(2) 195» tiphsar (Jer 5157) or 1220 taphsér (Nah 3"), The meaning of this word—a loan-word in Heb.— is not certainly known, but Lenormant (followed by most scholars) compares the Bab. - Assyr. dupsarru [dup arru, Delitzsch], ‘tablet-writer’ ; so RVm to Nah 3” ‘thy scribes.’ The title ‘scribe’ might very well be given to a provost-marshal ; cf. γραμματεύς in 1 Mac 5® (cited above). The VSS give no help, and the meaning of the word was evidently lost in early times. LXX has βελοστάσεις (‘batteries of warlike engines’) in Jer, but leaves the word untranslated in Nah. Symm. has ἐκλεκ-
τούς in Jer (so Field). Syr.* has 1,0]
tion’ in Jer, but in Nah 12. 4/9 ‘thy aroused ones’ or (possibly) ‘thy warriors.’ Targ. gives 72 ΝΞῚΡ ‘warriors’ in Jer, but leaves the word untrans- lated in Nah. ΑἹ] these renderings of the VSS are founded on guesses from the context, rather than on real knowledge. W. EMERY BARNES.
MAR’S HILL.—See AREOPAGUS.
MARTHA (Μάρθα, an Aramaic form [xm>, fem. of ΝΡ ‘lord’), not found in Heb., meaning ‘mistress’ or ‘lady.’ Compare Kupig in 2 Jn}, which some interpret as a proper name, and some identify with the Martha of the Gospels).—The name does not occur in OT. Only one person called Martha appears in NT, mentioned in Lk 10%: 2, Jn 117-5 δ 122, It is not possible to doubt the identity of the Martha of the Fourth Gospel with the Martha of the Third. In both cases there is a sister Mary, and similar traits in the characters of the two women appear in each of the narratives. But the course of events in Lk would suggest that the village where the sisters lived was situated in Galilee ; according to Jn it was Bethany. The harmonistic suggestion, that they may have ehanged their place of abode previous to the events with which they are con- nected in the Fourth Gospel, is Barada a device invented to meet a diffieulsy ; it hasno probability. St. John is so exact in his topography that it is not reasonable to suppose he was mistaken in this instance. Bethany is cne of the centres round which the history in the Fourth Gospel moves. It would seem, therefore, that the order of the narrative is dislocated in Lk, so that a Judean incident is inserted in the course of events that transpired in the north. Martha here appears actively engaged in serving Jesus and His dis- ciples at a hospitable feast. In this case, and in the Johannine incidents, she takes the lead in a way that implies that she is the elder sister. According to the Synoptic account, it was in the house of Simon the leper that a woman, pouring
recious ointment over Jesus, was rebuked by the
isciples for her wastefulness (Mt 26’, Mk 14%); according to Jn, this occurred at the house of Martha and Mary, the latter being the woman who testified her devotion to Jesus by the cos*ly
‘destrue-
78 MARTYR
gift (Jn 12"*), Therefore it has been suggested that Martha may have been Simon’s wife or widow. In St. Luke’s narrative Martha is gently corrected for her excessive anxiety and the im- vatience with which she complains of her sister. Thus she is seen to be one who, while truly devoted to Christ, and commendably energetic in the service of hospitality, does not possess her soul in quietness; sets too high a value on the material sumptuousness of the feast for which she is responsible; fails to understand how best to entertain her divine Guest by best pleasing Him; and hastily blames the gentler Mary. According to the oldest MSS and some VSS and Fathers,* Jesus said to her, ‘ There is need of but a few things or one’—the ‘few’ pointing to sim- plicity in the provisions at table (compare Lk 10%), the ‘one’ perhaps carrying her thought to what alone He supremely cared for, the ‘kingdom of God (see Mt 6%), to show profound interest in which was to receive Jesus in the way most acceptable to Him. In the narrative of the death and raising of Lazarus, Martha and Mary are true sisters, echoing one another’s thoughts, both trust- ing in Jesus as their one friend who could help them in the greatest need. In Jn 123, as in the Lk narrative, Martha is found ‘serving.’ See, further, under MAry, No. iv.
A tradition, which cannot be traced earlier than the Middle Ages, is cherished all over the south of France, to the effect that during a persecution of the Christians by the Jews, Lazarus and his two sisters, having been sent to sea in a boat without rudder, oars, or provisions, drifted to land near Marseilles, founded many churches in Provence, in particular those at Marseilles, Aix, and Avig- non, and finally lived in retreat at Tarascon (see Guettée, Histoire de U Eglise de France, i. 402, τι. 5 ; Guérin, Les Petits Bollandistes, etc. x. 91-105, where many childish but picturesque legends of Martha are recorded; cf. also Duchesne, Fastes épiscopaux de Vancienne Gaule, i. 325 ff.).
W. F. ADENEY.
MARTYR.—The Gr. word μάρτυς (from a root signifying to ‘remember,’ connected with ‘memory’ and μέριμνα, ‘care,’ therefore primarily ‘one who testifies to what he remembers’), which in AV is frequently translated ‘witness,’ is rendered ‘martyr’ in Ac 22”, Rev 2 178 The Vulg. has martyr in the last passage only, in the other two the usual festis, and Wye. and Rhem. follow. Tind., Cov., Cran, have ‘ witness’ in all; Gen. and Bish. ‘witness’ in Ac, but ‘martyr’ in Rev. The Versions, even the earliest, seem to have used ‘martyr’ in its modern sense, one who seals his testimony with his blood, not merely a witness, but a witness who suffers. But the Gr. word does not appear to have acquired that meaning within the NT, though it is common in early Christian writings. In Ac 22” the tr. ‘martyr’ loses the reference to the preceding ‘ witness’ (μαρτυρία, 2918), RV gives ‘witness’ in Ac 22” and Rey 2%, but retains ‘martyr’ in Rev 17°, m. ‘ witness.’