Ὁ. S. MARGOLIOUTH.
MASSAH (npo, t.e. ‘ proving,’ ‘trial’; (ὁ) πειρασμός, in Dt 33% wetpa).—The name given to the place, near Rephidim, at which, according to Ex 17}, the Israelites ‘tempted’ J” (i.e. in the old sense of the word, tried Him, put Him to the proof), doubt- ing (ν.3) His power to save them in their thirst, and saying (v.7) ‘Is J” among us, or not?’ This in- cident at Massah is alluded to in Dt θ}5 ‘Ye shall not “tempt” J” (put J” to the proof), as ye ‘“‘tempted” Him (put Him to the proof) at Massah’ (cf. Driver), 95, and Ps 95° ‘Harden not your heart as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilder- ness, when your fathers tempted (i.e. tried) me, tested me, but also saw my work (sc. of judgment).’ In Dt 335 the name is either played upon diflerenily, or there is an allusion to a different version of the
"94 MASSIAS
incizent at Massah: ‘Thy Thummim and thy Urim be for the man, thy godly one, whom thou didst prove at Massah, with whom (or, according to others, for whom) thou contendedst at the waters of Meribah.’ The words have reference to the tribe of Levi; and the idea expressed by thein may be that at Massah J” either ‘ proved’ the tribe in Moses’ person, or (Dillm.) ‘ proved’ Moses himself, by observing how he would behave under the pro- vocation of the people’s complaints. However, this explanation is not perfectly satisfactory ; and it becomes less so when the attempt is made to ad- just the Meribah clause to it: so that the opinion cannot be excluded that the allusion is to some different account of what happened at ‘ Massah,’ according to which the fidelity of the tribe was tested directly by J’. The Arabs point to a rock called Hesy el-Hattatin, in the arid N.W. part of the Wady Feiran, as the one struck by Moses at ‘Massah’ (Palmer, Desert of Exodus, 159). See, further, REPHIDIM. S. R. DRIVER.
MASSIAS (A Magolas, B ᾿Ασσείας), 1 Es 92= MAASEIAH, Ezr 10”,
MASSORAH, MASSORETES.—See TExT OF OLD TESTAMENT.
MASTER.—See Lorp. Like the Lat. magister from which it comes, ‘master’ was formerly used for ‘ teacher,’ as Mal 2" ‘The Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and the scholar.’ Cf. He 5" Rhem. ‘ For whereas you ought to be maisters for your time, you neede to be taught againe your selves what be the elements of the beginning of the wordes of God.’ Especially was it used for the head of a school (as it is still in use in the rural parts of Scotland), as Goldsmith, Des. Vidlage, 196—
‘There in his noisy mansion skilled to rule,
The village master taught his little school.’ The Gr. διδάσκαλος, teacher, is in AV rendered ‘master’ in 2 Mac 1”, Ja 31, and in all its occur- rences in the Gospels, except Lk 2“ ‘doctor’ (RVm ‘teacher’) and Jn 3? ‘teacher.’ But elsewhere it is tr’ ‘teacher’ in both AV and RV (Ac 131, Ro 2”, 1 Co 12%, Eph 4", 1 Ti 27, 2 Ti 111 43, He 5”). So also ῥαββεί, though it is transliterated ‘Rabbi’ in Mt 23% 5, Jn 158-9 32 26 6%. and is tr’ ‘Lord’ in Mk 10 (after TR, but edd. mostly ῥαββουνεί, whence RV ‘ Rabboni’), is elsewhere rendered ‘ master’ (Mt 26%. Mk 95 117) 14%, Jn 481 9? 118); RV has Rabbi throughout. See Raper.
Mastery is four times used for mod. ‘victory’: Ex 3918 ‘It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery’; Dn 6% ‘the lions had the mastery of them’; 1 Co 955 ‘Every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things’ (ὁ ἀγωνιζόμενος, RV ‘that striveth in the games’); 2 Ti 2° ‘If a man also strive for masteries’ (ἀθλῇ ; RV ‘contend in the games’). Cf. Milton, PL ii. 899—
‘For hot, cold, moist, and dry, four champions fierce Strive here for mast’ry.’
The verb to ‘master’ in the sense of ‘control’ occurs in Wis 1918 ‘ But thou, mastering thy power, judgest with equity’ (δεσπόζων ἰσχύος, RV ‘bein sovereign over thy strength’). RV has the wor in the mod. sense of ‘overcome’ in Ac 1915 ‘the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and mastered both of them.’ J. HASTINGS.
MASTICK (cxivos,* lentiscus).—A diccious tree, Pistacia Lentiscus, L., of the order Anacardiacee, of a ἜΣΕΣΘΕ growth, 10 to 12 ft. high and broad.
The leaves are persistent, with 3 to 5 pairs of oblong lanceolate to obovate, leathery, mucronu-
* Note the word-play in the σχίσει of the following verse (Sus ὅδ), and cf. African. Ep, ad Orig. (Lommatzsch, xvii. p. 18).
MATTANAH
late leaflets, 1 to 14 in. long, on a winged rachis. | The fruits are dry, globular-obovate, somewhat flattened drupes, 4th of an in. in diameter, borne on short stiff panicles. It grows in thickets, in rocky places, along the coast and on hills to a height of 2500 feet, all around the Mediterranean. The gum is obtained from incisions in the bark, made in August. The juice exudes in the form of tears, which harden into spherical, flattened or irregular, Frese aac masses, covered with a bloom, caused by their mutual attrition. The have a mild terebinthine odour and taste. Mastic is known in Arab. by the name mistaki. It is in universal use by women and girls as a chewing- gum, partly because of its pleasant taste and the agreeable odour it gives to the breath, and its reputed virtues as a preservative to the teeth and gums, and partly for the amusement of chewing it. It is also used as a temporary stopping for cavities in the teeth. It is an astringent, used to check discharges from the mucous membranes. A sweetmeat is made of it in Chio, and forms a considerable article of export. The tree is men- tioned once only, in Apocrypha (Sus®), G. E. Post. MATHELAS (A Μαθήλας, B Μαεήλας, AV Matthe- las), 1 Es 9%=MAASEIAH, Ezr 10% The LXX forms are due to confusion of c with 6 or e.