How large a portion of the body of Christian doctrine may be set forth, and with the sanction of Scripture, under the category of the marriage re- lation, may be briefly indicated.
(1) Under the doctrine of God this representa- tion, besides embodying as its fundamental prin- ciples the divine sovereignty and love, lays special stress on the attributes of clemency and long- suffering, while it safeguards the holiness of God by showing Him grieved and provoked to anger by contumacy and unfaithfulness (Hos passim). As husband God also provides for His people (2°).
(2) The doctrine of sin is, from this point of view, characterized as adultery (Hos 2?, Jer 3° 137;
* The germ of the conception, according to W. R. Smith, was found in Semitic heathenism ; and the service of Hosea was to purify the gross physical conception of the god as the husband of the motherland, and to apply it to describe moral relations of Jehovah with His people (Prophets of Israel, new ed. p. 170 ff.)
MARSENA
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on 7} ‘tnx see Driver on Dt 3115)---α designation which, as regards (a) the nature of sin, indicates that its essence consists in indifference or even hatred toward God, and the giving of the affec- tions to other objects (Hos 2°, Jer 2, Ezk 20°); (Ὁ) the heinousness of sin, draws attention to its aggravation as unfaithfulness to solemn obligation and ingratitude for high favours (Jer 5’); and (c) the punishment of sin, teaches that persistence in it entails a casting-off, of which human divorce is a pale emblem (Hos 2", Jer 2°"),
(3) In the Christological doctrine the points which are chiefly emphasized by the conception are the love of Christ, His kingly office as exer- cised in His headship over the Church, and His intimate union with it through the indwelling Spirit (2 Co 115, Eph 5%-*),
(4) In close relation to the last the doctrine of the Church is elucidated and enriched by the assertion of its mystical union with and depend- ence upon Christ (Eph. doc. cit.), and of its essential note of sanctity—the latter, which includes all the graces included in sanctification, being beautifully portrayed as the bridal adornment (Rev 19°).
(5) Finally, as regards eschatology, the figure concentrates attention on the momentous event of the Second Coming, which is sudden as the coming of the bridegroom (Mt 951-18), and places in a clear light the bliss, the security, and unutterable glory of the everlasting kingdom (Rev 197 21°-*).
LireratuRE.—Next to the Scriptures the chief source is the division of the Mishna 0°73 17D (Liber de re uxoria), containing, with two others, the treatises nin (de levirorum in fratrias ojicio), ΓΥΞῚΠ3 (de dote literisque matrimonialibus), 71D (de uxore adulterti suspecta), 1.82 (de divortiis), and wip (de sponsalibus)—pt. 8 in the ed. of Surenhusius, Amsterdam, 1700. ‘The best of the above material is collected in Selden, Uxor Hebraica, London, 1546, and Hamburger, Real-Encyclopedie fiir Bibel und Talmud, Breslau, 1870. Of the older articles, that in Kitto’s Biblical Cyclopedia is distinguished by Talmudic erudition. The recent German manuals which cover the ground are Benzinger, Heb. Arch., Freiburg, 1894, cf. his ‘Familie ἃ. Ehe’ in Hauck=Herzog3; Nowack, Lehrb. der Heb. Arch., Bd. i., Freiburg, 1894, with which may be mentioned Stace, GVJ, Berlin, 1887, i. pp. 371-395. On primitive marriage the chief works from the general standpoint are M‘Lennan, Primitive Marriage, reprin in Studies in Ancient History, London, 1876; Starcke, The Primitive Family, London, 1889; Wester- marck, History of Human Marriage, London, 1891; Post, Studien zur Entwickelungsgeschichte des Familienrechts, Lei zig, 1889; while the theories are tested in the Semitic field with special knowledge by W. R. Smith, Kinship and Marriage tn Early Arabia, Cambridge, 1895, and Wellhausen, ‘ Die Ehe bei den Arabern’ in the Géttinger Nachrichten, 1893, p. 481 ff., following Wilken, Das Matriarchat bei den alten Arabern, 1884. For the interpretation of the laws there is much to be learned from Michaelis, Mosaisches Recht, Eng. tr. ‘Commen- taries on the Laws of Moses,’ London, 1814. Amram, Jewish Law of Divorce according to Bible and Talmud, London, 1897, is an gy kta discussion by a legal expert. See also Fenton, Early Hebrew Life, London, 1830; Jacobs, Studies in Bibl. Arch., London, 1894 ; Abrahams, Jewish Life in the Middle Ages, London, 1896; Tristram, Kastern Customs, London, 1894; Mackie, Bible Manners and Customs, London, 1898.
W. P. PATERSON. MARSENA (πη; Μαλησεάρ AB, Μαλισεάρ, Μαρσανά ; Marsana).—One of the seven princes of
Media and Persia, who ‘sat first in the kingdom,’
and had the right of access to the royal presence (Est 14, cf. ADMATHA). The name is doubtless
Persian, but the derivation is uncertain.
MARSHAL.—The word does not occur in AV, but in RV it represents two Heb. words. (1) 795 gopher (Jg 5") in the difficult phrase 795 aya o'>y!p ‘{out of Zebulun) they that handle the marshal’s staff’ (RV). The usual meaning of 155 is ‘scribe’ or f writer,’ and so AV, agreeing with Syr.* EATS Kop) j-2.009 and Targ. 1557 21D>yp3 jan, gives
* We have verified the Syr. from MSS, viz. the Ambrosian, the Buchanan Bible (Jacobite of cent. xii.), and Camb. Univ. Add. 1064 (Nestorian of cent. xiii.) for J; 4, and from the first two
of these MSS torether with Camb. Univ. Add. 1965 (Nestorian of rent. xv.) for Jer 5127 and Nah 817,
MARTHA
‘They that handle the pen of the writer.’ No.e of the Greek versions, however, give ‘pen,’ in A pavai=év σκήπτρῳ, in B and Theod. ἐν ῥάβδῳ, in Symm. μετὰ ῥάβδους Therefore we may take Greek authority to be on the side of ‘marshal’ as against ‘scribe,’ ‘writer,’ though an abstract noun, acc. to A ἡγήσεως, ace. to B (and Theod.) διηγήσεως (error for myjcews?), seems to be the original Septuagint rendering. B offers γραμματέως as a second rendering, and Symm. has γραμματέως only, the meaning of which is ‘marshal’ as appears from 1 Mac 5%, ἔστησεν (sc. Judas) τοὺς γραμματεῖς τοῦ λαοῦ ἐπὶ τοῦ χειμάρρου. The office of a marshal was to help the general to maintain discipline. His wand of office (σκῆπτρον or ῥάβδος) could be used, if neces- sary, for inflicting chastisement.