MERIBBAAL
view of the relation between God and His people is represented: ‘whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah.’ The word prove is the same word as that rendered tempt, and occurs in Gn 22! (‘God did tempt [RV ee Abraham’). The same thought is found in Ex 155 (‘there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them’). Whether in the first part of this passage there is any connexion between mishpat and Meribah-Kadesh may be questioned (but note that a cause in judgment is 2, and Kadesh is En-mishpat), but that the latter clause contains the idea underlying Massah is clear.
This double view of the wilderness history is found also in the Psalms. Ps 817 has ‘J tried thee at the waters of Meribah,’ Ps 95° has ‘when your fathers proved me, tried me’... Inthese two places the Heb. for try is jn2. The above may serve to illustrate the fulness of the religious teaching which may be derived from the Pentateuchal narrative.
Meriboth-kadesh.—‘ The waters of Meriboth- kadesh’ are given in Ezk 47°, and ‘ the waters of Meribath-kadesh’ in 48%, as a southern limit to the land. The difference between the singular and plural in the two passages seems strange, and the LXX renderings Μαριμὼθ Καδήμ (47%), Βαριμὼθ Καδής (48%), which suggest the plural in both verses, are to be preferred. Note the interchange of β and μ. In 48% ΟΓ have Μαριμώθ. AV has ‘the waters of strife in Kadesh’ in both places.
Here is a clear reference to the events recorded in the Pentateuch, but it is doubtful whether the inference may be drawn that a place bearing the name of Meriboth-kadesh was known to the pro- phet or his contemporaries. A. T. CHAPMAN.
MERIBBAAL.—See MEPHIBOSHETH. MERIBOTH-KADESH.—See MERIBAH.
MERODACH (375>).—A Bab.-Assyr. deity men- tioned as a separate name but once in OT (Jer 50[Gr. 27}*), Β Μαιωδάχ, ΑΘ Mewddy. The Bab. pronuncia- tion of the name was Mar-u-duk. Its signification is still uncertain, though its Bab. origin is strongly maintained (cf. Delitzsch, Paradies, 228; Jensen, Kosmologie der Babylonier, 242 ff.). On the side of astronomy M. is identified with Jupiter, of the Romans. In the earlier Bab. history he occupies a seat on the same platform with u, Bel, Ea, Nergal, etc. But in later times he occupied a Ῥρείδιοι, of pre-eminence, particularly as the patron
eity of the city of Babylon. In Jeremiah’s refer- ence he seems to be one of the two chief gods of Babylon. In his inscriptions, Nebuchadrezzar speaks of Merodach (Mar-duk) as ‘the great lord,’ ‘the exalted governor,’ ‘king of the heavens and the earth,’ ‘ the supreme god’; Assurbanipal speaks of him as ‘king of gods’; Nabonidus (Cyl.) calls him ‘Lord of the gods’; and (Stele) speaks of the king of Assyria as having wrought the ruin of the land by M.’s wrath. The many hints in later Bab. literature of his importance show that he was held to be the supreme god, the source of power, and of all the blessings which showered upon mankind. At the fall of Babylon, Merodach receives the pro- foundest reverence from Cyrus, the victor. For his relation to Nebo see the art. Nebo. Under the name Bél he was worshipped among the Man- deans. His name forms an important element in many late proper names of Babylonia, e.g. Mero- dach-baladan and Evil-Merodach, as well as in some of an earlier date, e.g. Marduk-adin-ahi of 17th cent. B.c. For his possible connexion with the story of Esther see art. MORDECAI.
Lrrerature (additional)—Schrader, COT’ 11, 115ff., Assyr.- Bab. Ketlinschri/. p. 129; Hommel, . Bab.-Assyr. p. 778,
MEROM, THE WATERS OF
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ἢ. 1; Tiele, Bab.-Assyr. Geschichte, p. 531f.; Jensen, Kosmo- logie, p. 88 ; Winckler, Geschichte Bab.-Assyr. p. 34f.; Baudissin, PRE ii. 35ff.; Jeremias, Alf., art. ‘Marduk’ in Roscher’s Ausfuhr. Lex. der Gr. u. Rom. Myth.; Jastrow, Religion oJ Bab. and Assyria. IRA M. PRICE.
MERODACH-BALADAN (j3x53 ππνῖρ, Μαρωδὰχ Βαλαδάν), Is 391; misspelt (in MT, but not in LXX, BA having Mapwédy [Βαλαδάν]) Berodach-b. in 2K 20,—In Assyr. the name is written Marduk - bal-iddina, and means ‘Merodach has given a son.’ Merodach-baladan was the heredi- tary prince of the Kald& or Chaldeans, who inhabited the marshes at the mouths of the Tigris and Euphrates. The inscriptions call him the son of Yagina; but this may signify that Yagina was a more remote ancestor. In 2K he is made the son of Baladan: this would be the abbreviated form of some name, the first ele- ment of which was the name of a deity. In the troublous period which followed the death of Shalmaneser Iv. before Samaria, B.C. 722, M. pos- sessed himself of Babylonia, and was crowned king at Babylon (B.C. 721). After a few years, however, Sargon of Assyria found himself sufficiently stron, to think of reconquering Babylonia, which h been annexed to ia by Prigiath-pileser Im. M. accordingly looked for allies, and in B.c. 711 sent an embassy to the West, where the vassal-princes were disposed to throw off their allegiance to the Assyrian king. Judah with the Philistine cities, and Edom and Moab, entered into the alliance, and Egypt promised help. It was on this occasion that Hezekiah boastfully showed the Bab. envoys the material resources which he could bring to the alliance (2 Καὶ 9013:-19. Is 39).* Before the allies were ready to move, however, the army of Sargon had descended on Palestine, and severely punished Ashdod, which had been the centre of disaffection. Judah, Edom, and Moab thereupon submitted, and the Assyr. king was free to turn to Babylonia. M. vainly sought aid from the Elamites, who were defeated by the Assyrians before they could come to his help, and he accordingly fled from Babylon, which was entered by Sargon, B.c. 709. After being proclaimed king there, Sargon pursued M. to Bit-Yakin, the capital of the Kald& in the marshes, which he captured along with its prince.