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 Menuhah’); Β ἀπὸ Nova κατὰ πόδα; Vulg. nec erat ulla requies morientium. We should perhaps read πη, Manahath (which see), or better apis ‘from Nohah.’ In 1 Ch 8? Nohah (which see) is a clan of Benjamin. Cf. Moore, ‘Judges’ in Internat. Crit. Comm.; Kittel in SBOT; Budde, Kurzer Hand-Comm. zum AT. W. H. BENNETT.
MENUHOTH.—See MANAHETHITES.,
MEONENIM, OAK OF (RVm ‘The a oak or terebinth,’ AV [wrongly] PLAIN OF M., AVm ‘(Plain of) the regarders of times’ [ef. Dt 181; Heb. ον» pox; A δρυὸς ἀποβλεπόντων, B ἮἬλων μαωνεμείν ; Vulg. que is ied teh i ora in Jg 9", where Gaal tells Zebul that he sees troops Spproaling: ‘and one ele cometh by the wa; of the oak of Meonenim.’ Mé‘dnénim is masc. p participle Polel (pomty a denominative from adnan, ‘cloud’), which occurs as a common noun, Dt 1814, Mic 5! (Heb.11)) AV ‘diviners,’ ‘sooth- sayers, RV ‘them that practise au »’ ‘sooth- sayers.” Other forms of the verb occur Ly 19%, 2 Καὶ 218, 2Ch 33%, Is 28 578, Jer 27%. Mé‘onénim were a class of diviners, whose character is uncertain, the connexion with ‘andn being perhaps only an acci- dental resemblance (see SOOTHSAYER).
Sacred trees at or near Shechem are mentioned : Gn 12° JE ‘Abram passed through the land unto the place of Shechem, unto the oak (bx) of Moreh’ (see MOREH); Gn 35‘ E, Jacob buries the family images under the oak (n>x) which was by (oy) Shechem ; Jos 24% E, ‘the oak (aby) that was in
* On the possible occurrence of the name in Assyrian, see Johns in the Exp, Times, June 1899, p. ee tian-looking proper name Puti-mant), and Aug. p. 526 f. (a deity, ‘Manu the great,’ worshipped in the city of Asshur, III R. 66, 2, 8), and Hommel, ἰδ. Sept. p. 566 f. (Manawdét also Minwan).
MEONOTHAI
the sanctuary of J”,’ under which Joshua set ἫΝ a stone, i.e. a mazzebhah; Jg 9°‘ the oak of the pi lar (RVm ‘ garrison,’ 3¥0 p>x) that was in Shechem.’ Instead of a¥p read 732, so that this oak is the same as the preceding. Generally, some or all of these five references may be to the same tree; the use of different terms is no objection, as p>x and aby are used loosely for trees of the same kind, and πον is mistaken pointing for 4)x ; the trees in Gn 354, Jg 951 seem to stand outside Shechem; and if so, the references are not to the tree ‘in Shechem’ in the other passages. But (Moore, Internat. Crit. Comm., ad loc.) ‘there is no reason why there may not have been three, or a half- dozen, well-known sacred trees in the vicinity of Shechem.’ ‘There is nothing to indicate the exact position of the Oak of the Mé'dnénim. W. H. BENNETT.
MEONOTHAI (‘nisiys; B Mavaéel, A Mavaél).—
Son of Othniel, 1 Ch 414, See GENEALOGY, IV. 48.
MEPHAATH.—A city of Reuben, Jos 1318 (ny5o ; B Μαιφάαθ, A Μηφάαθ) ; assigned to the Levites, Jos 217 (nypp; B Madd, τ Μασφά), 1 Ch 6” (Heb. *, nypp; B Μαέφλα, A Φαάθ); a Moabite city in Jer-48% (Kethibh nyzio, Kéré nypo; LXX [313] B Μωφάς, A Μωφάθ).. On the name see D. H. Miller, ZDMG, 1876, Bs 679; 1883, p. 362. Mephaath is noticed with emoth and Jahaz, and lay apparently to the south of Reuben. In the 4th cent, A.D. (Onomast. s.v.) it is said to have been the station of a Roman garrison near the desert. C. R. CONDER.
MEPHIBOSHETH (nva:5n, B Μεμφιβόσθε, A -ar).— {. A son of Jonathan (2S 44a/.). As the real name of Ishbosheth was Eshbaal (man of Baal), so Mephi- bosheth is a transformation of the original name Meri-Baal or Merib-Baal, which has been various] rendered ‘ Baal’s man,’ ‘ Baal contends,’ or ‘ Baal’s warrior.’* As in the case of Ishbosheth, it is the Chronicler who has preserved the true name (1 Ch 84 [Β Μεριβάαλ, A Μεφριβάαλ] and 9” [B Μαρειβάαλ, A Μεχριβάαλ)]). The reason why Baal was thus transformed into Bosheth has been already ex-
plained. See ISHBOSHETH. Upon David's accession to the throne, it would have been quite in accordance with Oriental custom
if he had exterminated the family of Saul. (Com- are the conduct of Athaliah in 2K 11). His riendship for Jonathan led him, however, to follow a different course. With Ishbosheth had perished the last of Saul’s sons by wives of the first rank, and with the exception of Jonathan none of them seem to have left any issue, although we read in 25S 21° of sons of Saul by his concubine Rizpah, and also of grandsons, the children of his daughter Merab. Once David was firmly established upon the throne, he ascertained by inquiry of Ziba, who had been the steward οἱ Saul, that a son of Jonathan named Merib-baal (Mephibosheth) still survived (28 015, This son of his most intimate friend could all the more safely be spared b David, as his bodily condition made him of lithe account in a warlike age, and precluded the possibility of his proving a dangerous rival. From 2S 4‘ we learn that in the hurried flight of Saul’s household, when tidings came of the defeat at Gilboa, M., who was then five years old, sustained