not occur elsewhere. Or the word may be regarded as the official title of the
rophet, and be rendered ‘ my, #.e. «758 messenger.’
he LXX so understood it in 1',t but, by using Μαλαχίας as the head title, preserved both inter- pretations. The Targum of Jonathan ben-Uzziel added at 1' ‘whose name is called Ezra the scribe’ ; and Jerome} gave this last addition as a current belief among the Jews of his time. If, however, Ezra was the author of the book, it is difficult to understand why his history contains no hint of its existence. And the fact that tradition also attaches the book to the names of Nehemiah and Zerubbabel strengthens the supposition, that, in a period which had forgotten the author’s name, the close corre- spondence between the aims which the BS het
esired and which the legislator accomplished led to their identification.
Many modern commentators (e.g. Wellhausen, Nowack, Kuenen) regard 1’ as a late addition. Emphasizing the similarity of this title to those which ἘΞ ς Zec 9" 12}, and noting the prominence of the word »>x>> ‘my messenger’ in 8), they have concluded that the compiler of the separate volume of the twelve minor prophets found this book with- out an author’s name, and, borrowing a name from the body of the work, prefixed the entire title asit stands at present. e opinion is plausible, and enjoys this advantage, that, as it is not based on facts but on several large snpnosision, it is incap able of disproof. Nothing is known of the personal history of the author, for the tradition of pseudo- Epiphanius (de vitis Proph.), which calls him a man of Sopha in the tribe of Zebulun, is so late as to be valueless.
ii. DATE.—The general period in which the book was written is easy to determine. The Exile is so far in the past that it is not even mentioned. The temple, to the rebuilding of which Haggai needed to exhort the ple, is already restored: the sacrificial ritual is being carried on within it (1109 342°), The offenders whom Malachi rebukes are the laity who do not support the established ritual (37), and the priests who bring it into contempt through their carelessness (1%), 0; the other hand, Judah is still under the civil government of a Persian satrap ("ngs ‘thy governor,’ 18, ef. Hag 11, Neh 5% 12%), and the title ‘great king,’ which Malachi applies (119) to J”, may be borrowed from the officin! style of that court. A comparison of the abuses which the book attacks, and the reforms which it advocates with those